A Murky Past

The fall of Evil

I let loose my body in defeat, as the snake approached me. Guess this was the way it had to end. The faces of mum, dad and my three brothers flashed in my eyes. I felt their warmth and love inside me which provided me with an absolutely inexplicable comfort; even on the verge of death they were with me...in my heart. Just as I was ready to embrace death with open arms, a soft voice rang in my ears.

"Ellie.....Ellie..." It was Judy, she was still alive and squealing for me.

This diverted the attention of the snake for the first time. It changed its target automatically, and advanced towards the innocent soul. I felt its body slithering towards its pray, hissing profusely, craving for a meal. As it approached her, and opened its jaws.

"NO!" I growled , opening my eyes with all the energy restored. I had lost enough loved ones tonight and now it was time to extinguish the lamp of malevolence once and for all.

I rushed forward, revulsion and fury bursting out through me, and with a final wallop of the gleaming dagger...I sliced the throat of the loathsomely venomous creature. The head went spinning around like a saucer, and landed in the hands of the vile witch.....

Who all this while was watching the entire battle like an attentively enthusiastic spectator, while sitting on King Eric's throne.

"Bravo! she applauded with an ice-cold smile, clapping her hands, whose dreadful noise echoed across the hall and pinched my ears irritably. You are stronger than I believed little girl, very like your nincompoop father, well like father like daughter " she mocked loftily. There was a relish in her voice as she uttered these words which was substantially baffling, considering the manner in which I had butchered her creation.

I moved towards Judy who was still lying on the ground, and calling my name in her soft voice. I could hold myself no longer and succumbed to tears, looking at her pitiful condition.

"Its okay, its okay, it will all be over soon, we will go home." I comforted her, holding her in my arms, which smothered with her blood. Blood was oozing from the back of her head which was swollen.

"Oh, how cute, the bond shared by these little angels. How I would feel so distressed to separate your souls" she chuckled madly, walking towards us.

With that she drew out her wand, but before she could make a move, I raised myself with a wrathful bellow, and in an instant, thrusted King Eric's dagger right across her heart. The witch's eyes widened with trepidation as she moved backwards.

What followed, was the most horrendous shriek my ears had ever heard. The witch tumbled backwards, and removed the dagger gradually through her chest with a squeal that raised the hair on the back of my neck. Her flawless skin began withering away like plaster from a wall and got replaced with the wrinkles of a thousand years, her sparking teeth turned pale yellow and grew pointy. Her hands turned bony, like the branches of a tree. They could never have been a more hideous and repugnant sight on earth, diffusing the air with a pungent and nauseating stench. A million sparkling vapours were tearing through the figure, what appeared to be souls of young maidens, with lively smiles on their vapoured faces, who had been sucked off and trapped by the sinister lady over the centuries.

"You....will...pay for this, the ancient lady croaked. I.....will return and crush your world........ through your offspring." and with these final words, she blew apart into smithereens. Leaving the entire place with an obnoxiously sickening odour.

My body experienced excruciating pain, and the soreness in my head increased, as I raised Judy onto her feet with a substantial effort. Just as Judy regained consciousness, the ground beneath us shook violently, and with one massive tremor, the ostentatiously large chandelier fell with a clash, scattering glass all over.

The entire castle was shaking tremendously, and was on the brink of collapsing. With a final substantial effort which nearly ripped my bones, I shouldered my best friend and rushed across the great hall and through the hallway, dodging falling armors and ruins. It seemed, that the castle had somehow been connected to Malena and now as she remained no longer, it had approached its end too.

Deceiving death all around us, we managed to shove ourselves out of the demolition and threw ourselves onto the ground outside. The sun hit our faces beaming, with all the light in the world wrapping us in its warmth, as we lay there sighing deeply, having experienced death so closely and escaping through its clutches twice. My heart thumped heavily as though it would finish a lifetime’s beating in one go. I had lost track of time since entering the castle. A day and a half had passed already. The trees of the forest looked a lot younger and more alive since I last saw them, as though the curse on them had been lifted with the downfall of Malena.

Though the loss of Matt and Alex tormented my insides vigorously and inexorable, a heartening feeling of satisfaction as a result of warding off some evil from this world rose through me which provide me with the strength to rise up. Both Talia and Ellie had sustained dreadful losses tonight. Both had lost love and witnessed and gruesome horrors. However, it came off as a tiny, but effective consolation to me, after bearing all the losses and the ordeal along with extreme tormenting…..the nightmares wouldn't haunt me any longer.

I managed to take Judy all the way to Matt's mansion. It was the most weirdest and poignant feeling ever. Coming as four, while leaving as two. I cleaned up Ellie's wounds and we got ready to leave. All this while Judy was most unusually silent.

