Chapter Eleven

The White King Enters

Start Chapter 11:

Elizabeth stared at the computer screen for what seemed like hours. Nobody was helping her, nobody was reaching out to her, nobody was answering her pleas. She didn't know what to do, and she was most likely going to die. There would be no way out for her, no place for her to hide, nothing left. She shuddered, trying not to cry again, and again she failed, her tears falling to the floor in a waterfall of pathetic sniveling and whimpering. She couldn't control it, some other force had taken over her life, had taken over everything. 

Even her perception of the world was breaking. Elizabeth felt ill again; it was like her very thoughts were under the control of some other person, some malevolent being was making her thoughts seem rushed and inconsolable. She couldn't focus half the time, and as she attempted to read the blogs, her thoughts stopped half way through. As though there was something else there.

It was the Author, whoever he was, manipulating her, destroying her. It was the Author who had brought the curse down around her, breaking her family and burning down her life. It was the Author who had such power to make her mind melt and meld to his will. She had to find him, and make him pay, of this she was certain. She stood, and glanced at the clock, and at that moment the whole world seemed to freeze around her. It was six o'clock. It had been hours since Dacre had left to collect Michael. He hadn't called or sent anyone round, nothing had gone wrong. But something had to have gone wrong, they shouldn't have been gone for so long. A long way gone...

She panicked, dressing herself into more workable clothes and grabbing Dacre's keys. They shouldn't have been gone for so long. She paused for a moment, thinking, trying to think. She had to be sensible and do the right thing for Michael and Dacre. She grabbed the phone and called 911. Nobody picked up. Once again the world seemed like it was melting around her. She sprinted down the stairs, barely noticing the unnatural quiet that was settled around the apartment building, around the block, around the city.

She had to walk to Michael's grandmother's house, which was when she noticed how very wrong everything was. There was no traffic in the streets, there were no animals in the trees, no people in any of the buildings or in the restaurants. The city was, empty, dead. Which made it worse when Elizabeth arrived at the house, and there was nobody there. An open gate, and abandoned meal, and no sign of the Grandmother, Dacre or Michael.

She would soon feel their pain.

End Chapter Eleven

The White King Exits.