Aqua Surfer Pt. 3

    So many thoughts were racing inside Ellie’s head. Are my parents secretly evil? No way! They are probably being controlled by someone else. I have to stop them! Ellie ran in front of the whole group. She was yelling over sound of the roaring ocean. “Mom? Dad? What are you doing, leading an army of evil villains? I was so excited to see you!” Ellie was now stuttering every word she said. It must’ve been hard for her seeing her parents leading her enemies. “I… I needed you growing up! And now you’re here but…. But for…. But for a different reason. To kill me. You gave me my water powers. And now, I am going to use them. Not against you, but for you.” Then, Ellie summed up a very large water ball. Analise and Madison both thought that this was a very bad idea. In unison they shouted, “Ellie! No! You’ll just get the enemy mad!” They started pushing through the crew of people and villains, trying to get to Ellie. But they were too late. Ellie had thrown the water ball at her parents and got them soaking wet. For a second they seemed out of their hypnotism. “Ellie?” her mom said. But the phase took them over again. “How dare you!” Ellie’s mom and dad both jumped down and ran towards Ellie. She ran, grabbing Analise’s and Madison’s hand. She started shouting orders to everyone. In the next few minutes, they had people fighting everywhere battling off old and new villains. Ellie’s plan was to distract the enemy with everyone else fighting them, while the three of them ran up to the roof of one of the lairs. They would use an ancient spell to sum up the biggest power everyone had and shoot it at the enemy. “Come on!” Ellie was shouting at everyone. “Fight! We can’t let these villains on land.” It was raining now, and it was getting slippery to climb to the roof. Madison said, “We won’t be able to get up there!” Analise grunted in agreement. They were getting tired, but Ellie seemed full of confidence. In about ten minutes, they were all safely up there. “Analise?” Ellie asked. “Can you look through that computer brain of yours and get to the ancient spell I need? We all need to be able to chant it together.” Analise nodded. She pulled out a projector from nowhere, and projected a spell in big print. It said, ‘Fortissimum capto prudenter uti salvus erit: Jam’ This would be a very hard spell. They could barely pronounce it. But luck covered them. They all said together, “Fortissimum capto prudenter uti salvus erit: Jam!” The moment they finished saying the spell, everyone down there fighting collapsed. It confused the enemy, so they didn’t come out of the water yet. Everyone was on the ground, groaning in pain. Ellie realized that this was the moment she saw in her dream. But she had to make sure no one was seriously injured from this spell. Rainbow colored lights were rising from their chests. Their powers. Suddenly, Analise and Madison collapsed on the ground as well, and beautiful gold and white beams were rising from their chests. Ellie knew that she had to make sure everyone is ok. But only a millisecond later she felt a searing pain in her heart. She fell on the ground in pain, forgetting everything else that was going on.  Ellie was blinded from the light coming from her and she could feel her power draining by the second. When the light was finally dying down, she could see blurred faces above her. Mrs. Mark, Analise, Natalie, and Raquel. Over to her left she heard the screams of fighting and people getting hurt. The light was completely gone now, but the pain in her heart was getting worse. She couldn’t process what was being said above her. Only little words like, “Is she ok?”, “Ellie, it will be over soon.”, and “Go call a doctor.” The pain was worse than ever before and she was screaming and weeping, gripping onto someone’s arm. It was like the life was being sucked out of her, and she knew it would never end. I’m going to die right now. Of course I die a slow and painful death. My friends will die soon after with all of the monsters. Good-bye life. Ellie was thinking so hard she had a headache on top of the pain. She didn’t think that it was possible to hurt even more, but it did. She stopped screaming and crying. She could barely even breathe, talk, or even open her eyes. The pain was too much. She felt a head on her chest, but right then, the worst pain just jumped at her. She screamed very loud, and everything went black. 

