Saving Hazel

He stands, not too far away, his beautiful moon-grey eyes glistening with tears. His whole frame shakes with sorrow, his jet black fringe hanging limply to the left side of his face.

He regrets it.

He regrets what we did and he feels guilty about it.

He thinks he should be paying the price instead of me, I'm paying the price for a dark magic and it can't be changed.

I wish I could comfort him, tell him it's not his fault, tell him that it was me, I chose to take the magical price. I told him to do the spell for Hazel's sake, she needed our help. She can now grow up and have a family and live life to the fullest with no magic whatsoever.

I should be doing the same, standing with Ackley, laughing, reading and enjoying life.

I can't grow up though

I sit here alone watching time pass, watching my friends and family grow up without me. I am trapped in a tree vector eon. A tree vector eon is basically a time portal in the trunk of the tree that takes in energy from the minerals through the roots. The minerals mix with the magic to bring someone back from the containment unit but in order for that to happen another has to be swapped into their place.

My family never knew what actually happened to me but after a 1 year of worrying they carried on with their lives as normal because they had known what had happened to Hazel and after she returned they realised I must have sacrificed myself in some way for her.

Only one person knew the whole truth,

That person visits everyday to tell me everything that is happening in the village, he doesn't want me to miss anything or feel lonely and in truth I think he doesn't want to let me go. We were, are best friends and I always thought that he saw me as more but nothing ever happened.

Ackley knows everything, he was with me when I cast the spell. He helped collect ingredients whilst I conjured up the brew for the vector eon to open.

It was the night of the dark moon's Crystallius eclipse, it's seen as a regeneration of all dark magic.

All types of dark magic can be used that night and it was exactly a year after Hazel's disappearance, the one time we were going to be able to cast the spell to get her back.

There was always something different about Hazel, we could never quite figure out what it was. Ever since she found out about her powers it was all she spoke about.

She must have read hundreds of books trying to figure out what the best and most powerful spells were, but she could never quite find what she was looking for.

Dark Magic.

She didn't exactly know about it but she always had a kind of sixth sense when something was missing whether it was a set of keys, a bag or even a pen, she would always know.

Jeanette Winterson said something interesting in one of the books Hazel read. I remember her asking me what it meant. I said it was nothing just an opinion but after I had said it weird things started to happen my head went all fuzzy and my stomach started to twist and gurgle. I ran outside into the forest thinking I needed some fresh air.

I ran through the trees stumbling over roots and overgrown brambles. As I ventured deeper my lungs began to tighten and heave from exhaustion.

'I...need.....to..stWoah!

And then Darkness.....

***Flashback to that day***

"Owwww...."

My skull feels like it's splintered into tiny fragments that are trying to scrape at my flesh and tear my brain to pieces.

Pounding deafens me. My neck and head are wet and sticky, my hair matted and twisted into knots.

I try to calm down and figure out a way to quieten the pounding..

1....

2..3....

4....5......6

7......8......9

10....

When the pounding subsides I rip open my eyes. The blinding sunlight tears at my sight ripping the forest view to shreds like it's a paper backdrop.

The leaves begin to whisper and murmur at me,

"Who's she?"

"She shouldn't be here."

"You should run."

"Escape now whilst you still can."

As my vision clears and adjusts to the lighting the murmurs fade into the background.

The warm liquid trickles down my neck soaking the back of my t-shirt. I cringe at the feeling, it's like hot sweat is being poured onto it.

I lift my hand to the back of my head and neck to wipe away the muck but instead I find a gash. The gash is about 3cms wide and it's not very deep so it's not too bad. I take my hand away and stare down at the sticky fluid, it's definitely not sweat.

It's the one thing I hate.

Blood.

So.

Much.

Blood.

It shouldn't be bleeding this much it isn't even that big.

Tears begin to cloud my vision so I keep blinking them away, I need to stay calm. I inhale and exhale deeply whilst closing my eyes trying to keep in control of my emotions.

As an attempt to temporarily forget the blood I open my eyes and wipe my hand on the grass to the side of me and let my mind drift into the etheral, deserted area around me.

I can see that I'm at a clearing.

The Old Oak Clearing.

I haven't been here for years, it looks just the same.

Beautiful, quaint, simple.

As I gaze around my surroundings, I take in the wisdom lake and each cyan blue and lilac purple focus flower I freeze as my gaze sweeps across crimson red.

I swallow, my breath hitching in my throat.

More Blood.

Etched into the main oak tree are the words that Hazel recited to me the day she went missing.

"The curious are always in some danger. If you are curious, you might never come home.''

Just below, near the base, two words are splattered...

Save..Hazel..

The indentations of the quote are painted over with blood.

Steaming, sticky, blood, I gasp terrified as I realise that the blood is fresh... it's my blood.

Shivers run through me as I back away from the tree. Bile rises in my throat threatening to spew out but I control it and push it back down.

Ever since my dad died I haven't been able to stand the sight of blood.

It reminds me of his face drenched and drowning in a pool of his own, he gurgled to me to leave, to take my sisters and leave, it was the only way we would be safe.

I close my eyes, take a deep breath and run from the forest terrified that whatever (or whoever) did this might return, the leaves' warnings return as I scramble through the untidy arches.

"You should have ran when you still had the chance."

"He knows, he'll be after you"

"You won't ever escape this..."

"And you can't hide..."

**Later that night

My thoughts wander as I ponder over the blood stained words that are burned into my memory alongside the warnings.

Hazel was always curious of the magical possibilities out there and...she never came home...

And I realise that I am falling into the same trap...Curiosity

It lures you in with questions and then hooks you so that you have no choice but to follow, you can no longer think for yourself.

The words were a warning.

A warning that we will never understand, there will always be the unknown.

Some things are better left that way.

For me and Hazel it's too late.

Ackley is safe.

I can still save Hazel though, as long I find her before I'm found.

Okay so this is my first chapter I don't know what you think please comment 💬 and if you have any questions or ideas I could add into the next chapter then comment or message me on Instagram.

Thanks for reading

HarleyMidnight2476

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