Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the television show Charmed. All characters belong to Spelling Television, and The WB.
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The Pain of Future Wrongs – Chapter 76
After what seemed like only a split second, Chris was surprised and somewhat unsettled to find himself in a cold, dark dungeon-like room. "What the hell?" he muttered as he took in his surroundings. The last thing he remembered, he was lying on the sofa in the attic while Wyatt went to get his Mom. "Well, at least now Mom and Wyatt won't give me an earful," he smiled wryly to himself.
His smile soon vanished as he heard footsteps heading towards his "room." The door swung opened and an angry looking man glared at him. Chris, not easily intimidated, couldn't help but gulp in apprehension at the sight of this visitor.
"Prepare to die, witch!" the man screamed before charging towards Chris, knocking the dazed Halliwell into the wall. The pain quickly brought Chris back to alert mode as he debated the next course of action.
Without a second thought, Chris extended his right hand in hopes of freezing the attacker. He was dismayed when the attacker simply laughed. "Magic cannot be used in this realm, witch!" With that, he landed a hard fist to Chris' body, knocking the wind out of him.
Before the man could land another blow, Chris quickly grabbed a chair from the corner of the room and swung it full force, hitting his assailant in the head. Without further delay, Chris dashed for the door and pulled it shut behind him, effectively locking the attacker in the room.
Chris breathed a sigh of relief before looking down the dark corridor. He still had no idea where he was or how he got here. All he knew was that the sooner he got back to the manor, the better he would feel.
As he made his way down the corridors, Chris got a very strange feeling that he was being watched. Trying to keep as quiet as possible, he rounded a corner and found himself in a medium-sized room. In the middle of the room were several people. From a distance, Chris guessed that they there in their early teens. They were kneeling on the floor and it seemed that another person was lying there motionless. Chris heard soft sobs and guessed that someone had either been injured or had been killed.
Chris walked cautiously up to the group and as he got closer, several of the teens turned to face him, their eyes red from tears. Their grief soon turned to fear as they gazed at the visitor.
"Don't…don't kill us!" cried one of the girls while some of the boys took up defensive positions.
"I'm not here to hurt you guys," Chris answered. "I don't even know where I am," he added, trying to show that he meant no harm.
"How do we know you're not lying?" one of them asked, eyes narrowing.
Chris couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Kids these days are so suspicious of everything!" he thought to himself. "Look, there are ten of you and one of me. I highly doubt I'd want to take all of you on at the same time," Chris answered, trying to keep any sarcasm from his voice. Softening his stance, he knelt down by the girl lying on the floor. "Let me see if I can help her out," he offered.
As he examined the wounds, he realized that the girl was seriously injured, although probably not to the point of threatening her life. Recalling his knowledge of mortal first aid methods, he started looking around to see if there were any items that he can use to administer some improvised first aid.
Before he had a chance to make a decision, the girl lying on the floor got up and landed a massive kick to Chris' chest, sending him flying backwards and crashing into the stone wall.
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"Where could he have possibly gone?" Piper asked in an agitated voice.
"I don't know!" Wyatt answered for the hundredth time, looking flustered and confused. "He was just lying there and I told him that I was going to get you."
"Maybe he just wanted to get you off his back so he can get back to his research," Paige offered, earning her a glare from both Wyatt and Piper.
"I think I can tell the difference between someone who is really ill and someone who's faking it," Wyatt retorted.
"This is Chris that we're talking about here," Phoebe offered. "The master of hiding feelings and emotions. I'm an empath and half the time, I can't even tell what he's feeling."
"He was not faking," Wyatt repeated again, beginning to get annoyed.
"Alright, alright," Paige interrupted. "That's not important right now. Let's just find Chris first and then we can interrogate him."
The doorbell rang at the moment and Wyatt went to open the door. He was surprised to find Jamie standing there. "Jamie?"
"Hi Wyatt," Jamie said nervously. "I'm…uh…I'm just looking for Chris."
"Oh. Uh, Chris isn't here right now," Wyatt answered apprehensively.
"I see," she answered, disappointment written all over her face. "Well, I guess I can wait for him…if you guys don't mind, that is."
"No…yes…uh, I mean," Wyatt stammered, not knowing the best way to answer.
"Um, it could be a while before Chris returns," Phoebe decided to add as she walked out to see who was at the door.
"What do you mean?" Jamie asked, her eyes narrowing a bit.
"Well, Chris sort of disappeared on us," Phoebe answered, earning her a jab to the ribs from Wyatt.
"Right…" Jamie said slowly as she tried to keep her composure. "I guess I made a mistake coming back. I should've known that he wouldn't change."
"Jamie, it's not what you think," Wyatt quickly added, hoping to prevent any further misunderstanding.
"It's okay, Wyatt. You don't have to explain."
"No, you don't understand, Jamie," Wyatt persisted. "We think Chris might have been kidnapped."
"Chris seems pretty powerful to be just kidnapped," Jamie answered back, finding it difficult to believe Wyatt.
"Jamie, Chris is powerful, not invincible," he explained. "He has his weaknesses and vulnerabilities."
Although she was inclined to believe Wyatt's explanation, a small voice in the back of her head told her to remain skeptical.
"You know what? Maybe I'll just come back later," she said softly as she turned to walk away.
"Jamie, wait!" Wyatt called out.
"Just let her go," Phoebe suggested. "She probably needs some time to sort everything out. And we need to find a way to locate Chris."
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Chris picked himself up off the floor and got into a defensive stance. "What the hell? I thought you were injured?" he asked angrily.
The girl ignored his question and charged towards him with fury. Despite being more prepared this time, Chris was surprised by the ferocity of his opponent. Her blows were without hesitance and each was designed to injure or hurt her opponent.
After dodging several fists, a blow finally landed on the young Halliwell. Sensing a weakening of her opposition, the girl intensified her attacks and increasingly more blows were finding their target.
Chris, who had up to this point refrained from striking back, decided that he had no other choice. He hated himself for what he was about to do – striking a girl – but he knew that if he didn't do so, he probably wouldn't stand a chance. Chris extended his legs, knocking his opponent off of her feet. He immediately followed up his attack with several more blows.
At this point, the fight became a battle of attrition with neither side gaining an upper hand. Just when Chris saw a small opening, he felt a stinging pain in his back. A quick glance alerted him to the source of his pain. The man that he had locked in the cell earlier had somehow freed himself. It was now two against one.
As if on cue, the girl and the man both attacked Chris at once. Chris fought valiantly but by now, he was exhausted and he had spent what was leftof his energy defending himself against the girl. The fight was now one-sided as blow after blow landed on Chris. Occasional cracks could be heard as his attackers broke the young Halliwell's ribs. Just when Chris felt his world going dark, everything began to spin again and he soon found himself in a brightly lit room.
Chris Halliwell was confused. Was he dreaming all of this or was everything real? As he tried to get up, it became apparent that he was not dreaming. His ribs were definitely broken and the pain that he felt throughout his body was real enough. Not normally so easily discouraged, Chris didn't have any more strength to fight anything or anyone. He just resigned himself to whatever was to be thrown at him next.
Just when Chris decided to close his eyes and just give up, a voice that he recognized called out to him.
- to be continued -