RuneScape Forum Archive | ~The Dwellers~

Dark Enmity

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“They are almost life-like. When they speak to me I feel like I have to obey. I have almost cut my mother because I can’t control them. Hurting myself is the only way to get rid of them.

“I can go long times without hearing them. It is always random, and can happen when I am happy or sad. I just got one now...and the only way I could make it go away was to...was to...”

Aimeric hugged her closer. He brushed back her dark hair and looked into her terrified eyes, and believed she was telling the truth. Maybe it was uncontrollable.

“You won’t tell anyone, will you? If you do I will never be able to get a job! They will put me in one of those asylums were you never get out! Oh Aimeric, please don’t tell, I am begging you!”

“No, I won’t tell,” Aimeric said. “But I will find some way to get you better. I promise I will.”

He realized then that he couldn’t tell her to leave their home. Thea was apart of their lives and although Aimeric wouldn’t find out how connected they were until after that fateful event, they had started a close bond.

Thea had smiled for the first time that night and collapsed into his arms, fainting from exhaustion. Aimeric tucked her in and changed the bed sheets, careful to hide the blood stained ones from his wife.

When he was sure Thea was asleep he went back to his own bedroom and saw Celeste waiting for him. Without saying a word he changed into his pajama’s and went to sleep. Celeste just assumed that he had taken firing Thea too hard.

25-Jun-2009 23:40:59 - Last edited on 26-Jun-2009 04:04:34 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

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They had started there own little duo team to banish the evil or whatever it was from Thea. Her mother had once referred to it as “The Darkness”, but even though Aimeric spent numerous hours in the city’s library (Studying under the infamous Triton painting, donated anonymously by some artist who had used blues and indigo’s to show the water’s wrath) he still couldn’t find a disease that fit Thea’s description. The closest thing he had found was schizophrenia, which didn't give people evil thoughts, but multiple personalities. Thea only had two—herself and this evil voice.

Celeste hadn’t taken the news that Thea would be staying all that well. Recently she had been spending more and more hours of the day crying. It was extremely difficult when Aimeric couldn’t say to her what Thea’s problem was. He had to lie and say she loved it here.

Thea did love staying with Aimeric, and he thought it was helping null the effects of her illness. He still took her to work because that seemed to make her even happier.

They had also tried several prescription medications from the apothecary down in Main Street. The had only lasted a few days when Aimeric arrived home and saw Thea holding a paring knife to her face ready to do some peeling. She had stopped taking the pills right then.

Other than that small relapse he had never really seen Thea’s evil voice in action. She had told him it like you were drowning in ice-water. Too cold to fight. Aimeric believed her; he really thought that if they didn't do something soon the thing inside her would grow.

25-Jun-2009 23:44:28 - Last edited on 26-Jun-2009 21:46:21 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

His frequent trips to the library still continued. His mother always told him that the library was the best place for information. Aimeric wished his mother was still alive. She would understand about Thea’s condition. But she had committed suicide a year after her husband died. The only close relative he had left was his grandmother Katherine. They had seemed to drift apart after both his parent’s had died. He couldn’t even remember what Katherine had looked like.

As he couldn’t find any books on the symptom he couldn’t find any books on curing it. Aimeric had only found books on exorcism and he knew from the start that Thea didn't have the devil in her—she was as sweet as an angel.

They had tried it once. The ritual felt almost goofy. Thea sat on the floor in the middle of the bedroom because the book says that the devil feeds on your dreams. He made a large circle around her using the petals of roses and salt (for some reason devils are cholesterol wise). Then Aimeric had to do a chant around Thea. Halfway through the ritualistic dance he heard a giggle. That had made him blush. He was then supposed to suck out the devil with a kiss—which, frankly, he didn't mind at all. After that they were left with nothing except a salty flower mess.

A part of Aimeric wanted to see Thea’s full reaction to this voice. It might have made the difference in understand just how cruel it really was. He had only been able to see the aftershock, once the voices had stopped and Thea was clutching a knife in her trembling hands.

There was also the possibility of bringing her to one of those witchdoctors, the ones that use voodoo dolls and crystal balls to solve your problems. It sounded ridiculous—even more than exorcism—but he vowed to Thea he would do all in his power to help her. Still, he didn't feel that he should share her secret with a witchdoctor. Not yet, anyway.

