1

Betsy Moon

I was walking slowly through a green and lush forest. There were

birds nesting in trees above me, and as I looked down I saw leaves,

twigs and soil. It smelled fresh - freshly grown leaves and soil. The

twigs beneath my feet cracked as I walked forward. I noticed a small

tree from the corner of my eye. The leaves were brown and

crumpled and it slouched like an old man. I smiled and clicked my

fingers. I felt a warm, tingling sensation run all through my body as I

saw something bright and colorful form into a ball in my palm. I

flicked my palm out and the ball flew across the clearing and

smacked against the dead tree. Instantly the tree began to change.

The leaves were turning a fresh, bright green and the tree was

standing straight again. I smiled even wider and walked on.

“Hey Betsy, good to see you again.” I heard a voice from the other

side of the clearing. I squinted and saw my best friend, Renning.

“Hey, it’s good to see you too, how’ve you been?” I replied just as

he appeared out of nowhere in front of me.

“I’m cool, you know, it’s all the same, nothing ever happens here.”

His jet black hair, which was sticking up in every direction, swayed

slightly from the wind. His aqua blue eyes sparkled with excitement.

I laughed.

“Yeah I know, so have you been doing magic lately?” I asked

grinning.

“Oh yes, I can now cast a water ball!” He said and gave me a wink.

Then he closed his eyes in concentration, clicked his fingers and

flicked his palm out. A small ball of water hit the tree opposite us

and my eyes widened.

“Whoa,” I muttered. “That’s amazing, you have to teach me that!”

“All in good time Betsy, for now we will just stick to basic magic.” He

said laughing softly. I scowled but agreed ruefully anyway.

“So have you been practicing?” he asked me.

“Yep, look,” and then I clicked my fingers and I brought back to life

a small dead tree like I did a few minutes ago.

“Well done, you’re getting better at that.” He said with a grin as he

checked over the tree to see if it was all alive and well again. But

suddenly deep in the background I heard someone yelling my name.

“Damn it Renning, I have to go, I can hear someone shouting, I’ll see

you later.” I said, just in time before I was shaken back into reality.

“Hello! Earth to Betsy! Are you getting this? C’mon, wake up will

you!” My older sister, Dusty was saying impatiently.

“W…what?” I said, a little shaken. Why couldn’t people just leave

me alone to get on with their lives rather than butting into mine?

“Mum wants you, she says dinner’s ready.” Dusty said before

dancing out of the door and down the stairs. I sighed and stood up. I

went downstairs and into the kitchen. Mum and Dusty were both

sitting at the table. I sniffed, it was shepherd’s pie. I sat down and

picked up my fork and began shoveling spoonfuls of pie into my

mouth. I wanted to get back inside my head again and learn how to

cast a water ball.

“Careful Betsy, you’ll give yourself indigestion eating that fast, slow

down will you.” Said mum rolling her eyes.

“Yeah pig! You eat too much!” said Dusty smirking.

“Shut up! You’re the one who ate a whole packet of biscuits at

lunch!” I said glaring at her. She narrowed her eyes at me and I

smirked and went back to shoveling food in my mouth. After I had

finished my plate I cleared the table and washed the plates. I turned

to leave when mum suddenly stopped me.

“Betsy, wait I need to talk to you for a minute.” She said.

Dusty left the kitchen and went to her room, to listen to a load of

boy bands and talk to her friends on msn probably.

“Betsy, I’m very worried about you.” mum said looking into my

eyes. “Something goes on in your head all day, all week, all month,

and I don’t know what it is.”

“I’m fine” I said trying to reassure her. “I just daydream, that’s all,

it’s perfectly normal, and most kids my age daydream anyway.”

“Yes but, you seem to daydream all the time, and when you do it’s

extremely hard to get you out of that daydream.” Mum said, her

eyebrows furrowing.

“I’m fine really, stop worrying, can I go please!” I said becoming

frustrated.

“Alright, but promise me your ok, you can talk to me you know if

something’s wrong.”

“I know, and I promise, please don’t worry.” And then I turned and

went up to my room and lay on my bed. I shut my eyes and let

myself drift.

“Ah, your back then?” I looked up to find Renning standing next to

me, and for some reason I was lying on the floor.

“Yes, help me up would you?” I asked and he leaned down, took my

hand and pulled me up.

“Thanks.”

“No worries, so do you want to learn something new?” he asked

tilting his head slightly to the side

“Yes! Can I learn how to cast a water ball?” I responded excitedly.

“I already said, that’s too complex for you, but you might be able to

cast fire balls.” He said pondering this thought.

“Oh yes please!” I replied. Fire balls sounded exciting.

“Alright then, take my hand.” He said as he held his hand out. I took

it and clung on tight. I knew what was coming and sure enough

suddenly we were floating and spinning. I shut my eyes tightly

because I started to become rather dizzy. A few seconds later our

feet touched the floor, well Renning’s did. I just sort of fell on the

floor. I collapsed into a heap and groaned.

“Are you alright? Asked Renning leaning over me, looking

concerned.

“I’m fine, jeez how do you get used to that?” I asked frowning. He

laughed loudly and I tried to stand up resulting with me falling into

Renning’s arms with dizziness.

“I’m fine.” I said huffily and pulled myself free. He laughed, his eyes

sparkled with excitement. “Come on, the targeting range is over

here.” And then he led me to a huge field with rather large

scarecrows with targets on their fronts.

“Right, now concentrate really hard on fire, nothing else but fire, it

helps to click your fingers and then when you feel your body go

warm thrust your palm forward but try to imagine hitting the target

on the scarecrow.” He said pointing to the scarecrow opposite me.

“But…what if I set the field on fire?” I asked shakily.

“Don’t worry you won’t, and anyway remember, I have water on my

side.” He said winking at me. “Go on, give it a try.”

So I imagined fire. I shut my eyes tight and suddenly I remembered

that night, it was so hot and bright, and as the fire drew nearer it

became hotter and brighter. The fire crackled loudly and then

everything went fuzzy. I collapsed with a gasp. I realized, I didn’t

want to remember fire. I didn’t like fire. I was terrified to death by it,

since that night. But Renning didn’t know that. I started

hyperventilating and I heard my raspy breath being drawn in and

out in my attempt to try and breathe and to stay awake. I heard

Renning in the background, shouting - yelling at me to wake up. I

tried to reply but I couldn’t. I could only see fire, too much of it. I felt

something wrap around my middle, and pick me up. I was being

moved and I had just enough strength to open my heavy eye lids

and too see Renning looking straight ahead, concern showing very

clearly on his pale ghostly face.

“Renning,” I said quietly, my voice cracking. He looked down.

“It’s alright you’ll wake soon and then you’ll be ok.” He said keeping

his voice low and un-alarming. “Then when your better you can

come back and tell me your ok and what happened, ok?”

“Yes,” I said. And I managed a weak and small smile before the

darkness finally overpowered me and stole me from this magical

land I was in.

2

Real or Imaginary?

When I woke up I was in a large white room. There were lots of wire

and as my hearing returned I heard a loud and rather annoying

beeping noise. My sight returned and I opened my eyes groggily.

