Black and Red

[Harriet Channing]

“No, I don’t think you have good reason this time, I never did anything or said anything to you in the first place. It was from the moment we crossed in this stupid cave that you’ve been . . . like this to me!?”
Harriet was being stubborn and immature, she knew this very well but didn’t want to leave it and carried on being this annoying creature just to make him mad or create the potential to bother him as much as she could until he relented to being more respecting of her. It wasn’t not known that she was pushy and the complete opposite.

“It’s good you won’t do anything about it though, since you deserved it, at least you realised. I’m glad it seems like we both see something the same way and won’t have to work on it, too.”
At a glance, there were light markings on the walls but they were all grooves that showed no sign of being an entrance or some ‘secret entrapment’. Eyeing carefully, she traced the edges and rubbed off the fungus to reveal white scratches that made her gasp.

It was getting colder as they proceeded further down the cave, the place wasn’t exactly straight or a one way street either and she was getting more lost, with her direction sense being confused.

[Tyler Dias]

“Okay, okay. . .Do I have to apologise for that too or something? But you were the one pointing the wand at me, so you’re not that innocent. And of course, I’d hope we didn’t have that much to have to work with each other on.”
Blinking, he almost yawned and then decided to blow in the air, watching his breath come out as vapour and warming his hands by putting them into his pockets for awhile, forced by the cold.

“Did you see anything? There’s literally no way to find . . .”
He stopped and stared at her, narrowing his eyes gradually until he sagged his shoulders and closed his eyes to start avoiding anything she was going to say.
“Maybe you should go back now.”

[Harriet Channing]

“No. . . I don’t have to go back and you don’t have to apologise, I’m not used to people like you, that’s all. And if there’s no way to find . . . whatever you were looking for then, yes maybe it’s better we went back. I did see white scratches under the grooves, suggesting there have been frequent or previous visits to this place, if those grooves were some kind of opening or even a . . . portal?”

She was merely guessing at the facts now, and didn’t pry into his privacy because it would mean they had more to start arguing or bickering about, while it was likely he didn’t want that to happen too.
It was tiring and she decided she wasn’t that kind of person so she didn’t need to act like that just because it was distracting to talk to a stranger who was familiar, and one who had the unexplained appeal that many girls would have very much ‘adored’.
Not that she liked him or fancied him, she had a basic instinct to treat him like a brother for no reason at all, and it was absurd.

“We can go back when the sun comes out. . .”
She grinned cheerily and teased, since the sun would be out soon. It was still an hour or so until then and saying this would mean he would take more care at looking at the time and leave early before they really got lost.

[Tyler Dias]

“How . . . How long will it be until the sun rises? And school starts?”
He went poker faced and took his warmed hands out of his pockets, placing one over the tip of the wand to disperse the light by fractions, playfully.
There was no way he could’ve kept track of time when he didn’t bring a watch but it hadn’t mattered to him because he hadn’t intended to waste as much time as he had because of her arrival, and it was no real worry whether the sun had come out or not. It was just troublesome and burning.

“White scratches under the grooves? That’s interesting, but we won’t have time to see what it’s meant to mean or be right?”
At the moment, he couldn’t help but dwell on the subject of time and every thought seemed to be haunted with it so he had to plan everything in advance to get things right in his mind. It was obvious what the grooves suggested and she was correct, he just couldn’t say it because he had been in there previously with Ian though they were separated. . . they weren’t the only ones there either.
“I don’t believe it’s a portal but close enough.”

[Harriet Channing]

“Ugh, so you have been in here before and know something but I won’t ask, since I said so, and you won’t tell me just because . . . but anyway, the sun doesn’t rise for another hour so there’s nothing to worry about. Person who doesn’t like the sun, it’s not like you’re a vampire . . . Sunlight is the source of life. In its own . . . respects?”

She replied contemptuously and nodded after she spoke, emphasising on the word worry but thinking if it was ironic because she was worrying about some thing now.
It was nothing important or grand, but it was dark and slightly creepy where they were.

“Oh, ok, I was actually close. However, I don’t think we do have time to see what it’s meant to be . . .so don’t even think about it!”
Folding her arms, she took his wand away from him, snatching and gleeful of his shocked experienced. His entire composure had been stirred and she noted that he was learning something about the unusual from her. Similarly, she was so caught up that she failed to feel the cold.

