Does This Darkness Have A Name?

Copyright WillowSuzzaGleeeee

A/N: Wow, look how far we've come. I really want to thank all of the reviewers, readers, and supporters of this story so much! You've transformed it from a writer's block challenge to an amazing twisted insanity spiraling tale of dark mermaids, and an even darker one out for vengeance. I hit 101 reviews with the last chapter and can not be more ecstatic! Also, please read: Before you go on, I plan there to be a very dark, possibly very graphic scene in this chapter… You're probably thinking, Are you kidding me? I've read all your other chapters and hardly flinched…but this scene might…uh, leave you stuck in utter shock, silence, and at loss for your mind…for many reasons. Rated M, if you haven't got the hint. Please, disturbingly or not, enjoy.

Cleo's POV:

If I hold her hand really tight and close my eyes; make the darkness silent, I can almost pretend I'm in a happy place…a place where everyone's happy and nothing terrible ever happens. But when she sharply pulls, I get reminded of all I have already lost, and all I have to lose…all to one vengeful socio-pathic mermaid who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. But, the question was… What did she want?

She had already stolen Bella away from a happy sane life, and created a dark insane version of her. She had already degraded Rikki into a place where fire couldn't burn her way out of all the scars that would forever be there. …Charlotte hated me most. What would my fate be? In a year, when you heard the name Cleo Sertori, would you think the lucky survivor of Charlotte Watsford's insanitized plotting or the poor girl who had a tragic evil death within this plot? Did I really want to be either?

All I could do now was squeeze Emma's hand tight, hide my tears away, and hopefully save a lost mermaid best friend…or two. Although neither would ever be the same again. We trailed through the halls, walking past each distressed face stare at us in a different form of twisted agony. We walked past the shadows of faces and stopped at the cold room titled Spa; the ultimate relaxation getaway. Ha. Not.

There was only the choice to go into the room where both of our twisted destinies await. Right as I was about to step forward, into the dark gloom, finally be a leader; Emma stopped me. And I look at her, and start worrying for the first time; not about Emma, but about the supposed baby inside of her. Rikki wouldn't have lied… What if the baby gets hurt due to Charlotte's (and Bella's?) twisted vengeance?

"Cleo. Stop. Just this second. I… I need to tell you something." I turn and look at her, smile an understanding twirl of my lip. Wait for whatever insanity she is about to screech out. It can't change that much. I already know, and we're already in the middle of insanity.

Lewis cheated on me with tons of American girls. I cheated on him with his new best mate Drake. Where even was he? (Lewis and Drake?) Rikki got raped by Charlotte's swarm of evil, and finally admitted her love to Zane, at least I think. It didn't matter since she got mermaid-napped by Charlotte and Rikki and I's ex-best friend turned bat-shit crazy, Bella. And now, hopefully, Emma was going to tell me her own secret.

"Cleo, I'm…" Emma opened her mouth wide. Her blue eyes were in war spiraling to look anywhere but in my own broken brown ones. "I…" She can't say it. Should I hold her hand tighter and tell her that I already know, and that it's all going to be okay? Would that be lying?

Pregnant. Pregnant. Pregnant. I will her to say.

Instead, she breezes out a, "I think I…like Will." I bat my eyes, pretending I didn't hear that remarkably weird statement that she's used to cover up the space she should have told me she was pregnant. I wait, and still nothing but expectant silence.

Emma goes on. "I know, it's miraculously weird timing…but, I just thought…um, I don't know… Best friends should tell each other who their almost-lover is in a life-or-death situation…" Emma's fragile. So fragile, it scares me. What ever happened to the predictable dependent Emma who always made sure Rikki and I had our homework done? What happened to Bella? What happened to Rikki? What happened to me?

We were put into a dark twisted real world where there are absolutely no happy endings.

And, Emma's still waiting. I know what she should have told me. But, we don't have time to have a hissy fit over that. Rikki could be dying. Anxiety quickly catches up with me.

