This blog is for me that others may read. I spend at least an hour on each prompt then go back and edit it then post it. If I come back to it I come back to it but if I don't then oh well. I have so many stories in my head and get depressed if I don't write something so this is more therapy for me. Enjoy!
Writing Prompts Used:
1. When he woke, she was gone.
2. "Sometimes memories are the worst form of torture."
When he woke, she was gone. Rick rubbed the sleep from his eyes to see that the bed was empty and her clothes were missing. He stood up in a panic running out to the nurse’s station, “My friend is missing! She was in that bad asleep but now she’s gone.” The nurse at the desk made a quick call.
“Mr. Jameson,” Inspector Murdoch seemed to have come out of nowhere.
“Alice is missing,” Rick looked like he was about to fall a part.
“Calm down, Mr. Jameson,” Murdoch soothed. “Your girlfriend won’t get too far.”
“How do you know that?”
Inspector Murdoch reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring.
“She’ll be back for this.”
“What is that?”
“Something that’s gotten your girl in a lot of trouble.”
* * * * *
Alice tried the Lost and Found. Maybe it fell out of her pocket though Callum was the voice of doubt in her ear.
“Instead of whining you can think,” Alice retorted to Callum’s most recent verbal barb, “when was the last time you saw it. I know you followed us to the hospital.”
“I had to do so at a distance,” Callum grumbled. “Someone was using St. John’s Wort to keep me away.”
Alice tried to remember but she didn’t have any St. John’s Wort on her at the time. Someone else maybe? Just as she was pondering this question the lights began to flicker. Her adrenaline kicked in, her hair stood on end. Callum seemed to freeze, the wicked humor drained from his face.
“He’s here…,” Callum whispered in horror. The whispers in Alice’s head grew so loud they were deafening. Then she saw it. The hideous creature with the stag horns and skull mask. She heard a low menacing growl like a leopard behind her. The large cat from her vision was eyeing her with it’s slitted peridot eyes.
“We’re cornered,” Alice breathed in sharply. Instinct told her to run but where to? Before she could think Callum grabbed Alice by the arm and dragged her down another hallway.
“Run,” he ordered. Alice ran as fast as she could but the cat creature always seemed to be right at her heels. Then she practically slammed into Inspector Murdoch.
“There you are,” Murdoch looked into Alice’s fearful eyes, “what happened?”
“It’s coming for me,” Alice ranted. “They’re coming for me!” Alice looked behind to see Cernunnos and his feline companion behind her.
“It’s going to be okay…,” Murdoch whispered. Suddenly Alice felt a sharp pain in her neck. A needle. She went limp and everything went dark.
* * * * *
Alice had dreams. She was a child in her grandmother’s house. Alice remembered the yellow flowers that grew on the window sill of every window in the house. There was also a large amount of iron in every room. To ward off fairies, she said. Alice’s grandmother was the one who got her into paranormal stuff though Alice was more into aliens.
There was something else. A raven. A raven she would play with from time to time. But sometimes he wasn’t a bird but a boy. A boy with hair as white as snow. He was about 14 years old and Alice was 10. They played hide and seek. He called her name but never told her his then one summer where he never came back. Strange. Alice remembered her grandmother’s house but never the boy…
“Alice… Alice?” Alice heard Callum calling her name. It seemed so familiar now. Like a memory you forgot you had but it suddenly popped into your head and you remembered again. Then the voice changed. It was Rick’s voice calling her.
Alice woke up to see Rick looking at her with such concern. She felt the warmth of his hands holding her hand, bringing life back into her extremities.
“Hey, you okay?” he asked.
Alice looked around. She wasn’t in the hospital. She was in a small bedroom below a window. Other sounds and smells filled in the blanks. Birds singing and the smell of soup and fresh coffee wafted through the air giving the place a country ambience.
“Are we in the country?” Alice asked.
“In England almost everywhere is the country,” Rick smiled. “You’re safe. No one’s going to get you.”
Alice attempted to sit up but her head was pounding. She fell back down.
“Easy,” Rick scolded softly. Alice heard rapping at the window. She turned to see a large raven staring at her with it’s soulful eyes. Callum?
“Smells like soup,” Alice said. “I just realized I haven’t eaten in hours. Can you get me some?”
Rick was reluctant to leave but Alice’s stomach was actually grumbling so loud that it was hard to ignore. Rick said he would be back with soup and details. Once he was gone, Alice opened the window and allowed the raven in. Sure enough the raven turned into a man.
“About time!” Callum stretched his aching muscles. “As much as I like flying being in bird form for so long is a pain. How about you, Miss Beethoven?”
“I remembered something,” Alice managed to sit up and lean against the wall.
“About our time as prisoners?”
Alice shook her head, “When I was 10. At my grandmother’s. She told me all about fairies and there was this boy…”
Callum’s face became neutral.
“A boy with white hair who could turn into a raven,” Alice continued softly. “But I forgot all about him. Like he never existed. Which is strange because who could forget a boy with white hair?”