[Tyler Dias]

“So what if I wasn’t a vampire? I could wish I was . . . and even more so right now.”
Laughing, he tilted his head at her and grinned sideways as if to show her fangs, but was really aiming to come up with something to scare her now.
He figured it might be quite interesting to freak her out for a minute because she was so persistent and lacking that experience, in his opinion, and allowed her to take his wand away obediently.

“I can’t tell you, and I won’t. It could complicate things. Besides, I’m not the only one who knows about this place and has entered for purposes beyond your imagination. This isn’t the only place to find what I seek either. It’s nearly only a stepping stone to where I could be.”
There, he felt like he said too much but explained the sufficient amount and enough detail for her to feed on, so he ignored the urge to stun her suddenly and jumped at an eerie noise.

“What was that!?”

[Harriet Channing]

“Oh what if it was just ‘something’. Why? Scared? I don’t know what it was but it didn’t sound too good . . . or too bad?”
Hastily, she readied her wand again in front of her and threw him back his wand because it was too much to take care of if he couldn’t defend himself, while she laughed at the thought.
It was definitely beginning to scare her out of her wits because of the darkness, insecurity, depth they were at and her loss of direction sense.

“Now would be a fine if you were a vampire and that sound did not come from some creature. I had heard so many rumours about how this place is forbidden and abandoned . . . what if?”
She whispered to him harshly and gripped her wand ever tighter, staring around aimlessly before she let out a breath and swallowed quietly, leaning back and pricking her arm on an odd, spidery plant that grew, climbing and intertwining on the walls as she presently found.
Her skin was torn where it had pricked because she had moved and it ripped the flesh more than it should have, causing it to bleed slowly but not seriously so she swiped the red droplets with a finger over and over again.

[Tyler Dias]

“You’re more scared than I am, I should be content with that now. And the sound has died . . . whatever it was.”
Tyler watched her swipe off the blood and leave specks on the rocky terrain with more alertness than before and then waited for her to choose between leaving it to heal on its own or using magic like she could.

“For all our guesses, that sound could have come from some creature but it’s unlikely, you could always bargain with it if it was a protector of this place. Fair chance no?
The stories about this place are probably true, I don’t know what you’ve heard but they could be completely off, too.”
His eyes darted from side to side, coming to focus on the vines that had cut her and sharply feeling something pierce him on his neck, spot on at the side of his throat. It was a foreign sensation, but it didn’t feel like it was harmful and he reached to pull out a thorn-like object, cursing it before he threw it away with scorn.

“If I were a vampire, you’d be dead.”
He said simply and bluntly, taking her hand to look at the time on her clock faced bracelet.

[Harriet Channing]

Her voice went back to normal and she bit her lip, tasting the cold air in her mouth for the first time since she had been talking to him and breathing. Giving the wand back to him had been something she regretted doing and yet it wasn’t a big deal so she stood up, pointing her wand to the wound and waiting for the great spark of magic to disappear, revealing the cut to be irretraceable.

“You wanted to scare me didn’t you? But that did . . . and it wasn’t you. So now do you still want to stay here, even when the sound has ‘died’? What will you do if it comes back? And this time, in a different- worse, form?”
When he took her hand, pulled it to see the time, she blinked and leaned forward to let him see the time, putting her wand closely over their heads so it was possible to view. She found herself looking at him though, not the clock or the time but just watching him as there seemed to be something different about the first glance she had given him less than an hour ago.

“Well, that’s nice . . . who says I’d let you kill me?”
Sighing, she took her hand away, and faced the direction they had arrived from, almost yearning to leave but not quite wanting to. It was only a forlorn expression.

[Tyler Dias]

“Am I to tell you I was joking? I wouldn’t kill you, unless I had to. And wow, that’s a lot more reassuring isn’t it?”
He retorted sarcastically and stood up; jumped off the little platform of rock they were resting on to land with an echo of pebbles rolling, at the bottom.

“I’ve decided we should leave, or rather I want to go now. There’s something wrong with me and I don’t know what it is. Even sunlight’s touch is a better feeling.”
There was a sense of foreboding in him and he wanted to know the truth about the sensation that couldn’t leave him and instead steadily manifested. It wasn’t the thorn like thing that had pierced him, right on the bloodstream but something far more extraordinary and sinister.