"That's…shocking…" I'm not sure what to say. "But Bella's not just going to disappear, you know? Her mind and heart, and hell, maybe even her fucking soul might be gone now…, but when this is over… When we're the survivors, cause we are survivors," If I say it enough, maybe I'll start to believe it, "Bella will still be here. And…we have to fix the broken pieces of her. At least…Will, Rikki, and I will." Maybe. If Rikki isn't lost in this game…

Emma stares at me with ridicule. She believes I'm going mad, and I understand that. But, she won't ever know the delightful happy girl that was Bella Hartley, my best friend. And there's nothing I can do to change that.

Without another word, still holding hands as friends binded with a secret growing colder than death… We hurry into whatever the world with no happy endings brings us.

This world, or heated up spa room brings us an entrancingly beautiful Bella Hartley. Eerie. Wearing that same white dress that makes her a damsel in distress, only, she's causing the distress and she can't turn it off. This time, her damsel dress has blood on it. Emma gasps. Who's blood? Rikki…? No. No. It can't be.

(Lewis said that she went mental and cut Drake up). Why believe Lewis? He's a liar. (You are too). Am I going mental? (We're all a bit fucked up in the head, aren't we?). Only if we pretend we aren't.

Quickly, I rush to my senses. "Bella! You have no idea how worried I was…" I offer a slow smile, but Bella's glaring at Emma's stomach with an evil amount of dark substance-evilness? Could she possess such a quality? By Emma's rapidly anxious breathing, I know I'm the only one that can ease the insanity leaking out from the air.

"Bella, it's all going to be okay. We're going to get away from Charlotte, save Rikki… Do you know where Rikki is, Bella?" I ask. I try to sound like a friend, the cheery Cleo, friend of everyone. The girl I used to be.

"Rikki's getting her punishment for being a whore." Bella said with a cracked giggle, but she isn't smiling. I almost stop breathing. Emma keeps blinking as if she can't handle such madness. Neither can I. Bella does on, "Emma will get hers soon too…" This time, a smile creeps upon her once innocent face. "But….Cleo, I'm sorry about what's going to happen to you. I don't hate you, you aren't one of the evil ones…. But…Charlotte wants what she wants….and she's going to get it." A slow tear falls from Bella's left eye.

Emma looks as if she's about to faint. I have to take control for once in my life; I have to save my friends, insanity suffocating them or not.

"Bella, what does Charlotte want? What does she thinks she's going to get?" I believe if I focus one subject of madness at a time; Bella might answer. Bella might give some truth to all the lies she's been hiding.

Bella stares at Emma, numb evil ice tipping her eyes, pouring the soul I once knew with hatred, and loss… "You took everything away from her. Her mermaid abilities. Her family. Her sanity. Lewis. And, one by one, she's going to take all those things away from you…starting with Rikki. Then Emma, and that mini-slut inside of her-" Bella is going to go on, but I stop her.

"It won't work, Bella. Charlotte and you are working together, for whatever reason I don't know of… But, Bella, as long as you're alive…it won't work. I'll still have someone I love here." Bella looks as if she is going to flat-line into hysteria; disbelief brimming her eyes. I know I got to her. And, I know I'm not exactly lying. I did love her once.

"But that girl you loved, your best friend… She's gone. And, she's never coming back. Mum's gone. Dad's gone. Sanity. Gone. Rikki's friendship's gone. Will's love's gone. And then, me. Plop. Gone." Silence fills this void of madness.

"I don't believe that, Bella." I finally whisper. I lift my hand from Emma's and reach out to Bella. She tentatively touches it, unsure of everything. "I believe we can find that happy girl again, and she'll be whole, and my best friend, just like we always promised we'd be." I'm not sure if I'm lying or not, or even if I should be. I just want a sane Bella again. I want Rikki safe. I want to be away from here.

