When the Clouds Fell

Chapter 15: In Which Their Utopia Shatters ~Act 1~

They passed a collapsing structure labelled 'Hall of Mirrors', a rusted merry-go-round, and a haunted house. The giant Ferris wheel rose before them, its lights glittering in the darkening night.

Each step En took caused the dread in her heart to increase tenfold. The pebbles on the path bounced along next to them, spurred by her terror. She held it in until she could feel the anxiety beating in her chest. It sat like a rock inside her, heavy and hard.

"Derek, hold my hand." She closed her eyes, dragging in a breath when she felt no comforting grip. "Derek? That's not funny. I'm actually really scared right now." Her words were met with silence. She turned slowly, winding a lock of hair around her finger.

He was gone.

A sob brought her attention back. Her stone heart fell to the pit of her stomach. A thousand feelings welled up; happiness, relief, hope, sorrow, irritation, and so many more. Finally, they could go back to the way things were.

Marie stood in the pool of light falling under the Ferris wheel. Her slender shoulders hitched along with her breath as she cried. She covered her face with her hands, but tears and snot leaked between her fingers.

En rushed towards her, sisterly instincts overpowering every bit of hesitation. "What's wrong, Marie??"

"En," Marie whimpered, shaking her head violently, "don't come here." She stepped back, hiccupping. "No, no, no, no. Stop. Don't come here."

But, her warnings fell on deaf ears.

En reached for Maire, just a centimetre from touching her when she was thrown into the air. She skidded across the gravel floor, scraping a knee and an elbow. Her already injured body stung with new burns. A ringing reverberated in her ear, or maybe it was Marie screaming?

"Hey." Someone chuckled. "Ready for Round Two?" Bea.

En forced herself up to her knees. Her hands wavered in her vision, the bandages torn off and her fingers matted with fresh blood. She attempted to steady her breathing, clenching her teeth against the pain sweltering in her sides.

"(Screw) off," she spat. The gravel around them shot up, catapulting towards her opponent.

Bea blasted it away and propelled herself towards En. "You think the same trick will work on me?!" Her hands exploded with her words, emitting a blast of heat and pressure.

En dove to the right, rolling to her feet. She kicked at the floor, spraying pebbles high into the air.

Smack. Smack. Smack. They pelted Bea, making her scowl. She grabbed En's jacket, dragging her closer. Her fist fizzed and shook as heat built up in it.

En tried to pry her fingers off, but Bea's grip tightened. Scalding knuckles collided with her cheek, snapping her head back. A bloom of prickling agony shot through one side of her face, coupling with the smell of burnt skin. She tasted blood in her mouth from a bitten tongue.

"Stop it!" Marie's shriek caught their attention. She stood with her hands balled at her sides, silhouetted by the glow of the Ferris wheel. She looked so small and frightened from this far away; just a little girl.

Marie. Marie is here. Marie is here. Marie is here. I'm going to get her back.

En used the distraction. She kneed Bea's stomach, stumbling backwards. She kept Marie behind her, slowly getting closer. Sweat trickled down her neck and back, and her breath came out in heaves. Her legs felt like jelly, her arms protested every movement, and her face hurt, but she did not let herself go still.

Bea clutched her stomach, weirdly quiet for such a chatterbox. She grimaced, shoulders raised in discomfort. Little bruises began to discolour her skin where the rocks had hit. Her face still looked swollen from their previous fight. "Ugh," she muttered, doubling over, "cramps."

"Sorry." An empathetic stab of guilt shot through En.

A grin split Bea's face. "Kidding!" She sprang forward, aiming a kick at En's head.

She dodged, tripping on her weakened feet. Perhaps it would have been smart to stop right then and think.

But, all hell broke loose.

Bea ripped at her like a chainsaw. Her fists continued to combust as they collided with En, pummeling her to the ground. She tried to defend herself, but the stones she raised did not have enough willpower to back them. She was too weak. En could only cover her head as burns accumulated on her body along with cuts and bruises.

"What's wrong??" Bea's voice sounded far, far away. "Where's the fight in you?!"

En's bleary eyes wobbled on a sight. There, in the distance, Bea was dragging Marie away while she kicked and screamed. She raised a hand to them, as if it would do anything. Her hand fell to the dirt, grasping at nothing.

This was so wrong.

She was a failure.

She should not have stayed to fight. She should have taken the first chance to grab Marie and go. It had barely been twenty-four hours since her last fight, of course she would burn out this fast. No pun intended. Why did she not think this through? Why did she forget what was important? Why did she have to be so impulsive?

En knew why. She was alone. No one was here to help her slam the breaks when she should. Hayden had run away with Karen and Vince. Ah, Vince. Derek was somewhere only God knew. Marie was kidnapped. Noah was...(screw) Noah. And (screw) Colton, too.

She hated this side of her; this weak and crumbling side. The one that she tried to suppress every chance she got. The one that sat stubbornly within a small world, too afraid to look up and see the cracks forming on its glass walls.

A year and a half ago, they had built a utopia around themselves to prevent them from falling apart. They had all contributed to it in some way. Noah by running away and making himself vanish. Colton by not caring enough. En and Derek by doing everything to hold their curtain of apathy high. Hayden by feeling obligated to help them. Marie by going along with it and staying silent. Even Vince and Karen had done their part by not asking questions. Look what good it did them. Their utopia was slowly beginning to shatter.

But, despite understanding that, and seeing everything start to fall apart, as she lay in the dirt, En still could not find it in her pathetic self to cry.

  ~🐍~ 

Hello, I'm back after 223542 years, haha... Okay, so, you may notice that this chapter is shorter than usual and super crappy. I'm sorry for that. I've hit a super low in writing, but I'm posting this despite that because I owe you guys that much and I want to progress instead of remaining stuck on this. I hope you don't hate it as much as I do lmao.