Well helloooo there! Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! I give you my last update of the summer! I'm so excited/scared but I still have quite some summer reading left so oops...
Anyways, this is the story behind Keeps me up at night, because after I reread it I figured, you know what you guys are such great, supercalifragilisticexpialidociously amazing fans that you deserve a backstory! So here it is!
Also, I know that this is really late, but I have like really bad memory so I would always forget to put this but I wanted to congratulate her-eyes-fiery-pinpricks for her winning entry in Kingdom Keepers Insider! Dawn_Quill rocks! You are fabulous, girl!
Amanda's P.O.V
Whatever remained of the daytime had receded to the base of the sky and been consumed to the awakening of the nocturnal hours ago. Streetlights lined up along the sides of the roadway only dimly lit, giving the stars more than enough space to shine had they had any intention of coming out to play tonight.
Somewhere down the path, a sudden shuffle interrupted the evening silence and I leapt to turn towards the figure. Even as I recognized the girl walking towards me, my heart hammered in my chest ferociously from my fright.
With a weak half-smile, she greeted me wordlessly and met me under the lamppost. I didn't even need that to know she'd caught onto my disappointment.
"Hi." She said simply, thumbs hooked into the loops of her dark jeans.
"Willa? What are you doing here?" I asked, quietly. "I thought Finn was crossing over with me."
She shrugged and stated almost apologetically, "There was a switch-up last minute. Philby didn't say why."
A small fiery pain began in my chest. "Oh."
Her expression changed to alarmed defense, "I'm sure he's just...something must have come up. He wouldn't…I-"
"You don't have to make excuses for him. I know why he didn't want to come." I mumbled, with a quite hypocritical tone, because inside I was anything but indifferent.
She opened her mouth to say something in response but must have thought better of it, and shut her mouth. As an offering of thanks, I grinned feebly. "Come on, we've got work to do."
For a quick moment, I glanced back at the monumental castle and tried to remind myself that everything would be okay.
...
Quietly, the two of us made our way down the rows, myself unable to get past how loud my every move sounded in the dead silent attraction. I heard a soft shamble and faced the direction the noise came from. Only when she turned on her flashlight did I realize that Willa had climbed up onto the platform.
She stared down at me with an unreadable look. I thought of how she must have figured it was unfair that she was thrown in at last second, virtually forced into crossing over. And although she didn't know, it was undeniably my fault in some part. But she didn't exactly act upset about it at any point in the night, just maybe confused and expectant of an answer. I did say I knew why.
"What did it say again? We'll circle our past forever to find a new beginning, but what was that last part?" Willa asked, slowly stepping around the stage, pointing her light around and investigating.
"Um, I think it was Aside our souls, the answer lies. Something like that, at least." I called back in a hushed voice, turning on my own flashlight. "Do you really think Wayne meant Carousel of Progress?"
"That's the first thing that came to mind when I heard the first half. Got any other ideas? I'm open to suggestions." She stated flatly, illuminating the face of a manikin.
"I don't. I was just asking." I responded curtly, thought she hardly seemed to notice.
"Come up here with me? Or would you rather keep watch?" The brunette questioned, turning to focus on me.
"I'll do whatever you want." I told her, to which she just nodded and proceeded with her search. "Do you really think I need to keep watch? Like something might come to attack us."
"Hardly, I mean this isn't exactly Overtaker central, this ride. Mostly just like security and stuff like that." She paused for a moment, and then gave a hint of a laugh. "Oh my gosh, you have to see this."
I trotted over to the platform and peered over to where her flashlight was focused. "What?"
"Wayne said aside our souls, but he really meant aside our soles as in the bottom of our shoes." She inched the light to the left and I came to understand that we were right beside the feet of one of the automatons. "It says show."
"Show? What show?" I asked tensely, worrying that someone would find us. Or else we would we find something we weren't looking for.
"Maybe we have to look more. Check the other feet." She ordered, already trying to decipher the word on the other side of the man. I did as told and found the dog's paws, seeing as it was the only other being in the scene. "It says you."
"This one says I and the other says world." A low knock came from the back, near the top row but as I flashed my lamp, I still couldn't quite see much. "Check the other ones, I'm going to go see what that was." I said, a bit shaken.
