The Tower

Chapter 15

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"Amelia! Amelia!"  Mary's cries filled the desolate room. She looked up. "Mary? Why-?" The girl was crying. Why? Tears streamed down her cheeks. Tears she realised were flowing from her eyes as well. Why was she crying? When did she even start crying? She reached forward to wipe away Mary's tears. They fell onto her right leg. Pain seared through her whole body. A gasp escaped her lips. That was all. No sound she made could express the pain. Her mind was numb with the pain. She didn't have to look to know. She escaped the boulder barely....... Everything had a cost, she knew. This time the cost had been....... Her Right Leg. 

She had to look to treat it. At least, enough to stop herself from bleeding to death. She looked. Covered in blood. She... couldn't recognise it anymore. Her clothes were smeared in blood. Her thoughts were getting hazy. She wouldn't last.  She closed her eyes. 

                  "Please, take care.  Don't run risks. I've tried to stop you but I couldn't so please at least promise me this one thing. Don't die in there, please. I don't want to lose you too." She saw herself standing at Daniel's office. The time of their argument. She smiled at him. "I can't promise that you know. But I will take care."  Daniel looked sad. "Don't look so sad." She said with a laugh as she gave him a hug. "I want it too. A great, happy life with my husband. I... I want to go on a honeymoon with you! To have a family! To watch our children grow! To feel sad when they leave! To grow old ! To die as well. I want to do all this together with you! So.. please... trust me, I'll make it out alive with everyone else as well.  Trust Daniel , trust. I won't send you through that again. I know you, you become a psychopath when you become angry. So I won't let you become one." She laughed. And he smiled.

No.. I will last!  She opened her eyes and began running Mary through a list of stuff they could do to stop her from dying. One by one they checked each one off the list. Soon, she felt slightly better. She tried to stand with Mary's help, she succeeded. "We can't stay here any longer. It's too dangerous. Where is Stephone, anyway?" She asked looking around. "The last time I checked, He was lying a few feet away, unconscious. He didn't look as bad as you so I came to you first. And now..... He's gone." Amelia shook her head. "Let's go. As he said with Sarah, He's lagging behind. He'll catch up." Mary smiled. The two of them walked away into another one of the many many hallways of the Cachtice Castle. 

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"Where do you think the boulder came from?" Mary asked her limp companion as she somehow led her along the dark corridor. They couldn't go much further, she knew, not without risking partial paralysis for Amelia. But she wanted to get as far away as she could from that hall, away from the girl. "I don't know. I wasn't watching." Mary remained silent for a while before finally letting the words spill. "I looked up just before the boulder fell and I.... I saw a girl. Floating in the air." Amelia seemed to be examining her. "A girl? what did she look like?" Mary shook her head. " I hadn't expected to see her there. It was a surprise. I don't relly remember what she looked like. Her hair was silver. Her eyes were empty and black.
She wore a black frock and her hair was tied with a black ribbon. In short, she looked scary." Amelia nodded thoughtfully. "I think Mary, the girl you saw may as well have been the ghost of this tower." "You don't mean.." "Yeah, I do. Laura Bathory." A silence followed their new and saddening discovery. 'Hey, if something happens to me, keep a close eye on Daniel please. Don't let him do anything foolish. He becomes a psychopath when emotionally- stressed beyond a limit, kay?" She smiled at her after which a sadder silence followed.   

Finally,  Mary broke the ice. "Hey, I know this question is totally inappropriate  in this situation but why didn't Sarah tell me about you earlier?" Amelia laughed. It was like she felt no pain. "You guys have been friends since childhood, right? Your first friend?" She nodded. "My only friend till high school. Everyone thought I was weird." "No, you're not! I hate people when they do this.  Oh well, that girl! She probably assumed you knew. I was never around when you came over. Friend's house. School. Library. I went to many places all the time. Oh well! Might as well tell you. My father- Mr Lawrance married twice. First was with my mother. My parents were happy for the longest of time. Then I was born. Things went downhill after that. They fought and fought. Crying before sleep was a common thing during those days. I was too young to understand what was going on but the screams scared me. I thought it would never stop. Finally, one day it did. The next day, my mother filed for divorce. it was the worst time of my life. I went with my mother and my father was to pay a certain sum to my mother as she wasn't working then. My father remarried soon after that and visited us quite often with his new wife. My mother told me to hate her. She was mad I could tell. She didn't want him to be happy. I did. I loved his new wife. She was kind and awfully sweet. My mother hurled screams at her every time they came. She became jealous and insane.  A few months later, she died. A few of our neighbours found me and sent me to my dad.I was happy there. I was welcomed there.  I was three at the time. I don't really remember much. I had to pressurise  Dad to get him to tell me. Then Sarah was born. After her, Sam. I loved them both. They were family. How could I not?" Mary remained silent. "Did Mr Lawrance and Mrs Lawrance fight?" Amelia's eyes showed signs of sorrow. as though lost in a world of her own. "Yeah. A lot. I got scared. Didn't want to lose them as well. So I screamed at them one night. I cried like never before that night. It was worth it though! They never fought after that." "How did you come here then?" Amelia smiled. "Pure coincidence, really! I came with Dad on one of his trips. Fell in love with the place. I stayed in a hostel while Dad went back. Took convincing, though. Joined the FBI training and became their highest ranking student in history, only beaten by Daniel. I was offered a good post and from there I worked my way up. And now, I'm  Amelia, The Mission Director's Secretary!' She smiled proudly. "And his wife." Mary pointed out. She blushed. "Daniel...if he's their best why doesn't he have a better post?" Mary asked. "Simple. He declined it. He was offered numerous times. He said power would get to his head. He didn't want that. So.... don't you just think Daniel is just one among many more reasons to make it out alive?" Mary smiled sadly as Amelia sat down. Bleeding again. "There's something else, Mary. Charlie and Daniel.... They were more involed in this than we think. a year ago, I was delivering a document to his office. There was no one there. He was in the adjacent room. Watching a video. He was in shock .i don't know what it was about. I couldn't see. But..... There was a lot of screaming.... the point is he wasn't alone.... Charlie sat on the floor beside him crying." Mary turned away at the mention of her uncle. What more was he going to hide from her?  Mary turned toward Amelia, Her lip quivering asked what they had been deliriously convincing themselves won't happen,

                                                         "Are we going to die?"