“Oh my god! Your awake, I didn’t think you were going to wake up. I

thought I’d lost my beautiful youngest daughter forever!” Mum

sobbed as she threw herself on me and pulled me into a tight hug.

“Ow, mum lemme go!” I gasped struggling to breath.

“Oops, sorry.” She said pulling back and wiping tears from her eyes.

“W…what happened?” I asked trying to remember but then a pain

shot through my head and as I gasped I decided not to try and

remember, but to listen to mum.

“Well, you went upstairs and after about half an hour Dusty came

rushing down the stairs screaming her head off, apparently she had

gone into your room and she saw you…differently than normal, she

tried to wake you up but then you started screaming and dropped

on the floor.” She said and as she talked she started shaking. “I

called an ambulance and you’ve been in here since for three days.”

Three days!!!!????

“Oh my god, that must have been…hard.” I said and then I drew in a

sharp intake of breath as a bunch of painful memories came flying

back at me. Punching me in the face and bruising me mentally.

“Are you alright love?” mum asked watching me carefully.

“Yes…I’m…just remembering what happened.” I said slowly.

“Oh, sweetheart.” And then she pulled me into a careful hug.

“It’ll be ok, everything will be ok.” She murmured into my dark hair.

She used to tell me that after dad had died. I don’t know what

happened after that but I lost control of my body and mind and I

burst into uncontrollable tears. Mum pulled me tighter and then

suddenly we were both sobbing in each other’s arms.

“Look at us,” mum said pulling back and wiping her eyes again.

“We’re a couple of Muppets.”

I laughed weakly.

After a few more days, the hospital was sure that I was ok. It was

quite nice to be in a hospital bed, it was so much more peaceful

then at home. The down side was that there was always someone

watching me so I couldn’t return to my mind and find Renning, so I

was quite glad when I was let out. As soon as I got home I went

upstairs and unpacked my bag quickly. Then I went over to my

mirror and peered in. The reflection was pale and sickly looking, as if

just awakened from the dead, I shuddered. She had deep black hair

which hung round her face like a huge, dark curtain. The reflection

also had bright green eyes which at the moment looked dead and

empty. I sighed, of course I knew the reflection was me but for a

moment I wasn’t sure. I went over to the bed and lay down. I took a

deep breath and then closed my eyes and once again let myself

drift away from reality and into my mind.

I woke to find myself lying in the forest. I sat up and looked around.

Empty, I was all alone. Where was Renning? I stood up, leaning on to

a tree for support.

“Renning?” I called out stupidly. I stumbled around for a while

calling for him. I was about to give up searching and just wander

alone when suddenly a voice from behind me made me jump right

out of my skin.

“Ah, you’re here at last then, you have no idea how long I’ve been

waiting for you!” I spun around and stared. It was Renning. I let out

a sigh of relief and then threw myself into Renning’s arms.

“Oh, Renning, I’ve missed you so much. I…what happened?” I said

my voice muffled against his chest. He laughed and his arms

tightened around me.

“I was about to ask you the same thing, are you going to tell me

what happened?”

I took a deep breath and nodded.

“Well…Ok. I did what you told me to do, I thought of fire…only it was

painful to think of.” I said slowly.

“How come? I don’t understand.” He asked sounding very confused.

I pulled myself very gently out of his arms and sat down on a large

tree trunk which was lying on the floor. He sat next to me and

looked at me expectedly.

“Well…2 years ago…you know when I first met you?” he nodded.

“Well a few weeks before that my father was killed…” As I said this I

tried my very best not to cry. I hadn’t ever thought of this since that

night and here I was just pouring it all out. Renning looked shocked

and he pulled me into his arms and I carried on speaking.

“He was killed in a…a bad house fire, my mother, sister and I barely

escaped alive. I was most injured out of all of them, my lungs were

damaged by all the soot I had breathed in whilst trying to help my

father, I was in hospital for…for weeks, my lungs still haven’t

repaired properly, and that’s why I can’t breathe properly

sometimes.” As I said this, my voice started cracking in funny places

and silent tears started to pour down my cheeks making Renning’s

shirt wet.

“Oh, Betsy, I’m so sorry, you should have told me, then I would have

found something different for you to cast, I’m so sorry.” He said into

the top of my head. He reached down and wiped the tears away

from my cheeks very softly and carefully. Then I suddenly felt

myself fading away. I sighed sadly, and wished that I could stay in

this magical and peaceful world of mine forever without being

disturbed by people in reality every ten to fifteen minutes.

“I have to go Renning, I can feel myself waking. I will see you soon”

“Alright, I’ll see you on your return.” Then he smiled a large grin

which made me giggle let go of me just as I disappeared and the

darkness claimed me once again.

I woke up gasping and struggling for breath. What had just

happened? I wasn’t quite sure. I looked at the clock. It was past ten.

I pulled on an old t-shirt and some old pajama bottoms. Then I

padded downstairs barefoot and kissed mum goodnight. I shut my

door behind me and climbed into bed. In less than a minute I had

fallen into an uneasy sleep full of nightmares.

The next morning I woke up achy and sore. I groaned as I slid out of

bed.

“Ouch,” I whimpered as I pulled on my school uniform and brushed

my hair. I trudged downstairs in my clumpy school shoes and made

myself a piece of toast. I ate it and then gave my teeth a good brush

before I kissed mum goodbye, said bye to Dusty and then ran out

the door and all the way to school.

When I arrived, I was a few minutes late but no-one seemed to

notice me slip in because the teacher wasn’t there yet. It was only

when the teacher arrived, sat down and took the register did

everyone notice I was here. My name was called and I said good

morning. Mrs. Clover looked up and smiled.

“It’s good to see you back Betsy, are you feeling better now?” She

asked politely. I could feel my face burning up with embarrassment

and so I kept my head down letting my hair fall around me like a

long curtain and only nodded. I heard people sniggering and

whispering and I kept my head down even lower. I wanted to see

Renning but I knew it was impossible to see him in school time. So I

tried to pay attention, but somehow my mind just slipped away and

I found myself in my own special world all over again.

I awoke on the floor once again. Why do I always seem to wake on

the floor? I stood up and looked around. It was deadly quiet. It was

also rather misty today. I couldn’t see a thing. I stumbled around in

the mist trying to find my way, I gasped as something wrapped

around my arms and pulled me back. I was about to cry out when I

heard Renning’s voice. Soothing and quiet.

“Shh, don’t worry, it’s only me.”

“Oh,” I said as I struggled to take control of my breathing. He

obviously heard because he held me only by the tops of my arms

and helped me to breathe.

“In and out, slowly. Try not to worry, your very safe.” He said as he

watched me trying to breathe slowly. As soon as I could breathe

normally again I spoke.

“I’m ok, I was just, you know, freaking out.”

“Don’t worry your ok.” He said softly.

“Damn it, I’m meant to be in class.” I said with a sigh. “Oh well, this

is much more fun than math.” I added hastily.

“Ok, if you’re totally sure.” He said. I nodded and then we began

walking through the forest and he took my hand in case I still

couldn’t breathe properly.

“You know, I was thinking, While I’m here could we maybe practice

a bit of magic?” I asked slowly.