“You can stay if you like. . .”
There was no reason for him to say that and yet he did while he walked away slowly, in a trance of movement and left her to follow him if she wished to, again. His vision wasn’t blurry but it was clearer than it had ever been and the wand felt useless, so he tucked it away in a pocket speedily, leaving the end sticking out as he trudged on amidst the jagged rocks and stone.

[Harriet Channing]

Jumping off and out of her seat, she ran behind him then paused and rushed ahead so she could stop and turn to see him from the front, since he didn’t want to stop and knew exactly where he was heading.
Even from the dim lighting her wand provided, he was pallid. Strangely ghostly compared to what he was like before and she gasped when she saw his eyes.
The vision was devastatingly . . . messed to her because his eyes were glazed, dark and shiny like two sapphire stones when they were sort of green or teal coloured to be exact. She walked backwards, staring with her small mouth open and breathing in huffs, trying to find something she could do to reverse this, though why she had to reverse it was beyond her.

“What’s happened to you? This isn’t you is it? Or maybe I’m hallucinating. If that vine had a hallucinogen affect then I’m sorry now . . .Ty? Can you hear me?”
She froze up and stopped, watching him come nearer and nearer to her but making no reaction towards her hysterics.

[Tyler Dias]

“You’re not hallucinating, I don’t know what I look like but it’s not the same with these eyes, I feel like I can do anything. Or rather, there’s something else that’s controlling me. It’s weakening but at the same time, it’s strength. . .”
Once he managed to say this, he was already beside her, supporting himself with his hands on his knees and feeling vertigo.
It had happened so fast and now he realised it wasn’t just a feigned substance within him; it was like he was dominated by elements of another being.

“I can hear you, you don’t have to speak so loud cause it’s deafening.”
He choked and then looked up at her with the enlarged eyes, glossy and pupil less. To him, her voice was multiplied many times over and the shrillness was crazy; he just didn’t really have the control or energy to cover his ears or her mouth. Calming her down was out of the question, but at least she hadn’t gone down like a mad woman.

“I’ll be fine afterwards, just don’t . . . shriek, ever.”

[Harriet Channing]

“I’m not going to! I won’t shriek. I just want to know what happened and you don’t have the answer to that so . . . it’s not helping, and how are we going to deal with this!? Then, there’s the thought about how everyone else is going to deal with this? We don’t even have much time because every second is ticking. . .”
By the time he had stopped beside her, she was winded and breathless with a pounding heart from the fear and curiosity. She stood rooted, then bent down so she was level with him while he rested with his hands on his knees, pursing her lips while she fell into the soulless eyes.

“You need help, it’s like you’re dying and the inner you is fading. I just think that from what I see. . .”
The words shook out of her and she took back the hand she wanted to reach out to him with, recoiling and making way for him to walk out and ahead first.

[Tyler Dias]

Obliged and grateful, he walked past her and in front, weak occasionally and stronger in his steps at other times, until they were passing the mirroring pool again. When he peered across the surface and his reflection appeared, he could hear the panic and mixed emotions rush in his temple, while adrenalin rushed through his blood.
“This is actually pretty cool though. Surely there’ll be an explanation soon enough? I shouldn’t be . . . afraid of it. Should I?”

He was talking to himself, and attempting to reassure his conscience because it was screaming horrors and that didn’t help anything but to make matters worse. The reflected and new version of him was pale, almost frail looking at first, but more alive and building its own character after a few more inspections. The image was alternating and it was showing him and not him, confusing. . .

“Harriet? What time is it?
I feel like a new being and it’s telling me not to worry . . . so you shouldn’t too.”

[Harriet Channing]

Without another word, she dragged him away from the pool and his reflections, all the way up the boulders, towards the place where they had met.
Upon arriving what was to be the entrance, or near the tunnel to the entrance/ exit, she made a face out of exasperation and desperately hugged him to her own surprise before she staggered backwards and held a timid smile.
“I think . . . you’re possessed. I . . . don’t know what to do or say, and I don’t want to worry but it’s a bit late for that now. It’s actually just a bit past 7am. The sun won’t come out until maybe 20 minutes later? I’m not sure. . .”

She turned back to look out of the cave, seeing as far as the horizon was on the little island like area, and climbed out painfully.