The Lightning Witch Page 3

  Her father had promised that one day they would be back for her when she was well. I could see the heavy iron doors closing her in forever. Little Beth in her little blue dress and Mary Jane shoes, holding her favorite doll, a cotton lamb in one hand and Lady Veronica’s sinewy fingers latching the other. I felt the years that flew like stars and the minutes that dragged like decades. I felt her pain and sadness from being abandoned to this place. But more so, I felt a broken heart from a father that had never returned to claim his child.

  She grew to become an old woman in this place, too old for life or hope of escape. The horrors she had seen had her turn inside of herself where she could hold the illusion of safety and stay the eternal child, waiting in vain for the father that would never return instead of breaking out of here and becoming the woman she was meant to be. The spell had her stay young on the outside, her heartbreak so massive she stopped time for herself. She would always be that little girl waiting for her father. On the inside, she was old as dirt now, and her father most likely long in the ground.

  And Lady Veronica still walked the same halls, never aging a day.

  I opened my eyes and felt old tears escape and drop on our clasped hands. I looked imploringly at her and felt the deepest sadness I had ever seen in my life. The girl wiped at my tears and turned back to her dirty little stuffed lamb, petting it softly with her small fingers.

  She still had the lamb from all those years ago.

  Beth gave me a new purpose here with that revelation. Whatever her story was, I would stick to her side and take care of her. Then one way or another, when I left here, I would bring her with me. I would not become the same eternal prisoner she had let herself become. And I would help her have a life before it was way too late.

  We settled into my small bed, the two of us, clutching onto each other through the night to keep the warmth in and the nightmares at bay.

  Chapter Five

  The next morning, Beth was gone from my arms. My bracelets were returned to my wrists. I grudgingly got out of bed and stalked like a zombie to the common room.

  Whiny music spilled into the corridor, along with the hacking coughs of the patients. I found Beth seated at a table with her lamb, dirty and dusty from years of use. She was completely content and smiling to herself as she played solitaire checkers. I went over and plopped into a chair across from her and yawned widely.

  “Good morning, sweetie.” She glanced at me but was busy humming a song, forgetting the board as she helped her dirty stuffed lamb dance to her tune. I began laying out the checkers for two players instead of one, and I looked around. God, this place was getting to me. I detested it. I didn’t know how or when, but we were getting out of here.

  I suddenly realized that Beth’s prolonged stay at Shadow Hills could be of great benefit to us. She had been here long enough to have seen everything, and she was small enough to have some idea of how to escape unnoticed, no matter how evasive. I would just have to give her some courage.

  “Beth, there is something I need to talk to you about.”

  “Hey, let’s go try to get Jones over there to trade our medicine for some pudding.” She jumped up and tiptoed over to Jones, the only half-decent human being on the staff. I was still wary of him, but he was growing on me. Jones was leaning against a wall, keeping an eye on a game of backgammon between two senior patients that was getting heated. He was long and lean with coffee-black skin. He was one of the few that tried to use compassion instead of cruelty toward the patients. He was constantly berated for it by his peers, so he kept a low profile. I remembered what he said to me under his breath the day I arrived at Shadow Hills. He told me I had friends here. I rolled my eyes at the thought.

  Beth got his attention, and Jones looked around with trained eyes before he walked off with Beth skipping after him.

  Okay, we would have pudding today and not plan an escape.

  Life in the clinic went on this way for another month or so. I met Beth daily in the common room, and we made fun of the guards and played tricks on the doctors. We played checkers and traded our drugs for treats from the kitchens, courtesy of Jones.

  What he did with those heavy-duty pills was beyond me. I had assumed he sold them out in the world to some preteens or big thugs to get high for fun on what we were being forced to swallow in here. But when I looked twice at him, at the way he was so gentle with Beth and always returning my hard stare with a look of sympathy, I thought not.