“Sure thing.” He said grinning. I hesitated then took a deep breath

and spoke.

“Actually, I’d like to try casting fire again.” Renning stopped in his

tracks and I was pulled backwards, our hands falling apart.

“Are you sure? I mean isn’t it a bit soon to be trying that kind of

magic again?” He asked giving me a searching look.

“Nope, I want to be able to do this, I have to overcome my fear.”

He nodded slowly.

“Well… ok but if you collapse again I’m not trying it again for a long

time!” And then he took my hand and led me to the targeting field.

When we arrived he studied my face carefully. I smiled widely to

show his I wasn’t afraid, I think I fooled him…Hopefully.

“Ok, you remember what I told before, right?” he asked after a

moment. I clasped my hands behind my back so that he didn’t see

that I was shivering.

“Yes,” I said trying to stop my voice from trembling. I took a few

deep breaths to calm myself because I knew that magic never

worked if you couldn’t control your fright. Then I closed my eyes,

and thought of fire. But this time instead of my thoughts

automatically switching to memories of that night, I forced them to

stay away. I imagined the brightness and the flashing colors, I

imagined the heat, so hot I would melt, and that’s when I felt it. The

warmth run through my body, it calmed me, it was peaceful and it

felt good. That was the sign. I clicked my fingers and that’s when I

lost it. My head felt light and I had to open my eyes, the field

swayed and I toppled over. I felt Renning catch me and I groaned. I

felt torn by my emotions. I was excited and thrilled with myself

because I almost cast a fire ball but then also annoyed and angry

that I lost it. The enjoyment overpowered and a mad laugh burst

from my mouth. I gasped in deep breaths of air as Renning held me

and rubbed the tops of my arms trying to calm me. When I could

just about breathe normally I turned my head to face him.

“I did it!” I gasped, “Well almost,”

“You did, well done.” Then he smiled a dazzling smile but then I felt

myself slipping away again. I groaned.

“I have to go Renning, jeez why can’t anyone leave me be?” I

snarled. I hate it when other people stick their noses where it’s not

wanted. Then I heard my name being called and I jerked wake.

“Ah, Betsy, you’ve decided to join us again have you?” Mrs. Clover

said with narrowed eyes. I blushed deeply and I murmured my

apology. She gave a sharp nod and then stalked away. I tried to

remember my daydream as I evened out my breathing. I had cast a

fire ball! Yes! I whispered to myself. Suddenly something round hit

the back of my head and I turned to see what it was. On the floor

behind me was a piece of paper, I picked it up and opened it.

Hey, Betsy (Cool name by the way!)

Are you OK? You’re seriously very distant. Want to hang out with us

from now on, you look a bit lonely by yourself.

From,

Sky, Renesmee, Maizie and Ophelia.

That’s cool…I guess, did they really think that my name was cool?

Nearly everybody teased me about my name. I mean I’ve never

really had many friends before. I glanced over at them just to check

whether they were fooling around. They weren’t. They were looking

over at me smiling supportingly. I guess it couldn’t hurt to have a

few friends…right? I grabbed a pen out of my pencil case and began

writing on the back of the note they had sent.

Hi Renesmee, Sky, Maizie and Ophelia.

I love all your names as well. Their all so elegant and

Beautiful. Thanks. I guess I do get a little lonely at times. I

Would love to hang out with you all. I mean that’s if you’re not

messing me around.

From Betsy.

I put the lid on my pen and then screwed up the paper into a little

ball. I glanced at Mrs. Clover who had her back to me. Then I aimed

at their desk and threw the note over. Ophelia caught it perfectly.

She threw me a dazzling smile and then opened the note. The rest

of them leaned over and read. The exchanged a few words and then

found a new piece of paper and began writing. I waited until a piece

of paper landed on my desk. I grabbed it up and read it.

Hey Betsy.

Cool. We can’t wait to get to know you. We will talk at break. See

you then!

Love, Ophelia, Sky, Renesmee and Maizie.

I folded the note back up and grinned. I had found some friends. At

last! Then I picked up my pen and began answering boring and hard

math questions.

When the bell went I jumped up and waited outside the classroom

for my newly formed friends. They all walked out together laughing.

They turned to me and smiled.

“Hey!” They all said together. I took this moment to take a look at

them all properly.

Sky had multicolored, neon, rainbow hair. It was long and very puffy

at the top. She was wearing hot pink skinny jeans and a black t-shirt

that was covered with splodges of different colored paint, to go with

it she had pink sparkly shoes. Renesmee had light blue hair. This

was cropped extremely short and spiked at the top to give it a rough

effect. She had purple skinny jeans and blue converses. She wore a

blue short-sleeved t-shirt with a cartoon panda on the front. Maizie

wore a grey t-shirt with braces which were covered with different

types of badges, red skinny jeans and neon yellow doctor martens

and her hair was short and also spiking in every direction. It was

strawberry blond with turquoise streaks and had a plain pink bow

nestled in the side. And lastly Ophelia had long black hair which ran

down past her waist. It had red streaks and a long side fringe. She

wore black skinny flares with a skull on the back pocket and a My

Chemical Romance t-shirt which I thought was really cool! She had

black converses, but the part of her which really threw me away was

her face! She was as white as a ghost and had black eye shadow

surrounding the whole of her eyes and a black spider’s web tattoo

on the side of her cheek. I gazed at all of them, lost for words. They

understood. They just stood there waiting for me to regain my

thought. I felt ridiculously plain standing next to them.

Eventually I forced myself back into reality and I apologized for

being distant for a moment there. They smiled comfortingly.

“Don’t worry,” Said Ophelia “So what do you want to do now?”

I shrugged.

“Why don’t we go up to the library?” suggested Renesmee quietly.

We all nodded and then turned and went up to the library.

Up at the library there were too many of us too fit onto one table so

we had to spread onto two tables. On one table me, Renesmee and

Ophelia sat and on the other Maizie and sky sat. Maizie and Sky

were sitting giggling at a joke book and quietly whispering to each

other, while me, Renesmee and Ophelia pretended to read books

but were actually talking softly.

I didn’t want this break to ever end and so when the bell went I

groaned quietly. I didn’t think anybody heard but Ophelia caught me

behind on the way to class.

“Don’t worry, we have all the time in the world now to do stuff.” She

said with a grin. She winked at me and then we walked into the

classroom ready to face the rest of the school day.

After the bell went and school was dismissed I walked to the corner

with my friends but then we all had to go opposite ways. We had

arranged to meet up tomorrow at my house. We hugged and said

our goodbyes and then I went my way and they went theirs. As I

was walking home I couldn’t have been happier. But then something

happened on the way home and my whole life changed forever.

I turned the corner and was walking, humming to myself when

suddenly someone came around the corner in front of me. I

recognized him instantly, but it was impossible. He was in my head.

My imagination. He can’t be walking towards me now. No, he’s

probably just someone who looks like him. But then he got up close

and stopped right in front of me.

“Oh my god, that was so weird, I was practicing my magic in the

woods and now I’m out here. What’s going on Betsy?” He asked,

looking quite confused. I just stood there feeling very dazed and

very confused. I was right. It was Renning!