"Okay." She uttered, "Be careful."
Just as I reached the final row, I heard a thump and veered up at the podium. The light rolled around the floor as while, before tumbling off the side of the stand.
"Willa?" I asked, my voice strained with anxiety. "Wil-" I cut myself off, screaming shortly as something cold rubbed at the back of my neck.
When I turned around to face my opponent, I was pushed down and pressed into one of the seats. "Ah, look who we have here." A man with a slight accent chuckled as curved metal ran along my arm, making me shiver. But I jumped up and stood my ground.
"Where's my friend?" I shouted, "Tell me or else you'll be needing two of those hooks."
Captain Hook's short laugh flaunted around me, reminding me atrociously that I couldn't follow his movements. "Good heavens, run! Run for your lives! It's … a little girl."
Sharp steel stabbed into my side from behind me; I cried out, doubling over in pain. I tried to cover the wound but pulled my hand away, drenched in blood.
"I do just the same damage with one, thank you." He muttered. I vaguely remembered an aching in my head as I lay writhing on the floor. Taken by the arms, I was hoisted up just above the ground so that the heels of my Converse scrapped against the pavement.
I cried out, screaming into the black of the night, as though someone might come to my rescue. Vocal cords shook and grind against each other, wearing them down with every shriek. The back of my throat was tattered and sore. Willing it away, wanting the fear to be gone.
Thrashing, I kicked at the ground for them to release, but the grip remained. Yank, pull, lurching and wrenching out of the iron hold that clasped onto my arms. The position made me twist and turn nastily, making my lacerate sting as exposed flesh rubbed against exposed flesh, brushing the irritant material of my shirt.
At last, he grew tired of me and stopped, tossing me onto the gravel. He knelt beside me and bound a gag around my mouth. Then Hook paused, glaring menacingly at me. And he spoke to me sourly, whispering vulgarities and obscenities. Things that made me infuriated and offended. Things that made me ashamed and pained. Things that made me cry.
When he continued to drag me along the road, he ranted and uttered several different things, about several different subjects. I didn't pay much attention, instead watching my surrounding wordlessly, hoping that if I managed to escape I could find my way out of whatever prison they caged me in.
Abruptly, he halted, remaining still. Then he took out a sash from his ensemble and began to secure it over my eyes. Once I couldn't play Spot-the-Difference between my eyes shut and open, he spoke. "You must keep your eyes closed, my darling. Wouldn't want to have to…hurt you again." I felt the tip of the hook run along my abdomen and involuntarily jumped, causing him to chuckle malevolently to himself.
My thoughts blurred to an indistinct mass along the rest of the way. I vaguely remembered worrying of what had happened to Willa and hoping she was alright. I thought of Finn as well. The time that went by seemed comatose as though I had been asleep the entire time.
It wasn't until I was thrust forth and felt the hard floor of a cell beneath my weary body that I was thrown from the unconsciousness of consciousness. I lay still, too beat to move or resist, feeling them attach me to chains. Then, I first heard a voice shouting, that I had thought to be Willa's. But I didn't dare open my eyes to see.
I listened as they left, Willa yelling out spiteful words after them. "Amanda…" She whimpered, when they were gone. I heard it in her voice, her fear for me. And I couldn't hear her like that.
Slowly, I opened my eyes and stared up at her across the cell, getting up to a sitting position. "Hey, Willa. You okay?" I felt the strength come slowly back to me.
She gazed back, holding it on the blood along my shirt, and said, "Fine. But...Amanda, you're hurt."
I shrugged, leaning back against the wall. A rattle came as she tried to move towards me, the chains dragging behind her. But she stopped halfway, scowling. "That's as far as I can go." She stated acridly.
"It's okay. The others will find us in time. They'll come. I'm sure of it."
…
"Tell me and you just might make it out alive, my sweet." Lady Tremaine smiled wickedly, her voice even and composed.
"Sooner to death I go, then." Willa spat, sitting upright on the floor, bitterly eyeing the villain who towered above her.
The slender, elderly woman glowered at her, exasperated by Willa's diligence. Upon entering the room thirty minutes again, she must not have known how far our persistence could carry us. "One could only hope." She uttered tartly.
