The Elementals [Watty Awards 2012 Action Winner]

Chapter 16

Chapter sixteen:

[Derrek’s POV]

His evil laugh reverberated through the cave tunnels and I snapped my head in every direction it came from. This wasn’t my usual dream...? Where was Val? Where was the familiar sequence of the dream?

“Well done. You did not fail me” the hiss of the mysterious man echoed through the tunnels.

“I told you I’d get her for you” a female voice replied. The voice was new in the dream and yet sounded so familiar. Their mumbled conversation bounced off the cave walls and soon it was a jumble of words, no longer making sense.

The tunnels grew to an eerie silence that was almost painful. Suddenly a shrill scream shook the walls of the cave. The scream was filled with pain, almost tortured, and I felt my curiosity almost killing me to find out. I was helpless to move, to help the screaming woman seeing as her screams echoed down every tunnel and each tunnel could probably last for miles.

“Derrek! Wake up” I snapped my eyes open feeling beads of sweat drip down my wet forehead. “Derrek, man you okay?” I could hear Max’s voice and I quickly took in the familiar ceiling of my lounge room where I fell asleep on the sofa.  That was by far the creepiest dream I’d had and the mysterious man wasn’t even physically there.

“Yeah...  yeah, I’m fine” I lied.

“You were thrashing around. You must’ve been having a nightmare or something”

“Or something...” I murmured while I agreed with him. I looked outside and saw it was already dark. After we got home I skipped dinner and decided on sleeping for a while but I guess I slept for a bit longer than I expected. A soft knock sounded on the door and I frowned. Max and I don’t usually lock the door and the only other person who’d usually visit us was Val. Val being Val would normally walk straight in without knocking.

“Uh... who is it?” Max called out as we walked out to the lounge.

“Its- it’s Helena” her soft voice filtered through the door.

“Oh, well the door’s open”

Helena swiftly opened the door and was quick to close it behind her. “Is Val here?” she asked nervously.

“Val? No, I haven’t seen her since we got back. You don’t know where she is?”

“She went to talk to see Mr Obsidian after dinner and that was hours ago. I got a bit worried and went to his office but he said he never spoke to her. I’m getting really concerned now” She blurted out with a slight crease between her eyebrows.

“Something’s wrong” I stated firmly. Thoughts of the change in my dream and the screaming woman came to mind and I hoped with everything I had that what I was thinking was wrong.

“How do you know?” Max asked worriedly.

I stared past Max and Helena at the stars that twinkled innocently in the sky between the clouds and sighed. “I just do”

[Val’s POV]

My entire body was wracked with pain. Every single cell burned and my eyes were blurred with streaming tears. What the hell happened and where the hell was I? The last thing I remember was Sarah. A deep voice chuckled close by and I tried to see who it was through the tears. It was only then I realised my wrists were chained with shackles that kept me standing up. If I wasn’t chained I’d have collapsed to the ground by now.

“Who’s there?! Where am I?!” I shouted.

“I’ve told you for months Valerie. I told you I would find you” the unknown man hissed. I don’t know what was wrong with me but I could barely see. My tears had blurred my vision and no matter how much I blinked and shook my head they didn’t clear.