Thirty
Kallie
I’m in the midst of a black hole. Free-falling into oblivion. There is no light in sight, nothing to break up the endless darkness. I stumble forward, trying to grasp onto any sense of where I am.
“I was wondering when we would meet again.” The deep voice booms off the empty space, surrounding me like it is the blackness itself. “You think you can hide from me?” Fingers brush the back of my arm. I whip around only to be greeted with nothing. Panic seizes me, holding me in a paralyzing grip, like a python coiling around its prey.
“Who are you?” I stammer, the void swallowing my words.
“Someone who is neither here nor there. Everywhere and nowhere all at once.” Why does it sound so familiar? It’s on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t place it.
“What do you want?” The silence is deafening, not even a rustle of wind to break up the quiet. “Come on! Stop hiding like a fucking coward!” An evil laugh reaches my ears, and my neck snaps side to side, looking for the source.
“I”—on my left—“want”—on my right—“you.” Breath hits the back of my neck, and I whirl around, casting a burning flame in my palm. I form it into an orb of fire, placing it just inches from my feet. I create five more, setting them around me until I’m in the center of a circle, focusing on harnessing my powers to them, keeping it contained.
A thump sounds in front of me, flames ignite over my skin, and I send out a wave, but it doesn’t make contact. Just a stream of never-ending red and orange as far as the eye can see. Quickly, I extinguish it, letting the glow of the orbs be the only light.
“It’s been difficult trying to find you. However, I can only find you in your sleep. Tell me, where have you run off to?” I let the question linger, going unanswered. “How do you think this is going to end? He’s coming for you,” the voice sings. Then a thud two feet away, and the glow allows me to see the tips of a pair of boots. I don’t move. Not yet.
The figure takes a step closer. “And you won’t survive.” Then they lunge. I will the orbs to burst, and they do. An impenetrable wall forms around me, just in time for the hand of whomever it is to hit it, burning their flesh.
“I don’t think it’s me who won’t be surviving.” Pushing my magic through the wall, it blasts toward the stranger. They wail out in pain, and the smell of burnt flesh floods my nostrils, but I keep advancing. Hearing them scurry backward on the floor, vines wrap around my ankles, causing me to fall face first. Gripping the vines with my hands, I burn them to ash. Before I can stand, I’m kicked in the stomach, all the air rushing out of my lungs.
“You stupid”—kick—“worthless”—kick—“weak”—kick—“pathetic”—kick—“bitch.” A force makes contact with my face and pain blossoms through my temple, my mind threatening to fall into unconsciousness. I’m flung onto my back, my face scrunching in pain as I try to get my body to move. A hand grips around my throat, and my eyes open wide. My hands fly to my assailant’s arm, clawing at their skin until I feel the blood leak onto my fingers. I thrash and scratch, ignoring the protest my body gives me.
I’m airborne, being thrown down the dark rabbit hole of nothingness. My head smacks against the ground with my inevitable crash. Everything hurts, my eyes threaten to fall closed, but the sound of footsteps makes me pry them open.
I will not give up.
My body is spent, the wall of flames long gone, and I have nothing left to conjure them back. I hear the unmistakable sound of a knife flicking open as the steps grow closer. My head pounds, the throbbing ache in my stomach only getting worse. Something slithers up my arm until it reaches my neck, wrapping around it like a noose. Instinctively, my hands fly up to relieve the pressure, but no embers spark when I try to burn it away.
“That was your best? I’m disappointed,” they say, then a searing pain races down my leg. I scream out in excruciating pain as they plunge the knife into my thigh and drag the blade down. “You scream so beautifully.” My eyes squeeze shut. Wake up! Wake the fuck up! I yell to myself, but my eyes pop back open, followed by another agonizing scream as the blade mimics its actions on the other leg.
They place a foot on either side of me, much like I did to Miranda earlier today. The irony isn’t lost on me and almost makes me chuckle. Then I feel it. The movement of something inside of me, like it’s been dormant and is finally awake. My body fills with vengeance, and I wait until the blade is descending toward my chest before I let go of the vine around me and grasp the blade in my hand. My hand covers the other, using every ounce of whatever I have left to push it away.
I will not give up.
The noose around my neck vanishes, and the blade cuts through my hands with every move I make. I block it out—the pain, the blood trickling down my arms. I push forward, unleashing the unknown power inside of me until the weight on the other end is gone in one swoop.
Their wails are music to my ears, like something is gnawing away at them from the inside out. I try to rise, but the unrelenting pain in my legs wins, and I stay there, listening as their pleas die out, only to be left in the darkened silence.
I fall back, letting the knife roll out of my hand as I lie there. The unimaginable ache finally takes over until I lose another battle and succumb to the blackness behind my eyes.