I've had enough...
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| Identity | ||||||||||||||||
| Corinne sat at home watching Alex sit in his ordinary vegetative state in front of the television. He only wore his underwear and sat drinking beer, eating a combination of nachos, popcorn, and trail mix, and scratching his stomach every now and then. She wondered what she actually found attractive about him. He wasn't particularly good looking -- in fact, he was probably one of the least good-looking men she'd ever dated. She tried to think about the sex but realized that he'd been her one and only sex partner ever. She didn't really know if he was good or not, just that he got the job done. As for being sweet, charming, or even nice at all -- it was practically nonexistent. She wanted to rebel and he was there to help her on her way. She'd made herself believe that he was the perfect one for her. Aidan was looking better and better every minute. | ||||||||||||||||
| Alex belched loudly. She couldn't take anymore and ran into her room. Her mind had completely erased all his more... disturbing qualities. She quickly turned on her CD player, popped in her Oasis album and sat down on the edge of her bed. It always seemed to relax her -- that and taking out her favorite necklace from under her shirt and rubbing the charm on it. It was a pewter trinity knot -- Celtic in origin, supposedly for love, but she always thought it held some other special meaning -- on a small black cord. She'd bought it during one of her more 'everything has a special meaning' phases when she was really into magic and everything spiritual. Yet, even when she'd grown out of that phase and pushed all those items aside, she kept this one close to her at all times. | ||||||||||||||||
| Recently, everything was beginning to spin a little out of control. Of course, Corinne liked a little chaos every now and then, but she also liked to be in control of it. This, however, was getting a little out of hand. She had no idea what would happen next. Would she end up showing more of a talent for bending and twisting lamps and trees, or would her strange abilities prove to have more of a spectrum? What else could she do that she never knew she could? She stared out her window and remembered those eyes that were there the night she destroyed her lamp. If Aidan and Herbert had nothing to do with it, then who did she see out there? She didn't know anyone with gray eyes and couldn't even think of ever seeing anyone with gray eyes. They were so gray, so cold. It was as if they weren't real. Would she ever see those eyes again lurking outside her bedroom window? Or perhaps she would recognize them by chance as she walked by some random person in a store or on the street. | ||||||||||||||||
| The very idea gave her the creeps -- to be face to face with the person looking for a peep show. She got up and walked over to her mirror, staring deeply into her own eyes. She searched for something inside their deep crystal blue, but for what she wasn't sure. Maybe she was looking for a sign in them that told her what to expect, something that could explain what was going on, something that would make her feel more comfortable with her life. If she could only understand why these things happened to her, she could let the rest of her life happen without worry. | ||||||||||||||||
| She thought of Aidan and how his eyes -- those gorgeous emerald green eyes of his -- seem to flash whenever he looked at her. The first time she saw him, she wanted to smile. She even thought of letting down that impenetrable barrier of hers to be the girl inside and perhaps giggle and bat her eyes at him. But it wasn't really who she was, not now. She stared into her eyes and thought she saw them glow, but that wasn't possible. Eyes couldn't glow like lights. She looked away, shut her eyes tight, turned back and opened them one at a time. They were normal. It must have been some sort of trick of light from the window, she thought. Then Aidan popped into her thoughts again and she smiled. | ||||||||||||||||
| There it was again. That mysterious light in her eyes and it was unmistakably glowing this time. On a hunch of instinct, she ran to the windows and closed all the shutters, making it almost completely black in the room. She looked around on the floor. There were no beams of light lighting the way for her, but when she returned to the mirror her eyes were all she could see. Bright blue circles in a sea of blackness. Could this really be happening? How could her eyes be doing that? | ||||||||||||||||
| Without thinking, she ran to the bed, pulled the covers up over her head, and tried to sleep. | ||||||||||||||||
| She opened her eyes to find herself in a four-poster bed in a large stone room. She sat up and kept the blanket up on her collarbone because she knew she wasn't wearing anything. That's odd, she thought. Why am I here? And where are my clothes? She looked to her right and saw a silky black robe, put it on, and began to walk around in exploration. The place seemed so familiar, yet she knew that she'd never been in this castle before. She walked into the adjoining room and found it quite bare save a table and chair in front of a hearth. She looked around in wonder. How did I get here? Then she heard a voice. | ||||||||||||||||
| "What's wrong, dear? Did you see something?" said the man's voice from the room she just left. | ||||||||||||||||
| She turned back and felt some odd sense of comfort in hearing the voice. She heard herself answer back without wanting to. "I'm fine, Alexander. I just had the feeling like I should come out here." She felt herself walking back to the room and wondered why she couldn't control herself anymore. She had no way to make her feet do what she wanted, and it really disturbed her. "Wait!" she blurted out, finally finding her own voice. | ||||||||||||||||
| "What?" called Alexander -- she assumed. | ||||||||||||||||
| "I... I need to find... a mirror," she said. Her feet began to turn away from the room and walk towards a mirror that she hadn't noticed before. She looked in to find her own face staring back. | ||||||||||||||||
| But it wasn't really her. The image she looked at had long dark brown hair and seemed younger. But her face was the same, even the eyes. She reached out and felt the cold glass to make sure it was real and it was. The glass was cold as ice, sending a chill up her arm. She then touched her hair and found that the length in the mirror was the same as it was on her own head. | ||||||||||||||||
| She felt a hand on her waist and looked down to see it. She grabbed it and felt relieved. "Are you sure everything's alright?" asked Alexander. | ||||||||||||||||
| "Yes, everything's fine," she replied and looked up into the mirror. She gasped when she saw his reflection. | ||||||||||||||||
| "Alexander!" she cried and sat up in bed. She looked around and saw that it was her own room. She felt her hair -- short as usual. She rolled over and grabbed the clock to stare at it: 7:04 am. She would need to be at school in about a half hour. How could she have slept through the night without once realizing that she was dreaming? In any case, the dream was something to discuss with the boys. | ||||||||||||||||
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| Dorisae entered the cold room to find the older woman sitting before a large blue fire in the hearth. "You sent for me, Beleger?" asked Dorisae. | ||||||||||||||||
| "Yes, it is nearly time for us to intervene. I want you to keep an eye on them today when they are at school. Watch out for that one who follows them around -- the one with the black hair. He will be difficult to fool." She placed her hand in the fire and let the flames lick her fingers. "Now go. It is almost time." | ||||||||||||||||
| Dorisae bowed, pulled her hood up, enveloping her face in shadow, and left through the same door she came in. | ||||||||||||||||
| The old woman removed her hand from the flames as they died away. "The girl must know the truth before the others tell her their lies." | ||||||||||||||||
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| Verdai stepped out into the cloudy morning with her hood pulled tightly around her neck to keep the harsh wind from ripping it off. Her cloak billowed around her as she scurried through the darker hidden walkways on her way to the local school. Hodoer had told her to watch the girl that day. Something had given her a feeling -- a bad feeling. So there Verdai went, off to do her chore for the day. She passed several people on the way, but none of them noticed her -- even if she was dressed oddly. | ||||||||||||||||
| She trusted Hodoer, but was unsure about how they were going to win the girl over. The girl was so strong and skeptical that Verdai couldn-t imagine how the girl would believe what they needed to tell her. How would someone like that girl understand the truth? And what would happen if she was told the truth in the wrong way? Would she end up believing something that wasn't really true? | ||||||||||||||||
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| On to the next chapter! I've had enough... |
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