'I don't believe this. Why didn't you tell me?' A voice shouted.
The other voice was calm. 'Because I didn't want all this to happen again.'
'But you could have at least let me know that the thing isn't mine!'
'Yes, the baby is his, I can't deny it. But if you knew... ...you would have reacted like your father.'
'I wouldn't.'
One voice turned more severe. 'I know you too well James, don't try to get around me. I've known you since it happened the first time.'
'I know, I know... ...I'm just... ...I'm just bloody shocked.'
'I want you to promise one thing for me.'
'What?'
'Promise me you will stand by Elly and not leave her, not at least until the baby's born. If you do not heed my words then history will repeat itself.'
The words rang around in my head. History will repeat itself. History will repeat itself.
With those words crammed into my mind, I ran away, trying to sort myself out, trying to sort out what was happening to me. Some other words were whirring around in my brain: 'Promise me you will stand by Elly and not leave her, not at least until the baby's born.' What on earth did that mean? I was confused. I could tell who that sentence had been said to. James. Was he really thinking of leaving me?
'But you could at least let me know that the thing isn't mine.' Was there something I didn't know?
I ran through the dusty backstreets, through the trees, to an empty patch of grass. I slumped down onto the ground, and cried. I then felt something moving inside me. My hand crept to my stomach. My baby was kicking. I mean, mine and James' baby. And here I was, lying in a mysterious field or garden, bawling my eyes out for no apparent reason. History will repeat itself.
I looked at a wavering reflection of myself in a nearby pond. My hair was a messed up ball of fluff, and black rivers of mascara ran down my cheeks like water flowing down a waterfall, ending in a stagnant pool at my chin. I basically looked crapped up.
My eyes moved to the right of the pond. Sitting on the edge was a girl, a little older than me, fiddling with a daisy from the field. I could see that she was pregnant too, and there were a lot of similarities between her and me. I thought that it actually was me. But I looked closer, and where I had spots on my nose, she had freckles. Her eyes met mine and she smiled. I could hear vaguely her whispering something, something along the lines of: 'Promise me you will stand by Jenny and not leave her, not at least until the baby's born.' My name wasn't Jenny but it freaked me out. It was as if I had been made in her image. Then, she said words I'd heard before, or something like them. 'History has repeated itself.'
The wind blew my hair right over my face, blurring my vision. I stumbled around the wet rooftop of an unfamiliar building. I couldn't see anything around me due to the heavy mist. Where was I? I started to get worried. I felt my stomach. It was flat. I panicked, for this was not a dream, this was real. And just an hour ago I'd been pregnant.
I felt my arms up and down. I was wearing a black shirt, which wasn't mine. It felt smooth and smelt of some weird aftershave. I shivered whilst the sky roared above me. My jeans were ripped, it looked like I had been in a scuffle.
'Hey,' came a deep, croaky voice from behind me. I turned around and saw a man appear from the shadows, but I couldn't make out his face. He moved forward and tried to kiss me. I fell backwards. Another voice came from the shadows.
'I should have known it was you!' The guy who tried to kiss me grabbed me. He held me tight around my waist turned towards the voice.
'If I were you I'd leave,' the man said. 'You might not come out alive.'
'I'm here for Elly. What have you done to her?' The tone of voice changed. It got more angry and iratic. 'WHERE IS SHE, MATT?'
'Oh, she's right here. She'd be better off without you, she doesn't know who you are. Yet.'
The voice growled. 'I'm warning you Matt, let go of my wife!'
Matt calmly responded. 'She's not married yet. And she won't be married to you, not if I can help it. It wouldn't make an honest woman of her.'
Suddenly, the voice ran forward. I turned around, and it was James. I looked up at the guy who was holding me, and it was Matt. I shrieked and fell to the ground.
'James!' I cried. I tried to move, but someone held onto my arm tightly. 'Please.'
James didn't move. Instead he gave Matt a steely eye. 'You got her pregnant!'
'Oh, well done, genius,' Matt laughed evilly.
I felt sick. I wanted to move from Matt's grasp, and quick. 'James! I'm begging you please! Go! Save yourself!'
