Hey everybody! Thanks to scottgrub, Periphery, Yuki3x3, and harryrulesmyworld for reviewing! Here's chapter 14!
Hay Lin: YOU BETTER TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TO ME RIGHT NOW!
Me: Um, you could just read the story like everyone else…and do the disclaimer while you're at it…
Hay Lin: KaNdRaKaRgrl doesn't own WITCH or "Reflection," by Christina Aguilera
Me: Thank you! Now, on with the show!
Chapter 14
Who I Am Inside Part II
"JUST GET OUT OF HERE!" Hay Lin cried, shoving Irma out of the apartment and slamming the door in her face. Irma could only stand there, stunned. She didn't know where to go. Her best friend's family and her own father were trying to track her down to throw her in the slammer. As she turned to go, a small cry of pain came from the other side of the door, followed by a growing shadow slipping into view out from under the door…
Irma knew she shouldn't, but honestly, do you think she cared? Yeah, that would be a no. So she turned the knob of the unlocked door, swung it slowly open and let herself scream at the sight that lay before her.
Hay Lin was sprawled out on the floor in front of her, eyes closed, her face paler than moonlight. If Irma hadn't seen part two of the sight before her, she would've sworn that her best friend was dead. The water princess ran to Hay Lin's side. The air guardian's skin was so cold; Irma could feel her figure vibrating as her friend visibly shivered. It was like a part of her had disappeared…
Irma felt a shadow sliding over her, and so she turned around to come face to face with none other than…Hay Lin. But it wasn't her friend; it wasn't her friend at all. The figure that stood before her seemed as if someone had cloned the air princess, but this, this was her guardians form, her side of strength, of power. And it wasn't looking too happy to see her. Those almond-shaped eyes were dangerously close to being closed altogether, just narrow little slits glaring down at Irma's form, her arms around the quivering body of her best friend, silently urging her to wake from her state.
"She won't wake," the Hay Lin in front of her said, her lips turned up in a sickly satisfied smile.
"What have you done?" Irma spat disgustedly.
"Look in a mirror and ask yourself that question," the figure answered. "But then again, we wouldn't want that poor mirror to break upon your ugly glance, now would we?"
Irma stood up heatedly. "If you hurt her I swear you'd better start running now because trust me it won't take long for me to catch up and beat the living crap out of you!"
The figure's expression remained unchanged. She simply returned Irma's insistent stare before ripping the girl's heart apart even more. "I would never hurt her; never hurt a girl with such a heart of gold. But you have tainted that heart, Irma." She said her name with such contempt lacing her voice. "You have made it rust with hate, with grief, with pity…with dark thoughts…very dark indeed."
The girl's words cut like a knife through Irma's heart, through her mind, through her emotions. Her hatred of herself had always been there, her feelings that she could never achieve what was remotely close to the perfection that was expected of her, and now, it was as though the world was confirming it, as if the world was saying yes, Irma, you really are worthless.
"I didn't mean for this to happen! I never stole from Hay Lin! I know that it wasn't of my own free will that all of this happened! Fate's plan for me hasn't exactly turned out great, but my own free will had nothing on it!"
"If that were true, you wouldn't have sat back and let this happen," the girl said, gesturing to Hay Lin.
"I can't interfere with something as big as fate!" Irma snapped, dangerously close to letting slip a certain spell that turned a certain boy into a certain amphibian.
"We all write our own destinies, don't we?"
That was all it took. Irma marched over until her face was about a centimeter away from the girl's and took her by the shoulders.
"YOU PUT HER RIGHT!" she screamed, spinning the girl around and knocking her to the floor so that she landed next to Hay Lin.
The girl took her time getting up. "I thought water was supposed to wallow in their emotions." And without further ado, she lifted her hands. Wind began to twirl around her throat, compressing it, the air like fingers digging hungrily into her flesh. As she struggled to choke out a sound of any kind, Irma swung her own hands up, chanting a mantra over and over in her head, when…
THE END
LOL doesn't that just satisfy your need to know the answers to all your questions? I'm just kidding…ANYWAYS, where were we? Oh yes, Irma's getting strangled and Hay Lin's clone has it coming to her…
…the rain cloud visualized in Irma's mind came to life, sprouting out of thin air above the girl's head and proceeding to positively POUR.
The girl simply stood her ground, hands still raised, bloodthirstiness make the features of her face twitch, but managing to maintain her calm veneer.
"Let's see how long it takes your best friend's vision…or her wish, rather, to come true."
And then, Irma saw nothing but herself. Mirrors held her, ripples of water, reflecting upon her soul…and as Irma gazed upon them, her eyes began to fill, her eyes gazing upon the soul of a monster, the monster that had caused her to betray her best friend.
Look at me; you may think you see who I really am
But you'll never know me
Every day, it's as if I play a part
Now I see, if I wear a mask I can fool the world
But I cannot fool my heart
Irma let the tears go as the song filled her head. It's only a trick; it's only a game, only a game, only a game, she chanted, trying to snap herself out of whatever she was in. But the words only continued, pushing Irma deeper and deeper into the wallowing sea of her own darkness.
Who is that girl I see? Staring straight back at me
When will my reflection show who I am inside?
It has, hasn't it? Irma bit her lip, letting the sobs rack inside of herself.
And then she was back. Collapsing on the floor of the apartment, Irma crawled over to where Hay Lin's body lay. She wrapped her arms around her friend, praying that she would be all right. She wanted to belt out the rest of the song right then and there, but her voice caught in her throat. She just felt a wave of relief wash over her as Hay Lin's skin began to warm…
…and a wave of panic as a knock came at the door.
"Police," the person on the other side of the door identified. "We have a warrant. Open up."
Terror overtook Irma and held her in its grip until she had laid Hay Lin on the guest bedroom bed and quietly slipped out the window and onto the fire escape, leaving the rest of the song to play without her, its words of comfort to comfort all…but her.
Finding the door unlocked, Officer Lair entered the apartment and searched…until he came upon an open window, solemnly gazing out of it into the horizon. Letting anger take its course, the window slammed shut under the guidance of his hands and he left the room in silence, letting his daughter's escape confirm his fears.
I am now in a world where I have to hide my heart
And what I believe in
But somehow
I will show the world what's inside my heart
And be loved for who…I…am…
Don't you love a good cliffy? Hehe I know I do! Anyway, like? Don't like? Tell me in a review! Not updating until I have 65! A lot of things will be explained in the next chapter, so review if you want answers to your questions!