I wonder what Emma's thinking at my replacing of her hand with Bella's, but I let the thought go. Bella is starting to hold on, which gives me hope. "Maybe, Cleo. Maybe."

And, then this fantasy put into this world of no happy endings comes to an end. Emma scoffs; her anger is uncontrollable and she can't stand it any longer.

"Don't lie, Cleo. Bella is a life-ruining mental cake. We're here to save Rikki, and then to leave Charlotte and you to hell's fate, or police. Cleo, Rikki, and Will have all already left you." Emma says, with a thin line of a smirk. What is she doing? Doesn't she know playing with the fragile evil tends to tip evil to all ends?

"You're right, Bella. You'll be gone. In jail, maybe even a death sentence. But, hey, I'm sure someone as fucked up as you wouldn't mind all too much." Emma finishes. I see fiery anger seize Bella, and I get frightened. There's a menace in her green eyes that I've never seen before. What will she do with it?

Abruptly, Bella pinches my hand and throws it away. She turns away from both Emma and I; leads us down the hall. I can hear her whisper, "Charlotte is waiting for you."

A dark-minded girl wafts in a spotlight; shining on her in the middle of complete darkness.

Charlotte was waiting; her hair was still a dark flame of red, her eyes still evilly ember-and a flash. The dark original mermaid and her friends-the messages. Ember eyes. Evil. And a sister that is not true. I had a gut's feeling that this sister was Bella, but was I supposed to destroy her just because she fell of a path and entered us into this twisted world? Perhaps, but nothing's set in stone yet.

"Hello, Cleo." Once I hear Charlotte's voice, I want to disappear. She is the darkness that has created this world; She is the breathing menacing cruel evil of the world. This is all her fault. She has turned Bella sociopathic, I know it. She has brought hurt and madness into all of us; our eyes will never shine without pain ever again, if we even get out of this hotel. This girl, Charlotte Watsford, wants something. Probably torture. Probably sick satisfaction. And, I know we can't give it to her without us being destroyed. Which won't happen. Can't happen.

"Emma…" Charlotte's smile is just as slick. "You looked a bit different in the last video I saw of you…" A sly sick deluded giggle. "Nevertheless, that's all in the past, isn't it, mermaids? The fun is all right here, right now. Want to start playing?"

I want to slap her, cry my heart's desire out, hide under a rock, and most of all; I want to destroy Charlotte. We've done it once; we can do it again. Too bad Bella was added in to this imperfect recipe of disaster.

"We're not playing a game, Charlotte." Emma speaks, because I cannot. "You're going to show us Rikki, we're going to do whatever it takes to help her get away from you, and then… we're all going to leave here and try to live our lives in peace."

"Ha. Ha." Charlotte chimes. She reveals a remote with control buttons on it. She presses a button and smirks. "You're not the one holding the strings, so therefore, this is a game, and I'm winning."

Rikki rises from the darkness, and I screech. Emma looks like she needs to vomit, and she does. It fills the floor beside me, but it's hardly the most disturbing sight here. Rikki. Tied up, limited of all control. Each of her hands tied in a twirled knotty rope. No fire to burn her way out of here. Her clothes are torn; broken, just like I expect she will forever be. There's some sort of machine harvesting her body. So many monsters, surrounding her in nude man's form. But they aren't; they're creatures of the night. And they're repulsively destroying every tiny piece of the Rikki we used to know. Blue eyes, so innocent, so shameful; they stare straight at Emma and I.

And her wrist. L y i n g W h o r e . The same twisted form of the two letters that were engraved on my own wrist-that the moon gave me. I gasp. The moon and it's dark mermaid were trying to warn me. B.C. Bella, and Charlotte. A deadly combination. Rikki's soul seemed to be dead already.

I could only sit there, in weakened state, watching my strongest best friend being put in such a weak degrading situation. Emma was fighting to get words out.