"Wish upon me all you have, milady, but don't expect me to wince." The Cinderella antihero fumed, cheeks burning the same shade of crimson as her dress. She crossly kicked the heel of her shoe into Willa's side, receiving a small yelp of surprise.
"And you, dear one? Tell me. What were you searching for?" Lady Tremaine asked sternly, addressing me for the first time. I was their second, and last, resort. I remained silent and scowled at her. If looks could kill. "Not speaking, are we?"
Her stare brushed over the blood on my blouse and her lips curved upwards teasingly. I covered the gash with my hand, turning away. "You've been hurt? Oh, poor thing." She taunted, a satisfied laugh echoing in her voice. With a harsh tug, she pulled me to my feet. "Answer me and I can help you. We can have our best medic fix you right up."
"Never." I stated firmly, receiving a harsh slap to the face. Behind the ringing in my ears, I heard Willa choke back her shout. Lady Tremaine pressed her palm harshly into the cut, making me to scream.
"Talk!" Her voice rose, her anger boiling undeniably. I didn't speak. She pushed harder onto the slash, earning a whimper out of me, but nothing more. "Useless! The next will come in mere minutes. You'll regret not talking. Clayton is less…understanding." She growled and threw me to the floor before leaving.
Maroon dribbled down to the floor. I followed it back to my side and realized I was bleeding again.
"Amanda." Willa sobbed. "I'm so sorry!"
"No, stop it. This is my fault. It's my fault we got caught. It's my fault you got caught." I uttered, miserably. "If Finn had just come, you wouldn't be in this mess with me."
"But…I don't understand." Willa wiped away her tears, her crying ceased. "Finn didn't come-"
"Because he didn't want to see me." I finished, staring down at the floor. "We keep fighting! Every time something bad happens, every single time! He's always so mad at me for becoming a DHI. He tells me he I shouldn't cross over, but I just want to help!"
"He's just worried about you, Amanda. He is your boyfriend, after all."
I scoffed, "Of course you would side with him."
She frowned at me, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, please, don't play that." I sneered, "You hate that I'm a Keeper. Ever since me and my sister first joined, and become DHIs. You were the first to oppose."
"I don't know what the hell you're thinking, but I was only concerned. I knew the pressure of all this! It's awful! You two were newcomers; I didn't want any more innocent people to be dragged down into our mess." She argued.
"Don't waste your breath. You're only supposed to lie when the enemy asks us the questions, or did you forget, Braniac?" I hissed.
"Quit victimizing yourself, princess." She mocked me, "Oh, my boyfriend is so annoying. He keeps trying to keep me out of trouble. He must hate me!"
"Shut it, geek! You're just mad because I at least have someone. Not my fault the boy you've fallen so helplessly for doesn't like you back." I retorted. Somewhere along the line, I knew I had gone too far.
Willa grimaced, eyes glued to the floor. "Fine. You win. Happy now?" She turned away as her eyes glossed over, tears beginning to fall.
For a while, I tried to say something, but knew better than to try to. After a long silence, a large, built man burst into the cell. His evil grin revealed teeth as white as his sideburns, which emphasized his thin black mustache. "Let's have some fun, shall we?"
He came up to Willa first, who winced just looking at the bulging muscles in his bright yellow clothing. With almost no effort at all, he held her up against the wall. "Now, care to tell me? There must be something you're willing to say." She stayed silent biting her lower lip, watching the floor. "Don't want to talk?"
A horrific smack echoed in my ears as he whacked her clear across the face. He let her drop, smirking. She crumpled to the floor, crying.
"And you?" He turned to me. I cower, trying to back away, but all that was behind me was wall. "Speak now or forever hold your peace." Tarzan's rival laughed.
Not a word came from my mouth, just a low whimper as I watched the knife in his hand. He snarled in amusement, and forced into forward. A nice, wide slice just below where the captain's hook penetrated my skin.
"Are you going to talk, pathetic girl?" The Neanderthal wrapped his bulky hand around my neck tightly.
When I said nothing, his fingers swelled into my skin. I felt the air lessen.
"Please," I begged, "Stop!"
