Lost and Found
Grievous Revelations
"How stupid of me." Kris said as she crossed a field, approaching a
large tree. She set her hand upon the trunk of the tree then placed her
forehead upon its bark and closed her eyes.
"What is it?" Jessica asked still bewildered by her surroundings. They
had searched the entire park and had not found a trace of any of the
other girls. She was starting to really become concerned when Kris
started walking towards the tree they now stood before and would not
stop staring at it. The tree appeared to be nothing special to Jessica.
Sure it was big and old, one of those trees that she would have climbed
as a child and sit within its branches until the sun disappeared and she
had to return home. However, she could tell that this tree held some
kind of significance to Kris.
"I was afraid of this." Kris said without removing her forehead from the
tree’s trunk.
"Afraid of what?" Jessica inquired, "Do you know where we are?"
"I used to sit in this tree and watch over her." Kris muttered, "Day
after day." She lifted her head to gaze up at the tree's massive
branches, "Gwen..."
"Who is Gwen?" Jessica asked, trying to coax some kind of answer out of
the girl.
"My older sister." Kris answered with a sad sigh, "Remember when I asked
you what you would do if you could return your loved ones memories after
they had forgotten about you?" She asked.
"Yeah," Jessica cocked her head, "What does that have to do with this?"
"My sister gave me Jenn's fragmented memories." Kris finally admitted.
"What?!?" Jessica was more appalled then astonished, "She had no right
doing that. It is up to Jenn when she will remember." She fumed.
"I think her heart was in the right place." Kris said turning to face
the girl. Jessica's anger melted away at the sight of Kris's tired sad
eyes, "I think we are in one of those memories. I just don't know which
one."
"You said you remember this tree. Do you remember what happened around
here?" Jessica asked.
Kris shook her head, "So much happened that I don't know which memory
this could be. This might be here just because it is what I remember the
most. Which might explain why you are here too. You were not part of
Jenn's past so would not have a place here."
"Well that helps." Jessica shoved her hands in her pockets and scanned
around more, "What is over there?" She asked nodding behind Kris.
Kris turned to follow her friends gaze to see a long road in the
distance, "I don't kno-" Suddenly the air filled with the sound of a car
racing down the road. Kris stumbled forward, "No..." She searched the
road and spotted the lights of a small car racing along towards a group
of small houses, "No, it can't be..." Fear filled the girl's voice,
"Don't let it be that. Anything but that." Kris suddenly burst into a
run towards the houses.
"Wait!" Jessica called out, "What is the rush!" She hurried to catch up
to her friend.
"Jenn," Kris answered, the fear had been replaced by panic, "She is
about the remember the worst possible thing."
"What is that?" Jessica asked.
"You'll see soon enough. I just hope we get there on time." Kris left
the question unanswered. Jessica could tell by the worried look on her
friends face that it might not be something she wanted answered.
******
"Is she really the girl we first kissed?" Kim asked in a daze, lightly
touching her lips, remembering the moment, "I mean... I don't remember
her face clearly and still..." she said dreamily.
"Neither can I." Kima rubbed her head in frustration, "Why can't we
remember? What happened to us?"
"Her mother's death was caused by your actions." A voice bluntly stated
from behind the girls.
"Wha?" Kima and Kim both glanced up to find Gwen staring down at them,
there was a look of sadness upon the girl's face, "You!!!" Kim cried
out, pointing at the angel, the girl's wings were missing but Kim was
certain that this was the same girl she met when she faced May.
"Hello again." Gwen said with a weak smile.
"What are you doing here?" Kima asked standing to her feet.
"I felt a strange presence in the forest and came to find out what
happened. I got pulled in here along with the rest of you it would
seem." She walked past the girls and glanced down the street.
Kim followed the girl, "What do you mean by us causing Jenn's mother's
death?" Kim asked warily, "What is going on here?"
"We are reliving your friends memories." Gwen nodded down the road as a
car was speeding towards them, "Take a look."
*****
Jenn's mother pressed hard on the accelerator as she searched her purse
for her keys, "God dammitt!" She cursed as the purse fell off the
passenger’s seat to the ground, "First that stupid kid makes me late and
then I forget to bring my business cards with me. That girl is in a heap
of trouble when I get home." She found her keys and sat up in time to
see her daughter run out onto the street with tears in her eyes. Jenn
didn't see her mother’s car speeding towards her until it was nearly
upon her, stopping dead in her track like a deer in headlights. Her
mother wrenched the steering wheel to the left skidding off the road.
Just as she was about to crash head long into her own house a giant
flaming wolf leapt out from under the house, crashing it's way through
the front of the car causing the car to burst into flames. The car
continued on its death course finally slamming into the cement pylons
that held her house off the ground. Now with the supports loosened the
living room fell onto the roof of the car crushing the hood of the car
flat and portions of the house fell upon the roof killing all within.