  I kept trying to discuss escape with Beth throughout the weeks that passed, especially when she would crawl into my bed with me at night when no one was looking and no one could hear our hushed chatter. She was slowly warming up to the idea but was distracted easily. She would remove her wrist bands and draw with her fingers on the windows, creating those lively scenes and lying back against me to watch them move about on the windowpane before they disappeared in the disappearing fog of her breath. My words never reached her in those moments. Beth was in that world, playing out its moments, captured in a breath and gone in an instant.

  When I pressed her to listen to me by day, she would become anxious, and a wild look would steal across her face. Sometimes she covered her ears; other times she ran around the room having a tantrum that was answered by guards and the Needle Twins.

  I soon gave up on the hope of Beth assisting me in an escape plan from this godless place and didn’t pressure her into discussion. I would have to figure it out on my own. I would do anything to keep her happy and rescue us both when the time came. She was my only friend here, the only refuge to be had. Protecting her gave me a purpose, something to do and believe in again.

  I would not go insane here. I would figure out escape on my own and drag Beth with me if I had to.

  I longed for my northern mountain home, to have something cool and clean against my skin. I kept Jasper, the dogs, and all of my friends and family in my heart by day, and I would say their names at night when I was in bed with Beth snoring softly beside me. Sometimes I would draw Jasper’s face on the cold cement with charcoal I found in the cracks of the floors. I would rest my cheek next to it and try to imagine the bristles of his beard, his eyelashes touching mine, the glow of his skin when his Fire element would show.

  It was a poor rendition.

  I had to keep my family close to me in heart and mind. That was my way to survive. I couldn’t and I wouldn’t give them up.

  I dreamed of us together. The four of us down by our river, a picnic on the grass, the sun beating down so brightly we had to squint. It was so real—the scents, the sounds, everything—so much so that when I woke, I could have died right then if only to be out of this prison.

  I longed for the outdoors, to breathe some fresh air and feel the sun or the rain.

  We had to get out of here.

  One morning, Beth was fidgety at breakfast. She was looking around and tugging at her hair. I rolled the gruel around in my mouth, trying to pretend it was pudding.

  “What’s the matter, Beth?”

  She would not answer me. She was busy muttering to herself and seemed lost in whatever had her attention inside that matted head of hers. As she turned her head, her hair would fall on her face. Every few beats, I could catch a glimpse of her face, which was morphing back and forth from a child to a young woman to the old woman I seen once before. I put my spoon down and spoke calmly.

  “Beth, honey, you need to take a deep breath and settle—”

  Jones came over and bent down to whisper in my ear. “Lady Veronica was with her half of the night. I don’t know, Nicole, what she said or did to her, but Beth has been like this since she got up this morning.” I was taken aback. What was happening here? Her energy was beginning to be noticed by the other patients, who became frenzied themselves. “Better calm her down before the guards notice,” Jones warned. He walked away, trying to calm the others.

  Simon was looking over now. I put my hand on Beth’s, speaking more urgently now.

  “Beth, you need
to settle down. If they notice you are freaking out, they will take you to the Chair,” I hissed. This was everyone’s greatest fear as patients at Shadow Hills.

  The Chair was where the nurses had the guards bring unruly patients for something as benign as when the nurses were having a bad day themselves. It was a brown leather seat with wooden arms and legs that they strapped the patient’s arms and legs to. Then they put a crown-like structure on your head and bolted it tightly to your scalp. It was Shadow Hill’s version of an electric chair, but it wouldn’t kill you. It made you eat soup through a tube in your nose for the rest of your life, but the electric frequency was too low to stop a heart. The nurses wanted a living, walking example to frighten the bejesus out of the other patients. Plus, it was one of their inside jokes.

  What had been the purpose of Lady Veronica visiting Beth in the late hours of night? What had she said to the poor girl that had her so distraught? I couldn’t wrap my mind around it.

  One thing I knew for sure now was that if Beth didn’t settle down, this was about to get far worse. Nothing I was saying was calming her.

