"I knew you were there."
I backed away, my heart thumping faster and faster. My body shook with fear as I trembled inside with the thought that Bridgette could have really seen me. No, it couldn't be. I suppressed a shiver as panic surged through me, my fear spiking. I was in a complete state of panic because I could feel nothing but blind terror. I took another step back as Bridgette continued to look into my eyes. A part of me expected her to be talking about something else, to be actually looking behind me and talking about something she hadn't known was there. But that didn't happen. Her eyes continued to stare into mine, and though I tried to stand straight, my legs were wobbly with fear.
"Marinette, did you really think I wasn't going to see you?"
It was when she said my name that I completely froze to my spot, my face twisted into a confused look. But how? When I had gone back to experience the death of my parents, she hadn't seen me. Except. . .
"Oh my goodness!" I breathed out. "This isn't the past." I shook my head as I looked down at Laura. "This is happening right now. As soon as we left, you came over and kidnapped her to do this!" It all made sense now. The reason why she hadn't seen me before was that those other experiences were all from the past, something that had already happened. She saw me now, somehow, because this wasn't the past. It was the present. When Bridgette saw I'd figured it out, she came rushing over to me, but before she could touch me at all, I'd already fully disappeared. I hadn't even felt myself vanishing away, but that may have been because I was too focused on the fact that Bridgette had actually caught me. I hadn't been too careful.
"Bridgette saw you because of two reasons, actually. . ." The voice in my head began to speak again as soon as I landed back in my room. "Because it was the present, and because you two are connected. She felt your presence. If it had been anybody else, they wouldn't have known you were there."
I wanted to ask why I had even been sent to the present, but I didn't question it as of now, knowing the question wasn't really important now. Laura was in trouble, and although I wanted to save her, I knew I couldn't. Bridgette had already given her that purple potion before I'd found out the truth, so to try to save Laura now was basically throwing myself off a cliff. I went back to my bed, feeling even more devastated. We weren't getting any closer to stopping Bridgette. No matter how hard I tried to convince myself that it was all going to be okay, I knew the harsh reality was that nothing was happening, and Bridgette was still winning.
None of this was going anywhere. Bridgette had so many plans up her sleeves, yet I had none, except for defeating her, though I didn't know how to. Finding out the meaning of 'being connected' to Bridgette actually scared me. I had planned on torturing her, making her feel the same pain I had gone through, only this time, physical, but I couldn't do that now, could I?
Because if it happened to her, it would also happen to me.
Try to get some sleep. It's already too late to save her. I rested my head on my pillow as I shut my eyes, trying not to let the tears escape out of my eyes. I'd already cried before. I couldn't do it again now.
~~
May 10th, Sunday-
I woke up to a loud commotion coming from downstairs. At first, I was too afraid to head down, knowing full well that those people I called my friends were against me all because of Bridgette, but after getting dressed and brushing my teeth, I made my way out of my room and down the stairs. I heard a few voices, like a few maids and servants running back and forth, some of them screaming to go call the Queen. Well, here I was now. When I was making my way down the stairs, all eyes went up on me, and everything seemed to stop as I stepped on the last stair.
I felt everything inside of me shatter as my eyes landed on the dead body laying on the floor, now knowing why they all looked so frantic, scared, and wanted to call me. No, no. . .! I couldn't believe it at all. In an instant, I rushed towards the dead body and lifted the head up, the blood staining my clothes as I did so, tears pouring out my eyes. "No, no. . .No, Alya! Wake up." I was practically screaming the words out now as I held Alya's bloody, dead body close. "WAKE UP!"
My head shot up from the bed, my heart pounding at the nightmare. I took a look around my room, and my eyes almost popped out once I saw I wasn't the only one here. "R-Rose." I backed away to see what she was holding. "No Rose, don't do this. You're such a sweet girl. Don't let that potion get to you. Please!" I hopped out of bed as Rose only inched closer towards me, hand clenching onto the knife.
My back hit against the wall, and looking at Rose's face, it didn't look like she wanted to stop any time soon until she had what she wanted - my dead body. When she started rushing towards me was when I quickly grabbed the chair beside me and hit her hard with it. The short girl landed on the floor, the knife slipping out of her hand. I rushed forward to take the knife, but somehow, Rose was quicker, grabbing the knife once again and managing to scratch my arm with it. I then raced for the door.
