Chapter ten
One should’ve gone blind
Christopher paused mid-stride, his heart racing as he pulled his laptop over the large, jagged rock. With a deliberate motion, he knocked three times on the surface, each thud resonating against the stone. Suddenly, the ground beneath him trembled violently, cracks spider-webbing across the earth as a profound chasm opened up.
Dark, swirling smoke poured forth, and within its depths, a figure emerged. The man stepped forward from the mist, a shrouded aura of authority surrounding him. Without a word, they sank down onto the cold, hard ground, the air thick with anxiety.
“What am I gonna do?” Christopher's voice trembled, the desperation evident in each syllable. His eyes darted nervously around their surroundings, searching for an escape.
“The tree-descending was the last time; she won’t be able to catch it again,” the figure replied with a calm yet ominous reassurance, his gaze steady.
“She broke out of jail! I can’t believe they locked her in the wrong cell—goddamned it!” Christopher hissed, frustration boiling beneath the surface.
“That’s alright. Just tell her it was all a bad dream. Lock her in your house. She won’t get out that easily; she has no desire to be tortured again,” the man suggested, his tone almost casual despite the gravity of their situation.
“I don’t know about this... bitch,” Christopher spat, bitterness lacing his words.
"Honestly, how do you manage to invite so many kids to that party? They can’t stand her—but I’ve seen how they all act so friendly around her."
“A hundred bucks each can make them to see things your way.”
"But what's the party for? Why is it?"
"To distract her, to keep her anchored here…”
“Good. The lord has failed once; you can’t make him fail twice. It’s just nine months. Don’t tell me you can’t keep her under control for that long! He needs her—we can’t let them seize control. She’ll be our doom or our future. That all depends on you—crash her. It’ll be easier for us to handle it that way.”
“Yes, sir,” Christopher acquiesced, a heavy weight settling upon his shoulders as he spoke the words solemnly.
“And, Christopher,” the figure continued, leaning in slightly, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, “pierce her eyes, blind her. I’m aware they’re trying to reach her, trying to draw her to their realm—or whatever it is they want.”
“Yep, sure,” Christopher nodded, his mind racing with the implications.
“Just her twenty-second birthday—it's not that far away. Tell me you can do this,” the man pressed, his eyes locking onto Christopher's with an intensity that suggested more than mere urgency.
“Yes, sir, I swear,” Christopher replied, his voice steadier now, though doubt still lingered in the back of his mind. In a swift motion, the two men slid into the tunnel that gaped below them, and as they disappeared, the ground sealed itself with an ominous thud, leaving behind a heavy silence.
A moment later, Elizabeth burst onto the scene, her pulse pounding in her ears. She spotted the laptop, cracked it open, and hastily navigated to a folder labeled ‘Truth’. Her mind went blank as she clicked it open.
Haunting pictures appeared in the foyer that stole her breath away.
The image depicted a giant tree, its trunk wide and gnarled, stretching endlessly towards the sky, with a crescent-shaped logo perched among the top branches like an eerie sentinel.
In the next photo, her heart dropped—Christopher knelt beside another woman, Bianca, who held cups brimming with blood, the dark liquid shimmering ominously in the light. A wave of nausea rolled through Elizabeth, and she felt the very essence of her being begin to melt under the weight of this sinister revelation.
She should’ve known it was all a manipulative trick from the start.
At that moment, with a wisp of smoke, Christopher reappeared.
He looked shocked to find her there, and the concern on his face was quickly overshadowed by a hard edge.
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“Did you hear anything?” he asked, his voice a low growl, laced with anxiety. Elizabeth, gripped by fear, found herself too terrified to respond.
She spun on her heels and fled, her heart racing as she heard her father drawing a knife behind her.
She pivoted on her heels and dashed away, the chilling sound of her father unsheathing a knife echoing in her ears. She didn’t want to lose her sight for the rest of her life—or for the last nine months of it.
“My darling, you are so wonderful,” Christopher’s voice echoed through the dimly lit forest, warm yet laced with something darker. But Elizabeth kept running, her feet pounding against the earth, lungs burning with desperation.
“Just stop! I promise I won’t hurt you! Can’t you see? I’m only trying to help!” he called after her, his tone a mixture of sweetness and menace, redoubling his efforts to catch up.
Yet, Elizabeth didn’t dare to halt.
“Think about the moments we’ve shared—those whispers under the stars, sharing secrets, how I held you close when you shivered from more than just the cold. Doesn’t that mean something to you? You can trust me, darling. After everything we've been through, you know I'm the only one who truly understands you.”
