Chapter 17: Reflections
Rays of hope shined down from the sheltering sky above, and the people of the town rejoiced. They danced across the glittering streets, ignoring the broken pavement and collapsed houses caused by the Phantom and the Poes. The Phantom always destroyed faster than they could rebuild. But today was not a day for sorrow, for gloom. Today the Phantom would not attack them. Today they were free.
Maple watched as the people bathed in their happiness. She felt their bliss, their ignorance. For a while it warmed her too, but Maple had learned long ago how to shun away those feelings, how to protect herself. Though the sun rained warmth and light, it was blinding if stared at too obsessively.
From where Maple crouched, there was no light. Her pointed hat covered her wan, expressionless face. On her knees, she touched two cold, grey stones before her. They were gravestones.
Maple squinted to hold back the tears. "Mother, father, where are you?" She pounded her fists into the earth, breathing heavily. "Why did you have to leave?" Instantly an image procured itself in Maple's mind, a remembrance of the past:
Pellets of water rained down from the sky like poison, moistening the earth with a foul sickness. Maple, now a young child, cheery and warm, stood between two large, towering people, walking through the streets. They ran hurriedly, searching for cover, trying hopelessly to outrun the rain.
The sky grew dark and a figure, silhouetted in the shadows, slowly came forward, holding in his hands a wand. Maple put a hand to her mouth in astonishment as the figure's wand pointed at her mother. She prepared to scream, but it was too late. Her mother fell to the ground in a pool of blood. Maple's father, stricken with hatred, ran towards the dark figure. But he too fell with a flick of the creature's wand, and soon blood flowed profusely from his body.
Maple was between her two fallen parents now, crying on her knees. The creature revealed itself from the shadows, finally coming into the dim light.
"What is you name?" he said, smiling. Maple gave no answer. Instead, she crawled over to her mother and wept solemnly. The creature took another step forward, his wand pointed to the floor. "I am the Phantom." Maple looked up at him with sullen eyes. "Have you heard of me? Yes, I thought you might have. You know, I am not as bad as everyone says. I'm just strong. And I've been told you too are strong, girl. You are young now, but you'll grow; you'll learn. People like you and me are meant to take over the world. Why should we not exert our power? Is it our fault everyone else is too weak to survive? Just look at your parents." The Phantom bent low and touched Maple's father with a bony arm.
"Don't you touch him!" Maple screeched, too afraid to move.
The Phantom obeyed reluctantly, rising into the air again. "As you wish. I am just looking out for you, my girl. These two were too weak to protect you. I showed you this. They failed you, girl. You trusted them and they let you down. If I was anyone else, I'd kill you, but I won't. It is your choice, girl. It has always been. And it will always be." The Phantom put his arm forward and dropped the wand to the ground, letting it bounce and slowly clatter into silence. The rain pounded against it, making it gleam. Maple looked up at the Phantom, the rain washing over her tears. The shadow turned his back and flew off silently into the night.
For a while Maple stared into the sky, the rain pounding against her face, as the Phantom dispersed into the clouds. Then she glanced down at the ground, to the soaking magic wand, pellets of rain colliding against it. Maple looked to her parents' lifeless bodies, then back to the wand again. She picked it up.
Crouched down by her parents' graves, in the same position as she had been the day they died, Maple wept until no more tears would come. Then she forced herself to get up and walk into town.
As she dragged herself through the streets, Maple noticed the way the town looked at her. They loathed her. They knew what she had become. She had once been one of them, but now she was something different. That day that Maple wished to forget changed her forever. After that day, she had walked through the streets with a different stature. She was no longer humble and cheery and naïve. She was suspicious and merciless and tyrannically. She had turned on anyone who gave her strange looks. And with her new-found power, Maple had quickly learned that it would not be difficult to assure her safety. But eventually the town had gathered together and forced her to leave. She had not choice but to obey.
Now she was back, and perhaps for a time they would not notice. Besides, they had bigger trouble. Soon after Maple had left, the attacks on the town escalated. It had seemed that no week would go by without at least one life lost.
As the sun set, Maple clutched her stomach in hunger. She wouldn't know where to find any food. The town had changed so much since she was last there. It was forced to mutate and evolve, like an endangered virus, into something new. Maple saw this same trait in herself.
She saw a young boy walking the opposite way, and she stopped him.
"Excuse me, but do you know where I can get-?"
She stopped as she saw the boy's eyes peel open, and he staggered backwards. He pointed a long, hateful finger at her. "Don't you touch me!" he screamed. "I know who you are! You are not wanted here! Go away!" Then he ran away. For a minute Maple could have sworn she saw the clouds grow dense and rain down upon her. She could almost feel the touch of the chilling water.
When Maple finally found some food to eat, she consumed it quickly and then retreated back to the alleyways where she wouldn't be seen. She found a tiny fountain lined with bricks and filled to the brim with still water. The fountain was off now, but the water was still beautiful. Maple closed her eyes and dunked her head into the fountain, attempting to wipe the filth of the day away. She took her head out and pushed her soaking black hair away from her face. "Oh, Maple," she said shamefully. "Look at what you've become." The Witch without a broom stared down into the still waters, down into her own reflection. But what she saw bore no resemblance to herself. She saw a monster; a monstrosity; an embarrassment. She was the Phantom.