“I made a plant wall to keep them held off.”  said Rochelle. “It should take hours to break it.” Rochelle was the only one to speak in a few hours. The Mist was covering the plant wall so that humans only saw a huge wall of fog. Everyone was in the hospital waiting for the doctors to give a report. The spell at the beach had thrown a whole bunch of power at the monster army, but something went wrong and the spell was taking the life right out of Ellie. Analise and Madison were silently crying into each other’s shoulders. “Umm… girls.” Mr. Gourmet said. She was the doctor taking care of Ellie. “I have a report on your friend.” Everyone was holding their breath, hoping that the news were hopeful. “ Ellie has gone through more pain than anyone I’ve ever seen. It was almost as if something was pulling the life force out of her. But I have some news. If any normal human went through this, they would’ve died on the spot. But this young lady was very lucky. She might live another twenty-four hours. Right now she is half awake. You all have fifteen minutes to go talk to her. I’m sorry for the future loss.” Mr. Gourmet walked into a different room. But Madison was outraged. “She might live another day!? What kind of encouragement is that? Ellie has to live! We… Well we need her.” Madison was crying in the comfort of Analise.  Mrs. Mark was the only one in the room who looked at least a little bit calm. She started to gently speak up. “Well, let’s go say what we need to before fifteen minutes have passed.” Everyone seemed to agree, and stood up to go in Ellie’s room. Madison and Analise decided to get in the bed with her. Ellie opened her eyes and gave a weak smile to all of her friends. “Hey guys,” she said with a quiet, weak voice. “How are the monsters goin’?” Madison laughed and was ready to answer, but Raquel did instead. “They backed into the water, probably making a new plan. Rochelle’s plant wall held up all night. You’re in the hospital. We don’t know what was happening. Are you ok?” Ellie was confused. She couldn’t remember anything before seeing Analise and Madison fall onto the ground. She remembered lights coming from what seemed like her friends. But she decided not to pressure them. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’ll be home tomorrow.” She looked down at her hand and saw something attached to it. “What’s this?” Analise chuckled through a bit of tears. “That’s the only thing keeping you alive right now. It is circulating air and keeping your heart going.” Analise was going to say that it would be taken out soon, but she was to grieved to do so. Ellie asked, “Why can’t I breathe on my own? I could yesterday.” Mrs. Mark answered this one. “That’s why you’re in the hospital. You had a… minor… breakdown.” Everyone knew it was not minor and it wasn’t a breakdown. It was much worse.  But Ellie trusted and believed Mrs. Mark. “Oh. That means I’ll definitely be home tomorrow. But…” Ellie was interrupted by Mr. Gourmet. “Your time is up girls. You may go home now. And don’t forget to wash your hands to keep germs away!” Everybody left the room and walked home. Nobody said a word. They didn’t even say good-bye when going to their separate lair/homes. They all knew that Ellie wouldn’t be coming home. Ever. Madison and Analise felt the worst about this. They will have lost two friends in a mere month and a half. Both of them their best friends. But they lost no sleep over this. In fact, they fell asleep right away. Madison was snoring the minute her head hit the pillow.
    Ellie was asleep when she heard footsteps in the hospital room. “Hello Mr. Gourmet.” said Ellie in a tired voice.  She was still using the thing on her hand to breathe, but she didn’t care. “Am I finally ready to go home?” Mr. Gourmet had a grim face. “Yes Ellie.” He lied. “We were just taking out the IP because you can breathe on your own.” Mr. Gourmet just told a lie straight to Ellie’s face. But Ellie didn’t have the faintest idea. She was still weak and she couldn’t breathe. Mr. Gourmet was ready to unplug the IV and Ellie would be gone forever. Elli was excited by this lie and started to sit up. But she groaned in pain and lay back down. “Could I have a wheelchair Mr. Gourmet?” Ellie asked. But Mr. Gourmet was kneeling on the floor near something plugged in the wall. He didn’t answer. He completely changed the subject by saying, “I’m sorry Ellie. Have a good time in the afterlife.” Ellie was confused. “Afterlife? What do you mean?” But Mr. Gourmet pulled the plug and Ellie felt the same searing pain in her heart. She started weeping and trying to grab an arm that wasn’t there for her. The pain was getting worse just like it did at the beach. Soon, she was screaming and crying. She wished a friend was there to help her through this. But they were not there. Suddenly,the jolt of pain hit her. The pain that she couldn’t take. Her heart couldn’t take. The jolt of pain hit her so hard everything went black. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move. She was gone. Mr. Gourmet put his head on her chest. It was cold and there was no heartbeat. Nothing. “Ellie is finally gone. This is what I do as a doctor. I pretend to help people, then tell everyone they won’t last, then just let them go. Everything goes just as planned. Good-bye Ellie, I hope you see some loved ones.” Mr. Gourmet walked out of the room. He went to the other doctors and said, “She didn’t last. I’m so sorry Mrs. Sarasa.” Mrs. Sarasa simply walked to Ellie’s room and covered her body with a blanket. She didn’t speak a word until morning. 
