Ellie Parkinson and the Realm of Evil

The Realm of Evil

The warmth of summer drifted into my life with the arrival of May. Carrying along immense hopes of a smoothly ordinary and peaceful life. Whether I admitted or not, I was frustratingly tired of how the events had turned out in my life since the time of my birthday. The transition from a teen to an adult had been so drastic mentally, that I desperately longed for the days when I had no care in the world other than school and exams. Meanwhile, the doors of Brent High opened again, even though the anonymous culprit hadn't landed in the clutches of the police. However, life seemed to turn normal as the burden of our final exams came crashing down on the three of us. Our twelfth-grade finals were board exams where the paper arrived directly from the ministry of education and was sent to them for correction too, which meant, that pupils like me who desired for top grades had to make sure that our paper appeared flawless to the elderly examiners. 

“Your exam schedule is atrocious!” Judy exclaimed, staring at the notice board and agitated by the finals too. “They shoved history on the same day as math, and physics alongside French! What could be worse?!”

“Calm down girl. My schedule's fine, I can manage French and mug up history so no worries,” I asserted, pulling her away from the notice board as we walked towards the cafeteria during lunch. The school authorities had shifted the cafeteria's position from beside the swimming pool arena to junior’s block due to the constant requests by parents as the children were substantially traumatized by the horrendous scenario in the kitchen that day. We walked across the massive football field, chatting animatedly when suddenly a ball came flying in our direction. Without turning my face, I casually waved my hand in the air and it froze in mid-air for a fraction of a second and sped off with an equivalent force in the opposite direction as though smacked hard, and landed on the guy's head who had shot it, knocking the wind out of him. Judy didn't manage to notice this as I had distracted her by yelling Alex's name and pointing in the other direction. 

We met Alex and Matt who sat staring dreamily into space and munching on a large pepperoni pizza.

“What's the matter with these two?”

“Probably lost a football game,” I remarked and we both sniggered uncontrollably.

Judy walked stealthily behind Alex and grabbed his neck from behind, causing him to nearly choke on the pizza, as he wrapped his left arm around her face. While Matt and I exchanged an awkward ‘hi' and I sat opposing him beside Alex. We hadn't gotten a chance to chat up since the day of his trial and, therefore, we communicated awkwardly through body language.

“How you doing Ellie,” Alex greeted, punching me lightly on my shoulder while finishing the rest of his pizza, as Judy finally let go of him and jumped forward to sit beside Matt.

“As good as ever,” I smiled widely and genuinely, thoroughly revitalized by getting back into the hustle and bustle of school life and reuniting with my three buddies, whose absence in the last few weeks made my life feel meaningless. 

“Guys,” Alex started, addressing us. “Firstly, I want to express how grateful I am to have all of you fellas, who make my life worth living, back here beside. I have never actually dared to imagine my stupid life without you worthless pile of idiots,” he expressed, smiling serenely. While Judy and I sniggered and Matt remarked, 

“Well, that was moving,” pretending to wipe a fake tear from his eye and we burst into shrieks of laughter.

 For the first time, as what seemed like forever, I slept tranquilly that following night. The reunion with my buddies seemed to have brought back my sleep as well. The nightmare struck me again like every night as I found myself pacing through the black forest again with the glowing moon guiding my way through the umbra. As usual, I discovered the castle and heard the despicable scream, but this time, my eyes fell on the night sky…which gradually molded and took the form of that dreadful face with pointed incisors and bloodshot pupil-less eyes and face white as a sheet, whose blood-curdling cackle shook the colossal castle and the forest ground. I woke up instantly, the night's nightmare rather being a source of enlightenment for me as I had discovered that a close connection existed between the castle in the nightmare and the fiendishly hooded creature which was accustomed to scaring the living daylights out of me. I wanted to unravel the mystery behind this connection and most importantly their relation to me. And there was just one person on this earth who help me with that. 

Poseidon Park emerged more alive and sparkling in May, as chunks of families and couples rushed to participate in the summer carnival which presented a lot more fun-filled activities in the heat than it did during the chilly weather. I made my way across the stalls which, as usual, burst with enthusiastic customers with their pockets jingling with tokens. However, I had eyes only for the enormously intimidating marquee located at the far end of the stalls, completely away from the hullabaloo. 