3

A Bit of Death And Magic

Renning was looking at me expectantly. As if he assumed I knew

what was going on. But actually I seriously had no clue. One minute

I was the happiest person on the planet and the next I was the most

confused. When my voice had returned I spoke shakily.

“Um… I actually have no idea, I…I thought you were in my mind.”

“Ok, obviously I’m not at the moment.” He said smiling. I smiled

back weakly, my head spinning.

“Hey, you look like you’re about to faint.” He said looking at me

closely.

“Well, I’m not actually sure but I think you might be right.” I replied.

“If you do, do you want me to catch you or…”

“If you wouldn’t mind.”

“Ok no problem,”

“Thanks.” I said. Then I smiled one last time before the darkness

claimed me and the last thing I saw was Renning darting towards

me to catch me as my legs gave in.

When I woke, I was lying on my bed in my room. I looked around

groggily. Renning was sitting on my old wooden chair at my desk,

watching me carefully. As soon as he saw that I was awake he

jumped out of the chair and was at my side before I could say a

word. I gulped in air as I tried to remember what had happened.

“Oh…my….god!” I gasped.

“Don’t worry, I think I know what’s actually going on here.” Said

Renning in a low voice. I tilted my head to the right.

“What?”

“Well, I think you have something different.” He said slowly. “An

extra kind of power so to speak,”

“What do you mean?” I asked my brow furrowing.

“I think that you have a power somehow, I think that the things you

see in your imagination become real.” He said. I stared at him, lost

for words. I looked closely into his face to see if he was joking, but

no. He was being totally serious.

“So like, I could do magic then, in real life I mean.” I asked slowly.

He nodded, grinning. I pondered this and after a while a wide smile

formed on my face and I leapt up. I concentrated and clicked my

fingers. A pen from my desk flew into my hand and my eyes

snapped open and I jumped up and laughed with glee. Renning

laughed and jumped up and grabbed my hands and we danced

around like crazy people.

When our sanity had returned we sat down on the bed and got our

breath back.

“So, you’re real now?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“But, what would happen if I daydreamed of you now?” I asked

tilting my head.

“I’m not sure, but I’m guessing that I would somehow return back

into the dream, but when you return into reality I guess I will too.”

“Wow, that’s so cool.” I didn’t feel tired but apparently my body

was because I stifled a huge yawn. Renning laughed loudly. I

grinned sheepishly.

“You, get some sleep!” Renning said smirking. “Don’t worry, I’ll still

be here tomorrow!” Then he gave me a wink and left the room. I

stood there for a few minutes and not until after I heard the front

door slam shut did I move. I undressed and pulled on my old football

shirt and a pair of old pajama trousers. Then I climbed into bed and

before I could even start to think about my day I was asleep.

The next morning I woke to the fresh smell of cooking bacon. I

breathed in deeply and jumped up. I had a feeling something was

happening today but I wasn’t sure what. It was as I was getting

dressed though that I remembered what, of course! Renesmee,

Ophelia, Maizie and Sky were coming over today. I grinned with

excitement and I pulled on my black skinny flares and my black t-

shirt with a black cat on. I brushed my hair and skipped downstairs. I

pushed open the kitchen door and stepped inside. Dusty was at the

table eating bacon and mum was at the cooker frying bacon and

eggs.

“Morning sweetheart.” She said looking up and smiling. I smiled

back and thanked mum when she placed a plate of eggs and bacon

in front of me.

“Mum, a few of my friends from school are coming over today, is

that alright?” I asked carefully. Dusty looked up from her food

surprised. She swallowed her mouthful of egg.

“I didn’t think you had any friend’s softie.” She said acting confused.

“Oh shut up you pig.” I replied glaring. Dusty shrugged and went

back to her eggs.

“Stop arguing you two for once in your lives!” Mum said sighing.

Then she turned to me. “Of course you can have friends over, what

time are they coming?” I checked the clock.

“In about half an hour.”

“Half an hour?” mum shrieked. Then she hurried upstairs to shower

and get dressed. After my food I went upstairs and decided to

practice my magic. I didn’t think fire was very…appropriate, so I

decided to give water a try. I sat on the floor, shut my eyes and

concentrated very hard on water. The flow of it, the color and the

peacefulness. I felt my whole body become peaceful and tingly. I

opened my eyes and clicked my fingers but nothing happened. I

cursed and tried again.

Until the doorbell rang I hadn’t realized that I had been practicing

for half an hour. I raced downstairs and pulled the door open. There

on the doorstep stood Ophelia and Renesmee.

“Hey Betsy.” Said Ophelia

“Good to see you again buddy.” Agreed Renesmee. We grinned and

I stood aside to let them in. They pulled their coats off and I slung

them over the banister. Suddenly mum flew down the stairs.

“Hello!” she squealed. “ It’s so nice to meet you, I’m so glad my

Betsy has finally found some nice friends, most people she knew

would tease her, about her daydreams and such, well, I can tell that

you girls wouldn’t do that.”

“Of course not Mrs. Rae-Moon, Betsy is part of the group now.”

Ophelia said and Renesmee nodded.

“Um…mum, we’re going to go upstairs now and there are two more

to come,” I told her.

“Ok, that’s fine, you girls have fun.” Then she turned and went into

the kitchen to wash up. I signaled to Renesmee and Ophelia to come

upstairs. When we got into my room we sat on my bed and talked

about random stuff for a while.

Ten minutes later Maizie and Sky arrived and we were all sitting in

my room chatting. I noticed that Renesmee was rather quiet.

“Are you ok?” I asked her. She said nothing but instead nodded. I

wasn’t convinced.

“Don’t be silly, I know there’s something wrong, tell me!” I said

fiercely. I saw that they are glanced round at each other. They all

knew.

“I’m meant to be your friend now! Tell me. Or do you not trust me?”

I asked.

“Of course we trust you, but it’s not really up to us to tell you. It’s up

to Renesmee.” Said Ophelia, coming over and putting her arm round

me.

“Ok.” Whispered Renesmee. “I’ll tell you.” I leaned in closer. I could

tell that this wasn’t going to be a very good piece of news.

“Well, I’ve got this condition, see, it’s quite a rare one and not many

people have it at all but see, I’ve got this heart disease. It means

that my heart works slower than anybody else’s so the blood in my

body travels a lot slower, which also means I’m not very good at

sports,” she gave a small grin “So at any time my heart could just

suddenly give way and stop, that’s what’s so scary.” A small

teardrop rolled down Renesmee’s cheek and I scrambled across the

floor towards her, I put my arms round her and rocked her as she

sobbed her heart out into my t-shirt.

“It’s all right, we’re all here for you.” I said trying to calm her. For a

few minutes we all sat there hugging Renesmee then we pulled

back and she wiped her eyes on the back of her sleeve.

“Thanks guys.” She snuffled. Then we all smiled.

“Hey, I’ve got something I want to show as well.” I said after a bit of

thought I had decided to show them my magic. They all looked up at

me.

