Memories

Chatter and music filled the room. I looked around and saw the smiling, laughing faces that surrounded me. People were eating, dancing, telling stories and just enjoying themselves. An intoxicating air of joy was everywhere. Somewhere from the back a strong voice started singing merrily.

"What are you doing here, moping about?" Derik laughed as he flung himself into the chair beside me.

"What do I ever do at parties, my dear friend, besides sit and mope?" my voice was serious, but my tone laughing.

"Good point. I think I shall leave you to your dark pits of despair and go get some food. Have you seen it? It's a mountain! Strawberry Pie, Apple Turnover, Blueberry Cream Cake, toffees, and danishes, and puddings, and these weird little things with these little dangly things..." He was drooling now. "Ahhh... Would you like anything? Oh, wait, you must be too depressed to eat." He smiled.

"Actually... Despair gone! I'm hungry, let's find this mountain of yours!"

So we walked toward the west side of the long room. As we passed I could not help but gape and gasp with wonder. It was the most beautiful room I had ever seen! Every inch of the walls was gilded, and the room shone like the sun, but not so much as to make your eyes squint. They were carved and sculpted into draping vines, towering forests, piping birds, and all manner of amazing shapes. But the ceiling was what demanded my attention. It was a mural, one that not even the great Michelangelo could have rivaled, although some had said it was his work. Untruthful, these whispers were, because I had been there all the days the great artist had worked on it.

"Goodly Mountain, Mount Delicious, Mount Scrumptious..."

Derik muttered away as he dove into the enormous spread of food before him. I smiled as I watched my friend, who was none too slim around the middle, go straight to the desserts, and not to the main courses, which he had neglected to mention earlier. I myself didn't take anything, it would have been a pity to disturb such a beautiful spread. I decided I would eat once I got home.

"Hello, Caitlyn. I didn't think you would come."

Surprised at hearing a smooth voice in my ear, I turned swiftly around. There was no one there. I was a little unnerved, but it must have been only a dancer whispering as they twirled by. But then why had they sounded so close?

"Hmm... Flan..." Here comes Derik.

"You know, you really ought to try some of this."

"No, thank you. I'm watching my figure," I put my hand on my hip and struck a pose, "and you should too!"

Derik sprayed food everywhere as it looked like he choked. "You want me to watch YOUR figure?"

"No! I meant..." I stopped as I saw he was laughing.

"Idiot."

"Who, me? I never." His eyes were wide and supposedly innocent.

Just then the bell rang, signaling for the beginning of a meal. I didn't know which one, I had lost track of time.

"Come on, it's going to get pretty crowded in here. Let's go outside." I began pushing Derik towards the door. He dragged his feet, but when I threatened to tip his plate, ("You wouldn't dare!") he remorsefully walked on his own.

A breath of cool, fresh air greeted us as we stepped outside the warm confines of the ballroom. It was early January, and our own breath froze in a delightful way, perfectly framed by the sparkling midnight snow. It was dark, but all the light we needed came from small torches in brackets on either side of the door. Shadows played in the moonlight, and soft silence whistled in the air.

"Oo know, Oi tink Oi weely woik dis fud!"

I turned back to Derik, who was grinning through a mouthful of food.

"You really are silly," I chided him, but he only smiled wider. More laughter came from inside. People were really happy. So was I, until I suddenly felt something hard and then something cold and wet seeping through my dress. I was sitting in the snow! I opened my eyes in disbelief at Derik.

"You did that on purpose!"

"Maybe I did, but maybe I didn't. Personally, I think it was that little Sprite over there, he really likes trouble." He laughed so hard he didn't see my hand shoot out.

"Hey! Now you did that on purpose!" He was sitting right beside me now.

"No, I think it was that Sprite's wife, she really doesn't like him having it all his way. She doesn't like you either."

We stared at eachother, daring the other to laugh first. Instead, we both burst at the same time. We laughed so hard several people poked their heads out the door to see what was going on. After they had left and our laughter had died away, a companionable silence settled. Derik ate like a pig, but he finally finished and lay back with a burp.

"Excuse you," I said.

"What if I don't want to be excused?"