James looked at me and shook his head. 'No, I won't leave you, ever.' I still saw the boy with green glasses looking out from his eyes, but this time his look had changed. I mean, I hadn't noticed how much James had actually grown up in a couple of years. Pretty soon, though, before James could do a runner and save himself, a butt-ugly martian thing grabbed him and held a knife to his throat. Tears were drawing to my eyes. I hated to see him like that, defenceless. I suppose you could call it mutual love, but I didn't think there was anything I could do now.
James grimaced at Matt. The swordsman pinning him down drew the sword down James' body, down to his heart.
'Alright, Matt, you can kill me, you can have Elly for all I care, you can fuck with her all you want, but there's one thing you'll never have.'
Matt looked irritated. 'What now, four eyes?'
A piece of paper flew out of James' pocket. In black fountain pen, my handwriting, it read:
'We may be oceans apart
We may have others in our minds
But deep down inside there's a part of me that doesn't belong
Because it's yours.
And that's my heart.
Happy Birthday James, love you, miss you, Elly xxx.'
I had forgotten about that message. It was something I'd written on James' birthday, the first birthday with me as his girlfriend. I was slaying that night and missed him so much, so I left this under his pillow. I was surprised he'd kept it.
'And you think that is going to stop me, do you?'
James glared first at me, and then at Matt. He recited a bit from a book he, or maybe I'd read before.
'Only true love can conquer the stab of death. Wounds get healed by mutual love. A man with this power so great, has been blessed with his parents’ love and their power.' James paused. 'Your son kills Elly, or you kill him.'
Just then, a woman in a black, revealing gothic dress entered the scene. Her golden blonde hair blew about in the wind, past James' face. I could hear James sigh deeply as the bewitchingly beautiful woman brushed her hand past his face. I felt a pang of anger surge throughout my body. The woman walked up to Matt with her nose in the air.
'Elly, I believe you haven't met...' Matt stroked the cheek of the blonde, '....my sister.'
The woman came up to me and squeezed my cheeks tightly. She had Matt's eyes and a pale, almost whitish face. She blinked and whispered to me in a soft, yet irritating voice, 'I'm Melissa.'
Matt jabbed Melissa in the back. She backed away from me. I wanted to punch her but someone was holding me down so that I didn't have any control over my limbs. 'I believe James has met Melissa already.'
I looked at James. His head was down and he didn't look at me. Suddenly, I received the whole picture. Inside, the anger was tearing me into pieces. James looked at me. A river of tears was running down his cheek. 'I'm so sorry, Elly.'
A boy climbed onto the rooftop. His face was sort of a cross between mine and Matt's, I mean, he had my blue eyes but on the whole his face was like Matt's. He was shorter than Matt but taller than me.
'Sleeping with each other's boyfriends and girlfriends? Tut tut,' the boy grinned, staring straight into Matt's eyes. 'But then again, if that hadn't have happened, I wouldn't be here right now.'
The boy turned to James. James looked nervous. The boy then turned to me. 'I am the son of the slayer.'
My heart skipped a beat. My son? How was that possible? He was all grown, how could he be my son? I had been pregnant an hour ago. Matt put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and smiled proudly. The boy turned his face to Matt’s.
‘Well, father. It was nice to meet you.’ With that he pulled out a knife with a golden blade out of his pocket and thrust it into Matt’s heart. Matt’s eyes became large before falling on his knees to die. The boy drew his finger past the knife and grinned. ‘What a fool. He thought he could master his own son, who has inherited his fathers powers and the strength of his mother.’ He laughed evilly before turning to me. ‘And you…’ he cleaned the knife, then put it away in his pocket. ‘you have to catch me first.’ He snapped with his fingers and we were back in our apartment.
James was peacefully sleeping next to me in our bed, while I was sitting straight up with the sweat on my back and forehead. My waters had broke.
‘James… James, wake up. It’s time.’ I said, trying to wake him up. He groaned at first, then his eyes were open wide and he got straight out of bed.
‘What… where’s…’ He was running around like a mad man. He was nearly at the door when he realised he had forgotten something. ‘Oh, sorry Elly. Almost forgot the most important thing… you!’ I smiled weakly, as the contractions were getting more painful every minute. He practically dragged me out of the apartment, out of the building and into the car.
