Imagine (20 page)

“Oohs and ahhs” happen
all around us.

“And so it begins!” I look at her when she speaks, she
, like everyone else on the entire bridge, is gazing up into the sky, and when my gaze follows hers I let out my own gasp in astonishment at the picture being painted before me.

The sun which was, only a few minutes ago, shining brightly in the sky, is now a quarter of the way covered by the moon. Causing partial darkness over the bridge. It is a truly breathtaking sight, and I momentarily wish that I was like one of the tourists snapping pictures to capture this incredible
, once-every-eighteen-years phenomenon.

I watch in awe as the sun is very slowly swallowed by darkness. The moon creeps slowly over the sun to engulf us in complete darkness. It is very eerie, it all feels wrong. Unnatural. I still cannot help but stare. Looking closely I can see that even though the sun is now completely blacked out, there are still rays of sunlight making their way to earth. Everything is illuminated by a dim, grey light. I am caught completely off guard when Tisiphone yanks me to the ground, on top of her. Looking up, I can see a bright ball of energy fly through where my head was, just a mere second before.

“Now, now Haddie, is that any way to great your twin Sister?”

XXVI

just imagine

T
isiphone and I get back to our feet, keeping a close eye on them as they emerge from the shadows. I look in the direction of the figure that spoke, but I already know who the voice belongs to. Standing before us is the very same woman that I saw that night in the forest as we escaped Haven.

She begins to appro
ach Tisiphone and I with a girl at her side, a carbon copy of me! I cannot help but stare at her. Allecto had called her Haddie; it’s like looking into a mirror.

She is me, and I am her. I search her, looking for any small variation that might make us different. But there are none.

Wait, what is wrong with her eyes?

Where my eyes are an emerald green, hers are black. As black as a starless night sky. I then glance at Allecto. She looks different in some way to the woman that approached me in the forest. Just like Tisiphone she is beautiful.
Her eyes are just like Haddie’s, completely black, she could be the mirror image of Aunt Tisi, if not for her eyes and that bright hair.

“Where is Chelsey?”
I ask.

“Wouldn’t you like to know? I have had me some fun with your pretty little blonde friend. She’s real sweet.” Says Haddie menacingly. Kia was right, she
is
evil. Just hearing the words leave her mouth sends a shiver down my spine.

“You didn’t answer my question. Where is she? I am not here for games, so let’s not play them.” I square my shoulders as I speak, trying to appear confident.

“Feisty aren’t you? This is going to be fun. You don’t know how excited I am to destroy you.” Haddie spits. A strand of drool running from her mouth towards her chin. She looks like a rabid animal, pure blood lust in her eyes.

As she wipes the drool from her chin she reaches back and fires another ball of electricity my way, I don’t react fast enough and it bounces off of the force field. Thank god for Keagan!

Blue flames dance to the ground in front of me. My Carbon copy cackles like a witch, clearly enjoying herself.

“Haddie, enough! You’ve had your fun!”
Demands Allecto with a voice of authority.

Immediately the look of crazy vanishes from Haddie’s face.

“Where is Chelsey?” Aunt Tisi insists, sounding just as authoritative as her Sister. Allecto nods in affirmation. Without shifting her eyes, Haddie lifts her hand and beckons for someone behind her to come here. About twenty feet away a tall dark haired man starts walking towards us, I recognize him as the man Keagan had grappled with that night. He has Chelsey by the arm and is dragging her, kicking and screaming, in our direction. She looks terrible, I can tell that she has lost weight, her cheekbones are sunken in and her face is ashen.

Keagan’s friend
takes no more than three steps before Riley appears from nowhere and throws herself around him, elegantly flinging her arm around his neck and swiping a knife clean across his throat from right to left. He is dead before he hits the floor. The first casualty of the battle. Riley grabs Chelsey and they both quickly dive for the cover of the shadows.

This seems to start the
battle; it’s suddenly as if all hell has broken loose in San Francisco.