        Analise and Madison awoke startled by the phone ringing. Analise answered the phone. A female voice said, “Is miss Analise there?” Analise replied, “Yes I’m right here.” The voice introduced herself as Mrs. Sarasa. This young lady broke the news of Ellie’s death to Analise. “I’m so sorry for your loss. Have a good day.” And Mrs. Sarasa hung up the phone. Analise put the phone down and looked and Madison. Madison and Analise seemed to have a silent conversation. They both ran to each other and hugged. They started crying for Ellie. They told everyone else through the phone. Everyone was devastated. No one could believe that Ellie didn’t make it. And no one knew that Mr. Gourmet had committed a murder. 
   
    Mr. Gourmet had gone home late that night, proud that he had finally killed twenty people. He grabbed his notebook and wrote down the name Ellie. Along with nineteen other names:
Emily     Ethel
Elena     Ezra
Edgar     Emeline
Ethan     Emelia
Eric       Ella
Emma    Esmerelda
Elizabeth   Emmett
Ezekiel   Elliot
Esther    Emerald
Ember    Ellie
Mr. Gourmet had killed twenty people all with Es as the first letter of their name. Mr. Gourmet Was never caught. No one ever knew. He didn’t even feel remorse. He loved his murderous job and he would prefer to keep it that way. It took him only one year to do this and no one suspected a thing. He gave a hearty laugh. “I am living such a good life! People already respect me for ‘trying’ to help their family and friends. I didn’t try. In fact, I did the opposite of what a doctor would do! Ha ha ha ha!” Mr. Gourmet went to sleep after a long night of listening to Ellie’s screams of pain.

    Analise and Madison started planning Ellie’s funeral. They would go to the hospital today to go see Ellie’s body, and then use all the allowance they had to make a beautiful funeral. While Madison was flying Analise to the hospital, she asked, “Analise? Are you sure this isn’t just a nightmare? Ellie is alive right?” Analise didn’t answer. She didn’t want to answer because she knew this wasn’t a nightmare. It was life. About ten minutes later, they arrived at the hospital. They walked to Ellie’s room and saw her still, lifeless body. At least she feels no more pain. Madison thought. Analise sadly and slowly sat on the bed. She put her head on her chest and started weeping. Madison did the same. Madison couldn’t believe that this was true. Of all the people to die, Ellie had to die. She died because of a Latin spell gone wrong. It was all my fault. Madison thought. I said the spell wrong. I killed Ellie. Almost the second she finished that thought Analise seemed to read her mind. “It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. And Ellie’s still with us…. As a spirit. She is probably floating around right now.” They both started turning their heads around, looking for the spirit. They had been with Ellie’s body for almost an hour when Mrs. Sarasa walked in. “Girls, it’s time to leave the body. We need to do some tests and then the body needs to be buried. The funeral was tonight. Right?” Analise nodded and took Madison’s hand. They slowly walked out of the room. But Analise had a thought. “Hey Madison, remember the IV in Ellie’s hand helping to circulate air?” Madison started to have a little bit of hope. “Yes…” she answered. Analise continued. “In order for her to stop breathing, the would need to be unplugged. You have to sign papers and agree for this to happen. We didn’t agree. We thought she died on her own. Come on! We have to go investigate. Maybe, we can bring Ellie back!” Madison squealed. She was so excited to have a plan to bring Ellie back to life. Wait… Back to life? Didn’t Caitlin have the powers to bring people back from the dead? Could she bring Ellie out, alive and ready to live the rest of her life? Madison told her brilliant idea to Analise. “That’s a great idea, but I don’t think that would be necessary if we just have to plug the IV back in. That could be or back-up plan though.” Madison agreed. There was no point in wasting someone’s powers if all you had to do was plug something into the wall. They were back in the hospital room in the nick of time. Analise and Madison explained their idea to Mrs. Sarasa. Mrs. Sarasa answered, “That’s a great idea girls! And the only person who would have unplugged it is Mr. Gourmet, Ellie’s doctor. But remember girls, there is no guarantee.” Madison and Analise just wanted to push forward with no regrets. They started crawling