A Neverending Story

Chapter Two-Bye Bye, Suzie!

"What do you want?" I demanded to know. I asked this rather rudely, but I was on my way to meet, and possibly marry, someone that I was pretty sure I hated. Cut me some slack, okay?

The woman, unfortunately, did not to hear the annoyance in my voice. Either that or she chose to ignore it.

"I do not want anything," the dead woman replied, sounding amused, "It's you I'm trying to offer advice to."

Well, I must say, this was a new one. A ghost telling me that I was the one being helped, I mean. Usually I was the one who offered guidance and consolation…and, if necessary, a little push along, sometimes consisting of using my fist. Yes, I know, you must be thinking, 'What an improper thing for a lady to be doing!' but it was my job. Maybe I should explain.

I was what was called a mediator, who could see, talk to, and even touch ghosts. It had been this way for as long as I can remember, and as far as I'm concerned, it's not much of a benefit. Ghosts are constantly appearing out of nowhere at the most inconvenient times, like when I happen to be at Mass or in a conversation with my family members. I'm then forced to make up some excuse to leave to go talk to the ghost in aide. If the ghost is one that doesn't want to be helped, who perhaps is a little more stubborn than I was willing to handle, then it would often end up in a fight or me getting into some sort of awkward, sticky situation.

Like I said: my life wasn't exactly a picnic.

So, right then, staring at this ghost of the elderly woman, you can see why I dimly wanted to laugh right into her gloomy, yet firm, face. Ghosts rarely even wanted my help, and suddenly, one wanted to help me? All of a sudden curious, I looked back up at her.

"What…what kind of advice?" I asked testily.

"Don't go to see Felix Diego. I'm telling you, he's a bad man with…intentions." Her face, which seemed to be completely serious, looked pleading. But I wasn't about to give into her just yet.

"Like what?" I asked. Personally, I didn't want to meet Felix Diego in the first place, but I was doing it for my mother. Or so I told myself. Because of being a mediator, I had always felt like something of a disappointment to her. While the other girls were sewing or being taught the edicate or table manners, I was off battling ghosts. My mother didn't know anything of my unusual 'gift', and I planned to just keep her in the dark about it. Going to meet, and possibly marry, Felix Diego, I hoped to make up to her the dissatisfaction of having a daughter such as me.

The woman opened her mouth to explain more fully to me what she thought, or knew, but was interrupted by sudden light streaming into the carriage. The door was held open by the driver, and he was looking at me questioningly. I tried to look innocent, as though I hadn't been talking to a ghost just a minute before about the dangers of Felix Diego.

The driver, brushing aside his confusion, informed me, "Ma'am, we'll be departing soon. Do you have everything you need?"

I nodded with vigor, and looked back at the woman as soon as the driver had shut the door once again. It was no use. She was gone.

Sighing in frustration, I looked back out the window. This was the problem with ghosts. Just when you think they're going to tell you something important, they dematerialize on you. That's the thanks I get for being a liaison between living and dead, and the only mediator around for miles. At least that I know of.

Outside, my mother waved goodbye to me, and I did the same back to her. Despite my less than normal habits of getting in trouble so frequently, I knew that my mother still loved me. It was apparent that she did, judging by the fact that she looked heartbroken to be saying goodbye to me for what was to be a long time away from home.

Yes…this was the first time away from home on my own, but I was sure I would be able to manage it. As it was custom, I had to arrive alone at my future husband's home, and he would then see if I was fit to marry. He had sent for me in his own horse and carriage, and judging by the interior of it, he was not short on money, by any means.

The seats were upholstered in what looked like some sort of red velvet, the same material of the curtains, which were swept back from the window. There was a piece of cloth that hung loosely between my compartment and where the driver sat, and the whole place smelled sharply of orange blossoms. My own family was well off, but clearly did not have the same extent of wealth that the Diegos did, so I was unaccustomed to the luxury of it all. Well, I guess that would be one perk to being married to Felix Diego—I would never really have to work hard for anything in my life, I thought bitterly.

Tired of looking around, I slowly lowered my head and pressed it against the cool glass of the window. I sat this way for many moments before I dozed off, breathing lightly and forgetting all my worries and anxious thoughts over seeing my future husband.