  Beth’s eyes went wild, and she jumped up on her chair, yelling utter nonsense about the Chair and the bugs in her head and in her bed. She began scratching her arms deeply, leaving red lines in the wake of her fingers. I got up and grabbed her, trying to settle her down and keep her quiet. It was to no avail. She jumped from table to table, great leaps in the air over the heads of the other patients. She was now screeching about her father coming to take her home.

  My heart sank. She was inconsolable and irrational—a perfect recipe for the guards and nurses to have cause to intervene. My eyes flashed over to where they mustered for morning coffee.

  The guards noticed all too quickly and began to come over, Simon leading them, pulling their billy clubs free of their belts.

  Oh, God, please no…

  I ran over to the table Beth was dancing on now and grabbed her hand.

  “Beth!” I shrieked. “They are coming! Please stop this right now!”

  She shrugged her hand out of mine. She would not let this tantrum go. She hollered at the top of her lungs now as she pushed me away so hard I landed on my butt on the solid floor. I stared up at her in shock.

  Beth and all her sweet personality was gone. The old woman was here now, frightened and wide eyed. She could be cooped up inside a child no longer. Whatever Lady Veronica had said or done to her during the night had taken that last piece of childhood innocence from her, destroying the dream she’d cocooned herself in for all these years to keep herself safe.

  The guards rushed her, and she spit on their faces. A club smacked the side of her jaw with a crack. Simon’s hand was raised above his head, waiting to cast another blow. Blood and teeth spewed from her pursed lips as she went down with a thud. Her legs flailed desperately as these grown men attacked a small, hundred-pound woman. I scrambled to my feet and was met by a bulking arm that held me away from the scene so I could not see to my friend. I looked up and saw that Jones had me in a lock that I couldn’t get out of, no matter how hard I tried. He shook his head at me, his eyes full of rage and fear. Then I heard the unmistakable footsteps of the matron of Shadow Hills. My eyelids fell, as did my heart.

  This would not end well.

  My attention went back to the guards, who stopped their beating of the aged Beth and looked at their mistress for direction. She stared down at the tangle of guards and Beth coldly. The Needle Twins huddled behind her, excited about what was transpiring, their fork-like tongues swiping across lipstick-stained daggers of teeth. Clearly none of them were surprised by Beth’s transformation, like they’d known this all along. How long had Beth truly been a prisoner of Shadow Hills?

  “Please, ma’am; don’t do this,” I whimpered. She turned her head slightly and looked down on me. “Please, have mercy.” She stared into my eyes for a few beats. I thought I’d reached her. I thought Lady Veronica would release her. I took a chance that she had one spot in her heart that would take pity on a little old woman, or the sometimes-small girl, who was a product of her captivity. But then Lady Veronica turned back to the guards. They were panting and vibrating like dogs waiting for the command to attack.

  Lady Veronica nodded but once.

  They kicked her and beat down on her with their clubs. I screamed out for them to stop, for the guards to leave her alone. The Needle Twins jumped around and danced, shrieking with joy. It was the craziest event of my life. Nothing Lou had ever done to me would equal this horror I was witnessing.

  Finally their beatings ceased. They stood back, looking down at Beth’s broken body for a few beats, then slowly walked away. Their shoes slipping in the spilled blood that was draping across the floor like a velvet blanket. Jones finally let me go, as it was over now. Simon, who’d gotten the most kicks on Beth, barked instructions at him to get a stretcher. I scrambled over to her.

  “Beth?” My voice was high-pitched as I reached her. My fingers searched her body for movement. I repeated her name over and over. I shook her shoulders, trying to wake her up. Her eyes stared back at me like dead fish. I screamed.

  I felt a cold hand on my shoulder. I shrank in terror but drew myself to look at the owner of the hand. It was Lady Veronica.

  “Now you know what you get for breaking the rules. I know you two have been sneaking around for months trying to find a way out. You used this poor child.” She cocked her head to the side. “Or old woman? I can never tell anymore.” She stood and threw her head back and let out a throaty laugh. The Needle Twins shrieked with laughter again. I could only stare at her and hang onto my sweet, broken Beth.

