[COMPLETE]
Twelve-year-old Blue was a dreamer and a believer of all things impossible. But even her all-encompassing imagination could never have thought that miracles were not just something that happened. No, how was she to know that Miracle was a...
"Yet each man kills the thing he loves By each let this be heard Some do it with a bitter look Some with a flattering word The coward does it with a kiss The brave man with a sword"
~ Oscar Wilde (The Ballad of Reading Gaol)
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They headed to the lighthouse, of all places.
The sense of confidence that had momentarily seized Blue, disappeared, replaced quickly with confusion. The lighthouse was supposed to be a ruined structure. There was nothing there. Blue could confirm that much, if nothing else. But the man seemed to be walking with purpose in his stride.
Blue's legs were already aching by the time they reached the base of the hill. Not far off was the Lighthouse Cabin where Blue and Miracle had met up with Sherry and learned about the disappearances - the night when the wheels were set into motion. It looked sulky and sad now. But Blue would have preferred it much more to the lighthouse which was flat out creepy.
Behind them was the beach while the hill stood in front, standing slightly apart from the rest of the mountain chain, much smaller in size too. Coconut trees and thorny shrubs grew wildly across it while the crickets sang a raspy, croaking song, hidden in the shadows of the undergrowth.
A small trail - no, a rough staircase hewed from stone ascended up the hill's length all the way to the lighthouse. Blue took a deep, shuddering breath as she gauged the climb.
"Climb," the man ordered lowly, his voice a deep rumble.
And so they did.
~~~~~~~
Blue was ready to collapse by the time they reached the Lighthouse. The moonlight cast an eerie spotlight at the ruins. Only from here, did Blue truly comprehend how gigantic the structure must have been. The base of its foundations stretched from one corner to another. One half of the massive cylinder was completely torn apart, revealing the skeleton of a staircase that must have been used to climb till the very top.
The walls that still remained were covered in decades worth of dust and moss. Growing inside the ruined walls, among collapsed bits of roof, knee-high grass and trees strove towards the sky, futilely attempting to escape the bleakness of the place.
"Why here?" Love asked, breaking Blue from her reverie.
"There's nothing here," Blue agreed. Indeed, the whole place looked desolate. But the man didn't seem bothered. He pushed them forward and the girls moved grudgingly. It was only when Blue stepped through the threshold - or, at least, what must have been a threshold, at one point of time - did she realise something was weird.
It happened all of a sudden.
Something washed over her, like a draft of icy air, cruel and draining. It made her knees buckle and her eyes blur. And when she blinked to clear her vision, the sight before her had completely changed.
Gasps rang out from the girls as they saw the enormous parquet floor that had materialized below their feet. The crumbling staircase that Blue had gotten a glimpse of from the outside was now polished and strong, ascending upwards in a jaw-dropping spiral. New, gleaming walls rose above them in an awe-inspiring height, constructed with heavy, damp stones that dampened the sounds from outside. Blue could no longer hear the soothing sound of waves crashing into the shore or the song of the crickets. But it wasn't quiet either.
Sounds of machines whirring, the pounding of footsteps, the hum of voices, occupied the silence. Blue didn't know what to make of any of it. She wasn't even sure what she was feeling. Astounded, maybe? Frightened, definitely. Angry, supposedly. Despair, possibly.
All of these emotions were too much to bear for her twelve-year-old heart, which only yearned for the comfort and safety of her home.
The last piece of the puzzle, she reminded herself. She was close. It would all be over soon.
She would go back home soon and pretend none of this had ever happened to begin with.
The last piece of the puzzle, she repeated, more firmly this time.
On cue to her thoughts, loud footsteps suddenly reverberated through the echoing, hollow walls. Behind them, the man immediately straightened, perhaps recognising the footfalls.
Again, Blue was at a loss. She didn't know what to expect but, for some reason, her heart started beating in a fast, rapid rhythm as the footsteps grew louder and louder.
Something close to fear seized her as a large shadow appeared at the end of the staircase. It looked monstrous and hulking, maybe because of the direction of the moonlight. Blue could tell it was a person but the irrational part of her screamed it was a monster.
The shadow stepped down from the staircase, the click of sharp shoes ringing through the room which was, suddenly, enveloped in a pin-drop silence. For a second, while the figure was still shrouded in the shadows, Blue had the absurd urge to run, to make a dash for it - because, everything inside of her, every muscle, every nerve was screaming that she didn't want to see this, didn't want to meet this person.
But it was too late.
Because as the person took another step closer, light streaming in through the stained windows caught his face and Blue's whirling thoughts came to a screeching halt.
Fair-skinned, sleek, dark hair, a thin smile, built tall and strong with a confident gait, Blue immediately knew who he was even though she couldn't remember the last time she saw him. Of course, she knew him.
Her frail, distraught voice could only whisper one word, "Papa?"
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Well, that was a very short chapter. Sorry but this was just supposed to be a quick update because, honestly, I'm just not feeling very inspired to write, at the moment. I'm not sure if it's a writer's block or whatever. I assume it is. I think I'm also having a reader's block. Bwahaha *sobs*
But, on the bright side, we finally know who the perpetrator is. Although, according to one reader, it was apparently pretty predictable. *sigh*
Let me know what you thought of it! Predictable? Not predictable? A little bit guess-able?
Also, if you enjoyed this chapter, please do press the star button. Oh, don't forget to leave me a comment on your thoughts! Thanks XD
