Inside Evil

Chapter 18 - Part I

*Inside Evil and its sequels are available on Amazon, Kobo, B&N, Smashwords and iBooks* 

Waiting is exactly what they did. Whilst Roberta and Sam sat estranged from the rest of the group, Susan, Martha and Karl huddled themselves together on the ledge in the freezing cold. Roberta's malice for Susan was strangely quite forgotten, and she found herself staring out across the landscape in confusion. She had followed the path she was set, she was in the right place at the right time, yet nothing was happening.

"Sam, I really don't think you should sit so close to Roberta," Karl said.

"I'm fine," Sam replied. "I'm not going anywhere."

"He's right," Roberta said as Sam looked across to her, his cheerful face fading. "I don't want anyone close to me whatever happens. I can't put you at risk."

"Finally, someone sees sense," Karl said as he saw Roberta get to her feet and move away from Sam a little.

"I don't want anyone coming near me. Whatever happens, if I'm to get into Gathin like Barry, then I have to be left -".

"Barry?" Martha looked up from the ground, her focus sharp like a razor. "What about Barry?"

"He got into Gathin," Roberta replied.

"I know. Somehow, I know," Martha said quietly from where she sat on the ground hugging her knees from the cold. "It's the strangest feeling, but, I think I've always known."

"But how did he get in?" Sam urged.

"I can't stand this," Susan said getting to her feet. "We're just waiting, waiting for what? What if nothing happens? What if Roberta's supposed to do something? Say something? We can't just sit here all night!"

Roberta closed her eyes, pushing down a flickering ember and trying to focus.

"Don't you think I know that! I'd love not to die tonight."

"I'm sorry, but it's driving me mad," Susan said. "Is there nothing more you can think of, is there anything anyone can remember?"

"The riddle said to follow the path, I've done that. What more do you want from me?"

A movement in Roberta's pocket took her by complete surprise and, as the kitten's head pushed out into the night air, Roberta realised that she'd completely forgotten about poor little Faithful again. She pulled him out and nuzzled him to her tired face as his little blue eyes gazed around. After a few moments he started to wriggle, and Roberta put him on the ground and smiled as he went from one person to the next, sniffing and investigating as he went. It was only now that she realised his importance. Mrs Peacock had said that cats lived on the cracks to both worlds, and it was true that Faithful had managed on several occasions to quell the rising cracks in her own personality. Without this tiny young kitten, Roberta would have never reached the cliff.

Having taken her eyes off Faithful for only a second, she looked back to see that he'd crept to the edge and was peering over the side to where the great black depth fell away. He turned to look at her and as he did so his back foot slipped on the ground. He let out a little mew, scrabbled slightly with his front paws and disappeared over the edge.

"NO!" Roberta cried, jumping up and running to the edge to look into the pitch black below her feet. "Faithful!"

Roberta looked around at the others and saw that they too were on their feet, looking towards her with concern.

"Roo.." Sam's voice shook and he moved towards her before Karl caught his arm and pulled him away.

"Roberta, don't move."

Roberta was suddenly aware that she was bathed in the silver light of the moon. Standing on the very edge of the precipice, the moon shone a single beam of light down onto her as it had done with the people in the clearings. She stood, rooted to the spot as the others looked back at her from the safety of the trees.

"What's going on?"

Out of the trees, the silver mist was instantly recognisable to Roberta. It swirled across the ledge towards her, twisting and turning through the legs of the others and flowing directly to Roberta's feet. She was trapped against the drop behind her with nowhere else to go.

"This is it," Roberta cried. "It's going to happen, don't come near me."

The mist was upon her in seconds and Roberta couldn't help but cry out as the silvery air contorted about her feet.

Without pausing, the mist began to creep up Roberta's legs, great swirls of it twisting like malignant fingers around her limbs. Roberta looked down and saw that it was covering her like a silvery sheet with astonishing speed.

"Susan, I'm sorry I tried to kill you," Roberta said, squeezing out a smile. "You know I didn't mean it, I didn't mean any of it."

Susan, not able to speak, silently nodded as she saw the terrified look in Roberta's eye. She knew deep down that this was how Vanessa had died, caught in a contorting and suffocating grip of mist. Susan knew that it wasn't Roberta who had tried to attack her so many times, but the curse that took over Roberta's mind and twisted her thoughts. Beside her, Susan heard Martha sob and she reached out and gripped her friend's hand. After all these years of questions, Martha too was discovering how her husband had likely met his end.

The mist, made even more silver by the beam of light cast upon it by the moon, had now reached Roberta's neck. She couldn't move, and the contorting fingers of silver bound and punctured her like barbed wire. Roberta closed her eyes, not wanting Sam to see how terrified she was in these last moments.

"When it's done, don't come near me. If the Ammokra can't spread to someone else then we might just be able to stop it," Roberta said, keeping her eyes firmly shut.

An intense pain in her chest caused Roberta to gasp for breath and the mist took advantage of her open mouth, rushing down her throat and into her lungs. She coughed and spluttered as the mist penetrated her tissues, pushing silvery sharpness into muscles and organs. Her eyes felt like pins had been stabbed into them, her brain was on fire, and from deep in her gut there was an ear shattering scream as agonising pain shot through every vein, every tissue and every cell in her body. For a few tiny seconds the pain ceased, and Roberta had moments of clear thought. Perhaps she wasn't to die after all. Then, everything went black.

*I will be posting one or two scenes a week as the story builds. However, if you can't wait that long, Inside Evil is available on Amazon, Kobo, B&N, Smashwords and iBooks.

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