25-Jun-2009 23:44:33 - Last edited on 26-Jun-2009 21:46:44 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Thea had been improving. Her lapses have shortened and turned into mild cuts rather than amputations. That seemed to calm Aimeric down. His mind always had ways to counter that tranquility.

‘She’s a rollercoaster. Everyone knows that if you’re climbing up on your way to success there is always a three-story plummet.’

Aimeric believed that thought, though he just never would imagine it would be so horrible.

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“It’s coming,” Thea whispered softly while she was hauling working the dig machine. Aimeric was right next to her showing her the ropes. His hand slipped on the controls when she had said that and he accidently sent a cliff of rocks tumbling down. Aimeric’s main concern, though, was Thea.

“Mark, take the machine for a bit, okay?” Mark gave a look of confusion but only shrugged and stepped on the massive instrument. He saw Aimeric and Thea running wildly for one of the tents. ‘Maybe the girl forgot today was her period,’ Mark thought and then returned to shoveling rocks.

Aimeric practically shoved Thea through the tent flap, sending her inside. Immediately he collected anything sharp—the few pocketknives, some darts and even the pencils lying around. He also took the precaution of throwing out the heavy pots and pans. God forbid what she could do to herself with one of those.

“Thea, talk to me. How do you feel?”

“O-okay, I guess. I just felt a c-cold shock through my b-b-body and I knew that’s how it starts. Aimeric I’m scared!” Her eyes were wide with fear as she stared at him for consolation.

“Just relax. On a scale of one to ten, how do you feel? Ten being the voices are talking to you.”

“About a five. I know that they are in me, but they aren’t doing anything. It’s like...it’s like they know your here.”

25-Jun-2009 23:44:35 - Last edited on 26-Jun-2009 21:21:03 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

That shook Aimeric up bad. It had to be her mind doing this and all her senses were connected to this deformation. Maybe if he stayed the voices wouldn’t try to talk to her.

Then Thea reached out of her pocket and pulled out something silver. It was a metallic pen that she liked to use to fill out forms. On the side it was inscribed “to each there own”. She took the pen and pressed the top, causing the point to emerge from its shell covering.

“Thea, what are you doing?” But Thea wasn’t listening. She took the pen and pressed it softly to her neck, then up and down. The blue ink from the pen was leaking onto her skin.

"THEA, DON’T!” Aimeric had screamed. Thea looked up slowly, like only realizing now that he was there, than replaced the pen back in her jeans pocket.

“Sorry,” she said. “I just had to test if it had gone.”

Aimeric was furious. "What if you plunged that pen into your neck? You could have bled to death! Thea, what were you thinking?”

“At least we learned something,” Thea said almost joyfully while Aimeric was close to pulling the hair out of his head. “The voices won’t come when you’re around.”

But as they put the items back into there places respectively in the tent, she never realized she could be more wrong.

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Their walk home from work was going relatively silent. Aimeric was pretended to be mad at Thea for her little “test”, but in truth he was scared. He was scared that he would see Thea at her worst, and that he wouldn’t love her anymore.

“I can’t believe you did that,” Aimeric said under his breath when they were walking by the pond. The ducks were quacking majestically in the water.

“I am sorry, but I had to know if the voices had left.” She gave a small smile but then sunk her head in shame. It hurt her to see Aimeric so angry. “I didn't know you would blow your top.”

25-Jun-2009 23:44:40 - Last edited on 26-Jun-2009 21:47:48 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Aimeric stopped and grabbed her by the arms. “It’s not that, Thea. This thing, whatever it is has a strong hold on you. Remember when I saw you with your leg torn to shreds?” Thea flinched at that thought. “When you brought that pen to your neck I thought...I thought...”

“You thought I was going to rip my neck into pieces,” Thea finished softly. Aimeric nodded.

“Yes. And if we don’t get help, it could get worse. I just don't want you to do something you’ll regret.” Which they both knew the thing Thea would regret would be killing herself. Or somebody else.

“I had no idea you cared so much.”