“Ellie……began Judy, quite weakly. What was all that for……..?” she asked innocently like a child, as we drove out of the forest in Alex's SUV, looking at me as though I was her mother.“For the brutal crime of being a princess.” I affirmed, as we strolled across life's road, leaving the almighty to decide the destination.

Epilogue

Summer seemed to have arrived earlier this year, bringing with it its warmth and pleasure. The sun rose gradually over the unsurprisingly crowded street of Manhattan. Illuminating the mundane scenario of hundreds of cars beeping and people commuting to work. The magnificently radiating ball flashed over Selina's face as I whooshed the curtains aside. She shuddered irritably and yanked the blanket over her face.

"Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, " I sang, as I slowly removed the blanket and gave her a peck on the cheek while caressing her hair affectionately.

My little angel had turned eighteen today. Time had accelerated incredibly since the day I had her as if it had only been yesterday. A desire of giving her ample felicity as well as luxury in life burnt deeply inside me since day one, however, being a single mother on a mediocre journalist salary, the most I could do was invite her friends home on the occasion.

"Mom, is breakfast ready?" shouted Selina rushing into the kitchen. Her voice was quite shrilly, which had retained since she hit puberty.

"Do not miss your bus darling, I am going to take a shower," I instructed as she gobbled up her food ravenously and with a smack on my cheek she rushed out. I gawked through the window, which was a part of my daily routine, watching my not-so-little girl now, mount her bus and go off to school.

Her father and I had shifted to the United States when she was eight. I had gotten divorced a year later. And gotten a job as a journalist for New York Times, however, the earnings were meagre, barely sufficient for us to afford a two bedroom flat.

It had almost been twenty years, since that horrendous day that had thoroughly transformed my life. The transition from a bubbly teen to a maturely gaunt and bereaved adult which normally takes prolonged years, had occured in just a day.. Years later, and being miles away, the recollection of that day still stupefied me today.

Later that evening, the home was prettified; with birthday banners and balloons, identically to the way my parents had done on the day I had reached adulthood and enlightening the walls for the notable occasion.

A hullabaloo was created by the mob of American high-schoolers, as the entire house was transfigured into a disco with a ball playing, and the pack rocked on the dance floor, with Selina joining it jubilantly. Her exultation provided me with a sort of peace and tranquility. It was a mother's mission to ensure her child's life to be completely isolated from all forms of iniquity, which appeared being accomplished.....until my refutation.

As I busied myself in the kitchen, an unusually scratching sound struck my ears. It seemed to be reverberating from the bathroom. With deep suspicion, I moved towards the bathroom, with a very familiar palpitation from my heart, which hadn't occured in twenty years. I creaked open the bathroom door, and instantaneously, there was a smash on my head from behind, and I knew no more.

Regaining consciousness, I discovered myself lying on the bathroom floor. My head was throbbing, with blood seeping out. I flinched with intense pain as I forced myself up, sweating profusely. Rising up, I noticed the bathroom mirror scribbled with the words: I will crush your world, in dark red, with what appeared to be blood, and presumably it was mine. I was petrified, my mouth swung open and my pupils dilated as I saw that deathly message. Deniability or disbelieve wasn't an option to consider at the sight of this murky sign, that my past had probably returned to haunt my daylights.

I moved out of the bathroom in horror, rushing towards the hall where the party was supposed to be. And what I viewed... dried the blood in my veins. The hall was indeed crowded....but with slaughtered corpses of the teens. All lying gruesomely in pools of blood. The disco ball was out, and the entire house was conquered by pitch black darkness, only the radiance of the moonlight falling in through the window illuminated the horrid scenario.

I nearly collapsed backwards looking at this sight of the school kids, either with their throats slit or their hands sliced with cannibalistic instincts. And the thought of Selina surged through my mind with utmost fear and apprehension as I began crying for her insanely, but in absolute vain, as no response sounded from any corner of the house.

A ray of dim light appeared, apparently being emitted from Selina's room, which was closed partially. I sprinted towards it , desperately expecting her to be present there unharmed. Slamming it open, I noticed my daughter standing motionless with her back towards me in a corner. The room was strangely cold, as my insides began freezing mercilessly. Hugging myself I called out to her, but she didn't reply. I moved closer, with an intutively revolting feeling in my gut. Their was something clutched in her hands what appeared to be a glossy object. Observing closely it appeared to be a sharp object covered with reddish liquid and realization hit me...... it was King Eric's dagger

"Se...Selina," I stammered, trembling from head to toe. Where.... where did you get that dagger from?

"Ellie.....hello Ellie.....here we meet again." a silky voice echoed from Selina. A voice which hammered my ears with inexplicable terror, a voice which I couldn't, in my utmost power ever manage to wipe out from my mind.

Suddenly, with a ghastly twitch, Selina's neck twisted facing me. Her eyes were bloody red. In a fraction of a second I screamed, and her mouth with razor-sharp teeth opened .....and the world went pitch black.