*****
"Mom???" Jenn stared at the flaming car. She was in too much shock to
realize what had just happened and simply stood on the street with a
blank stare upon her face.
"Jenn!!!" Kima ran towards the girl with Kim in tow, "Jenn, are you
alright?" She asked realizing far to well how stupid that question was
seeing as the girl was nearly run over by her own mother. She took one
glace at the car and turned away from the flaming wreckage quickly. In
that short moment she was sure she could still see the arm of the woman
still burning up inside the car.
"Oh my..." Kim dropped to the road, "This can't be happening... not
again..." Tears welled up in her eyes as she recalled the entire events
that lead up to that moment.
"Snap out of it." Kima demanded, "We need to be here for Jenn." She
turned to the girl to see that Jenn was finally coming to.
"Mom..." Jenn started to move. One foot lifted slightly off the ground
and slid forward, followed by the other, then they quickened in pace as
she stumbled towards the burning wreck. Kima reached out to stop Jenn
only to find the girl was to fast for her. Jenn reached the lawn when
the car door fell off and for a moment Jenn could see her burnt mother
still sitting at the wheel. Her upper body crushed under a portion of
the house, "Mom!!!" She cried out when Kris suddenly appeared out of
nowhere and wrapped an arm around the girl's face, concealing the
nightmarish image from her.
"It's okay." Kris cooed, "It's only a nightmare."
Jenn blinked then gazed up at Kris, "Kris???" She asked bewildered, she
went to rub her eyes with her hands when she noticed the cuts on her
arms begin to reopen and bleed slightly, "What is happening to me?" She
started to tremble then sink to the ground and fainted away.
"Nothing is wrong." Kris soothed holding the girl in her arms. She
glanced up to see her sister approaching, "You..." She snarled at the
angel, "What do you think you are doing here? Have you not caused enough
damage already?"
Gwen ignored Kris's pained remarks, "I go where I'm needed." She turned
to face the wreck, "And I am needed here."
"No, you are not!" Kris exclaimed hatred could be seen in the girl's
eyes, "Why couldn't you let her be? Why couldn't you have just let her
forget?"
"I'm not the one you should be yelling at." Gwen calmly stated, "Your
answers lay there." She nodded towards the car. The corpse's arm began
to twitch and move as it pulled off its seatbelt and began to struggle
to free its body from the car, still partially burning. There was a
sicken sound of bones cracking and flesh peeling as the body forced
itself free of the car and turn to face the girls. It was now a rotting
corpse with its head tilted to one side and the right portion of her
head missing. The undead woman smiled at the girls as it started to
slowly stagger towards them only to find its leg was still stuck in the
car frame.
"This can't be real." Jessica stated, not believing what she was seeing
before her, "Tell me this isn't real."
"It is." Natalie approached the girls from behind them; "Something tried
to get me earlier." She explained still trembling from the encounter, "I
was hoping to find you all before anything else happened. I only heard
the crash a moment ago."
"Nat???? Were have you been?" Kima asked in a worried tone. Nat was
covered in dirt and appeared like she had been running through a war
zone to get there, "What happened to you?"
"Who is she?" Nat asked, ignoring Kima's questions and nodding towards
Gwen.
"I'm just here to help." Gwen turned to face the zombie like corpse,
"Time to clean up this mess." She cracked her knuckles and neared the
creature. Wings spread out behind the girl causing the corpse to stagger
backwards in confusion and fear of their brilliance, "You have no power
over me, Ghoul." She said with a playful smile.
"A death angel..." Jessica said in awe at the sight of such beautiful
wings and she felt a strange calm come over her by just looking at them.
Gwen reached out towards the creature when it suddenly regained it's
composure and snatched out at Gwen, grabbing the angel by the arm, then
hurling the girl over it's shoulder and sent her flying into the already
destroyed mobile home. It then turned its attention back on the girls,
more specifically, Jenn. It opened its decaying mouth and spoke,
"Jeennniiffeerrr..." The words were choked and crackled. It freed its
foot and started moving towards the girl again.
"I'll never let you have her." Kris hissed at the creature while
cradling Jenn in her arms, "Leave her alone."
Gwen burst out of the roof of the house, "I've had enough of this." She
said as she flew upon the wind. She turned through the air then dove
straight down on the creature when something hit her broadside and she
came crashing down to the ground causing a long crater in the next door
lawn. She could feel a heavy weight upon her chest and when she opened
her eyes she found Akaime on top of her.
"Well hello there." He said with a sinister smile, "What do we have
here?"