“Thea, you’re my priority right now. Until you are cured, I am not going to let this thing hurt you.” He brought her to sit on one of the brown park benches. The duck quacks had gotten louder.

They looked into each other’s eyes and saw joy in each. Thea smiled, but then her face turned into a look of horror. “I can’t do this!”

“Do what, Thea?”

“You! Be with you! It’s too much. I can’t handle it! I just—,”

Aimeric started rubbing her back. “Calm down. It’s fine.”

“No! It’s not. You have no idea how I feel about you! And your—,”

“Thea, please, lower your voice.” Some of the maternal mothers were now staring at them, diverting their eyes from their five-year-old toddlers.

“You’re married. And almost a decade older than me. I can’t keep pretending how much I care about you.”

Aimeric pressed his fingers to her lips to. “I don't want you to worry about that right now. First, we will focus our time on your darkness. Then we can figure out our feelings.”

It had calmed her down, but only slightly. In truth, Aimeric just wanted to stall as well, but he knew he had the same feelings for her. ‘It won’t last. She will realize you’re too old and run off with someone her own age.’ That was probably his biggest fear.

25-Jun-2009 23:44:41 - Last edited on 26-Jun-2009 21:48:18 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

The ducks were now squealing. Their loud shrieks were piercing through the field, causing attention from Aimeric and the rest of the park guests. The brown feathered ducks were racing out of the pool, away from what was splashing in the middle.

What was splashing in the middle? Aimeric couldn’t see and it wasn’t until Thea screamed that he spotted a tiny miniature arm sticking out of the pond.

‘Oh my God there is a boy drowning,’ he thought and everything froze. Except the boy kept waving his arms frantically to paddle to the surface.

The boy wasn’t yelling for help. He couldn’t. The boy’s head was completely submerged under the water.

Water. Aimeric was afraid of water. He couldn’t go in; hopefully somebody else would jump in and save the boy. But nobody did. They all just stared and watched.

“SOMEBODY SAVE THAT BOY!” The voice had come from a pregnant mother but it sent a jolt through his body like somebody connected a car battery to his body. He sprinted towards the pond and dived in, head first.

His first thought was that the water was freezing cold. It was like knives poking all over his body. He wanted to leave but remember the boy. ‘This must be how Thea feels when the voice talks to her.’

Aimeric’s eyes were scanning for the child. He saw patches of seaweed—probably artificial, he couldn’t tell—as well as schools of fish. They bottom was lined with a beige sand and numerous pebbles.

‘The boy. Find the boy.’ The water was started to sting his eyes, making him blink more frequently. His lungs were burning, dying for the salvation of air. Aimeric locked his sight to the center of the water.

It was just a huddled mass, floating freely in the water. It reminded Aimeric of a wooden puppet, the ones were the arms and legs were controlled by the puppet master. The boy’s arms and legs were limp, gently being controlled by the water’s waves.

25-Jun-2009 23:44:46 - Last edited on 26-Jun-2009 21:23:24 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Aimeric swam over, desperate to save the child. He hooked and arm around the boy’s waist, hauling him up. At last he got his first breath of air in what felt like a century.

Right then he was overwhelmed by the crowd. The masses were groping him and the boy, desperate to get information. The men were all patting Aimeric on the back, saying “Good job” and “You’re a really working class hero”. The women were mostly pondering over the boy, giving them there jackets and hugging him to death. Only Aimeric seemed to notice that the boy’s eyes were still closed.

“MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!” He ordered and placed the boy on the wet grass. Gently he started to compress his chest careful not to break his ribs. When that wasn’t helping he started to give CPR.

Finally the boy gave a cough, spurting out a mouthful of pond water. His bright green eyes finally opened for the first time as he looked around inquisitively.

“What’s your name, son?” It had come from the guy that was pushing on his chest. The man had short brown hair and light blue eyes. They reminded the boy of the pond. He didn't like that.

“Oliv-ver,” the boy said quietly. Aimeric wrapped an arm around him at brought him to a nearby park bench, while the other people walked away in disappointment. Most of them wanted to have a talk with the boy.

“So, your names Oliver. That’s a cool name.”

“I guess.” Oliver was resting his head against Aimeric’s side. A young girl of about twenty ran up to them and kissed Aimeric on the cheek.

