Chapter 14: Face to Face with a Murderer

I searched through the darkness, only to find nothing and no one. The boy was there-- yes, but I could not see him at all; his sudden appearance in my mother's old apartment had been quite distressing. I had never liked it one bit when people decided to appear out of the blue and expect you to automatically trust them; Jacqueline had done this with my father, and he had been ignorant enough to welcome her intrusion and control wholeheartedly. I had learned from his great folly, and this was the reason why I had such a hard time giving my trust to anyone-- I had, in this case, felt that the boy was safe, but I still felt the tiniest bit frightened. All the same, he appeared to be an all right fellow; he hadn't pulled out a knife on me yet… That was a plus.

And for some strange reason, this journey was not as smooth as the previous… As the jade green light slowly dissipated, being replaced by complete nothingness, my head began to throb quite painfully, while that former feeling of weightlessness I had endured the first time was replaced by a new and painful feeling of foreboding doom that centered within the pit of my stomach… I hated it; why hadn't Elaine warned me of this boy, and the strange pain he would bring to me during our journey to the next world…? "What is happening to us?" I eventually asked, but no answer came. Maybe it was just me, or maybe it was the added presence of the strange boy, but this journey was lengthy, uncomfortable, and frightening. I wanted it all to end-- soon.

The throbbing in my head seemed to increase due to lack of an answer. The falling became worse; I hadn't remembered the previous journey having lasted this long either-- the other had done its job in about three minutes. Already, this one had seemed to have taken an hour, with no signs of stopping, "Why is this taking so long?" I called out to the boy I could no longer see, but he chose not to answer-- if he had even heard me. I frowned-- why did it seem as if it were getting steadily darker…? Was I losing my mind…?

"Who are you?" I called out to the boy; he had not answered my previous questions-- maybe he would respond to this one. He chose not to. I became a bit more vexed, and wondered if he'd somehow gone temporarily deaf.

My head continued to throb throughout as well.

Eventually-- at long last, the falling came to a stop, and I found that somehow, we had landed directly upon our feet as opposed to the first fall. The nothingness disappeared, and it felt good to have a hard ground beneath my feet again. I blinked to get my eyes to adjust to the light-- opposed to what I had thought the first couple seconds of being here, there wasn't much. "Where have you taken me?" I asked, my voice slightly demanding-- I couldn't help it, though. After all, he had pretty much given me the silent treatment ever since I had followed him through the door in the air…

He took his sweet time to answer, as if amused by my confusion, "That does not matter, Beatrice, my dear," he whispered; his voice a low hiss, "Where are we?" I asked, "It's still pretty dark," I went on, trying my best to sound matter-of-factly-- to hide my utter discomfort at the familiar tone of his voice, "I don't want…" I drifted off; not really knowing what it was that I did not want. Something was strange; there was something very fowl in the air. Panicked thoughts chased each other through my mind; deciphering them, I realized that I should not have so easily trusted him. I wanted Elaine. I wanted her to explain everything, and give me some god-damn closure, "Please…"

"Embrace the darkness," he whispered; choosing to finally respond to my second statement.

"Look. Who the hell are you?" I asked, perturbed, and altogether pissed at his lack of an answer-- how many times did someone have to request to hear an explanation? A million?

He took a while to respond yet again; his face came into better focus as my eyes continued to adjust, "A murderer," he whispered at long last; his voice filled with calm madness that filled my very soul with dread.

"What?" I asked, as I continued to recognize the voice, "Wait… your voice…"

"You're quick… Recognize me now, Beatrice?" Travis hissed, and my blood instantly ran cold, "No…" I whispered, "No, it can't be. Not you… Not you…" He laughed, and I felt my nails scratching against the stone-wall trying to find an escaped. He continued to laugh that crazy laugh of his, and I suddenly knew why he was laughing with such gusto. He laughed at my fear… He laughed at the fact that I had actually been stupid enough to trust him. He laughed because he knew I was now regretting it with all my hear, "But how can you be here, Travis…? How the fuck could you be here with me?"

He continued to laugh; increasing my anger-- making me want to reach across the room and slap him right across his smug face, but I could not make any rash decisions. Not yet, but all the same, how could I have been so vulnerable? My nails continued to scratch against the stone-walls in fear, and I felt blood escaping my fingertips. Don't play the fool, Beatrice, a voice advised me, Don't let the bastard get to you-- not yet. I was right; I had to know everything before I made my move, "I don't understand," I murmured, feebly.

