Falling [completed]

50

Aldric knocked on the door.  The house looked abandoned, the wood barely strong enough to support the roof and most of the windows were broken out.  He was sure this was the right address.  He waited patiently, his mind turning back to the terror his heart held.  He had to help Remmy and this was the only person he knew that could.

The door opened and a beautiful black haired woman stood in front of him.  The inside of the house was lit and did not match the appearance of the outside.  It was elegant and homey and well kept.  His gaze returned back to the woman.  She leaned up against the side of the door, letting her eyes roam from his head down to his toe and back up again.

Aldric was slightly unnerved.  This is not what he was expecting.  His breath was returned a moment later when his thoughts came back to Remmy.

"I was wondering if Ms. Bette Wuar is available?"

The young woman stepped away from the door.  Her porcelain skin formed a devilish smile.  She intimated for Aldric to step inside.  Once he did, the door was shut behind him and he was led to a love seat.  The woman gestured for him to sit and he did so, not trying to offend his hostess and only connection to save Remmy.  He needed the witch's help and would do what was asked. 

The woman sat across from him, showing her lithe figure as she crossed her legs.  She eyed him once more, taking in every movement and stillness.  Aldric sat quietly, but was now becoming unsure of what he had gotten himself into.  The woman had not spoken one word to him and it had made for an awkward time.  When she spoke, the air became more than awkward.  Her voice was smooth as silk and laced with venom.

"What are you willing to give?"

Aldric was taken back, before he could let the shock fade from his mind he answered, "Anything, so she can live."

The woman smiled wickedly.  She did not move, but their surroundings washed away, replaced by new ones.  He was now laid out on a table.  His body was strapped down with cold metal.  He was in a lab of sorts and the woman was standing in front of him.

"What are you doing?  I don't understand, we haven't agreed to anything."  Aldric tried to keep his voice calm and steady, but his emotions betrayed him.

"When you entered my house, you entered an agreement.  When you answered my question, we had the terms.  I will help your love and she will live.  You will give up what I need to make that happen."

Aldric thought through what she had said as she prepared instruments on an adjacent table.  He needed to find a way to renegotiate.  "What will you receive as payment?"

"Your love will give me payment in a few months time.  She doesn't know it yet, but she has something within her that could change everything, and she will willingly give it to me."  Bette turned back to him, with a curved knife in her hand.  "Now let's get started.  Your love does not have much time."

Aldric had never experienced so much pain.  He saw the witch come close to him.  He tried to look away, turn his head to the side, but the strap on his forehead had him locked in place.  He closed his eyes, not wanting to know what she was about to do.  He could feel her breath on his face.  His heart thundered in his chest as she made the first cut below his eye.  Blood ran down the side of his face and pooled in his ear.

It was too much pain not to scream.  His muscles tensed against his restraints, and she cut again.  She was quick and precise, but it did not make the pain any less.  Within a few minutes she had his one eye out and moved to the other side.

He was silently weeping now.  Shedding the last tears he would ever shed.  The pain was intense and threatened to knock him out.  He fought to stay conscience.  Aldric could hear the witch begin to hum.  He screamed when the blade made an incision around his left eye.  He struggled through his pain.  Fighting to stay in this world.  Fighting to live through this.  Fighting for Remmy.

"How will this help her?"  He sobbed out, listening to movements of fabric and the sound of metal clinking against metal as the witch set tools down and grabbed more.  She spoke and he could feel her warm breath against his ear as she whispered to him. 

"Eyes for sight, ears for hearing, nose for smell, muscles for strength, and heart for courage." 

Aldric could hear the witch smile grow in her words.  She would be last person he would ever hear, the last person he ever saw, and the last person to ever see him.

I know it is strange, but I want to dedicate this whole book to Betty, my grandma. She is the one that got me into reading again, in turn making me a better writer.  I know she would have loved this whole book, and it makes me really sad that she never got to read it.  I couldn't help but to put some part of her in this book, and partialy named one of my characters after her.  I miss her every day, through the hard struggles of life, to the joy and accomplishments.

Enough of the sappiness, on to the next chapter!!