The Wizard's Queen

Chapter 16

"Mary, you were admitted here back in April. It is now December."

The door to her room slammed shut leaving her all alone. Except, she wasn't alone, her tormentor had returned. It had been eight months they had been stuck in the psychiatric ward. Why didn't it feel like that? Why wasn't she a Sorceress? Were they right? Was everything a figment of her imagination. New memories were coming in, back to her junior year of high school.

Luke and Derek were fighting over her attention. She wasn't sure what to think of it as they played with her emotions, messed with her mind, destroyed her heart. Discovering it was all a big joke between them, waking up to find herself in the hospital, almost dead, body struggling to stay alive.

They told her she tried to fly. She flew, flew right off the roof of the school crashing face first into the pavement below on a broom stick. The boys had showed her how to fly, she remembered secretly watching them play tag on broomsticks when they weren't aware she was watching. She saw them casting spells, playing pranks, wreaking havoc all through the school while the Headmaster tried to clean up their messes. She always hid so he wouldn't find her during the mind wipes. They intrigued her, this different world full of mystery was fascinating and she so desperately wanted to be a part of it.

The boys laughed when she confronted them about it, calling her insane. Almost cruel. Then they began chasing after her attention. She loved that. Chelsea and Morgan were beautiful. They had everything, while she had nothing. She resented them for that, she didn't want them to have the boys so she took them.

She remembered now, believing she could fly. If they could do it, if they were Wizards, then why wasn't she one too? She remember the pain, the boys surrounding her in shock, his brother coming to their aid screaming at them. Yes, he wasn't happy they were so reckless with their magic. Then the pain. So much pain as her bones bended and cracked together while Derek held her down. Luke ended up throwing up in the bushes, unable to see the mess her body had become. She stayed a week in the hospital before they moved her into a psychiatric facility.

Her parents used to visit her everyday. Now, she barely saw them once a week. They were too ashamed about her. She was nothing to them. Luke came by weekly sitting by her side as he apologized, racked with sobs. He would tell her stories of what was happening, such incredible stories. Then he would turn cold, speaking of how much he hated his father.

His visits began to get farther and farther apart once school began in August. Then she didn't see him at all in September. He visited her once in October, but didn't stay long. No, his mind was elsewhere. He said he was preparing for a war to come. After that, the visits stopped all together. He abandoned her like everyone else in her life.

Now, it was just her in this cold room staring at nothing but white, listening to the fluorescent lights annoying buzz and screams of the other residents. Sometimes those screams were hers.

Riley felt wetness on her cheeks. She was crying as she remembered. Her life was horrible. She was horrible. She wasn't special. She was nothing but a broken little girl trapped in a nut house. She glanced up at the figment of her imagination, seeing the triumphant smirk plastered across her face.

"See, you finally realize it. You see the truth," she grinned.

"No, I can't believe that is what you went through!" Riley cried.

"Don't you mean us?" The girl questioned.

Riley shook her head, grasping hard to hold on to the memories of her own past. Every time her fingers would grip a beautiful memory, it would slip away, unable for her to keep it for long.

She fought in a war. She saved his life. Then she collapsed into this nightmare. She traveled through time. She met Merlin. She defeated an evil Sorceress. She saved him again. She moved to a new town, and that was where she met him for the first time. He was the thought she was holding on to so strongly. She would never let the memory of him slip away. No, it wasn't possible. She wouldn't allow it.

"You really are stubborn, aren't you?" The girl snarled.

Riley cried as she felt the hand hit her cheek, the loud clapping sound made from the force, the stinging shortly after on her skin.

"Why?" She cried as she glanced up at the girl.

"Stop living this fantasy of yours! None of it is real! You are not some powerful Sorceress. You don't even possess magic. You created this figment in your imagination! YOU are not Riley Towers. YOU ARE MARY ROGERS!" She boomed.

Memories of an ordinary life spun its way into Riley's mind. She shook her head, those memories felt foreign to her. They weren't real. They didn't exist. No, they weren't true.

"If you didn't exist, none of this would have happened! The two of you would be together right now! Kenny would be back in his own time period, dead where he belongs! Your friends Jasmine and Morgan would be alive!" She screamed again.

"You are right, if I hadn't meddled, none of this would have happened," Riley defeatedly sighed. The girl smirked, glad of her win.

Riley wasn't done yet, she glared up at the girl with cold eyes as she spat, "but you would still be a raving lunatic!"

Riley screamed as she felt the slashes on her arms, blood seeping through the straight jacket as her body felt like she was on fire. The girl's eyes widened in shock at Riley.

"What are you doing to yourself?" She cried.

Riley continued to scream, struggling, her straight jacket disappearing as she studied her arms in shock, cuts lining them.

"Impossible," the other girl gasped.

Riley nodded, confused of the truth before her reality was ripped away yet again, the girl replaced with a woman strangely familiar to Riley.

"Goldilocks, save my brother! You have to fight this illusion and save him!" She ordered before disappearing.

Riley nodded, closing her eyes and sensing the boy. He was struggling to breathe, flames licked at his skin as the roof collapsed on him. His body shielded the child, using the last of his magic to keep the flames from touching her, but he was losing consciousness. No, she couldn't let him die.

Wake up! Wake up! WAKE UP!

His head jolted, confused as he felt energy flow through his veins giving him the strength to escape. Riley felt triumphant, she saved someone until the illusion took hold again, her body back in a straight jacket as nurses restrained her, shooting the drugs into her skin, scolding her for causing harm to herself. She didn't though, it just happened. She couldn't explain the sensation, the fear she felt like she was going to be burned alive. No, they would never understand. There was no use arguing anymore, it all had been a dream.

Maybe, she really was Mary Rogers. 

~~~~~

In honor of Leila's birthday (4/17), here is another update!  I know this chapter still needs some work, but feel free to share your thoughts and let me know if any of the transitions were confusing. 

So, stay tuned as we go back to the explosion and witness the aftermath. Does Marcus survive or is this truly the end for him?