“Watch this.” Then I closed my eyes and concentrated hard on the

book in front of me. I felt my body tingle and go warm and peaceful,

and then I clicked my fingers. Next to me I heard four loud gasps. I

opened my eyes to find that in front of the book I was concentrating

on was floating in mid-air. I pushed my palms out and the book flew

across the room and hit against the wall and dropped. I turned to

find Renesmee, Ophelia, Sky and Maizie’s mouths wide open.

“Whoa…” Sky murmured.

“Totally,” agreed Maizie. Ophelia stared at me in astonishment and

Renesmee shook her head in amazement.

“What do you think?” I asked grinning. They didn’t say anything,

they just shook their heads.

“That was amazing!” They suddenly all said together.

“How can you do that?” asked Renesmee.

“Magic.” I simply replied grinning. They all turned and ginned at me.

“What?” asked Sky.

“Magic,” I repeated.

“Whoa…”

“Sorry, what was it again?” I asked sarcastically grinning. We all

laughed.

“Magic!” we all yelled! And then we fell about laughing our heads

off.

4

I can’t even cast a simple Fire ball!

It was the best day I had had in a very long time. We turned

Renesmee into a total gothic person by loading her eyes with black

makeup and after lunch we went downtown and did some window

shopping. We tried on hundreds of clothes and we got kicked out of

a shop once or twice. I was sad to say goodbye at the end of the

day. I went into my room and gasped, it was dark but I could tell

that someone was in there with me. I slowly switched on the light as

the figure moved towards me. I flicked the light on and let out a sigh

of relief. It was only Renning.

“Hey there.” He said grinning with delight. “Scare you did I?”

I laughed

“Sure you did.”

“So what you been up to today?”

I shrugged

“Nothing much, just hung out with mates, you know.”

Renning didn’t say anything. He just sat there looking baffled.

“Oh, shut up!” I said giving him light shove. He laughed and shoved

me back. After a long shoving competition we sat down on the bed

to calm down. It was then that I suddenly thought of something.

“Renning, now that I can do magic in reality…can we practice now?”

I asked looking at him. He thought about it for a while and then

nodded.

“Sure, but we have to find somewhere quiet.”

“I know somewhere, come on.” I said jumping up and grabbing his

hand and then yanking him up. He laughed at my eagerness and

allowed himself to be pulled up. After I had finally pulled him up I

grabbed my coat, yelled to mum that I was going to for a walk and

then we set out to find the quiet place I had told him about. As we

walked, I linked arms with him. I knew that we were going to be

mates forever… I hoped.

“Renning…” I looked up and he and he looked down at me. “Well,

you wouldn’t just leave me would you?” He looked me with a

confused look on his face.

“Of course not, whatever gave you that thought?”

“I was just wondering…”

He nodded and raised his eyebrows but said nothing. “But, you do

know that I’m just a part of your imagination.”

“You used to be, I brought you into reality.” I reminded him smiling.

He sighed.

“Yes but, the thing is Betsy, when you stop believing in me, then I

will go away just as quickly as I arrived.” I gasped and clung onto

him.

“You won’t, because I will never stop believing in you!” I said

looking into his eyes desperately.

“You’ll have to stop believing in me some time in your life, it’s like a

child and an imaginary friend, when the child grows up then they

grow out of the imaginary friend.” He replied. I knew he was right

but I didn’t want to admit that. I had friends at the moment and I

was happy, but I wasn’t sure that I was happy enough for his to just

go away yet. It was nice having him around.

“Don’t think about those kinds of things!” I told him fiercely. He

sighed again and shook his head despairingly.

“Whatever you say.” I thought he was angry with me but when he

lifted his head I saw that he was grinning his usual goofy grin. I

returned his grin and slapped his arm lightly. I led him to a large,

deserted meadow, which was surrounded by a forest of trees. We

stood at the edge of the meadow and faced a rather tall tree.

“Ok, so do you want to try fire again, or a different kind of spell?”

Renning asked. I thought about the question for a minute and then

answered.

“Fire.”

Renning nodded and then waved his hand in the air to signal me to

go ahead and start. I gulped in fresh air and then closed my eyes

and imagined fire. I imagined it bright and colorful. All those reds

and oranges and yellows blinded me by the brightness and this time

I kept imagining too long and my head became heavy and I opened

my eyes in surprise as I gasped, and then the floor was swallowing

me as I fell onto the soft and damp grass. I heard Renning curse and

appear at my side helping me up. I regained my balance and

scowled. I pulled my arm from his grip, embarrassed.

“I’m all right.” I snapped. He laughed and nodded as I closed my

eyes and carried on trying.

It was sunset when I finally got fed up with lying on the floor every

minute. I stood up for about the hundredth time and cursed myself

for being too weak.

“Whatever, I give up for today!” I said angrily. “But I’m going to

carry on trying and I will learn how to cast a fire ball!” I saw Renning

struggle to keep a grin of amusement off his face, and that’s when I

snapped. I spun on my heels and stalked off towards the beginning

of the forest so I could get home. I heard Renning right beside me,

having no trouble at all at keeping up with me. This only made me

angrier that I couldn’t get rid of him. I clenched my fists and kept

walking. He grabbed hold of me and pushed me back against a tree.

I breathed through my nose loudly with anger as I waited for him to

speak.

“What’s wrong, why are you mad?” He asked, I saw that he had

crease lines on his forehead with worry. I sighed and tried to calm

myself enough to reply. After a few breaths of air I spoke.

“I’m just annoyed that I’m so weak that I can’t even cast a simple

fire ball!”

“I have two replies to that Betsy.” He told me, his worry creases

disappearing. “Firstly, you are not weak, you are very strong and I’m

proud of you for that. And secondly casting a fire ball is not simple,

it is a very difficult spell for someone your age to cast.”

I sighed and nodded. I knew he was right but I couldn’t help being

angry and annoyed with myself.

“I guess.” I admitted.

“Good,” Renning smiled and then freed me from the tree. He took

my hand to comfort me and then we walked back to my house both

of us tired but at last happy.

5

The moment we all dreaded

When I arrived home mum gave me a huge lecture about staying

out too late and that she didn’t know where I was. Renning hadn’t

used the front door like most normal people. He climbs through my

bedroom window. He says that doors are for boring people, whereas

he is a very exciting person. I grinned when he had declared this.

After mum had finished her lecture we hugged and I apologized for

worrying her. Then I made my way upstairs to find Renning going

through my books.

“You’ve organized your books in alphabetical order.” He said

without looking up.

“Yes, why? What’s wrong with that?”

He looked up and smiled.

“Nothing, I’m just surprised I mean, you’re not exactly a tidy

person.” He said looking round my bedroom pointedly. It was true. I

had books on the floor, clothes, and random bits and bobs. I blushed

as I kicked a piece of underwear under the bed.

“Well, I’m going to bed.” I said with a huge yawn. It had been a busy

day and tomorrow I wanted to carry on practicing magic. Renning

left and then I slipped under the duvet covers and sunk into the

darkness of sleep.