"Then too bad, I think..."

Just what I thought Derik never found out, because screams issued from the once laughing room. Derik and I looked at each other, and then ran through the doorway.

The once shining room was now utterly dark, and you could barely see darker shadows running along beside us. Anxious to make sure I didn't lose Derik, I reached for his hand, but he had already found mine. We parted our way through the sea of bodies, and were nearing the eastern side when suddenly from that area a purple light emenated, just from what we couldn't see. More screams filled the air.

"Come on, let's get away from..." Derik started.

"STOP!" a loud commanding voice shook the walls. "I COMMAND YOU! NOW WHERE IS HE?"

Dead silence fell. Slowly a shape began to materialize. It was dark and terrible, but intense and intriguing. Or would have been if seen under a different light. It was man-shaped, I think, but I wasn't sure. That was, however, where the voice was coming from.

"WELL? WHERE IS HE?"

"Who?" a very small voice asked, and I found it was my own.

It was so quiet that my voice carried over the entire audience. Immediately the shape faced me, and began walking slowly, terrifyingly closer.

"WHO?" it roared. "YOU ASK ME WHO? THE MAN WHO CREATED THE WONDER ABOVE US, THAT'S WHO!"

As if on cue, all the heads in the room turned upwards, and there of course, was the mural.

"AND I WANT HIM NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

People looked quizzically, and worriedly at the people around them.

"We don't know who did it," a voice cried out. "They never let us see it before it was done, and we never saw anyone go in or out."

"SOMEBODY MUST KNOW!"

Silence fell again. The shape was still moving toward me, and I felt my knees begin to shake.

"YOU. DO YOU KNOW, CAITLYN?"

I started. Who was this and how did he know my name? Suddenly I remembered the suave voice I had heard earlier this evening.

"Yes," the same voice chuckled, but only so I could hear it, Derik had disappeared, "you understand now. Where is he, Caitlyn? I think you know." The figure was close, too close. A shadow fell across his face.

"Who says he's here?" I whispered.

The voice just laughed. He threw his head back and laughed. "DON'T TOY WITH ME! HE'S HERE! TELL ME WHERE HE IS!"

"Never."

For once, he was at a loss for words. Then he smiled. "Alright, Caitlyn, if that's how you want to play it. You can come with me, and we will play a game." The smile he wore darkened into a look of pure malignity.

"NO!" a voice panicked, and out stepped Derik. "I know where he is," he panted.

"WHERE?" the roar echoed and we had to cover our ears.

"Here before you. I am that man."

The figure without a face looked at him dubiously, and I could see him sizing him up. I thought of Derik, with his well-shaped face, and with his rather pudgy middle. The figure snorted.

"YOU?"

"Yes me, would you like to see how I did it? I always carry..."

"ENOUGH! I HAVE FOUND WHAT I HAVE COME FOR. NOW I WILL DO WHAT I HAVE COME TO DO!"

With that the figure leapt suddenly from the shadows and darted towards Derik. Something flashed, and then there was a crack. The purple light was gone, and everything and everyone was cast into the darkness.

Screams filled the air. I found one that was my own. But I didn't care. I had seen the figure's face, and I had recognized it. The face was one I had met on a dark stormy night, the night my parents died. He had spared me, and I had never forgotten it. Memories heaved up and threatened to overtake me. I thought of my father's pale face and my mother's dying shriek. I thought of my house being consumed in a purple flame-then I remembered Derik.

I dashed to where I thought he had been, but I tripped and fell. Something grabbed my leg, and I twisted around.

"Caitlyn?" a strained voice wheezed.

"Derik? I'm here." I grasped for his hand, and let out breath I hadn't known I had been holding. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I was just knocked down, I think I broke my leg," he said. "Do you remember the time you broke yours?"

I laughed. "You told me not to jump that ditch!"

"Yes," he wheezed. "How about when... When we ate so many blueberries...our mouths were blue for weeks?"

I laughed again, then sighed. "We have had some good times."

"Yes...Yes, we have..." Derik trailed into silence and seemed thoughtful. All this time the people had scrambled out the doors, terrified to be in the room where such an occurence had taken place. I was afraid to move Derik because of his broken leg, and I decided to wait until morning.