Haddie pulls out a long sword and jumps in my direction. I don’t have time to grab mine, so I use what I’d learnt practicing with Keagan and Sam, what I know. I turn her sword into a limp cooked noodle. It stops her in her
tracks; she even takes a started step backwards to see what had happened to her weapon.

Haddie holds the noodle by her fingertips, letting it just hang loose.
“Nice little trick sis but it’ll take more than that to stop me.” She hisses and locks eyes with me and I swear her eyes start vibrating.

The sword re-appears in her hand just as the guy that Riley had taken down gets back to his feet
and stares my way, still with his throat slashed blood dripping down the front of his shirt. His eyes too, appear to be vibrating. 

I look over towards Tisiphone and
Allecto; both of them are just staring at each other. It’s as if time is standing still on the Golden Gate Bridge, the buzz of activity has ceased.

I notice a tourist frozen in time, with his camera in hand. I look up in the direction his camera is
pointing; the moon is still directly in front of the sun. It is as if only those involved in the fight are in existence at this moment in time.

My sword is now
drawn; it clashes with Haddie’s as I try to remember all of the moves that Keagan and Sam taught me. It is to no avail though, as with a few well-placed lunges and strikes I have been disarmed, my evil twin Sister now advancing towards me with menace.

I take a few big steps backwards, just like Sam had taught me in training. She has this look on her face,
the look of a complete maniac. I
Imagine
a puddle of quicksand in front of her, it appears instantly but she only laughs as a bridge leading across it appears in time for her to cross.

She is still advancing towards me. I continue my retreat, trying to buy myself some time. I fling my own ball of energy at her, much smaller than hers, and light green in color. I note that it’s not too dissimilar a color to that of my eyes as it barely causes a fizzle when intercepted by Carbon Copy’s defensive shield and it fizzles to the floor like a dying firework.

Getting desperate now, I
Imagine
microwaves, of all things, being thrown at her. Five microwaves in quick succession, which should do it. All of them crash at her feet, each clattering along the ground before coming to a halt.

Not a single one hit her. Bits of metal are now strewn across the
bridge; maybe she’ll trip over one, if I’m lucky.

I keep at it, just to make sure to keep her distracted. Microwave after microwave come hurtling from the bay towards her.

“I don’t want to cook a hot pocket sis! Let’s get serious. No more games!” Her eyes twitch again.

T
o my utter horror I see Kia sprinting towards Maximus and Keagan. She makes quick work of Maximus with her own neon-blue fireball. Turning her attention to Keagan and quickly turns his sword into a giant sunflower before hitting him with a neon-blue fireball, knocking him to the ground. She then walks over towards us, as if in a trance.

“Kia what are you doing?” Sam yells at her, putting himself in her way. Arms open wide to pre
vent his Sister from getting a clear view. 

“I chose the side that I wanted to be on a long time ago brother, I made the ultimate sacrifice by giving my life to the Dark Mistress.
I chose to help bring this world into a new dawn, as it deserves. Making the Dark Mistress proud.” With those words she strikes Sam with a fist and makes her way directly towards me.

A ball of electricity from Haddie hits me in the side as I am momentarily distracted. I have never felt such pain in my
life; it feels as if my skin is actually on fire. Now that I have no force field, as Keagan is unconscious, I know that I have to come up with something to save myself and everyone else. And fast.

I
conjure up a brick wall between the advancing Kia and I, blocking her and gives me just enough time to look towards Tisiphone for help. She doesn’t look so great herself, her eyes squinting, as if in pain.

Allecto seems to be barely paying attention to her as she breaks eye contact with Tisiphone and looks my way, with an evil grin, I can tell she thinks she is winning.

She locks eyes with Kia and Haddie as the brick wall crumbles from a neon-blue ball of electric. Both of them sprint towards her. Tisiphone appears to be frozen; the only thing that she can move is her eyes, which are darting around between the three.

The three women connect hands and face me.  I start feeling a strange wave of tiredness, my eyes begin to close. My entire body feels
heavy; I want nothing more than to lie down and go to sleep.