James took the shortcut to the hospital. But it was too late, I could feel the baby wanting out. Now. I let out a scream. James thankfully got the message and turned into an empty driveway. He pulled me out of the car, I was barely able to walk. James furiously knocked on the door. A lady opened it and hurried us inside as soon as her eye caught sight of me frantically holding my bump and breathing heavily.
The lady led us to the guestroom when I lay down on the bed, getting my jeans off. The lady went to get some towels and clean cloths. She told me how to breathe.
Everything went blurry as I pushed one last time and soon I heard my baby cry. She muttered something to the baby before handing it over to me. James squeezed my shoulder and smiled proudly as he saw his new born son lying in the arms of his future wife.
‘I’ll be right back.’ The lady said and left the room. I could hear her in the other room muttering something that sounded like, ‘Daray has arrived, brother.’ I wasn’t sure, and wasn’t really listening to her, because my first child had just been born. Exhausted, I leant back onto the pillow and closed my eyes for a moment. A red glow and a flash.
I opened my eyes again and saw James sleeping, his head on his arms and softly snoring. I smiled and stroked his hair. He looked up, I frowned.
‘Where’s the baby?’ I asked, James smiled. ‘You okay, hun?’ he replied, he caressed my cheek. ‘James, where is the baby?’ I asked him, more urgent this time. ‘That lady, Mona, took him to check up on him.’ That same moment, Mona came in the room, carrying a bright red bundle of cloths.
‘Do you have a name for it yet?’ She asked, giving me my cloaked son.
‘Luke,’ I said, looking up. ‘Luke Charles Vaughn Bourne.’
Mona smiled, ‘That’s a nice name.’
The baby wailed. Mona watched the baby so closely, it was freaky. I didn't feel like Luke's mother at all. I felt like an alien. I glanced at James. He looked really exhausted, probably more so than I. He picked up the bundle of cloths and rocked it back and forth in his arms. The baby stopped wailing.
'Do you know that woman?' I asked.
James hesitated. 'Yes... ...she's an old friend of mine. She helped my mum out years and years ago.'
'With what?'
'With me,' James laughed.
A snap, and I was back on the rooftop. Melissa walked up between my son and me. I examined her face. It looked exactly like Mona's. Melissa said something in a language I didn't understand, a sort of weird spell.
James frowned when those words were said. Blue smoke surrounded all of us. Then, Melissa spoke in English, and summoned the spirits or something. It was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. Melissa hovered about in the air for a bit. I almost fainted with shock. They attack us, but now ITHEs do magic too? Great.
Suddenly, I was lifted up into the air and thrust down onto the rooftop. I got up, and, right in front of me was Luke. He'd attacked me.
I heard a shout. 'Elly you've got to kill him!'
I turned around, and it was James. Sooner or later though, Luke had got him in a lock against the wall. I was torn between two people, again. My son, or James. I hated to admit it but I felt a sort of love for my son. But my heart told me to go with James.
I ran forward and in a flash I was up in the air. I didn't fall down, which was strange. James took one look at me and his jaw smacked down on the floor. My son's back was towards me. I held my fingers out in front of me, and red sparks flew from the tips and struck my son. He fell to the floor, and blood stained the shirt on his back. He flipped up into the air, and moved me around so as to disable my magic. I flung my arms around in the air and snapped. I screamed. Although it was more like the sort of scream a metal band would use than a girly scream, it shook the ground a kilometre away from me.
I came back down to earth. Luke stared at me. His eyes reminded me of James. Big and watery, and blue. His hand swept past my mouth. It came away with blood. 'Your blood is my blood. It'll be a pity to lose it.'
I licked my lips, the taste of his blood in my mouth. Melissa was hovering in the air above us. She watched every move we made, I felt like I was in some kind of wrestling fight on TV.
A booming sound came from the sky. I looked up. Great, it was raining. Thunder raged around us on the rooftop. Melissa was whispering something in that language again, and I could hear another voice whispering back to her. I shivered. Luke slammed me down on the ground again, and I felt myself falling.
I looked up, and I wasn't on the rooftop. I wasn't on ground of any kind. I was holding on for dear life on the edge of the building. I could suddenly understand what the voice was saying to Melissa. 'Our world will suffer under Daray,' it hissed.
