The Ethereal Saga - Volume One - The Child of Light

Chapter Six - Where No One Can See

Alex stumbled over to the ramp as quickly as he could. When he got there, he felt anger build up inside him. There was nobody there.
"She isn't here!" Alex yelled, "How can she not be here?!"
There was a phone on the floor, a cheap brick of a phone. Alex picked it up and saw his own number on the screen. He opened contacts, trying to find any sort of clue but the only contact on it was him. Alex could barely take it anymore, he wanted answers, needed them, and if he didn't find them soon, he felt like he was going to implode. He threw the phone to the ground in frustration. He felt an icy hand grip his shoulder and he briskly dropped to the floor unconscious.

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Everything felt lucid, like a dream where you know you're dreaming. He was sitting at home on the sofa. It was badly lit, but he could see his mother sitting there with another bottle of red wine in her hand. It was as if she radiated disappointment and loneliness. The guilt Alex felt for leaving her that night alone without answers. He had broken his promise to stop hurting her as soon as he made it. Alex decided that it didn't matter how crazy all of this seemed, he was resolved to giving her a full explanation. This night had been something truly awful and the truth was, he needed his Mum. He needed her to tell him it's okay and to make him feel safe again. He wanted to reach for his mother and comfort her, but something forced him to stay still and stare at her sorrow. She was practically inhaling the alcohol and the tears in her eyes were obvious. He couldn't help but wonder if what he was seeing was actually real, it felt like what he deserved. Linda turned her head and looked at her son with a glazed, deadpan stare and spoke, "This is your fault."
The voice was icy and seemed to emanate despair. It was not hers and it certainly wasn't Mrs Harrisons either, although the voices sounded one and the same. For starters, it seemed as though the tone underneath the sharp breathiness was male. This was a nightmare, Alex concluded. He needed to apologise for his actions, he needed her. Fear was starting to replace anger as a feeling of despair that he might never see her again began to raise inside him. What if he died and she never knew why? What if he died with her thinking he didn't love her anymore?
"You did this to me," The voice spoke again, "You broke me. I'm so alone and it's all your fault."
He tried to reply, to tell her she's wrong and he'll never let her feel disrespected or unvalued ever again, but he found himself unable to find the strength to find the words. She was right, he thought, he was a terrible son.
"No!" he yelled breaking free of his emotional bonds. What the hell was he thinking? Something was filling him with this fear and he was forcing himself to believe it but as he thought of his bond with his mother, he found the strength to fight it.
Alex moved his hand slowly on to his mother's shoulder. It felt as if he was fighting a force, attempting to pin him down.
"I'm going to help you Mum. We're going to be okay," He reassured.
The world began to spin, and he felt himself consumed by the allure of unconsciousness again.

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Alex struggled against his bonds. The room was padded, bright and white like something from a generic insane asylum. He looked down to see a straitjacket strapped to him which didn't seem to feel like budging no matter how hard he pushed against it. After struggling against it for some time, he slid down the padded wall in frustration and tried to remind himself this wasn't real.
Alex heard a whimper and noticed a girl crying in the opposite corner of the room curled up in a ball. He was certain she hadn't been there moments before.
As if it had never been there, the restrictive jacket was gone. The girl was Sarah, Alex realised. He moved over to her quickly and put his arm around her.
"Are you okay?" He asked holding her, "What did he do to you? Where did he go?"
She looked up at him with her puffy red eyes, "Go? He hasn't gone. He's still with me, Alex. He's still hurting me."
"But-"
"But what?!" She yelled, "You thought you could just run and save me? Play the hero?"
She forced herself from his grasp and stood to her feet. She had corned Alex.
"You think just because you can use some puny powers now, you're strong. Please. This is all your fault anyway. You're the reason he took me! I dared speak to you and that's the closest thing you had to a friend. I'm the bait."
Alex struggled to shake her words. Once again, he was consumed by guilt. He couldn't shake the feeling that if he'd just been nicer to her and gone with her, he could have kept her safe.
Sarah fell to her knees and began crying loudly with her face in her hands. As she knelt there, he saw her pain and suffering as if it was his own. The sight he was witnessing was a precise imagining of the guilt he felt inside.
"I won't be taken in by your charades any more Lestrat!" He yelled. He realised that all of this was his own fear. This was a dream alright, it was a nightmare. All of this was fuelled by his own fears and guilt. He knew he could fight it now and more importantly, he knew it wasn't real with a strong resilient certainty this time.
The world vanished, and he felt himself drift away, once again.