"Listen to me. I have got to," he coughed, "tell you...something. I...Do you remember...when I made the...mural?"

"Of course, you kept me in the room with you the whole time. You said you were afraid to be alone." I laughed at the happy memory.

"Do you remember...that I...said...that I was painting...it for someone...special?"

"Oh yes! I remember! You wouldn't tell me who it was for, you said I would laugh."

"Yes..." I could sense he was smiling, by the way he tightened his grasp on my hand the rest of his body relaxed. "Well, that was...you. It was for...you. I..."

"Shh, shh. Calm down, I don't want you to hurt yourself," my heart was pounding. What was he saying?

"No...I must. Caitlyn, I have...loved you...since I...met you. I..."

"No! Derik! We're best friends!" Shocked, I stood up quickly. His broken leg must have made him delirious!

"Come...back!" He coughed again. "I need your...hand." I knelt down again. "I'm...sorry. I just had...to tell..you." He sighed heavily but pulled up short.

"Caitlyn?"

"I'm here."

"I have...to sleep...now. Would you...dream...of our times...together? I will..."

I blushed in dark. "Of course. I..." but Derik had already fallen still. I lay down next to him and closed my eyes to a terrifying day.

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was the cheerless sunlight streaming through the high windows. The second thing I noticed was that I held a cold hand.

"Derik? Derik, time to wake up!" I turned over to shake him, but stopped. The front of his tunic was black, stained with blood. A long, deep gash cut across his chest. I screamed, and fell once more into the black abyss of unconsciousness.

* * *

The night of Derik's death flashed in my mind in that single instant that I saw his face. They had found me sprawled over Derik's body, and thought I was dead myself. We had never found out why the man had wanted to kill him, but I had a guess. He wanted me to suffer. He killed all those who I loved, and he was here to do it again.

His face had loomed in my mind all those long years since it had been twisted in steel fury as he slaughtered Derik. Now, it was here in the living flesh. He dodged his way in and out of the crowd, following me. The past two times he had come after those I loved, now he was coming for me. I didn't care any more. As old as I was, and as alone and friendless, I just wanted to die. Derik's death had changed me, and all I wanted was to follow in his and my parents' steps.

"Hello, Caitlyn."

I turned slowly.

"Do you remember me?" Of course, his smooth voice was etched into my memory.

"How could I forget?" I spat. "You killed Derik."

"And who else?"

"And my parents."

"Good, now do you know why?"

"You love to torment me. Now get it over with!"

"Of course, my dear sister. Come, let me hug you."

WHAT? I never had a brother! Hug him? NO WAY! I WOULD NEVER EMBRACE SUCH A MONSTER AS THAT, I... An image flashed into my head.

There was a young boy, he was in a room full of books. Someone came in, and they started yelling. Then the boy cried, but then he got mad. He punched the other person, but then he disappeared. The other person was my father. Then my full memory flooded in. My brother had studied the Dark Arts when he was younger, and my parents hadn't approved. He had left, but that was when I was only two. My parents always said he was one of my nightmares, because he had never been nice to me. I gasped.

"Yes, sister. I'm back. Come, do you remember the game we were going to play that night at the party? Yes, well, we are going to play it now. Come, Mummy and Daddy and your buddy are already waiting."

I followed him, and he led me to a cave. We passed through its sinister entrance. It was then that I cleared my mind, and wandered into thoughts and dreams.

* * *

A bright light shone all about me. There was chattering and laughing now, and dancing and singing and quite a bit of eating.

"Hello again, Caitlyn! Now what are you doing here, moping about?"

I turned and saw Derik, smiling his mischievous grin. My eyes went wide and I threw myself on him.

"Derik!!!"

There was laughing behind us, and I spun around to see my mother and father, arms linked about each other. Then my eyes really drew wide. My jaw dropped. I stood staring at their smiling faces, which I hadn't seen since I was twelve.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" With an unintelligible yell of joy I rushed at them.

"What is this place? What is this joyous, joyous place?" I cried.

My mother, father, and Derik only smiled