Spirit

Begging For an End

"Luke..." Maddie whispered again.

I tried as hard as I can to regain my sight. Yes. It was her. Her beautiful black hair was messed up, but it still fell on her face the way it did. It was bruised and smuged, but it was still hers.

She was kneeling on the floor, trying to get as close as she could to me. I did the same, and through the electric bars, I shot my arm at her, just to feel her touch. The pain was nothing now, compared to the touch of her hands.

"Luke, stop all the romance crap and put your hand back in your cage." She hissed angrily.

Yes, my girlfriend, ladies and gentlemen.

Then she put her little smile back on her face and said, "I missed you too Luke. Very much. That bitch Leena poisened me back in Chinatown without anyone seeing, and I woke up here. I can't summon my spirit, I can't make any energy balls. Plus, the food is crappy, feels really weird when I eat it, but at least they give me some."

I immediatly knew why.

"Stop eating it!" I told her, and before she could say anything I continued, "It's poisoned. I bet you anything it has the same poison I've been taking for the last two years."

Then I explained who was running this place, and who he was to me and Leena. She was silent for a while.

"So Leena was against us the whole time?"

"I don't think so. I think she's being forced into it." I replied as I remembered the look on her face when she poisened me the first time, telling me she's sorry.

"Okay, so what now?" Maddie asked again.

I really hadn't thought of that part yet. And begging Paul or Leena to death isn't something I'm excited to. I mean, the feeling of dangling helplessly listening to Leena preach about the outside and...

Then it hit me.

"Maddie, I think I got it."

"Hepatitis?" She asked, looking up at me.

"Not now, Maddie. I think I know how we will get out, and if it works, Leena would be the biggest help ever." I said, more to myself, with a slight pitch of madness.

"Okay, now you're just talking crap."

"No listen, Leena told me that I can see the lost cause on the outside. On the outside. The only way I can do this is if I get help from the inside. My inside." I pointed at my head. "The spirit world. She meant inside me. Inside my head. Oh my God, it is obvious."

Maddie was still not following me, but everything cleared up in front of me.

"I'll be back. If anyone is coming, wake me up in any way possible."

"Wha... Luke, what are..."

But her voice trailed off as I closed my eyes.

Concentrating hard, I finally got myself (or my consciousness or whatever) to the familiar forest I now know as "The Spirit World". My fox was beside me.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this power you own bef-"

"Stop." I told him gently, and started patting him on his head. "Ready to find some friends?"

"Hop on." He said excitedly. "Not... in a weird way..."

I laughed as I got on his back, which surprisingly felt comfortable, and started running between trees and twigs and stones.

"I should tell you though," my spirit continued. "This power is too strong, getting the spirit world to the human one. Few can contact us, like the Dragon, but you surpass that. Summoning everything around you in the human world. It will need a lot of devotion if you want to get them out, and sometimes you can't do it alone. The more the casters helping, the more power there is. That's a big responsibility. I just felt you had enough on your back."

"Thanks." I replied, a lump of gratitude hanging in my throat.

We ran for five minutes straight, but all I could see was feeble lights on our left and right, making noises that made the hairs on my neck stand up.

"Do you know where we're going?"

"I hope..." The Fox answered.

Then, on a tree a little far ahead, a small spider was scuttling along, and it got bigger and bigger as we got closer.

I told my spirit not to attack. I knew this wasn't a battle anymore.

"She's sorry," the spider hissed quietly. Then she looked at the Fox and said, "They are at the stone circle, tell them to follow me, and trust me."

My Fox didn't answer, he just bowed a little and turned, running through another direction.

A voice suddenly came from a far,  calling my name. It was Maddie.

"Faster." I urged my spirit, even though I knew this was his top speed. As we were closing onto the stone circle, I spotted a familiar spirit, but I didn't have time to chat. I only looked at her, my eyes pleading her to help me, even after the hell I put her through.

Maddie's voice was getting clearer by the call, and all I needed was a few more seconds, as the stones were finally visible and getting closer faster than I expected.

But there was no help to it. I knew back at 'Hakem', someone was walking towards me and Maddie.

And yet, here were the shapes of the spirits of my friends.

I shifted in my cell just to keep concentrated.

I desperately yelled whatever I needed to say to the spirits. I didn't know how much they got out of it, or if they heard anything at all.

I felt something pushing me back to reality, and I was jerked back into the electric bars. Pain shot across my body, and my feet and hands weren't able to support me anymore.

I just saw somebody's feet leaving Maddie's cell, then came to me, clicked a button, entered my own cell and a sharp pain in my neck turned everything black.

Speaking of pain, there was all of a sudden a burning sensation  in my left arm, and it spread through my blood, damaging every limb it touched.

I felt something deep inside me screaming, I was about to do the same if I would feel any part of my body.

This felt too familiar to be true.

"Welcome to Westhaven Mental Hospital."

No.

"You see, you have been moved to a new floor."

This isn't real. This isn't real.

"Sadly, this is the only way for you to help yourself."

Shut up.

"You are in the Termination Floor. It would be harder to know when you will give up, but at least it's faster this way."

Fuck you Paul.

"Oh, how I wish you could talk right now." Paul laughed . "I would love to hear your comment about all of this."

"F... fu..."

"Oh no no, no cursing." He said amusingly. "Well no half cursing, even with my poison running through your veins."

But even with his poison running through my veins, I still could sense something.

Something I felt when everything changed in my life, even if it was weak back then.

I knew what was coming.

With a small difficulty, a small smile spread across my face.

"Y... you... lose..."

As soon as I said that, a huge explosion shook the whole room.

And I knew that somewhere close, Jack, Oliver, Rob, Roy and what was left of the Chinatown army attacked.