"You get her out of those ropes and away from those dicks right now!" Emma screeches. Rikki shrieks a whimper through her taped mouth as a lighter starts burning near her chest.

"Please, Charlotte!" I'm in hysteria. I know whose actual fault this is. This has nothing to do with Emma, Rikki, or Bella, not really. This is about what I 'stole' from Charlotte. This is all my fault.

"Let her go." I whimper. "Let her go, please. She's not the one you want to hurt, and you know this. This is all because of me…and," I gulp, "how I stole Lewis from you. You want me. So, please, let her go." I'm a crying breakdown, and I see stray tears fall from Rikki's own eyes and I know I have saved her from the death of numbness.

In all this madness, I don't even notice that Bella and two of the monsters had disappeared.

"Hmmm…I don't know, Cleo. Rikki was the one who hated my music, insulted me, ruined any possible friendship I could have had with you all…and, not to mention, she was such a little slut she had to fuck Will…"

Emma coughs, eyes in disbelief. I'm in shock but we don't have time to worry about her petty somewhat crush right now. I have to save someone for the first time in my life.

"And I'm the one who stole everything from you, made the plan to get rid of your mermaid powers, stole your locket, your grandma's legacy, Lewis… I'm the one you want." Emma's hand has crept back to hold mine, but I know it can no longer keep me safe.

"Nice honesty, Cleo. I suppose…" Charlotte turns to face Rikki. "Dean… Dean's perverted friends?" The monsters turn and give her a smile that makes me shiver. "Tell Rikki her punishment might soon be over…before the end, of course." A giggle. "Cleo, since we've got to the dirt, get on your knees."

I stare at her, wondering if she's for real. What does this mental evil girl have in store for me? "Now." She shouts.

I slowly, crawl myself into a position upon the spa's floor.

"Emma." Charlotte signals the monsters to take hold of her, and they force her to the wall. She struggles to flatten her hand, freeze them; but they curl her hand into a fist, and keep it locked tight. I'm in the middle. Center of troubling attention.

"Cleo…It's time you've admitted that Lewis and I are meant to be." Charlotte says, almost as if she's in a daze of fairytales. I realize; this is her fairytale. The wicked witch (me) and her allies (Emma and Rikki) die, and she gets her prince (Lewis). Does death have to be the end?

Suddenly, Bella floats in. Behind her; two monsters straddling a kicking (in all his science-geekiness delight) Lewis. Lewis's face, which was so angry before, when he saw the outcome of Drake and I, is now so relieved, so happy...to see that I am alive, safe. For the time being.

Then his eyes meet Charlotte. Hers go mad into passionate love. And he goes into terrified dread.

"Hello Lewis." She smiles such a disgusting sweet smile. The monsters let go of him, thank god. He now offers me his hand. What does he plan to do? And am I banished of my anger that he cheated? In these situations, should I be?

Lewis's closeness to me displeases Charlotte. But, she tries to keep cool. "Cleo has something to tell you, don't you, Cleo?" I'm confused. What does she want me to say?

Then, suddenly, cold hands sink into my shoulders. I shudder. Cold hands of Bella. Her mouth, raspy in insanity, whispering secrets into my ear. Tell Lewis that he's too good for you. That he deserves Charlotte. He shouldn't want you because you're a freaky ugly slutface who shouldn't be alive because of all the misfortune you bring to everyone. Say that you wish you could kill yourself because of how you screwed up the perfect fairytale; Charlotte and Lewis. And, now, they should allow themselves to be free and passionate with each other, and torture your soul, cause you're such an ugly whore.

I remember each word as if it is a song. I have no choice but to follow it.

"Lewis… You're too good for me." This calls everyone's attention. Hopeful that this could end okay. "You deserve Charlotte." I lie, "You shouldn't want me because I'm a freaky ugly…slutface who, who, shouldn't be…alive, because of, um, all of the misfortune I bring…to everyone." I realize that one sentence is true. "I wish…I wish I could kill myself be-because I screwed up. I screwed up you and Charlotte's p-perfect fairytale… You," Tears. Crashing. "You should let yourselves be free…and p-passionate with each other…in front of me, to torture my soul…because, I'm such an ugly, really ugly…whore." And Charlotte has won. I know she has.