"You wouldn't, Beatrice. The beautiful, smart popular girl I knew back in middle-school could never have been able to fathom something to this extent, and although you have grown throughout the long years we were parted, your mind has remained exactly the same. You've been built up as some little hero because of what happened in D'Nalge. But you don't understand, Beatrice," he paused, "You may be dead on the earth, Beatrice, but I still have to stop your little 'quest.' I can't stand around and watch you gain recognition as the 'saver of worlds.' The entire universe is at the mercy of the shaska, and we must make--"

"We--?"

"--sure that you do not return to D'Nalge, or anywhere else for that matter… I know how Elaine tried to protect you from death-- real death… She's a very smart thing, your fairy godmother, but she could not protect you from your own naivety. It's almost as if you wanted to follow me, even though you knew it was wrong. She tried to protect you for so very long, Beatrice, but all those attempts shall now be thwarted once and for all."

"Don't be so goddamn arrogant, Travis," I hissed, "I've done this before. I can do it again," I wan not very confident in my words however, and he obviously sensed this, "It's time, Beatrice. I, Travis Smith-- that was a lie, of course… Now, before you die, I want you to seem me for what I truly am. I know you caught a glimpse before-- on earth, as you--"

"No," I gasped, interrupting him, as the room seemed to drop a thousand degrees, and I was able to look upon his face more clearly; it was not the face I had seen only days before; not even an outline of that remained. The eyes so deprived of beauty, the thin green lips, and the forked tongue… The true face of the shaska, "But how can this be?" he asked, tauntingly, as if reading my own thoughts, "How can this be?" he repeated, "That is something that is easier to explain than one would at first believe, Beatrice," he slid back into the shadows, and the beating of my heart slowed again, "Now, it's time for you to die-- again."

"Fuck you," I hissed.

He laughed, "Mother always said you could never keep that tongue under circumstances in which your precious life was jeopardized," I closed my eyes in an attempt to hide the panic.

"Mother?" I asked, as the throbbing in my forehead somehow began to fade away at hearing the word.

"Yes, my mother… The woman you knew as Jacqueline."

Words that I had forgotten almost instantly after they had been spoken suddenly repeated themselves in my mind with fierce clarity: 'While her only son killed your mother,' "Then that means you were--"

"Yes. Me. I killed your precious mother nine years ago."

"No!" I screamed, wanting to deny it, although I knew it was the truth.

"Yes, and afterwards, Mother was able to slip into the picture-- your life, I mean… To kill you, of course. Your father was just a very weak subordinate."

"Bastard," I hissed, angrily.

"But, near the end, I'm afraid… His mind was beginning to return to him. He was beginning to recognize her for what she was-- he would have small outbursts of memory every now and then. He whispered your mother's name, 'Jayne--'"

"Joanna," I hissed, angrily.

"--one night, so Mother strengthened the spell, and killed him the following evening. She meant to kill you directly after; she wanted to, of course… That's why she caused your slut of a mother to go into premature labor all those years ago as she showed you. You were meant to die then, but somehow lived… Your mother gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Good triumphs over wicked once again. How sweet."

"Fuck you," I repeated.

"But my mother made me promise, Beatrice. If she was to die, as prophesized, I was to wait for you until you returned home. I had doubted the prophecy all of my life until the very moment when I learned of my mother's death in D'Nalge. And now it is time for your death, Beatrice…"

I laughed at his sheer foolishness, and then felt my fright instantly disappear, "If you think that I am frightened, then--"

"Don't be," he whispered, smoothly; now mere inches away from my face; breathing his hot, fowl breath directly into my nostrils, and making me begin to gag-- his breath smelled of death, which was steadily approaching, once again.

It was ending. The tale had reached its pivotal climax; I was surprised by this-- how quickly it was all happening. A sure of information, coupled with death threats. Perfect. How long had we been in the cave together…? It had to be less than twenty minutes, but it felt like a lifetime already.

"Get away," I hissed, but he was too quick; before I had the chance to even attempt to begin fighting back, I felt his fist come into contact with my left ear, I was knocked to the floor, and he fell on top of me.