on the floor looking for where the plug was. “Found it!” Analise shouted. Everyone kneeled on the floor looking at the plug as if it were made of gold. “Hand me the cord.” Analise told Madison. Madison picked up the cord and handed it to Analise. Analise plugged it in. For a few seconds of silence, nothing happened. Tears welled up in everyone’s eyes. But the they heard a gasp of air and a short yelp. “Ellie! You’re back!” Madison and nalise said in unison. Ellie sat up. “Umm… are you my new doctors? I can’t even remember what happened before last night. Could I take some medicine for that or something?” Analise and Madison chuckled, thinking that Ellie was just joking around. “Come on Ellie, it’s your best friends in the whole wide world! Me and Analise!” Madison said happily. Ellie wasn’t buying it. “Come on. Can I just get the medicine already? I’m starting to feel a bit nauseous.” Analise and Madison exchanged glances. Surely she remembered them right? Did she even remember why she’s in the hospital? “Ummm… Ellie. Do you even know why you’re in the hospital?” Analise asked, trying not to burst out in tears. “No. I forgot everything before last night. Now could you finally get me some medicine for that?” Ellie had changed. She didn’t remember her best friends, had a mean kind of sarcastic attitude, and Analise and Madison did not get their friend back the way they wanted to.

Analise was hugging Madison because they were both weeping tears of sadness. Ellie had gone, come back, then gone again in a different way. It was too much of a shock for the two friends. They were crying for hours when Madison had an idea. “This idea might not bring Ellie back, but do you think we could find Mr. Gourmet and accuse him of attempted murder?” Analise kind of liked the sound of this. “Madison. You’re a genius! Ellie might not be back but Mr. Gourmet will be!” They looked up online where he lived. It was a creepy thing to do but they had to find him. Only thirty minutes later they were at the door of Mr. Gourmet’s house. Analise took the honor of knocking on the door. When Mr. Gourmet answered, he looked panicked for a moment, but then returned to his normal state. “Hello girls. Come to invite me to miss Ellie’s funeral?” He seemed amused by this. But Analise and Madison were not amused. “Mr. Gourmet.” Madison started. “We are accusing you of attempted murder. We had signed no papers to unplug the IP. You simply did it on your own.” Mr. Gourmet was silent for a few moments. But reluctantly he grabbed the two girls by the collar and pulled them inside. He locked the door. “I know your secrets Iron Wing and Lighting Strike.” Mr. Gourmet said. Madison looked at Analise, but Analise had her eyes on Mr. Gourmet. He was walking around in circles, thinking of what to say and do. He slowly walked up to the girls. He raised his hand. Analise thought he was going to surrender. But she was wrong. Madison had a look of panic in her face. Mr. Gourmet punched Analise first. Analise was thrown onto the floor, and she was out cold. Madison ran over to Analise shaking her, trying to get her back to consciousness. But Mr. Gourmet walked around her and punched her in the back of the head. Madison’s body landed right on top of Analise’s. Mr. Gourmet had Analise tied up in a metal chair so that her powers would be weakened. He put Madison’s wings in the two cracks of a chair so she couldn’t fly. Mr. Gourmet sat on the couch, silently waiting for them to awake. About an hour later, Analise woke up first. “Come on Madison, we’ve got to go get Mr. Gourmet.” But when she looked at Madison, she was unconscious. Analise turned to look at Mr. Gourmet. “You. You deserve a life sentence in jail!” Mr. Gourmet laughed. “Why don’t you try to zap me with lightning miss Analise.” Analise had no problem with that. She tried zapping him, but her powers were blocked by the metal chair. Her powers weakened and so did she. If she kept trying, soon all of her powers would be drained and given to Mr. Gourmet. Analise had no idea that this was happening yet. It was happening little by little. Going unnoticeably. Madison woke up next. She turned her head at Analise, who was trying to zap Mr. Gourmet. Madison was just as mad as Analise. She tried flapping her wings, but they only shrunk in the cracks of the chair. This was going unnoticeably too. With both of their powers being drained and no one knew they were at Mr. Gourmets house, their powers would drain. And so would their lives.