The next few weeks passed quite quickly. Life was better than it had

ever been. Renesmee, Ophelia, Maizie and Sky treated me now like I

had been with them for years, I had no idea how fun it was to

actually have a lot of friends. I had been practicing my magic

everyday in the meadow with Renning no matter what. Once or

twice we had to sneak out after I had told mum I was going to bed

so I could practice magic. I had learnt how to cast gusts of wind. And

by the end of my lessons of learning how to cast wind, I was sure

that the trees were rather sick of it. But most of all Renning was still

here. He was still with me. I hoped I was always going to believe in

him, It seems unbearable to just let him go. Anyway, my life was

amazing and I couldn’t get enough of it. Until today. The thing we

had all been dreading happened.

As I waited for Renesmee, Ophelia, Sky and Maizie to arrive I quickly

did a bit of last minute tidying. I gathered up all my dirty clothing

and dumped them in the washing basket. I picked up all my books

and stacked them neatly. I now had so many that they wouldn’t all

fit on my book shelf so I had huge stacks of books all over my

bedroom.

I had just dumped my last stack of books onto the chest of drawers

when the doorbell rang. I skipped downstairs to answer it. After we

had exchanged greetings we all bundled upstairs to my room where

we sat on my floor gossiping about boys and recommending books

to each other. As we talked I noticed that Renesmee was looking

rather sickly looking today. Very tired, pale, and much quieter than

usual. Of course I knew she had been on medication lately but she

had never looked this bad. I kept a very close eye on her.

“I’ve got an idea.” I announced after a while, and they all looked at

me curiously. “Why don’t we all make friendship bracelets and when

we wear them it represents our friendship and that nothing will take

our friendship away?”

They looked at each other and then they all looked at me grinning.

“Yeah!”

“Totally!”

“Let’s do it!”

And so we set about making friendship bracelets with my friendship

bracelet making kit. We sat in a circle and talked softly as we all

concentrated on our pieces of multicolored string which would soon

be a friendship bracelet. I sat between Ophelia and Renesmee.

When we were all around about halfway done with our bracelets I

heard Renesmee’s breathing change completely. She started

breathing quite heavily and quickly. As if she was struggling. I

leaned over an inch.

“Are you ok?” I whispered. Beside me I saw her give a sharp nod.

But it was when a few of us started to finish that things changed.

“Finished!” cried Ophelia.

“Oh my god, seriously?” asked Sky looking at Ophelia with a

dumbfounded expression forming on her face. I burst out laughing

and Sky blushed.

“I have got to stop say that word.” She muttered. I giggled.

“Yeah, hey Sky check this out…Seriously!” I imitated her and she

gave me a shove and pretended to be hurt but instead we both

ended up in fits of laughter. On the opposite side of the circle I

heard Maizie mutter that she would be done in a second. I grinned

to myself and went back to mine.

“Yeah, I’m done too!” Maizie suddenly cried out jumping up and

waving her bracelet in the air.

“Seriously?” exclaimed Sky. We all looked around at each other and

then burst into laughter. We didn’t notice when Renesmee

collapsed, struggling to breathe. I was the first to notice. We calmed

down and sat back again. I looked beside me to find that Renesmee

was lying on her back hyperventilating and her whole body

twitching uncontrollably. I gasped and practically flew down to her

side.

“RENESMEES COLAPSED!” I screamed in terror. “GO AND GET MY

MUM!” They all flew into action. Ophelia sprinted downstairs and I

heard her yelling for my mum. I checked Renesmee’s pulse and

then pulled her into the recovery position. Maizie was already on the

phone for an ambulance and Sky was by Renesmee’s side.

Murmuring words of comfort to her. I checked that her mouth was

clear and then I tried to calm her by talking to her like Sky. I heard

mum rush through the door and I leapt out of her way as she

checked Renesmee over.

The ambulance arrived in about five minutes and then Renesmee

was taken away from me and I knew that this could be the last time

I ever see her.

6

Dangerous?

I sat in a long pastel colored hallway, with my head in my hands. I

had been here all night and my hair was messy and I felt extremely

tired. Round the corner I heard my mum and a doctor talking. All

last night they had wanted me to go home and calm down and sleep

but I didn’t. I am going to stay here until I see Renesmee and know

that she’s ok…or if she’s not but I don’t want to think about that. I

have to stay positive.

“I’m so worried about her.” I heard mum tell a doctor. “All last night

she just sat there, she wouldn’t speak or eat or even sleep, it was

like she wasn’t there, and she looked just like a ghost.” I heard the

doctor murmur something back about being patient but my brain

didn’t take it all in, I was just too tired. I sighed and stood up, I

paced up and down the hallway listening to the beeping sound

coming from Renesmee’s room. It brought back painful memories

about the last time I was in this kind of place. I heard faint footsteps

behind me and I looked round to find mum walking slowly towards

me. When she saw I had seen her she smiled like the way an adult

smiles at a toddler.

“Hi sweetheart, how are you doing?” she asked, her smiling face

turning suddenly to concern. I shrugged and said nothing then I

walked towards the chairs and sat down again, taking a particular

interest in the floor. I heard mum sigh softly and then joined me.

“You know you’re not alone in this?” She told me. “You’ve got lots of

people supporting you.” I still said nothing and only nodded swiftly.

Mum put her arm around me and pulled me close. I sat stiffly and

didn’t go to snuggle up close to her. I kept my feelings a secret and

didn’t show any expression at all in my face.

“It’ll all be fine.” She whispered softly into my ear.

“No! No! It might not be fine” I cried, as I jumped to my feet in

anger and mum looked at me shocked. “It could all turn out to be

just awful!” And then I spun on my heels and marched down the

hallway, out the doors and into the main part of the hospital. I

darted to the front doors and I speed walked round the corner and

down an alley. I didn’t care that it was dark, dirty and smelly I just

wanted to get away from that clean, bleached smell of the hospital. I

covered my face with my grubby hands and slid down onto the floor

and cried- cried like I had never cried in my whole entire life. These

were loud, gurgling cries for help but there was no-one to hear

them. No-one to help or even care. I was breaking down, if

Renesmee died then I don’t think I could take it. Suddenly I felt an

arm wrap around my waist and pull me up. I looked at who it was

but I couldn’t see properly because my sight was blurred from all

the tears. I wiped my eyes on the sleeve of my dirty hoodie and saw

that it was in fact Renning, a look of concern and horror on his face.

“Are you alright, wait stupid question!” He said, his voice tingling

with worry. “The real question is what the hell has happened to

you?” He looked at me and I shrugged and said nothing. He shook

his head and then took my arm, supporting me and then helped me

walk back to the hospital. But halfway there he figured that it was

easier to just carry me. So he bent down and swept me up into his

arms, I gasped and clung onto him. He cracked a smile and then

carried me to the hospital.

I must have fallen asleep on the way back because when I opened

my eyes again I was in the bright, pastel colored, clean smelling

hallway once again. But this time I was not sitting upright

uncomfortably. I was lying down, taking up three chairs and on top

of me was a thick, woolen blanket and my head was resting on two

soft, feather-filled pillows. I blinked and sat up. I saw that Renning

and mum were sitting on the other set of chairs next to me. They

saw I was awake and both their faces automatically turned bright

and happy.

“Good morning.” Mum said

“Good sleep?” Asked Renning grinning goofily as usual. I saw mum

beam at him. What had he told her?