Melissa nodded. I was slipping away, my fingertips could no longer grip the building. 'James!' I cried. I thought that he couldn't hear, but then I felt a hand grabbing my wrist, holding on tightly. 'Elly, oh god!' I heard the person say.
'James!' I shouted. 'I'm going to die!'
'No!' He shouted back. 'You can't, you won't!'
'I'm telling you James, I can't hold on any longer. Please, just let go! You'll die with me otherwise!'
'No! I'll die with you if that's what fate holds,' James had tears in his eyes. 'I love you, Elly.'
At that moment, the exact moment when James had said those words, red light surrounded James' hand, and mine, keeping me safe for the moment. I looked up, and found that Melissa was surrounded in green light, and up in the air. Luke lay on the ground, lifeless and covered in blood. She'd killed him for me.
Melissa walked up to me and James and lifted me back up onto the rooftop.
'Such a selfless thing, love,' she smiled, lifting my hand onto James' with her powers. ‘I hope you realise now that love is a hard thing to meddle with. My poor brother... ...killed by the result of his own love.'
James pulled away from me for a minute, but then hugged me so tight I nearly fainted because I couldn't breathe. I stared blankly at Melissa. 'Matt... ...he loved me?'
Melissa nodded. 'It was in the prophecy. It had to happen.'
'What... ...what prophecy?' James asked while still holding onto me.
'The Prophecy of the Chosen One,' Melissa muttered casually. 'Every few years, a portal opens up, right here in this building. It reeks havoc for anyone who is led into it. That means Elly, and my brother, and you, James. But there are only two things that can overcome it and cause it to close.'
'Go on...' James' voice trailed. He blushed and bit his lip anxiously.
'Love, and willingness to risk your life for someone else are the only things that overcome the Prophecy,' Melissa smiled. 'You and Elly have shown that. It has happened 3 times now. First, with my mother and father, and then, more recently, with your mother and Matt,' Melissa winked and James. 'All I shall say is that it will happen in the future. I cannot say when, or how, or who it will happen too. But someone very close to both of you shall have to suffer. That is just the way it is.'
I glanced at James, and then Melissa. 'Is there anything we can do to stop this from happening?'
'No,' Melissa replied. James looked crushed. 'You owe me, everyone else has. That is the way it works.'
A flash of multi-coloured light, and a high ringing sound, and Melissa was gone.
My life had turned itself upside down again. Everything was going just fine; no more slaying till deep in the night. No more Matt wanting to kill us and my son had disappeared as well. My life was perfect. Until that unfortunate day…
James had cancer. With my advise and the constant headaches, he finally went to the hospital to get him checked up and there it was, the diagnosis. Cancer, right in the middle of his brain. And it was growing, fast. We knew there was nothing much to do about it, other than just wait. Wait until he died.
Within two weeks, the cancer had affected his hearing. He was almost deaf by this time, but that didn’t stop him from just living his ordinary life. His eyesight got worse with the day, not to mention his speaking ability. He was like an old man, the only true James thing was his energy. The cancer had effected almost everything in his body, except for his energy. Can you imagine a running and jumping grandpa? Me neither…
Eventually, the day I was so afraid of, came. The day that claimed my heart, smashed it into millions of pieces, and sent them off, where they were never found again.
James and I had been talking about the things we used to do together, before he got ill. When we didn't have a care in the world about anything else. Before everything flipped, turned topsy-turvy. His head lay on my stomach, my arms draped around his shoulders. I pushed him off gently, and then realised that I had something to tell him.
'Errr, James?'
James could barely speak by now. He looked so sweet, and yet, so helpless. He nodded his head and made a small moaning noise to indicate that I could go on.
'I need to tell you something....'
James moved his head into my lap, and looked up at me, nodding again and sighing, and blinking at me. I stroked his hair.
'James, I'm...'
Suddenly, the sighing stopped. I looked down at James, and his eyes were closed. I grew desperate and shook his now limp body violently. 'James!' I cried. 'JAMES! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!'
But it didn't help. He was dead, and he'd died in my arms. I slumped down against the apple tree in the garden, and cried, under a fast blackening sky.