I managed to make it out before she could get to me, and I shut the door in her face. I wasn't even safe in my own palace. Taking a deep breath, I started heading down the stairs, hurrying, although not sure why. I couldn't stay here anymore, not for another minute. Bridgette was unto me; she knew where I was, so it was only smart if I switched locations and tried my best not to be found. While running, I bumped into one of the maids, but didn't even stop to apologize, afraid Bridgette had gotten her too. I ran straight for the door and left the palace, not even caring that I was still in my pajamas. I'm going to have to inform the others later.
As I walked away from the palace, still not sure where I was headed, I made sure to look around me, hoping nobody was going to do some sneak attack on me. My fragile heart couldn't handle that now. While walking, I thought back to every single little information I knew of Bridgette. She had turned into this monster because of Clara Nightingale, who had taken her away from her real family. I shut my eyes, the tears slipping out. It was all Clara's fault, now I knew. It was all her fault! If she had never taken my sister away from me, maybe then we would have been a happy family of four. If she had never appeared. Dang it!
She deserved to die!
"Marinette!"
I heard my name from behind, and when I looked, my heart clenched to see Alix. I didn't stop walking there, heading towards the street to cross it. I just couldn't trust anyone anymore, and I knew Alix was one of the people Bridgette had turned against me. Alix kept calling my name from behind, and hearing it come closer and closer, I knew she was heading towards me, so I broke into a run, not even waiting for the lights to switch to green. The next thing I heard from Alix was the loud scream of, "MARINETTE, LOOK OUT!" Then, it was a huge blur as I felt myself being hit by something massive. I felt myself falling, until I landed on the ground, not even bothering to try and get up. I give up.
I give up!
~~~
May 14th, Thursday-
"The crown isn't what it seems to be. To other people, it looks like an ordinary crown, but to me, with enough research, I've found out that it's way more than that. This crown holds literal power."
"That's because it wasn't her. It was the machine. The more Clara used that machine on her, the more twisted her personality became. I felt it! That wasn't the first time Clara had ever used that machine on Bridgette, so in other words, whatever she was trying to do, she must have had so many failed attempts but continued to try it anyway. The more the machine was being used on Bridgette, the more twisted she became. She never really did have such a normal life, because she lived with such a cold-blooded human being. It's Clara's fault that she turned this way. This time, when the experiment was done, Clara looked happy, which means that this time, the experiment must have been successful. But-"
"But because it was successful, Bridgette's personality had completely changed. She turned into a monster that was only hungry for blood, and because of that, murdered Clara without even any fright or hesitation."
"Marinette. . .?"
"Marinette?"
My eyes flipped open at the call of my name. Everywhere ached as I lifted my head up, seeing that I was in a different room. In front of me were a doctor and my friends. . .the ones that weren't actually trying to kill me. I felt a wave of stupidity as I recalled what had just happened. "How long. . .have I been here for?"
"Marinette, luckily the injury wasn't too bad, but you've been in here for four days," Alya explained. Seeing my best friend's face, I lifted my body off of the bed once again and pulled her into a hug, no matter how much my body was in pain. Alya wrapped her arm around me as well, smiling into the hug. "I missed you as well, girl. I was extremely worried. Alix said you took off out of the palace and wouldn't listen to her when she called you back."
It was as if Alix had been listening in because as soon as Alya said the words, she walked inside. I backed away, my back aching as I did so. I muttered a few words on how she should stay away from me, but Alix only came closer.
"Don't worry," Alix spoke, raising a hand up. She waited until the doctor left first before she fully explained. "I faked it," she smiled, a proud look on her face. "When the girl walked up to me and forced me to drink her potion, I pretended to. I knew exactly what the potion did to you once taking a sip because I had seen Rose earlier and her weird behavior, so I pretended I hated your guts and wanted to kill you, only for her to leave me alone. She believed me and walked off, so you see. . .Marinette, I'm not like them. I'm safe. I wanted to tell you that before, but you kept running and wouldn't listen. When I had screamed for you to look out, it had already been too late, but luckily the car hadn't hit you too hard."
I took a deep breath to calm down, not really sure whether to believe Alix or not, but deciding not to think about it as of now. It was then that I was brought back to the dream I had been having, which hadn't really felt like a dream at all. Remembering the dream reminded me that I had a theory. "Guys. . ." I looked over at them, the dream not leaving my mind at all. My heart started beating faster as I spoke the next words.
"I think I know how to defeat her!"