I awoke some time after sunset, suppressing a yawn of drowsiness. Were we here so early? I had thought it would take at least until tomorrow morning, given that we stopped only a few times on the way.

No, I thought, something isn't right. The stillness around me was unsettling, save for the calls of a few birds in the distance.

Abruptly, the carriage lurched forward. I sat up suddenly, my heart beating wildly and my pulse quickening drastically. Looking out the window, I was startled by what I saw.

The carriage seemed to be leaning forward, gradually slipping towards the rocks below. The sea churned and crashed against the rugged rocks more than 50 feet below. The carriage teetered dangerously close to the edge.

"HELP!" I screeched, when the reality of the situation had finally sunk in. I whipped back the curtain which separated me from the driver, only to find an empty bench where he should have been sitting. I called out once again, but soon gave up my desperate attempt to be heard. Instead, I jerked open the door and tumbled out, landing painfully on my arm with a nauseating crack. My arm collapsed as pain shot up it, throbbing in agony. I knew that I was lucky to have broken only my arm, though, because it, at least, had a chance to heal.

I spoke too soon.

"And now," a voice boomed ominously from somewhere to my left, "you die."

I opened my eyes, which I had shut immediately after experiencing the white hot pain of my broken bone. I clutched my arm to me, staring over to where the voice had come from. Shocked, I gaped at the figure standing there.

Felix Diego stood there, gazing down at me with an expression of intense dislike. I knew his face from portraits I had seen of him, but in person, he was more malicious and evil that I ever would have imagined. I guess that that also had something to do with the fact that he was trying to kill me.

"But…why?" I asked plainly, ignoring the shooting pains in my arm.

"Because, my dear, I am engaged to you. Yet, you are not the one I am going to marry. Instead, my wife shall be the beautiful Maria, and you stand in the way of me and her," he answered simply.

My eyes widened. It was one thing to break off our engagement, but to try to kill me? That was something different entirely. I voiced my thoughts, but he just laughed coldly, an evil laugh that sent shivers down my spine.

"Why not just break off the engagement, you ask? Well, the answer is simple enough. It's just so much easier this way," he said.

I stared at him, openmouthed, while thoughts raced through my mind, blurring my vision and clouding my brain. This guy is crazy. That's it. Why else would be trying to kill me just so he could marry his precious Maria?

"And now…I'm sorry to have to say, its time to go. Too bad we didn't get to know each other all that well," he said, sounding just the opposite of sorry—more like he was satisfied that his evil, sick plan was working out.

Diego shoved me hard, square in the center of my chest. I felt myself falling, cascading down the sheer cliff that just seconds ago I had been anchored to. I reached out; trying to hold onto something, anything, but my hand grasped nothing but air. Diego stood, silhouetted against the dim light of the sunset. His cruel form, shaking uncontrollably from laughter, grew smaller with each passing moment. The fall felt like an eternity.

I heard a huge crack, probably the splintering of broken bone, as I landed. I heard it, yet I felt nothing. That's odd, I mused. You'd think that falling fifty feet off of a sheer cliff would've had some pain involved, but apparently I was beyond pain. I was…well, I didn't know exactly what I was at the moment.

Cautiously, I tried to sit up, and bizarrely, I did so without much difficulty. I looked up at the cliff where I had fallen from and noticed that Felix Diego no longer occupied the threatening overhang. Then, I looked down at myself, checking for broken bones.

It was then that I realized that I was glowing. And, lying beside me in the shallow water was a mangled, just-fallen-from-a-50-foot-high-cliff-version of me. Dazedly, I remembered the old lady's warning I had ignored just hours before. Felix Diego wasn't just a man with bad intentions, as she had described him to be…no, he was a crazy, deceiving beast who had just stolen the thing most dear to me...my life.

Hey. Sorry that this chapter is a little gory, but eh...it just came out on paper that way, I guess. I promise I won't beat up Suze so much in the future :)

Also, I know that Jesse wasn't a mediator, so if Suze had his life, she wouldn't be one either. I just made her one because I felt like it was kind of important to how she can be cynical and maybe a little violent. Well, just please review!