"Ah, ah, ah. Only for an answer." He chortled.
I shook my head. Black edged my vision. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't…I…just…
…
I came to in near complete darkness. The only light was the dim glow of a lit torch across the corridor. With a deep breath, my lung burning for air, I began to sit up. And immediately regretted it. I bit my tongue and let the pain subside, not wanting to bring forth any Overtakers.
Sitting still, I heard faint breathing to my side. It was Willa, who was lying asleep beside me, seemingly comfortable as she was curled on the cold concrete. I shook her shoulder, and she woke slowly, sitting up groggily.
The soft glimmering of the torch touched her face lightly, but still just enough so that the dusk couldn't obscure the marks. Bruises traced up her legs and stained her cheeks. Running smoothly along her right arm, a cut dragged diagonally from her wrist up to her elbow, though it was thin no more than a scratch really.
"You're awake." She said with a weak smile, taking my hand and giving it a squeeze. It would have hurt for both of us had she hugged me. "How are you feeling?"
"It hurts a lot but I guess it could be worse." I responded, and she looked at me with miserable eyes.
"I'm sorry, about what I said. It wasn't right of me to judge you." Willa spoke ashamedly but I stopped her.
"No, it was my fault. I went too far." My eyes trailed over her bruises, and muttered sorrowfully, "Willa, what happened to you?"
She shook her, staring at the ground. "They needed to get the information they wanted. You were asleep for so long." Tears trickled down her cheeks as she trembled faintly. "They wouldn't stop. They…"
Willa pressed her lips together in a thin light, containing a sob. "What did they do to you?" I asked softly.
"N-nothing." She lied quietly, scooting back against the wall. The wall that she was supposed to be attached to. "I have a plan."
I sighed steadily, "Okay, so what do you want me to do?"
"I need you to scream. Scream loud, and just keep screaming. Like you woke up from a nightmare."
I stared at her quizzically, unsure for a moment, but again saw how beat up she was and decided to listen to her. I nodded. One long, deep breath.
The scream echoed along the hall, bouncing off the walls of our cell. Then again. It ricocheted far longer than I thought it would. I feigned a strangled sob and screamed again.
A gruff voice grumbled in the distance, coming down the hallway. Even when he stood at the barred gate of our prison, I screamed, doubled over and holding my hands over my ears. "Ye better shut it, girlie!" The animatronic pirate threatened. But I kept screaming, making him crosser.
The pirate unlocked the gate with a key from an old keychain in his pocket and swung it open. He stepped up to me, holding out his sword. "Be quiet!"
Next thing I know, he was thrown forward and knocked into the wall. He slammed his head against the rock and fell out cold on the floor. Willa stood right behind where he had been, staring resolutely.
She took the keychain from his hand and used the other to unlock my cuffs. Then she grabbed his sword and uttered a quick, "Come on".
We ran out of the cell, but stopped when she turned to close the door. "What are you doing?"
"I'm locking it." She said, turning the key. "He's the only guard, it'll be hours until anther comes, unless he comes to and runs around shouting 'Lock down'."
Then we sprinted from the building, dashing down the halls faster than I had ever run in my life. We got lost, but then we found out way. We thought we saw an exit, but it turned out to be a dead end. But at last me made it out of the building, and never faced an Overtaker.
When we burst through the doors, we froze, staring out into the open. The chill of the cool Florida night seemed friendly than it had ever been and the moon sparkled down on us, the crescent almost reminding me of a grin.
She smiled when she turned at me, looking as though she might have cried as she laughed softly. In a fraction of a second, she had tackled me into a hug, still smiling. Never done smiling. She whispered quietly with a short giggle of relief, "We made it."
I nodded slowly, a small smile of my own, and whispered back, "We made it." I pulled away and we both looked at each other, before laughing and crying tears of joy.
We broke apart and went on running, making sure no one would follow. But this time, we were more relaxed. Because we had gotten away. And we were finally safe and sound.
Or close to it.
…
"It was just kind of weird. I don't know, just like why weren't we heavily guarded? It seemed so easy to get out." I asked, looking up from the colorfully decorated pastry before me.