  Chapter Six

  This was why she was dead? I hadn’t even brought the subject up out loud in front of anyone! I was dumbstruck. This was all so cruel, so unbelievable, so sickening. Anger, that old anger that was disgusting yet satiating, grew inside me.

  All of a sudden, my skin took on a red glow. I stood, unable to contain this hatred sitting down. I turned to Lady Veronica, who laughed and laughed. I felt anger—pure and all-encompassing hatred—rising through me. I felt the extreme injustice light a fire in my belly, and it wanted out. I stared into her hollow eyes and wanted to avenge my friend. I wished I could take away the last moments of her life, wished I could destroy this whole place and everyone in it, wished I could be anywhere but here.

  A sharp clang spooked me out of my trance. I focused on the faces around me, and everyone stared at my feet in shock. I followed their gaze down.

  My metallic bracelets were on the floor—smouldering and misshapen.

  I was too lost in my anger to be stunned at this. It was great to be rid of a barrier between me and this moment. I had no idea what was happening to me. I looked back up at Lady Veronica and the Needle Twins. They were slowly backing away from me. They looked to be scared to death.

  “Nicole! No!” Jones yelled for me to snap out of whatever was taking hold of me. I was vaguely aware I was sweating now, the heat of my hatred boiling under my skin.

  I somehow smiled and glared at Lady Veronica, “How about we talk about breaking the rules again.”

  The Needle Twins turned from their mistress to flee. I lifted them with no physical effort and sent them off midair in opposite directions, where they landed with a smack into the walls. The guards were rushing to me now, as fire burst forth from my hands and I lit up a wall of fire around Lady Veronica and me. No one was interrupting this. She whipped her head around looking for escape at the tall flames that surrounded us. I staggered back and clapped my hands together trying to extinguish the surprise of fire that shot forth from me. The sheer force of it was crazy. The fact it came from me was even crazier. I couldn’t be lost in thought now, I would figure this all out later. I focused on Lady Veronica. Now was Beth’s revenge.

  “She was innocent. You knew that. You didn’t have to kill her! You made a show of her death to hurt me. Why?”

  Lady Veronica turned her attention back to me
after seeing her sharp nailed pets lying on the floor as she peered through the flames trying to find a way out. Her face screwed up in anger. “Because, Nicole, I can see you. I see what is brewing inside of you.” She pointed a long finger at my heart. “You need to be destroyed, but I can’t do that without evidence. But don’t you worry, my dear. I have all of the evidence I need now to get you in that chair.” She smiled contentedly. I looked at her quizzically. I had no idea what she was talking about. Maybe about my dealings with Lou? God, I came here to get better, and this psycho was running a horror hotel. It really didn’t matter what she was talking about. She was the one who needed to be destroyed.

  “Your first mistake was to kill Beth. Your next mistake is to think you will ever get a chance to put me in The Chair.”

  I reached out to her in one swift motion. I placed my hands on her throat.

  Her face morphed into one of terror and pain, her skin sizzling under my pressing fingertips that burned like embers. My teeth grinded and I spit as I spoke, spittle droplets sizzling as soon as they landed on my fingers.

  “She…was…innocent…you…murdering…bitch.” I couldn’t even take a moment to realize what my body was doing. I was possessed. A small part of me was crying out to stop this madness. It felt so good to be inflicting pain on the one who’d brought pain to so many, but I knew deep down that this was not me. This was not good, either.

  I must have run out of energy, because the next thing I knew, the fire was dying and the guards rushed me with cattle prongs. I could hear the sound of a fire extinguisher discharging on the flames around us. I was taken off guard and fell to the floor in spasms. Simon picked me up as I was kicking and battering him like a tantrum-throwing child. I hated them all. I loathed this place. This was murder! They had killed my friend. If only I had formed a plan for escape sooner; I could’ve gotten us out of here! Beth would be alive.