Voices
He searched for the source of the voice.
"Keefe!" Sophie's voice called out desperately. "Please, Keefe."
He focused on her voice, ignoring the raging fires, the choking smoke, the molten jewels, the freezing cold, the impenetrable darkness. Everything fell away. All he heard, all he knew, was her voice.
He seemed to float in the darkness. There was nothing solid beneath his feet. He was okay with that. He didn't want to touch the shadows.
A soft light surrounded him, warming him and fighting back the dark. Sophie's voice continued to speak to him, but he couldn't understand what she said.
"Keefe, please... need you... I miss..." every word that he understood, he caught and held close to his heart. He let it warm him, empower him.
"No, Keefe!" A harsh familiar voice cut through his mind. The woman shouted at him through the darkness, overpowering Sophie's sweet calls. "Keefe, don't listen to her! She is a liar, a traitor, a villain."
"No, Mom!" He screamed back, the cry tearing through his dry throat. "You're the villain."
The simple truth seemed to poke a hole in the shadows. A soft warm beam of light streamed down onto his face.
He closed his eyes and basked in the glorious glow of the faint ray. He took a deep breath.
Sophie's voice came through clearer. "Keefe, please, hold on. You can't leave me."
He stared up into the light. "I won't. I promise."
His mother's laughed echoed menacingly through the dark. "Oh, son." Her figure morphed out of the shadows. "Don't make promises you can't keep."
He stumbled back a step. "No. You're not real. You're not here."
"Aren't I?" She hissed in his ear. Her breath was cold against his skin. She slapped him hard across the face. "Does that feel fake to you?"
He touched his stinging cheek. A warm liquid trailed down his face. He pulled back red fingertips. His eyes widened. "This isn't possible. This is all happening inside my head."
His mom chuckled. "And that means it's not real?" She pulled her hood over her head and sank into the darkness. "I don't think you know what's real anymore." She appeared directly behind him and put him in a headlock. "Who's to say that the voice of your precious Moonlark isn't a figment of your imagination."
He struggled in vain.
"After all," she held him in her strong grip. "you can't SEE her, can you?" She released his neck and spun him to face her. "But I'm right here. You can see me. You can feel me." Her grip tightened on his shoulders.
Sophie's voice was nothing but a soft whisper. Her warmth and light were fading.
No. He thought. He couldn't lose her. Not again. This was HIS mind. He clenched his fist and a melder appeared. He held it to his mother's chest.
She looked down, her eyes betraying her as she tried to hide her fear.
His grip tightened on the weapon. "You. Aren't. Real." He fired the melder.
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