His funeral was very quiet. Only I was there. Or at least, that’s what I thought. From out of the corner of my eye I could see a woman in black standing behind a few graves and a large tree, a single red tear trickling down her cheek. However, when I looked up, she was gone.
I held my tummy, to protect it from whatever was out there. A new life was growing in there, and this time I was sure it was James’. I looked down at my finger, and there was a big diamond. A tear trickled down onto it. I’d been too late to catch him.
‘Mommy, mommy!’ I hear her call from the other side of the room. She came running towards me and climbed on my lap, while frantically pointing to the window. ‘What is it, Jenny?’ I asked her, straightening her little shirt and tying back a lock of blonde hair. I looked up at the wall. In a corner, in a small brown frame, were three photos, with scrawly, childish handwriting at the bottom. The first was a picture of me, and at the bottom, it said, or I thought it said, ‘Mommy looking pretty.’ The picture on the far right looked like it had been folded up and screwed up in a pocket a lot of times. It was of James, leaning against a wall in an alleyway. At the bottom, Jenny wrote, ‘Daddy.’ In the middle was a picture of Jenny, and the writing: ‘Elly Bolan + James Bourne= Jenny Bourne.’ Jenny was a smart kid, reminded me a lot of her dad. I smiled at her. She grinned back and I could see James’ face there.
She jumped off my lap, grasped my hand and tried to pull me off the couch. With the 6-year old holding my hand, I slowly walked to the window where Jenny was pointing at. Jenny climbed up the little table that was stood there and pushed her nose against the glass. ‘Who is that man there, mommy? He’s been standing there for over an hour now.’ I didn’t even look out the window and tried to get Jenny’s nose off the window. ‘Mommy!’ She wailed, trying to hold on to something. I sighed and looked out of the window. ‘That’s just…’ My jaw dropped the second I saw him. He was casually leaning against the apple tree in our front garden, with his hands in his pockets. I could feel his eyes looking at me. In a flash I could see him get killed again, the sword cutting his throat and he fell on the ground, lifeless. I got brought back into reality by my daughter pulling the side of my top.
‘Mommy, I think he’s coming this way.’ She was right, Charlie started walking and was coming our way. I could see him getting smaller, his eye colour changing from hazel to striking blue. His hair getting blonder, turning into James. He grew an inch, eyes turning back to dark pools, hair getting darker until it was almost black, his black cape billowing in the wind. Shrinking an inch again, eyes turning striking blue. He looked familiar. He was near the door.
‘Mommy, I’m scared.’ Jenny had clung herself onto me. ‘Go to your room, now!’ I pushed her gently towards the stairs. A knock on the door. With a trembling hand I reached out for the doorknob, slowly opening the door. No one was there. I let out a sigh or relief and thought I just imagined it all, when I heard a deep voice from behind me.
‘Hello mother.’ I turned around, and saw, for who I thought was dead, my only son. Fully grown.
To my fear, Jenny had come down from her room and was pulling Luke’s shirt.
‘Hello mister, who are you?’ Before I could do anything, Luke had picked Jenny up.
‘Hello Jenny, I’m your big brother Luke.’ He smiled. Jenny frowned and look at me.
‘But mommy, I thought I didn’t have a brother?’ I walked up to him and got Jenny out of his hands. ‘You don’t, honey. Now go play at the neighbours house.’ I hurried her to the front door and turned round to Luke.
‘What do you want? You’re supposed to be dead.’
‘I am,’ He replied. His hair grew fast into a long blonde ponytail. His face features turned female. It only took ten seconds to turn into Melissa.
‘He is,’ She repeated. It had been six years since I last saw Melissa. She had changed, she was older. Her hair was still blonde, with a grey lock hanging loose in front of her eyes. She smiled at me, the skin around her eyes wrinkled, her forehead turning into a frown. Her eyes, which once had those sparkles in them, were know empty, lifeless. She reached out her arms, letting me walk into them and hugging me tight. She stroked my hair gently, I could feel her breath along my neck.
‘Elly, there’s something I need to tell you.’ She let go of me, the look on her face was serious. She pointed towards the couch and signalled me to go and sit there.
‘I have a quest for you. I’m getting old, and I cannot do it myself. I need your help…’