I can’t fight it any longer.

I fall to my knees and then lie down on the concrete, curling up and putting my head in the nook of my elbow.

My eyes are closed but my brain is still moving at one hundred miles an hour, everything that has happened to me recently has led to this very moment and I
cannot
have it end like this.

I had never really lived before I got to Dalton Academy. I now have friends, a best friend and guys that like me.
Guys as in multiple.
I think of sweet, caring Sam, with so much fight and spirit. He has done everything he can for his little Sister, only to see her seduced by the power of darkness. His sweet kisses are both comforting and sincere. Then there’s Keagan, just thinking of him sends shivers all over my body. I remember our first kiss, how thoughtful and romantic it had all been. I want to hug my Mom again, I want to go for a run in the morning and eat her wonderful blueberry pancakes. I want to listen to loud music. I want to go on more shopping trips with Chelsey and the other girls, I want to graduate from high school and go to college. I want to live.

A scream from Haddie wakes me “NO, Kia!”

I stumble to my feet, still groggy, to see the sun moving from behind the moon. I see Keagan, his sword in one hand dripping with blood. In his other hand is Kia’s head, her body lying at his feet.

Haddie has a crazed look on her face, a dagger in her hand and jumps at him
, like a lion jumps on its prey, stabbing him repeatedly in the chest. 

Tisiphone throws a large yellow fireball at Haddie, knocking her off Keagan’s lifeless body and singeing the entire left side of her head, lighting her hair on fire. I follow her lead and start throwing anything heavy that I can think of at both of the remaining women. I shoot televisions at Allecto and patio furniture at Haddie.

They seem to have lost their edge the moment they had lost Kia, we were driving them back.

Allecto knows that her goal can no longer be reached but Haddie has taken Kia’s
death personally, she has now made it her mission to destroy the entire bridge, throwing electric balls in every direction. Allecto turns and walks away, summoning her daughter to accompany her. Haddie does just that but turns to me and says “This is not the last time that we will meet like this, Sister. There are other ways to stop the carnage that humans are causing to the world. Just you wait and see!” She flips her head, trying to fling her hair over her shoulder before realizing that she has very little hair left. Instead, she throws me her middle finger, and then struts off, her head held high.

The sun has almost completely returned now, bringing with it light. Illuminating the wreckage around me. Part of the bridge has crumbled, the part left standing is strewn with blood, microwaves, bricks, televisions and patio furniture
.

I don’t want to but my eyes are drawn to Keagan, I rush to his side and drop to my knees. Pulling his head into my lap, I put my hand over his mouth to feel for his breath, but find none. There is blood everywhere. I can’t help but start
crying; through my tears I see a blurry picture of all of my friends surrounding us. Maximus, Tisiphone, Sam and Chelsey. She puts her arms around me; I lean into her and start sobbing uncontrollably.

Overcome with sadness at Keagan’s death, but at the same time also happy to be reunited with my best friend.

I close my eyes, remembering all the moments that Keagan and I had together, all of the good times. Our friendship that was developing back at Dalton Academy, the relationship that was young but still had so many special moments. Instead of seeing his lifeless body, I
Imagine
the scowling guy that looked down at me when I ran into him that first day at school. I remember how full of life he was at the camp, doing all he could to get everyone ready for today, building a friendship with Sam and that kiss this morning, the one that promised me he’d be there for me.

I hear Aunt Tisi gasp beside me.

Opening my eyes, I can see that my tears have fallen onto Keagan’s face; they are making a trail from their initial splash on his cheeks towards his eyes. They are firmly closed; he looks at rest, so quiet and peaceful. Then I notice his eyelids flicker quickly, a sign of hope. Hope that maybe there is a chance, a chance that darkness will not succeed today. A chance that good can overcome evil.

I know that we can cope with anything that The Collectors throw at us, I know because right at this moment I am looking into Keagan’s beautiful eyes, eyes that are filled with
life
,

Imagine
tha
t
.