The others shrugged, Finn taking my hand in his comfortingly. We gathered around a table at the back of a cupcake shop not far from school. Maybe as a celebration, or just a way to keep the spirits up. It was weeks after we crossed back over, several says after I was dismissed from the hospital to be treated for my abdomen wound.
Willa was dead silent, staring out the window, deep in thought. I could see the wheel turning in her head, but her eyes were vacant and almost afraid. "It wasn't necessary." She said quietly, "They didn't need to keep us there anymore."
"I don't…I don't get it." I uttered, dumbly. The rest of the Keepers watched intently.
"They just held us there because they could. But they didn't need to. I already told them what they wanted to know." She stated guiltily.
No one spoke for a moment, some just glaring down at the table in front of us. "I don't remember that. You were composed, we both held our ground."
She shook her head, "While you were out. I couldn't take it anymore. I just…"
Willa had been very distant the past few weeks. I had asked her persistently while I was at the hospital, stubbornly pleading her to tell me what happened. I was scared for her. Eventually, she gave in. For hours, under the white lights of the hospital, she sat in a plastic chair she'd pulled up beside my bed and explained.
In the two days that I was out –yes, TWO DAYS- they had continued to send people in to try to beat the information out of her, because she was the only option left. Which made them even less patient.
After I passed out, Clayton turned back to her and grabbed her by the hair, dragging her out down the hall, and taking her to a room that resembled a torture chamber. Clayton told her he'd go easy; he didn't want her fainting like I had. He strapped her down onto a metal table, and pounded on her legs with the edge of a wooden paddle. She said that wasn't the worst part.
At night, she lay wearily on the ground, too tired to cry, and tried to get to sleep. That's when she heard footsteps. Gaston stepped into the view, standing in front of the cage with a smirk, and blew out the light of the torch. Then, in complete darkness, she heard the gate open and slam closed. She whimpered, listening to the footsteps come closer, taunting her walking around the room. He would say something from across the room, then again a second later only an inch from her ear. But she couldn't tell where he was, it was so dark.
The following day, they gave her the cut on her arm, saying it wouldn't be fair if only I was injured. And that night they did the same thing as then night before, only the Evil Queen was far crueler, far creepier. Finally, she'd been tormented enough and blurted out what they wanted. And from then on they had left us alone.
"That's not your fault, Willa. They tortured you." Charlene reassured. They traumatized you, I thought. She had admitted later on her hospital visit that she had been deadly afraid of the dark for the week after we got back.
"Any of us would have given up." Jess sympathized.
But Willa shook her head, "No, you wouldn't." Tearing her eyes away from the window, she stood and slung her bag over her should quickly before hurrying out of the store. Philby got up and ran after her. Mouth agape, I followed too.
Halfway down the sidewalk, I ceased. Only about twenty-five feet in front of me, I saw her turned to Philby, talking firmly. I watched him say something back, but couldn't hear either of them. She spoke again, exclaiming and exaggerating arm gestures. Then, in the middle of her rant, he leaned down and kissed her.
My mouth hung wide open.
When the two of them pulled away, she stared up at him, wide-eyed. Then she covered her mouth with her hand, trying to hold back a sob as tears fell down her face. She wrapped her arms around the taller boy, hugging him tight. Startled, it took him a few seconds to react, wrapping his own arms around her and kissing the top of her head while she cried.
"Is she okay?" Someone asked over my shoulder, making me jump. I turned to Finn, examining the gentle, worried eyes that had glared at me that night of our argument.
"She will be." I replied hopefully. "Listen, Finn, I'm so sorry I got mad at you. You were only trying to protect me." His eyes met mine solemnly. "And I know we'll always fight every once in a while, because that's just how we are. But I want you to know, that I love you. I always have and I always will."
He smiled at me, contritely. "Amanda, you are the most amazing girl I've ever met. You're so beautiful, inside and out. And I don't know what I would have done if you never woke up in that cell." Gently cupping my chin with his hand, he kissed me. "You'll forever be my always."
Heeeey, so I know it was really dark but in my defense, my stories go along on their own so like I didn't even see that coming really. Haha hope you liked it! Please read, review and request! Comment and subscribe! You guys are amazing! I love you all!