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The Pain of Future Wrongs – Chapter 48
"Ugh..." Chris stammered, not knowing what to say.
"Just say what's on your mind, Chris," Wyatt encouraged. "You've always had no problem speaking your mind."
"Well, I can't really tell you that I think Melanie's not who she says she is, now can I?" Chris thought to himself. "And I certainly can't tell you that I have feelings for your girlfriend either." After thinking for a moment, he decided on a safe response. "Well, I think Aunt Paige was just being extra careful, given that we really didn't know much about Melanie."
"Chris, you're rambling. You didn't actually answer my question," Wyatt observed.
Chris' heart sank as he realized that Wyatt wasn't letting him off the hook so easily. "If we can get Melanie to tell us more about herself, I think we'd all feel more comfortable."
Wyatt contemplated his brother's words and stared at Chris. "So you agree with Aunt Paige, then."
"No!" Chris stammered a bit too quickly. "Well, no, I don't necessarily agree with her although I do understand where she's coming from."
"But you don't disagree with her."
"Look, it doesn't matter, okay?" Chris responded, trying to get Wyatt off of the subject. "The important thing is that you two love each other and that you're happy together."
"I don't want everyone to get all upset because of us," Wyatt argued.
"We'll deal with it, okay? After all, she's your girlfriend. Not Aunt Paige's, not Mom's, and not mine."
Finally, Wyatt seemed to be satisfied with Chris' response and decided to let the topic go. Chris, meanwhile, felt somewhat guilty for not conveying his true feelings to Wyatt. However, he justified this by telling himself that if Wyatt knew how he really felt, it would be much more difficult for him to progress on his investigations.
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"Okay, so you finally decide to share your wisdom, O wise one?" Paige teased as Chris just rolled his eyes at her.
"You really need to work on your sarcasm, Aunt Paige."
"Well, you're the master at that!"
"Anyway, like I was saying...something doesn't add up," Chris continued.
"Well, care to elaborate?"
"The other day when you cast that spell..."
"Must you remind me? I already know I messed up, okay?"
Chris rolled his eyes in frustration. "Would you let me finish?"
Paige huffed and sat down in the chair. "Fine, go on."
"Anyway, that spell...it shouldn't have caused such a reaction from Melanie," Chris explained.
"So you're saying she faked it?"
"I don't know," Chris shook his head, clearly confused. "I don't know if she was faking or not, but whatever happened to her should not have happened."
"Well, that is a bit weird," Paige admitted. "But it still doesn't mean that she's hiding something."
"Then there was the whole healing thing," Chris continued.
"What about it?"
"You know that I don't have the power to heal, right?" Paige nodded and signaled for her nephew to continue. "Well, Melanie said that I healed her. The problem is that I didn't heal her. I barely touched her and I knew that I didn't do any healing."
"So she's lying?" Paige asked, astonished at this new revelation.
"She certainly isn't telling the truth. I think she actually healed herself."
"What?? So you're saying she's not a mere mortal as she claims to be?"
"Not from what I've seen, she's not," Chris concluded. "I hope I'm wrong about this...for Wyatt's sake."
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Chris flipped through the Book of Shadows for the umpteenth time, hoping to find anything that could help him solve the mystery named Melanie. His desperately hoped that he was wrong, but his gut feeling told him to keep investigating.
His research was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Chris turned around and found Wyatt glaring at him.
"So I was right...you don't trust Melanie," Wyatt accused.
Chris cast a pleading look to Wyatt, hoping that he would understand. "Wyatt...I just..."
"Save it, Chris. The least you could have done was to be honest with me when I asked you about it."
"I didn't know how to tell you..." Chris answered, his voice trailing as he realized that his defense didn't hold much water.
"So you decided to go behind my back," Wyatt finished. "I thought Aunt Paige was bad...but you...my own brother..."
"I'm sorry, Wyatt," Chris apologized.
"I don't really care to hear your apologies, Christopher," Wyatt said before leaving the room abruptly.