“This boy is wonderful!” she said poking him. “He saw you sitting all

by yourself asleep and so he brought you inside, you’re so lucky to

have him as a friend.” I nodded but still didn’t say anything. I saw

mum smile sadly. I felt bad for putting her through all this. I was

about to apologize when Renning pulled a rather large rucksack out

from underneath the chairs.

“You mother and I collected a few of your things when we went back

to your house.” He said dumping the bag on my lap. I smiled at

them and they both thought I wasn’t going to speak again when I

croaked a rather hoarse,

“Thanks”

They both looked at me, surprised and then they both cracked wide

smiles. I was surprised to hear myself sound so weak and quiet. I

sounded zombie-like and scary. Then I stood up and made my way

to the bathroom. I went into a cubicle and locked the door. I was

alone, with no-one in there but me. I unzipped my bag and pulled

out a handful of clothes – My black pinafore and stripy black and

white tights. I pulled my dirty, scratchy clothes off and pulled on the

sweet-smelling clean ones. Then I dug around in my bag for my

hairbrush and started the losing battle of brushing my hair.

Sometime in that I heard the door creak open and a muffled voice

from outside. There was a slight tap on my cubicle and I froze. Who

was it? I considered just sitting in the cubicle until the person from

outside had left but that seemed cowardly and so I took a deep

breath and unlocked the door. I stepped out and gasped. It was only

Renning. I fell into his arms in relief.

“Oh my god Renning, you scared me to death!” I said. He chuckled

and I freed myself and grabbed my bag and continued the battle

with my hair.

Five minutes later I had stuffed my brush in my bag and I followed

Renning out of the bathroom.

I had just dumped my bag onto the floor underneath my chair with a

slight thud when distant footsteps made me look up. I straightened

up to see a tall man with Grey hair and rather large glasses walking

towards me, he stopped.

“You are Betsy Moon?” He asked and I nodded. “Renesmee Greene

says that she would like to see you now.” I took a sharp intake of

breath and glanced behind me. Mum was nodding and smiling but

Renning's face was totally unreadable. I took a deep breath and

nodded again, and then I followed him through the corridor and out-

side a white door where he nodded and smiled encouragingly, then

left. I counted to ten slowly and pushed open the door. The whole

room was either cream, white of pale blue. There were machines ei-

ther side of Renesmee's bed and lots of wires which were running

from the machine to Renesmee. The baby blue curtains were pulled

back and bright light was escaping into the room, trying to invade

every crack and corner.

I gasped and clutched my head as painful memories entered my

mind and hurt me like knives piercing me all over my body. I felt

myself sway slightly and start to hyperventilate. I heard a distant

voice calling to me, asking if I was okay. Pull yourself together! I

thought angrily. I felt tears roll down my cheeks and I shut my eyes

tightly.

Suddenly I felt something cold grip hold of my shoulders firmly and

shake me gently.

“Betsy! Betsy, can you hear me? Wake up, it's okay.” I opened my

eyes and saw a pale, worn-out face looking back at me. Renesmee

sighed with relief.

“Betsy? Are you alright?” she asked.

“Renesmee....Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.”I replied hastily, hoping to cover

up my dramatic yet embarrassing entrance.

After I had assured her I was fine, I guided her back to her bed

where she fell back against the pillows and breathed hard, as if she

had just been running a long-run race. I also pulled up a chair and

dropped into it. Renesmee gave me a small smile which I just about

managed to return.

“So, you okay now?” I asked her.

“Yeah, I'm...stronger then I was, shall we say.” She replied still smil-

ing. We sat silently for a few minutes. Both of us not knowing really

what to say. Then Renesmee grimaced in pain as she leaned for-

ward. She looked at me seriously.

“Betsy. You know this magic thing? Well, you have to be careful. I've

been researching it and it could be quite dangerous.” She said. My

eyes narrowed.

“Research?” I asked and she blushed slightly.

“I've been bored...” she mumbled and I grinned.

“Anyway, Betsy can I ask you about your daydreams?” she asked

and I nodded silently. “Their different aren't they?”

I looked down at my hands which were tightly clenched up into a

ball.

“Yes.” I whispered. “Their real, whatever I dream of becomes real.”

Renesmee nodded.

“That's how you found Renning isn't it?”

I nodded again.

“Yes.” I said, my voice catching slightly in my throat.

“I thought so. But please remember to be careful, something really

bad could happen because of this.”

“You’re blaming me!” I asked my head snapping up in outrage.

“No, that's not what I'm saying at all, what I mean is that one day

you could dream of something bad happening, not necessarily on

purpose and then it could become reality.” she said, I nodded and

realized that my hands were shaking.

“Just be careful, you don't belong in that world Betsy, you belong in

this world, the normal one.” She said before sighing and closing her

eyes once again. I started nodding to myself as I stood and left the

room and down the bleach-smelling corridor to where Renning and

Mum were sitting. They looked up as I approached and smiled. But

as I came closer their smiles turned to worry and Renning's brow

furrowed as I stopped in front of them and looked from one to the

other. I shook my head and closed my eyes as I grabbed my ruck-

sack, hurried down the corridor and ran out of the Hospital. I slowed

as I turned out of the hospital gates and my speed reduced to walk-

ing rate. What had Renesmee meant? Was there really danger to

this? Of course now! That was like saying I was dangerous. But I

wasn't...was I?

“Where are we going?” said a voice in my ear. I jumped and glared

at Renning who was now grinning widely.

“What do you want?” I snapped.

“I came to see if you were alright actually, you seemed pretty upset

back then in the corridor.”

“Well, thank you but I'm fine.”

“I know what happened when you saw Renesmee.” He said softly. I

pulled up sharply but Renning carried walking until he noticed I

wasn't there and turned and walked back to me, his face controlled

and not showing any sort of emotion.

“H...how do you know?” I stuttered, feeling utterly astounded.

“I'm in your mind remember? As well as reality.” He said and I

shrugged.

“Whatever.” Then I turned and carried on walking.

“So, back to the original question, where are we going?”

“I'm going home.”

“We're going home!” I looked towards him confused.

“Wha-” But I was cut off short. With a startled gasp I felt my feet

leave the ground and I gripped tighter onto Renning – frightened to

let go in case I end up somewhere I don't know. Everything was

bright – too bright. It was too neon and colorful for me. I saw a flash

of lime green and then everything was black as I felt my body

smack the cold, hard ground.

7

Gone

I opened my eyes groggily and looked around. I was on the floor. I

rubbed my eyes and used a rough wall to support myself as I pulled

myself up. I wobbled dangerously for a moment then shook my head

and took in my surroundings. It took me a minute to realize where I

was. I was down the alleyway next to my house. But how did I get

here in the first place so quickly? And where was Renning? I slowly

walked toward the entrance of the alleyway and frowned. I wasn't

near my house at all. I had just stepped into a huge forest. It was

peaceful and happy. But it wasn't just any peaceful forest. It was my

forest! The one in my daydreams.

Okay, so now I knew where I was I just had to find Renning and find

out how I got here. I scanned the distance for Renning but I couldn't

find him. Damn it, I just want to go home, have a shower, something

to eat and then have a rest. I'm tired, I have a headache and-

“Ta da!” said a voice behind me. I sighed and didn't bother turning

as I spoke.