Callum sat on the edge of the bed beside Alice.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Alice asked. “Why didn’t you tell me we knew each other before all of this started?”
“Sometimes memories are the worst form of torture,” Callum sighed mournfully.
“So something terrible happened that you wanted me to forget? What was it?”
Callum said nothing. His lips turned into a thin line. His blue eyes apprehensive.
“If you’re not going to tell me the truth then why the hell are you here?” Alice punched Callum in the arm who cringed, holding the place she hit.
“Easy, love,” Callum winced. “I’m here to save my skin as well as yours. If Cernunnos catches us you’re headed for a life of servitude and he’ll skin me and mount my head on a wall while he listens to you play Beethoven until your fingers bleed.”
“What happened when I was 10?” Alice pressed. Callum sat staring at the floor.
Alice rolled her eyes then fumed, “Get the hell out then.”
“Alice?” Rick came in through the door holding a tray of hot soup. “Who are you talking to?”
Alice looked to see that Callum had turned into a raven.
“How did that thing get in?” Rick set the tray of food down and went to shoo the bird away. With a defiant “caw” Callum flew through the window.
“Just a rat with wings,” Alice muttered. “So where are we?”
“My place,” Murdoch walked in holding a mug of coffee. “We need to talk, Miss Whitethorn.”
* * * * *
Everything was finally out in the open. Well… not about Callum. Alice still held his existence with the utmost secrecy. She had no idea why but she didn’t want Rick to know about him.
“This all sounds insane!” Rick finally cried out. “Alice wasn’t kidnapped by fairies and there’s no giant stag creature or a cat beast after her!”
“Then what has she been running from?” Murdoch inquired never taking his eyes off Alice.
“She’s stressed that’s all,” Rick reasoned, trying to convince himself more than anyone else. “She suffered a terrible trauma.”
“Oh I’m traumatized alright,” Alice was tired of Rick treating her with kid gloves. “I’m remembering everything.” Alice recalled more playful memories of Callum when she was a girl. But there remained a gap that she wanted to be enlightened on.
“This is insane,” Rick turned to Alice, eyes filled with disbelief.
“I agree, which is why I called for help to get your memories back,” Murdoch beckoned for Alice and Rick to follow him down stairs. Everywhere were charms, dried herbs and plenty of iron and St. John’s Wort.
“This is your place?” Alice marveled skeptically. “Seems pretty Hocus Pocus for a cop.”
“I care for my old aunt,” Murdoch explained not at all offended. “She’s known as an unorthodox healer.”
Rick rolled his eyes waiting to see some crystals and dream catchers or smell some incense. Hippie nonsense. They saw an old woman preparing tea. When she turned and saw Alice her blue eyes worn with age began to shine. Her smile was infectious making Alice feel safe and secure for the first time in days.
“So this is the poor doe being hunted,” her voice was melodious not scratchy or weak like most elders her age.
“This is my Aunt Effie,” Murdoch introduced.
Effie seemed to glide as she walked towards Alice. Her long silver hair like a veil trailing behind her. Effie took Alice’s hands into her own.
“My dear you’re shaking,” Effie pointed out.
“It’s been a rough few days…,” Alice suddenly wanted to cry. She couldn’t help it. This woman had a power that made one fell secure and Alice could sense some amount of understanding and honesty that had been missing in her now torrent life.
“It’s alright, girl,” Effie soothed. “You’re safe here. No evil may get in unless invited.”
“So what are you going to do exactly?” Rick sounded skeptical.
“I’m going to help your friend remember her time in the OtherWorld. Fairies may be skilled in memory but the body and brain have deeper memories than we can imagine.”
“You sound very science-y for a hippie,” Rick crossed his arms looking at Effie with a critical eye.
“Aunt Effie is a licensed psychiatrist,” Murdoch poured everyone tea.
“My field was memory retrieval and suppression,” Effie smiled. Alice saw a few medical and psychology books on the shelves. One was a book written by Effie herself.
“Where do we start?” Alice asked.
“Alice, no,” Rick protested.
“I have to, Rick,” Alice turned to her friend pleading for his understanding. “I need to know what happened. Something is after me and no distance or amount of running will make it stop. But I need one thing…” Alice turned to Murdoch and demanded, “I need that ring.”
“Not sure what you mean,” Murdoch shrugged.
“Just give it to her,” Rick glared.
“Edmund,” Effie raised an eyebrow giving the Inspector an accusing eye. “It’s important.”
Murdoch gave up and went to a box on the kitchen table that was labeled for tea bags. He pulled out the ring and handed it to Alice. Having it back made Alice breathe easy again.
“Where’d you get that ring?” Rick asked Alice.
“From the one who kidnapped me 7 years ago,” Alice explained. “Though it still felt like it was only 4 days ago…”
“Now that we have what we need let’s get started,” Effie applauded.
* * * * *
If you would like for me to continue this story please let me know in the comments!
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