Five
years ago Sarah Midgen (nicknamed Smidge by everyone) was told that
confrontations never solved anything. Five months ago Smidge found a
magic door handle and her whole life changed. Five weeks ago she was
told to forget about the magic by her mother and mentor; and five
minutes ago she barely escaped with her life after the school bully
torched the meeting hut where her mum and a couple of friends were.
Smidge had managed to rescue all of them even without the handle.
Now
Smidge was determined to find out what was behind it all; this was
more than just a grudge match. She knew that Gert would still be
hanging about, gloating over the fire; and there she was -the fire
casting unholy flickers over her huddled monstrous form. Smidge
expected her to be happy with what had happened, but it didn't seem
that way.
Smidge
shouted at Gert, got her attention; took her off guard and leapt hard
at her, managing to push them both through a doorway into a newly
created room. She was no longer dependent on the handle now and her
rage created a focus point for her energies.
Gert
was thrown to the far end of the room opposite Smidge.
The
room was small, barely ten square feet, but large enough for what
Smidge needed it for.
“Tell
me why I shouldn't beat you now, Smudge? Why I shouldn't kick you
in?” Gert asked, calmly getting off the ground like a cornered
feral cat.
“Hurt
me or kick me and you'll never escape here.” Smidge replied,
sitting against the other wall, trying to gather her thoughts.
“Because of you I no longer need the handle, I can travel
anywhere.”
“So
you're going to leave me here to rot? That's it?”
“No…
I could do.. should do, especially after what you tried to do to us,
but I can't.. I just don't understand...”
“Who
cares? What is there to understand?”
“It
was you…. You and your family that tried to get me to break into
the bank, wasn't it? It was you who I actually gave the handle to..
and when it didn't work properly they kicked you out, didn't they?”
“They
did more than that.”
“That's
why you've not been at school!”
Gert
started moving around, closer to Smidge but Smidge instinctively got
up and walked away; keeping her distance.
“You
think you're so special, think you're the only one worth spending
time with… well, someone seems to think that I'm worth it as well.
Someone who knows a lot about you, about your precious Mrs Norn and
even your mum!”
Smidge
was shocked by what she was hearing and she also realised that her
mum was right all along; she had no idea what she was going to do
now. This was going bad
and out of her control.
“Your
mum, eh? She really screwed up! Caused so
many people to suffer….” Smidge shook her head, not wanting to
hear any more. “..set things back by at least fifty years, the
worst of all failures and then there was you, of course… already
taking up the family name!”
Smidge
launched herself at Gert but she had already moved away.
“I'm
not going to fight you; what would be the point? I'm stronger than
you and the fight would be over quickly and then I'd be stuck here!”
Smidge
backed away again.
“So…
what was the point of bringing me here? To reminisce over old times?”
Gert bated.
“I
want to know why? What's behind all this?”
“You
think there's a reason to what I'm doing? Ha – I hated
you from the first moment I saw you! You're weak, yet everyone likes
you! You make me sick!”
“Everyone
likes me? I'm an outsider, Gert, like you. I don't fit in and the
handle? It's made it worse… Now there's no way I can relate to
anyone. And then I find out that my mum's known about it all the
time!”
“Mum?
See – you don't know how lucky you are. You try and make like you
know me and you don't have a clue.”
Smidge
was starting to doubt herself now; she'd pushed Gert here purely on
adrenaline not thinking further than the confrontation itself. She'd
hoped that once she'd got Gert alone she could actually understand
and talk to her but she never counted on the anger.
“But
I'm not the only one who feels this way about you and yours.” Gert
sneered.
“What
do you mean?”
“How
do you think I knew about your precious handle and what it could do?”
With
every thing that had gone on over the last few months Smidge had
never even given that a thought, things were getting out of hand.
“You
think you're so special; to open doors...” Gert mocked, “But you
know nothing about what the handle is from or what it's really used
for! It should never have gone to you in the first place; you don't
deserve it! Neither did your mum!”
“shut
up.” Smidge replied.
“You
really have no idea of how much a screw up your mum really is, the
scale of what she did… and you're turning into an exact copy!”
“SHUT
UP!”
“Or
else what? What can you do? You face one moment of doubt… one
'spiritual crisis' because you're so high and mighty and just run
away! Just like your damn-holier-than-thou MUM!”
Smidge
ran at Gert but this time all it took was a single back-handed swipe
to send her flying back against the wall, hard. She fell in a heap,
twisting her ankle in the process.
“You wanted me to break down, apologize and maybe we'd end up the best of
friends? HA! You've read far too many stories. I
will tell you one thing thought… you're no longer special… no
longer the only one that can do this!”
Smidge was in complete disbelief as Gert opened a doorway right in the
middle of the room and stood right at its edge.
“There will be a reckoning, Smudge. I've been told to say that to you and
you're precious Mrs Norn. What was buried will soon be unearthed.”
Gert turned around, before stopping and putting her hand in the pocket of
her jeans. She pulled out the door handle.
“Oh.. here's the handle back. As you can see, I won't be needing it either!” She said, usually throwing it into Smidge's lap. With that she walked through the door, letting it close behind her, leaving Smidge in the room alone.
“Oh.. here's the handle back. As you can see, I won't be needing it either!” She said, usually throwing it into Smidge's lap. With that she walked through the door, letting it close behind her, leaving Smidge in the room alone.
1 comment:
I really loved it getting very interesting, and can't wait to see where this going
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