Those memories flickered in her mind, igniting warmth before it was swiftly extinguished.
Elizabeth steeled herself against the tide of nostalgia.
“Stop for just a moment,” he urged, his voice a velvet knife cutting through the tension.
“You know deep down that I would never truly harm you. We’re bound by something greater than fear. It’s love, Elizabeth, love. It's the world outside that's dangerous, not me.”
Panic surged through her as she cast a glance back, her heart pounding like a drum. Christopher was gaining ground, a predator closing in on his prey. The moonlight caught the blade in his hand, glinting ominously, a chilling reminder of the danger she faced.
“Remember our nights? How safe you felt in my arms? That’s what I want to give you again. You know you can’t survive out there without me. Who will keep you safe? You’d be lost.”
A wave of confusion engulfed Elizabeth as she felt a sharp, lingering pain radiating from her upper forearm, where the forceful grip he had used to drag her to her cell days earlier.
Was it a nightmarish dream, or a real experience that her memory refused to let go?
It felt as if it should’ve been a nightmare, she could've believe it, but she couldn’t deny the reality of it. It was all too real.
“Isn’t it better to trust me than to run into the unknown?” he continued, the manipulation dripping from his words like poison. “I would never let anything hurt you. I just need you to see that all I want is to protect you, to love you. You know I’m right.”
Those words slithered through her thoughts as her instincts screamed for her to run faster when suddenly, a pair of strong hands clamped down on her shoulder.
Her heart stopped.
Her legs gave way beneath her.
She crumbled to the ground.
Her breath hitched.
“Elizabeth,” Christopher murmured as he crouched beside her, his grip unyielding, his voice dropping to an unsettling serenity.
“You are so wonderful, kid.”
“Please—Father—don’t—” Her voice quivered, laced with desperation.
He remained silent, an eerie calm spreading over him as if he’d already made a decision, and words were just carrying the order on.
“Please—” she pleaded again, grasping at any shred of hope.
“I know,” he replied, his tone dispassionate yet heavy with unspoken emotion.
Elizabeth’s hands gripped the sleeves of his jacket, her nails grimy, fingers clawing.
A wave of helplessness washed over her.
She flinched, terror gnawing at her insides.
She had never thought this would happen—never prepared for what was to come.
As the knife glinted menacingly above her, Christopher pressed the blade against her forehead, his nails digging painfully into her skin.
Silence enveloped them, thick and suffocating.
“I know,” he repeated, unyielding, as he drove the knife toward her eyes with a swift and silent motion.
In that moment, time froze.
Elizabeth’s eyes bulged.
Darkness swallowed her whole.
Her mouth was tore open.
No sound came out.
The grip on his sleeve tightened, held, then released, and the hand fell back to the dirt with a sound that was too small for what it meant.
Blood trickled down her cheeks, a vivid crimson against her pallid skin, splattering onto the ground where it mingled with her fading hope.
She knelt there, paralyzed by the silence that enveloped her.
Christopher stood up, a long sigh escaping his lips as he wiped the blade clean against her clothing in a swift, ruthless stroke.
The world around her was painted in crimson silence as he gazed down at her, a nonchalant observer to her agony.
Elizabeth sensed the darkness creeping over her vision, a horrifying reality as she raised her trembling hands to wipe it away, only to feel the warm, sticky liquid pouring over her palms.
Her knees buckled, sinking into the dirt, a raw scream clawing its way up her throat—too silent, too painful.
This, she thought, was how it was all going to end.
Christopher approached her, and she felt the weight of his footsteps crushing the ground beneath him.
In an instant, her world shattered. Everything she had known crumbled away.
Elizabeth blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of the darkness that enveloped her.
Another blink brought forward a blur of red that seemed to surge from the depths of her brain.
It all felt surreal—she could see glimpses, yet somewhere deep within, she understood this was just her mind conjuring illusions.
Blindness threatened to claim her, but she refused to succumb to it.
She rubbed her eyelids, parched and dry, willing sight to return.
Nearby, she sensed Christopher had cuffed her hands, dragging her down the hill like a rag doll. An ember of determination ignited inside her—she couldn’t allow herself to be killed.
With a determined effort, Elizabeth willed her eyelids to flutter open once more, her heart aching with the hope that they would obey her plea. Suddenly, bright, swirling bursts of color that flooded her vision--a beauty she feared she might never truly grasp again—how she longed to recall its vivid details, to pretend she still possessed the sight that once brought her so much joy. The thought lingered painfully, casting a shadow over her heart as the vibrant colors began to fade, leaving her in darkness once more.
She blinked again.