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Chris grimaced as the pain intensified. He laid in a fetal position on his bed as the pain threatened to make him cry out. He fought against the feeling, refusing to alarm his family as to the ordeal that he was going through. Night after night, he was tormented by these surges of pain. Even for someone who had been hardened by the constant struggle against evil Wyatt, the pain was beginning to wear Chris down.
Lately, as the pain had gotten worse and each night, Chris dreaded going to bed. Not only did he have to deal with the pain, but he also had to make sure that he didn't wake up Ryan in the process. He felt scared and alone, with no idea of what could possibly be wrong. He had no one to turn to for help and hoped that he would even survive the ordeal.
At first, Chris was sure that he could overcome it. Now, it seemed like he was fighting a losing battle.
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Things with Wyatt didn't improve even a week after the confrontation in the attic. The two brothers were barely on speaking terms with each other, although Chris tried on multiple occasions to reconcile with Wyatt. Ryan noticed the tension between the two but decided to keep quiet and just observe for the time being.
The nightly pain attacks continued and finally, culminated on one night that threatened to destroy the young witch-Whitlighter. The attack was so severe that Chris couldn't even get out of bed the next day. To avoid arousing his family's suspicion, he lied to them, telling them that he caught a chill and that he just needed some bed rest.
The other reason that he wanted to be left alone was because of some new findings that he accumulated from his research. Finally, he seemed to have made a breakthrough in his research on Melanie, but he needed to fill in a few more holes before he could share it with Paige. He decided that once everyone was out of the house for the day, he would complete his research.
After struggling to get up to the attic, Chris had to sit down to regain his strength. The mere act of walking up the stairs was draining his energy and he suddenly felt like he was ninety years old, not twenty-two. When he finally began reading through the Book of Shadows, he quickly jotted some notes. He smiled triumphantly at his notes as he closed the Book and prepared for his trip back to this room. He began his trek just as Melanie walked into the attic.
"Melanie," Chris greeted her. "I thought you had errands to run for Wyatt today."
"I did," she smiled. "Surprisingly there was no line up at the supermarket. Go figure! So what are you up to today?"
"Oh, the usual. Researching demons and all," Chris answered casually. "So, big plans with Wyatt today?"
A brief silence followed the question. "Well, big plans, yes. But not with Wyatt," Melanie answered.
"Oh? I didn't know you had other friends in the city..."
"I don't," she answered. "I have big plans with you, Chris."
"Uh...I wasn't aware of any plans."
"Well, now you know," she answered, an evil grin coming to her face.
Sensing that something wasn't right, Chris began to plot an escape route.
"You look uncomfortable, Chris," Melanie continued. "Don't you like being in my company?"
"Uh...I'm not feeling too well," Chris answered lamely.
Melanie laughed. "Maybe that's because you've been sticking your nose into places where it doesn't belong!"
Realizing that Melanie was onto his trail, he decided to make the best of the situation. "Melanie, I'm just trying to help you," he replied, hoping to appeal to her rational side.
"I don't need any help!" she screamed angrily. "Who do you think you are??"
"Calm down, Melanie. We can work this out..."
Laughing maniacally now, Melanie just looked at Chris like he was a naïve schoolboy. "Of course we can work this out," she answered, "after I've taken your powers!!"
Chris began to feel the onset of another pain attack and instinctively tried to orb out, only to discover that he couldn't orb.
"Don't bother, Chris. Your powers won't work here," she answered to Chris' dismay. "On the bright side, your pain attacks will be history once I have usurped your powers."
"It was you???" Chris asked disbelievingly. "You were behind my pain attacks and my messed up powers??"
"Bingo!! The light in the great Chris Halliwell's brain finally turns on!! Took you long enough to figure it out!"
Now Chris was really scared. He had no powers and there was no one else in the house to help him.
"Don't bother looking for an escape route. There isn't one. And there is no one here to help you."
"Don't do this, Melanie. You have to fight it. This isn't you!!!"
"I liked you, Chris. I really did. But you have to do what's necessary to protect yourself," she said, a hint of sadness in her voice. "Goodbye, Chris..." With that, she plunged her fist into Chris' body, causing the young Halliwell to cry out in pain as he felt his powers and his whole being literally sucked right out of him.
- to be continued -