“I can’t believe you did that, Aimeric!” Thea was thrilled.

“No big deal, I had to save this little tyke.”

“No big deal? You told me you were terrified of the water!”

That sent realization through his head. “I thought so at first. How I had been drowning just like Oliver here. But then I just felt that I had to save him, like I HAD TO.”

“Well, you’re my hero,” Thea said before kissing him on the cheek again. “And you must be Oliver.”

“Yes ma’am,” Oliver said and hic-cupped.

25-Jun-2009 23:44:48 - Last edited on 26-Jun-2009 21:48:48 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“Well, I am pleased to make your acquaintance. My name is Thea.”

For the next five minutes they just sat huddled together and day-dreamed. Sirens were echoing through the park. Two armed officers walked up to them.

“You sir, may we have a word?” The larger of the two officers said. He had a bushy moustache and was slightly chubby around the edges. He beckoned Aimeric with two fingers.

Aimeric hesitated. “Don’t worry, I will take care of Oliver,” Thea said positively.

“My name is Robert,” said the oversized officer. “And my partner here is Jacob. We just wanted to ask you a couple things about that boy over there.”

“You mean Oliver?”

“Yes. Your name, please?”

“Aimeric Eaton. Married to Celeste Eaton. I live on Rock view Boulevard on Hazelton Island.”

“Are we correct that you were the one that saved this boy from the water?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“And resuscitated him?”

“Yes.”

“Were there any further complications? Such as symptoms the child is showing?”

“None yet.”

Robert looked pleased. “Well, that is all we have for now. We will contact you if we have any further questions.”

“Can I ask what happened?” Aimeric asked nervously. Jacob answered.

“It seems that Oliver’s father had tossed him in the water as an act of abuse. He is now under custody and we are arranging a court hearing as whether or not he should receive ownership of the child.”

“Do you think he will go to jail?” That was the question Aimeric really wanted answered. If they were going to lock him up and throw away the key to let him rot or not.

Jacob gave took out a stick of gum and popped it into his mouth. “Guys like that rarely do. Even though it was almost murder, he probably will just make bail at most.”

“That’s why we need you,” Robert said. “Would you mind coming to the court hearing so we have a better chance at putting this guy behind bars?”

“Of course, though I don’t think I have much of a choice. I am a prime witness.”

25-Jun-2009 23:44:54 - Last edited on 26-Jun-2009 21:26:07 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Robert chuckled. “Guess so. We are also discussing what to do with Oliver until the hearing. Do you know if he has any relatives? If not we will probably bring him to child services where—,”

“I will take him.” The words had burst out of Aimeric in a flurry. Jacob raised an eyebrow.

“Are you sure Mr. Eaton? That’s a mighty big responsibility for a man.”

“I’m sure. My wife has always wanted a child.”

“I think that would be acceptable. We will make the necessary arrangements. You just take good care of that kid."

"Will do.”

The two officers started to go but Robert wavered. He walked up to Aimeric’s ear and whispered.

“Be careful, mate. Children that come from abusive relationships can have a few tricks up their sleeves.”

Aimeric could only nod while Robert joined Jacob to the booking of Oliver’s father. He went back to Thea and she waved at the two cops.

“They seemed nice,” she said generously picking up Oliver in her arms.

“Yeah...nice...” Aimeric said distantly.

“Did they mention something?”

Aimeric shook his head. “Nothing too important.” he could only wonder as they walked home what Robert had meant about Oliver having a couple tricks up his sleeves. Aimeric would soon realize that Robert had meant it much more literally than he thought.

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Thea and Aimeric had brought him back home themselves. No cop escort. No bodyguards. Just a teenage girl and a married man. The walk home was a quiet one.

Aimeric had been apprehensive about the boat ride. He was fine on boats; it was just water that he feared. As long as he never touched it, he wouldn’t have a panic attack. He was scared for Oliver.

Once they reached the boat however, Oliver plopped his little bum down in the front and held up an oar saying, “Can I paddle?” Thea and Aimeric were baffled. I was just more proof that Robert was right about Oliver’s “tricks”.

25-Jun-2009 23:45:35 - Last edited on 26-Jun-2009 21:48:35 by Dark Enmity

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