Charlotte's giggling hysterically, and Lewis looks scared, as he should be. I'm in the middle of the spa, a sobbing mess; Emma and Rikki, the two strongest girls I have ever met, are tied up and their control has been taken away from them; Bella, the insane siren, rooted in the middle of these chaos. Lewis. The object of lust and desire. He's the only one that can really give Charlotte what she wants.

"Isn't she so honest! At least she has some sense!" A crack in Charlotte's laugh. Flaws. Lewis is torn.

"Honey! You didn't answer my, oh fuck it, doesn't matter. I've been waiting forever to be in your arms again. We can make passionate love…in front of them all, show them how we're meant to be. How this is what destiny wants!" Charlotte screams in ecstasy.

Lewis gulps. "Charlotte...what are you talking about?" Aw, for all the smarts he has, he really is a dumb boy.

"Our lustful passionate amazing love, of course." Charlotte answers. Bella is breathing heavy in my ear, and both Rikki and Emma are in compromising situations.

"We have to make Cleo jealous. We have to show them all the brilliance of our love for me to feel really vengeful! They all have to pay. And, we'll show them. This is what they get, what she gets, for tearing us apart."

It clicks in Lewis's mind, but his blue eyes still waver to me. After all these happenings, he's still looking for my permission in this life-or-death situation? He didn't ask for my permission when he was fucking every single Cali fake-tanned bitch he could find. I, slowly, nod.

Lewis smiles at Charlotte. "Baby, I'm gonna rock your world like I should have years ago. You ready," He winces, "Pumpkin?" Her eyes electrify of desire. She nods.

I can hear a snort of a hidden laugh from Rikki. Even in this wretched situation, she finds Lewis's fake-sex-talk funny? Ohmyshit. I'm going to watch my true love have sex with my sworn enemy… What comes after this? Freedom? My soul whispers not.

She positions herself on top of him, gripping his clothes like the vicious monster she is. She unbuttons his plaid shirt; smears evil kisses down his chest and to where his boxers stops. Does she not notice he's staring at me the entire time? He stops her. Rage is now deep within her ember eyes. I search for a sign from the moon, the dark mermaid, but all I get is disgust, sadness, and fear. Incredible fear.

"Charlotte…pumpkin… Why don't you, uh, show off your beautiful body to all these disgusting mermaids…?" He's completely lying, but that doesn't make me feel better. She spirals in glee.

"You think mermaids are disgusting? I don't have to be one to please you?" He answers her with a petrifying kiss on her ear.

"Of…course not. Anything unlike you is very much disgusting. In fact… We should just leave those animals here, and leave together. We don't need any of them. We should just live together…for all of eternity, and forget them, forever." He's slipping her out of her own dress. Their bare bodies mixed together is suffocating me into disgust. I can't get out it.

I know what he's doing. Planning to get her away from us all. But, it won't work.

She just smiles. She slips her head to where she believes he needs constant pleasing. She's right. I'm jealous. Lewis and I never got to that part of love. Will we ever? Would I ever want to, after witnessing this?

She's sucking him, completely… And it's hard to pretend there isn't a form of twisted pleasure exploding on his face. I'm crying, I realize. And when…when Lewis…finishes upon Charlotte's pale evil array of atoms placed on a face; I feel an urge to slip away into death. Maybe the end would be nice, as long as I'd be the one to choose it…

Then Charlotte whispers, as her place of lost undies meets his, "We're going to kill them all. Cleo last. And you're going to have so much fun with it."

