Witness: See Series (Volume 1)(86)

Something odd caught my attention: the confetti that had been shimmering was now gray – like it was covered in a haze, like darkness was beginning to fall. It was working; this song was so powerful, the energy in the room was so electrifying - that it was calling the darkness.

After the bridge of the song, the stage went dark; only white spotlights behind them were blinking. I stared at Draven: his head was down. Though his hands were still moving at an insane speed across the strings, he was still – too still.

I thought the simple question: Where are you?, and at that moment I felt my soul violently ripped from my body; I wasn’t on the balcony anymore.

The air was still, the sky was a haunting shade of every dark color, and the grass in the open field was orange. The energy was dark and heavy. I spun around, looking for any sign of him, and behind me I saw images of all of us: the six of us standing in a perfect circle. I could still hear the song violently playing around us.

The images of all of us were still, and everyone’s head was down except for mine and Draven’s; he was staring coldly into nothing. I stepped between the image of me and him and screamed his name, trying to get his attention, but he wouldn’t move; there was nothing I could do to get a response out of him. I couldn’t bare to look at my image. I didn’t understand how I was in two places at once. I ran around the circle of all of us, screaming, “What’s going on? Where are all of you?!”

I heard a sinister laugh and turned, knowing who it belonged to: Bianca.

“What have you done?!” I yelled at her.

“Nothing,” she said, smiling, as her eyes glistened with pure evil. “Just enjoying the show. I love a good performance.”

“If he’s here, you tell me where – now!”

She laughed again and walked to the still image of him. “Right here,” she said as she moved her hands across his chest. I charged across the circle, but before I could take a step sickening images of her and him played out in the center of all of us. They weren’t innocent, not ones that could be mistaken as me taking it the wrong way; they were images of them locked in a passionate embrace.

I covered my mouth, starting to get sick – believing this illusion. Bianca walked around the edge of the circle, letting her fingertips run across the soulless bodies of each of us. Unwittingly, my eyes returned to the cruel images. As I looked at the back of her neck, the birthmark of two question marks mocking a broken heart was absent; I knew then that these images were a lie – an illusion meant to distract me.

She continued her slow stroll around the circle. “This circle, this balance of good and evil,” she said in a slow, seductive voice, “did nothing but offer me a distraction. It allowed me to have my way with the darkness he is. You can play with him in that world - but here, my power is what he craves…I make all of his wildest fantasies come true.”

She was passing by Winston as she said those evil words. As her fingertips crossed his chest, he came to life all at once and gripped her wrist. Bianca’s eyes grew wide with shock.

Winston pulled her wrist, flinging her out of the circle – and the cruel images vanished with her.

“This is the wrong circle, Charlie – she was distracting you!” he yelled over the thunder that was trying to quiet him.

“What?!” I screamed.

“There are more circles! Find him - this isn’t it!”

It took me a second to understand, then I ran between the images of us. At that moment, lightning erupted, and all across the field I saw sickening images of not only Bianca with Draven, but her with other men.

In the distance, I saw another circle. I didn’t think I had time to run there, so I told myself that I was there, that I wanted to be there – and my soul was jolted forward. This circle was just like the last one, only now Winston’s head was up like mine and Draven’s. Bianca was in the center once again. I pushed my way through to the center.

“I don’t have time for this – where is he?!” I yelled at her.

“I rather like the idea of your clock running out,” she said as she passed by Grayson, who came to life at that moment, grabbed her by her waist, and flung her from the circle.

“You’re closer, Charlie – run!” he yelled.

I pushed my way out of the circle again, looking in every direction. I didn’t know what to do, where to run. The lightning in the sky was mocking the flickering lights on stage in the real word. At that point, it was making me dizzy - but then in flash of light, I saw...purple...I saw a purple sky on a mountain top miles and miles away. I went with my gut and told myself that this was what Monroe was trying to say to me before; this was her unspoken direction.

I focused my stare there, and in an instant I was there. In this circle, Grayson was now aware, along with Winston. Bianca was standing in the center, mocking a bored yawn. She looked at the sky and laughed. “I wonder when this song will end.”

At that moment, Aden came to life and yelled, “When the drums end! I can keep this up all night long!” He then stepped forward, breaking the circle. When he did that, the images of all of us fell, and he was face-to-face Bianca. Grayson and Winston rose to their feet, blocking her in. I knew then that I still wasn’t in the right place. Suddenly, out of nowhere I head a roar – not the roar of thunder, but the roar of Draven’s voice. I turned to see a higher point on the mountain, a point that was covered in deep, dark purple.