Gwen shoved Akaime off with such force that he flew backwards and
crashed into a wooden fence, "So you finally show yourself." Gwen got to
her feet and brushed herself off, "You really thought you could escape
death did you?" She jumped at the man, crossed her arms in front of
herself, and shoved him through a wall.
"This is insane!" Jessica stated, watching the two fight, "I vote we get
out of here."
"What about that?" Kima asked not being able to take her eyes off Jenn's
mother.
"It's a zombie." Jessica said, "Zombies are slow." She patted Kris on
the back, "Let's go!" She started to run down the street with the other
following.
"Alright." Kris lifted Jenn off the ground and chased after the group.
Suddenly, Jenn's mother appeared in front of Jessica and knocked her to
the side with one swift stroke of it's frail arms, causing the girl to
skid across the road and roll onto a lawn.
Kim skid to a stop, "I thought she said they were slow?" She asked
worriedly.
"This is a nightmare." Natalie said rushing over to Jessica's side to
see if she was all right. Her arm was scrapped up badly and she was
bleeding slightly.
"No kidding." Kima agreed.
"That is not what I mean." Natalie shook her head while helping Jessica
to her feet, "It is Jenn's nightmare and we are reliving it. That thing
has all the power of Jenn's fears behind it."
"Then how to we stop it." Jessica asked through the pain while cradling
her arm close to her body.
"I could stall it if we had my knives." Natalie said in frustration.
"I'd wish for a large gun." Jessica chuckled.
"We have to get Jenn to face it." Kris stated with a sorrowful sigh and
glanced down at the sleeping child in her arms, "Or she will be haunted
by this image till the end of her days."
Kima backed up as the zombie moved closer. She then abruptly stopped,
"I'll hold it off." She said faking every amount of bravery that she
could muster.
"Are you insane?" Natalie exclaimed, "That thing-"
"Is only after Jenn." Kima noted, "I know how these creatures of dream
work. I'm part dream myself, am I not?" She inquired, not getting an
answer, "Look it simply pushed Jessica and yet it didn't kill her so it
is only after Jenn. It won’t kill me, I'll meet up with you at the
school."
"But?" Kim started to protest.
"Go!" Kima commanded then threw herself at the creature tackling it to
the ground.
"Come on!" Jessica ordered, running off towards the school.
********
The air cracked with the sounds of commotion and battle. Alyson's ears
perked up at the noise, she favoured anything then this inane silence.
She found herself more and more overcome with worry since her encounter
with Akaime and the longer she searched the more anxious she found
herself becoming. She thought nothing could be worse then the silence
until she heard the first crash followed closely by many others. These
new sounds made her even tenser as she rushed down the street in the
direction of the disturbance. Wishing with every step that her friends
were unharmed. Then she saw some figures appear from down a side street
and turn down the street away from her and continue to run away. She was
about to call out to them when she saw another set of figures stumble
after them and fall to the ground. As she got closer she realize that it
was one of the twins struggling with someone or something. Sensing the
urgency in the girl's movements Alyson quickened her pace as the two
tumbled across the road. The red head grabbed the creature tightly as it
tried with all its might to toss the girl off. Alyson noted evidently
that the girl had to be the reflection and hesitated for a moment,
unsure if she should bother to help or just continue on after the
others, however something inside of her would not allow her to just run
away like that. She let out a frustrated sigh and unsheathed her sword.
"Do you need some help there?" Alyson asked as she approached the
struggle.
"A... Alyson..." Kima panted as she rolled on top of the creature and
pinned it to the ground, "Please..."
Alyson casually walked around the girl and twirled the sword around then
brought the tip straight down on the creatures, piercing the head and
nailing it to the ground. The creature twitched a few times then stopped
moving. Kima let it go and squirmed away from the thing while wiping her
hands on her pants.
"That was nasty." Kima stated with a bad taste in her mouth, "Is it
dead?"
Alyson shrugged, "I don't know." She made no attempt to remove the sword
from the monster's head, "What is going on here?" Alyson asked.
"That is Jenn's mother." Kima explained while standing to her feet,
"It’s after Jenn and there is this other guy with some kind of mask
fighting an angel over there." She pointed over her shoulder where the
sounds of the battle could still be heard, "I stayed behind to stall
that thing." She said with disgust.
"The masked man would be Akaime." Alyson replied scanning the battle
scene as tree fell in the distance, "We'd better find the girls. That
man is more of a monster then this thing." She nodded towards the
corpse.
"Then what do we do?" Kima anxiously asked.
Alyson finally freed her sword from the creature’s head, wiped it off
with a rag she produced from her back pocket and tossed the rag upon the
corpse, "We find the others and get out of here." She stated, sheathing
her sword and starting in the direction she saw the girl's running.
*****
To be Continued...
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