A different explosion occurs on Lewis's face. Anger. Ear-splitting anger. He lets out a breath of anger, and pushes her off him, slaps her onto the floor. "You messed up girl! I won't let you hurt Cleo, or any of the girls!"

Everyone is in a disarray of shock. The monsters have temporarily left their hands off their prisoners, shocked that Lewis just hit Charlotte. As am I. Bella breathes louder into my ear. Silence is uttered in the room for the passing of moments.

Charlotte squeals, "No. No. NO! You can't do this to me! You can't! You fucking Lewis! YOU ARE MINE. I did this all for you! Don't you understand that? You're going to become just as obsessed with me as I'm obsessed with you, and we're gonna fucking live in my fairytale where all these mermaid bitches are dead! Do you understand? Do you understand?" Now snot pours from Charlotte's nose. Her cries are devouring the room.

"No, Charlotte. I said no." Lewis replies, so sharply, so calmly; it scares me. "You'll never be Cleo." He says. My heart flurries, until I see complete nothingness take hold of Charlotte's eyes.

"Just. Let. Let me, Lewis? Let me please you. That's all I've ever wanted to do." Charlotte replies, so softly. The same nothingness in her eyes. A giggle from Bella, in my ears.

"No-" But Lewis is cut short. Entirely. Cut short. Charlotte has pounced upon him; destroying the most private part; With one single sharp strike of the knife, veiled in the fallen pocket of her dress; blood is erupting. She cut it…She cut it off. Blood. Too much blood. Denial floods through me.

Charlotte's cackling, then sobs erupt from her. I cry as well. "See this, Cleo? This precious piece of Lewis! It's your fault I took it from him! You want it! I bet you do!" She takes it, feels it with squeezing twists and turns, then throws; it hits me and falls into my hands. I shake my head and let go. So much blood. No. No. No.

Lewis's face is slowly oozing in and out of consciousness. I run over, straddle Charlotte out of my way. I take hold of him, and sob. "Lewis! Lewis! Can you hear me, sweetie? Please, Lewis. Hold on. Hold on to me." All I get is a wavering closing of eyes. I still feel his grip; holding so tightly; he won't let go.

Then, I feel the hands of the monsters. All of them. "You pissed off the Queen, now let's see what fun we can have with you!" The monsters seize me, push me away from Lewis's fading form. They're on top of me, and I close my eyes. Pretend they aren't shifting my clothes; my soul. Pretend the darkness isn't real.

Suddenly, gasps erupt in the room. Fire is all over the monsters of men, destroying them to bits. They're screaming and I back away. Rikki. Her hands are free. Bella has untied them, and looks quite confused. Rikki now controls the fire. "Nobody messes with my mermaid besties." She says, quietly.

I smile in joy of victory. And, then I rush over to Lewis. Still drifting in a bloody mess.

"I'm sorry, Cleo. But I owe her." I hear Bella's voice, but I'm too busy helping Lewis sit up, hugging him to near death… He's whispering, "I love you, Cleo. Love Cleo."

Suddenly, the blood is shattering in a different form. It's red substance-red jelly blood. Lewis… Bella is destroying Lewis's chance to live. Why? Why is there such evil surrounding us? Why…

Lewis's eyes shut. His body flails to the spa's floor. The blood jelly stops flowing. I move my hand to Lewis's neck, searching for a pulse. No pulse. No Lewis. No hope. No love. No life.

Lewis McCartney, my true love, is dead. And looking at the new unveiled smile spread across Charlotte's face of evil, I know; She has won. And the game's hardly even begun.

A/N: Told you it would be…uh, not your normal I-can-handle-anything-chapter. Hope I didn't disturb you just a tad too much this time, then again, I kind of hope I did. So, a murder (one of the most horrifying kinds) has taken it's toll…what else might happen in the next aura of darkness? Review to find out. Give me your disgust, shock, sobbing, happiness (?), but most definitely; your loveliness of telling me all your inner-thoughts on this story's tragic horrid new chapter. xoxo.