Author Games: Written in the Stars

Task Three- Elephants and Skeletons- Females

PISCES - Alessandra Devine

Alice knew that if she moved just an inch, all this would go away. If she simply lifted herself up off of the floor, this terrible image would leave and she would be left with only the fallout, and the fallout would definitely be a lot easier to handle than the real thing. But, knowing that she had to move herself and actually moving herself were two very different concepts. Almost to different for her to handle.

So, instead of moving, Alice stared up at a perfect image of herself- from her softly crooked nose to her chocolate colored hair to the shining brown eyes- looking down over her and sighing. This image picked up Alice and sat her upright on a rock-like cloud- propping her up so she would be more comfortable, and be able to see what ever was going to unfold. Alice tried to say 'thank you' to her image, but she didn't open her mouth.

So, instead of saying thank you, Alice stared straight ahead at the cloud-cage in front of her- almost a perfect image of her cave. The clouds had risen shortly after Alice had left Conway at their cave and, somehow, they did seem to resemble the inside of her cave. There was a molten brown color that seemed to tint the fluffy white of the cloud, making it look like rock. An inkling of dread began to creep further into Alice's mind. She knew what was going to happen and she knew she couldn't stop it. Unless she moved.

Alice didn't' move. She just sat and watched as Alice's image was looking over at Conway's sleeping figure and frowning. She watched as her figure stooped down to pick up his dagger and she began to sharpen it upon a rock by her feet. With each scrape of the metal on rock, Alice's heart dropped further and further. She could've sworn that her heart was going to fall out onto the floor in a splatter of blood and nervous butterflies. Her breaths were becoming shaky and forced, but she still didn't move. She just stared.

Every nerve in her body screamed for her to move and cursed her for even following those voices in the first place. They cursed her for not waking Conway when she left to search for food and for even having to search for food because she didn't gather enough supplies in the first place. They also cursed her for not being a good-enough protector and for giving Conway any hope that she could help him survive.

Still, Alice sat. She watched her image finally finish sharpening the knife and head over to Conway. Her heart pumped in her chest- so loud it felt as if the ground was shaking. She knew that if she didn't move now, she might lose her ally and friend forever. She wouldn't let that happen, but she still couldn't move. She wasn't sure why she couldn't move- chains weren't holding her down. She could still breathe, couldn't she? So, why wasn't she moving?

Finally, Alice lifted one finger off of the cloud she was sitting upon. Then, a second finger, and a third. And soon she had one full hand sitting in the air. She continued to stare at her image, who was drawing closer and closer to Conway, undaunted by Alice's sudden movement. Her image raised the hand with the knife, prepared to forcefully bring it down, when Alice's body slammed into her.

"There is no way I will ever kill Conway, so there is no way that you will either. So, don't you even think about it!" Alice screamed and punched her image in the face, then swung her arm around to make an attempt to grab the knife out of her image's hand, but she missed and ended up slicing her arm open on the knife's freshly sharpened blade. Blood blossomed out of the clean cut and began to pour out onto the clouds below her, turning it into a pink muddled mess. Alice didn't let this daunt her, though. Instead, she made another swing for the dagger, this time with her other arm, and grabbed it from her image's hand. She continued to ignore the pain in her arm and punched her image in the face, breaking her nose. Her image's face lit up with surprise and she raised her hand to her nose. When she took her hand away, her fingers were wet with blood.