Ellie Parkinson and the Realm of Evil

Evil Strikes Again

The sun had concealed back in the clouds and the temperature seemed to drop drastically as evening fell. Astonishingly, three hours had passed since I entered the tent. I had lost track of time inside the mystical place and gotten so engrossed in the future that I nearly overlooked the present. Shoving all the events that occurred in the tent to the back of my mind, and adrenaline rushing through my blood, I ran as fast as my barely healed legs could take me, my brain thundering and heart pounding like a pendulum. I reached the place where I had left Matt, panting atrociously I looked hither thither but discovered no sign of the three anywhere. I took out my mobile from my handbag hoping to call them but the battery had been completely drained. Clenching my teeth in frustration I threw it back inside. Extreme anxiety seemed to conquer me completely as I rushed towards the Ferris wheel. What on earth could have happened to Judy? Did she fall from someplace? Or did someone hurt her? These thoughts kept swerving in my head as I searched for them at the height of desperation. However, to my utmost surprise, everything seemed quite normal around the place, no sign of anything unusual or life-threatening. All around me everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves as usual. I was extremely muddled as I walked, eyeing everyone anxiously like a crackpot, hoping for the slightest sign of Judy or Matt or Alex. Abruptly, I felt a hand being placed on my shoulder, and I turned around alarmingly with a jerk, to my relief, it was Matt. He held his hand on his nose which had begun to bleed as a result of a collision with my shoulder when I jerked.

“Oh my god, Matt! I'm so sorry,” I apologized, frantically digging my handbag to search for my handkerchief which I passed to him and he covered his b****y nose with it. I moaned guiltily as he wiped his nose, which hadn't ceased to bleed.

“Where the hell have you been Ellie?” Matt demanded aggressively, still holding the handkerchief to his nose, the smash on his face had elevated his anger. “I searched the entire place like a lunatic for you, and on top of that your mobile is switched off,”

“Matt, I'm extremely sorry. After you left, I really needed to visit the loo, and it was located almost a mile away from the stalls, and I lost track of the path while returning,” I lied quickly, looking highly apologetic and innocent, which softened his expression largely.

“It's alright, it was my fault, I shouldn't have left you there alone. Here, I got you a present,” he admitted, handing me an expensive heart-shaped bracelet.

“Oh Matt, that's so sweet of you. But there was honestly no need of such a precious gift,”    

“I couldn't get you anything for your birthday Ellie, so this is just compensation,” he beamed, looking at me wearing the bracelet. The intensely affectionate feelings for Matt that I had so stubbornly locked in some corner of my heart began gushing out, as I stared at the lovely bracelet with pure affection. 

We began our search for those two love birds across the humongous park. My mind kept pondering about Judy's mysterious scream which seemed to echo in my ears like a catchy song. I was damn sure it was Judy's voice, I could never fail to recognize my best friend's in a hundred years. But how was it possible that no one else heard it? Or was it that we shared some sort of connection, like twins do, that I could hear her voice and unconsciously feel her pain in my mind? We had nearly reached the park's exit when Matt's phone rang loudly, alarming me instantly. Matt received the call, and within a few seconds his eyes widened in shock, he immediately threw the phone in his jeans' pocket and grabbing my hand rushed outside the exit as fast as he could, with me trembling with intensified dismay and confusion.

“Alex has suffered a terrible injury,” he revealed, waving desperately towards a cab as Alex's car was nowhere to be found. We got into a cab that stopped and rushed to Lord James' Hospital where he was admitted. Fortunately, we reached the hospital within half an hour thanks to the clear roads and zoomed inside the ward where Alex was kept. Judy sat weeping beside his bed holding his hand, as he lay unconscious with an oxygen mask on his face and a thick b****y bandage wrapped around his head which seemed to have nearly cracked open. She saw us and dashed forwards to hug me tightly. No words of consolation came out of my mouth and could only caress her hair to try and calm her down. At that moment, a hefty doctor sporting a French beard and wearing a stethoscope entered the ward followed by a young nurse.

“Could you all kindly wait outside, the patient needs to rest. We'll inform you when he regains consciousness,” the doctor entreated, and we moved outside, with Judy still holding onto me like a child.

“Judy could explain what exactly happened,” demanded Matt, with a slight tone of harshness but turned soft as I gave him the look, while still patting Judy whose tears refused to cease.

“How did this happen, Judy?” I asked her reposefully, placing my arm around her shoulder as we seating her on the bench outside the ward.

“Humph, we, we were happily ice skating, holding our hands and then chasing each other, when suddenly, a faceless man in a black hoody skating from the opposite direction crashed into him with a gut-wrenching pang, and Alex went flying backwards and smashed his head against the ice,” she sobbed, and I gave her a handkerchief to blow her nose. “b****y scoundrel that hooded guy! I didn't even stay back to help and just disappeared. Some good souls helped me carry him to our car and I raced him here,” she finished, sending jolts of electricity across my spine. Was it possible? I thought, my body radiating with terror. Could it be that demon or creature or whatever it was, that had been haunting me continuously, to have scathed Alex? First me, and now my friend, was this creature going to hunt us all down? Profuse sweat oozed through my hair and flowed across my cheeks and neck, despite the freezing weather outside, as my blood curdled with utmost apprehension. 

 Alex’s parents rushed to the hospital at around midnight, both anxious and distressed at the same time. The three of us fearfully expected an exchange of words with them but to our relief, it was quite the opposite, as both were extremely understanding and admitted that accidents like these do occur sometimes and no one has control over anything. Matt and Judy both stayed the night at the hospital along with his parents, while I had to rush home due to my strict and overly possessive parents no matter how I wanted to stay back with them. I could not sleep the entire night, Judy's words about the hooded man who injured Alex still kept ringing in my ears, and fear bubbled like acid in my stomach. Peace had been thoroughly extinguished from my life. While being awake, I had to be on my toes and be alert for any mishap that could occur or of the appearance of that fiendish hooded creature, and when my eyes closed at night, I experienced that irksome nightmare time and again. In addition to all that, Judy's supposed scream which I heard in Madam Maxima's tent lead me to raise more questions on my sanity. 

Alex was discharged the next day, his head heavily bandaged and having received nearly ten stitches.

“How are you feeling Alex?” I asked as we sat in the school cafeteria three days later. His parents had insisted he take a week's leave from school, however, no matter how adventurous or happy-go-lucky he portrayed himself to be, he didn’t wish to miss out on any lectures, especially since it was our final year.

“Way better Ellie, thanks,” he replied with a genuinely reassuring grin. “The only regret I have is, coz of me our New Year's Eve got spoiled,”            

“Will you shut your mouth!” scolded Judy and Matt together, as they both slapped him gently on his shoulder simultaneously.

“Do you recall the incident, Alex?” I inquired, hoping to receive more details about the guy who injured him.

“Not much to be honest, all I remember is chasing Judy in the ice rink and I looked sideways for a second and got dashed, after that it all went blank.

“Was that all?”

“Yeah, that's pretty much it, I looked sideways, heard Judy shriek and clashed with someone,” he added, and a sudden surge of relief broke across my face, lightening my heart. So Judy did scream, and it was not my hallucination, I thought, sipping my cold coffee. But, that still didn't explain how I was able to hear it booming in my ears when Madam Maxima's tent was situated nearly half a mile away from the ice rink. The period bell screeched and we zoomed back to our respective classes, my mind still pondering over the plausibility of that incident.