Despite my previous visit, ‘The Tent of Wonders' still managed to fill me with a mystifying feeling as I walked across the dark entrance, the air, however, had turned pleasantly cold this time following the heat of the season. As the tantalizing fragrance of lavender hit my nostrils again, I entered the familiarly large area inside, with everything intact, exactly the way it was months ago and without the tiniest change in arrangement either among the sofas, or the gracefully mysterious Madam Maxima. She sat across her table as usual, with her eyes closed and the enchantingly transcendental crystal orb standing inches away from her face on the table.

“So you have finally returned,” she boomed, her voice reverberating across the gigantic marquee.

“Yes, Madam Maxima, I-" 

“I am aware of the purpose of your return my dear child,” she cut in, opening her mystifying eyes and providing me with the familiar feeling of being scanned by them. “I haven't forgotten my vow, dear child, therefore, I would still assist you in unravelling the mystery of your mystique past, which, as I have already proclaimed will help us obtain your freedom from the evil that's been tormenting your days and nights,” saying this, she circled her hands around the crystal orb, muttering certain incantations that seemed inaudible. A few seconds later, the ball of crystal rose, and soaring through the air, halted inches away from my face. As the beating of my heart quickened, the orb sent jolts of electricity which struck my forehead, providing my insides with a warm and tingling sensation. 

My eyes closed, and I found myself drifting across white space and landed lightly in the middle of the dense forest that agonized my sleep since the age of eight. The white light was enveloped by the blackness of the night, leaving only the gleaming moon which pierced me and guided me through the profound tenebrosity where no images could be observed. The air was piercing cold as usual, puncturing my skin like needles as I wrapped my arms around my torso and moved forward automatically. The nightmare had always been like a video console game, wherein, the unknown controller monitored and controlled my actions and lead me towards the castle as my destination to complete an objective. However, the game would freeze whenever it reached the castle, with the horrendous laughter as the noise from the screen. But finally, the game was going to reach its next level, wherein, I was unaware of what objective lay beyond the walls of that terrifying castle. 

I reached the edge of the forest and the castle came into view, but the instant I raised my step to move ahead….the repulsively familiar pupil-less face floated right in front of the castle, magnified to a hundred times its original size. Its hole of for a mouth stretched, and its gruffly cracked voice bellowed, causing the castle to shiver and sent tremors all over the ground.

“You want to know her past! You miserable old imbecile! You want to win her freedom from the realm of evil eh! But you meddled with the wrong force lady! Let me give you a taste of my wrath, such that your soul will shiver relentlessly even at the thought of reincarnation!” The face vanished, and following the sound of roaring thunder, a humongous bolt of lightning flashed from the blackness of the sky and crashed on the ground, tearing it into two parts and I plummeted down falling through an infinite depth of darkness.

My eyes flashed open and I was back in the marquee on my chair, alive and well, without a scratch on my skin but terribly shaken by the experience as my heart plummeted and brain buzzed madly.

“Madam Maxima, what does that demon want from me? Why is it after me?” I cried looking forward, expecting a series of explanations. But, no voice was heard as the motionless figure of Minerva Maxima lay motionless on her chair….Her tender body filled with cracked boils and ghastly marks as a result of thunderously repugnant electrocution. The creature’s voice had addressed Maxima, not Ellie, and the massive lightning discharge and struck her, leading to her gruesome demise. With her crystal ball lying in smithereens on the ground.

I nearly fell off my chair at the despicably pathetic sight, my eyes widened in shock which felt like a very soft word for the incomprehensible feeling that I experienced. A repugnant stench filled the marquee, repelling the ravishing fragrance of lavender. Without any further contemplation, I walked out of the marquee, unable to muster enough motions or strength to even run, or tears to spill from my soulless eyes for that matter. The indestructible power of evil had been shown to me for the very first time, and the innocent soul of Madam Maxima paid the price and perished torturously. My frozen mind bubbled one crucial thought as my legs forced their way of out of the place, that my dream of a life filled with peace and bliss, lay far from my reach…as I viewed myself stuck in the never-ending realm of evil….