The Four Sisters - Chapter 10 Confrontation Pt. 1

I lost myself to the darkness once again. But, this time, it was worse than it had ever been before.

I felt myself falling. Falling faster and further than I ever had before. My eyes failed me. I could see nothing, nothing except that eternal darkness that surrounded me. My breath caught in my throat. The darkness was nothing incarnate. No sound, no light, nothing. My stomach dropped and ascended over and over again. As if I were on an ever changing course, up, then down, then up. But, I knew I was still falling. I don’t know how I knew, I just did.

Then, all at once, light blinded me. It struck my eyes painfully. Rather than relief, it brought with it fear instead. Crushing fear for what was coming. For what would happen now. I was further gone than I had ever been before. More lost than ever before. And worse, I was aware.

All the other times, I couldn’t fight my darkness because I didn’t know I was gone. It would silently and stealthily pull me away from reality without me being any the wiser. Like an eternal dream that I couldn’t ever truly wake from. Then, after I became aware that I had slipped away, I could fight it, I could claw my way back.

But this timethe darkness didn’t bother to fool me. It didn’t need to.

I tried to wake myself. Tried to force my way out from the terrifying nothingness that surrounded me.

No matter what I didI couldn’t break free. Every effort felt futile. As if I was trying to break free from a thick rubber ball with nothing more than my fingers. I pushed and my reality bent with me. I screamed and no one could hear me. I coaxed myself, trying to awaken from the slumber I knew I had been thrust into. Nothing worked.

My usual tricks seemed to have been taken into consideration and were useless.

As the light blinded me I felt despair. What would happen to me now?

All around me, white nothingness prevailed. The light was less obtrusive, though whether that was due to me growing accustomed to it, or because it had truly dimmed, I do not know.

Seeing where I was did nothing to help. Instead, it brought more despair. I was truly alone.

Previously, when I was whisked away from reality, it was to another so-called reality. One that everything alwaysworked in. If I wanted something, I was always able to get it. I was never wrong. No one ever tried to argue, or fight with me. People there adored me.

I know that this was my darkness’s way of trying to keep me in that reality for as long as possible. Trying to keep me from wanting to go back to my own reality. It worked, sometimes. I would hesitate to return to my own reality, but I always returned. I always knew that I should return, no matter how tempting the alternative was.

But this timethis time my darkness did not try to tempt me. It seemed that, this time, it didn’t need to. It could trap me without any trickery, or even much effort.

I cried then. I cried becausethis was my own fault. I gave into my darkness so many times. I let it do as it wished. I let it take me away when my own life and reality became too hard. I evenI even felt grateful to it at times.

How stupid I was.

How stupid was it that I actually gave it everything. I gave it my mind, body, spirit. I did it gladly. I acted as if I was the one in control, when in reality; I was only lead to believe I was in control by the darkness.

It knew everything. It took everything I gave it. Why wouldn’t it? I was foolish enough to hand over my life, in every sense of the word, why wouldn’t it accept it?

I was foolish enough to hide when I should have been learning to fight.

I regretted so much in that instant, but so what? I couldn’t do anything anymore. I’d already given everything awaywhat else could I do?

All that time that I was trying to understand the darknessall I was doing was allowing the darkness in further and further, while learning nothing in the process.

I cried as I lay on the floor. I cried for my own sake. I thought of my sisters. I wondered what would become of them. I cried for their sakes. But really, I cried because that was the only thing that I could do. I could only cry and regret.

I do not know how long I stayed there, time almost seemed to stop existing.

It was almost as if time had never existed in the first place. I began losing myself.

it is difficult to explain entirely. Iwas beginning to believe that maybe I was always there, in that space. If time did not exist, then could there have been a moment that I was not there? Could there be anything other than that empty place that I resided in?

Then, a moment came that something changed. As I lay staring up at the white expanse above me, a voice came into my mind. Where did it come from?

I did not know, I was almost convinced that it was my own inner voice. Stray thoughts came and went, there was no rhyme or reason to them. Some made sense, but most did not.

The voice sounded distantand the words were hard to make out. If anyone else could have heard it, perhaps they would have asked it to repeat itself. Butsomehow, I knew what it had said, despite the fact that it was so hard to “hear”.

“I can only give you this chance.”

Originating from that voice, a wave began and then spread out around me. The white and light cracked and broke away. No sound could be heard from it, but the pieces of the reality around me broke, shattering and falling all around me.

In its place, a myriad of colors and sounds burst forth.

It was like I had been thrust into a colorful tapestry that had somehow formed its own reality.

The colors did not come from anything, they seemed to only exist. They were neither far, nor near. Forever out of reach.

Stunned, I watched the colors swirl and shift in the distance. My voice caught in my throat, I was unsure that I could form words.

Then, as the amazement of everything that was surrounding me was still fresh, a feeling of overwhelming dread over took me.

I felt a chill roll down my spine, with another following it, then another. My mouth grew dry, my skin felt tight against my body. My stomach began to roll in anticipation.

But anticipation for what?

As the feeling grew, I turned. There, I found something that I will never forget.

I saw myself. I was standing, not far from where I stood presently.

My hair was pulled up, with strands of hair having fallen free. I was dressed in a knee length simple blue dress, though its color suited my skin tone perfectly and caused it to appear sophisticated and pretty.

My arms were crossed over my chest and my eyes revealed an almost lazy intelligence. Scorn was clear within them. My thin lips, rosier than usual due to a light lip balm that had been applied, were pulled down in an unhappy scowl.

As I stared, unsure of what was happening, the other me spoke.

“Are you done? Did you get a good look?”

Dumbfounded, I could feel my eyes widen in shock.

The other me pursed her lips before rolling her eyes. She began to smooth out her dress as she continued addressing me.

“Well, let’s get this over with, I have things to do.”

Before I could ask what was happening, the other struck.

Moving faster than should be possible, she darted forward. A blink, and she would have appeared to have teleported to stand in front of me.

My eyes widened at her speed, but before I really had time to process, a heavy blow hit my stomach. Whether from a kick or a punch, I am unsure. I only know that it hurt.

I doubled up, coughing and struggling for the breath that was taken from me.

As I leaned forward, her knee came up, striking me in my face. I knew this would break my nose and was unsurprised when the blood and pain came after.

I fell to the ground and darkness claimed me once again.

I do not know how long I was unconscious for, but it did not seem to be long.

Opening my eyes, I found myself still in that world of color. I glanced around and was quickly able to locate my attacker.

She sat, not far from myself, atop a grouping of color that had formed itself into a makeshift chair.

She didn’t turn as I sat up.

She spoke without looking toward me.

“You know, I was hoping that we would be able to finish this quickly.” She smiled faintly. It was a smile that spoke to both her sinister nature and amplified her simplistic beauty.

She turned toward me then, her eyes were colder than anything I had ever experienced before.

“Looks like we’ll have to do this the hard way.”