“Renning can you just take me home please? I'm tired and my head

feels like it's going to explode any minute now.”

Renning chuckled and this infuriated me further.

“You are home.” He said and I frowned and said in exasperation,

“I mean my real home Renning, not the one in my head.”

“But this home is so much nicer then-”

“NO! Renning, take me home, NOW!” I shouted, my patience disap-

pearing rapidly. Renning held his hands up and his eyes widened in-

nocently.

“All right, all right, calm down and come here then.”

I took his arm once again and then we were spinning like we were a

few minutes ago.

When I opened my eyes again I found myself standing in my kitchen

in my house. I let out a long deep breath and went into the living

room where I found Renning sitting comfortably on the maroon col-

ored sofa. He smiled at me sheepishly and I glared at him.

“Would saying sorry help...much...?”

“It might.”

“Sorry...”

“Whatever Renning.” I said as I stalked out of the room. He followed

me and grabbed my shoulders and spun me around, shaking me

gently as he did.

“You have to listen to me. You don't belong here, you belong in your

world. Where there’s magic and fun and-” I pushed him away an-

grily.

“I wish people would just shut up about where I belong! First I don't

belong in my world I belong in this world and now I don't belong in

this world I belong in my world! You’re all confusing the hell out of

me.” And then I shoved him again and ran upstairs. I slammed my

bedroom door shut and locked it. I covered my face in my hands and

my hands became damp from tears. I took long deep breaths to try

and control my breathing, which was rapidly becoming faster. Ren-

ning thumped on my door.

“Come on Betsy! Let me in, I said I was sorry.” He said franticly.

“No.” I choked out through the tears.

“But you know I'm right! You don't belong in this world.” He replied.

I stopped trying to make myself breathe normally and jumped up. I

wrenched the door open, pulling the lock off and grazing my fingers

as I did. I was suddenly so close to Renning that we were practically

touching noses. In his eyes I could see a pale girl with long black

tangled hair and eyes which seemed to glint with anger. Renning

gasped and stumbled backwards in shock.

“Betsy...” He whispered.

“Shut up!” I said my voice low and threatening. “Shut up and just

leave me alone!” I was thrown backwards with such force I swear I

had left my insides behind. I hit the wall and slid down it, my head

thudded dizzily. At first I thought it was Renning who had pushed

me but as I stood and leaned against the wall I remembered Ren-

ning's shocked cry of terror as I was thrown backwards. I looked up

to find he was gone, leaving only a large amount of mess to clean

up. My heart thudded anxiously as I unsteadily made my way down-

stairs to see if he had retreated down there.

I searched through every single place in the whole house that was

big enough for a person to hide in, I found no-one. I gave up search-

ing and crumpled into a dark corner, covering my face in my hands.

He was gone. He'd left me and wasn't coming back. I felt tears run

down my tired face as the realization hit. I let the grief overwhelm

me and I cut out the whole of the outside world. I had concluded

that if Renning didn't want to see me in reality then he wouldn't

want to see me in my dreams either. I rolled onto my back and

groaned. I was alone. Completely and utterly alone – again.

I seemed to be sitting in a tree I thought as I drowsily opened my

eyes. The familiar smell of soil, plants and wildlife hit me. I steadied

myself as I sat upright. Okay, I was used to waking on the floor but

waking in a tree I was definitely not used too! I stared at the ground

and wondered whether it was low enough for me to jump down or if

I would break both my legs trying. I decided not to risk it and so

carefully and slowly pulled myself to the edge of the branch and

climbed down the tree.

My feet hit the ground with a small thud and as I straightened I no-

ticed something slightly different about my forest. It was too quiet.

There were no birds chirping, no twigs crunching, nothing. Sure it

was a little strange but I thought nothing of it. I looked around, no

Renning. To hide me disappointment I decided to try a bit of magic. I

hadn't practiced in ages. I turned to a small dead tree, closed my

eyes and cleared my mind of all thoughts and stress, held my hands

up in front of me and thought of burning, heat and bright colors. I

imagined it was so bright it was blinding me. I felt my hands heat up

and a tingle of hotness and power ran through my body. Suddenly I

felt a force so hard it startled me, shoot out of my hand and I was

flung backwards. I slammed against a rough tree and the breath

rushed out of me. I opened my eyes dizzily and in front of me was a

burnt and very dead. I held up my hands. The skin had been torn

and blood was spilling out of the cuts. They were covered in grime

and blood. I grimaced and dropped my hands, they had started to

sting. My head was starting to thump rather painfully as I pulled my-

self up despite the pain in my hands.

“Betsy, Betsy!”

I looked around, trying to find who was calling me but it was quiet

and empty. Suddenly my world started to rock and shake. I gasped

and clung onto the tree. Tears were pouring down my cheeks as the

pain stung my hands again. However the pain that was slowly grow-

ing inside me was far more intense. My heart was aching, lonely.

My eyelids snapped open and I stared at the ceiling. It was rough

and textured. And was pearly white. A funny thing, confusion and

disorientation. You tend to look at things and focus on things that

are really stupid and random – like the ceiling for instance. Though it

was very detailed and stunning. I ginned sheepishly, and realized

that someone was holding a wet flannel on my forehead. I reached

to pull it off and instead a hand felt my forehead.

“Oh sweetheart, you’re awake.” I looked up to see my mother

standing next to me. Her forehead was creased with worry.

“Your sister will be back in a minute, she went up to shop for some

milk. That was quite a tumble you had back there.” I frowned and

tried to remember whether at any point of today I had fallen over.

“Um, when?” I mumbled.

“I'm not sure exactly. I found you lying on the living room floor, with

your hands grazed and your head dripping slightly with blood and-”

She looked at me. “You don't remember any of this do you?” I shook

my head slightly. My head ached. I felt the back of my head and felt

it was slightly damp and when I pulled my fingers back they were

red and sticky. My hands were bandaged up and I probably had

stitches in my head. I wiped my fingers on my duvet and immedi-

ately wished I hadn't, now my duvet had red smears all up it. I

sighed and from downstairs the door slammed closed.

“That'll be your sister.” She wiped my forehead one last time with

the flannel and then left the room. I sunk back further into the pil-

lows and closed my eyes.

All at once it came back to me. Renning was gone. I had told him to

leave me alone, and so he had. I had fallen over in my daydream

and injured myself in the dream and reality. This was all my fault,

not just that I had hurt myself but because I had made Renning

leave too. I closed my eyes and wished I could disappear forever.

8

Nightmare

The sky was a mixture or pinks, reds and purples. The shadows of

the trees stretched out, long and menacing and leaves rustled and

twigs snapped. The wind howled as I made my way through the

darkness. I had never been here before at night and it seemed

scary, different and eerie. I looked up at the star filled sky and saw

the moon, which glowed in the darkness brightly. My hair whipped

around my face as the wind blew strongly. From somewhere high up

in a tree, an owl hooted and I wrapped my dressing gown tighter

around me as I shivered violently. The darkness wrapped around

me, tighter then my dressing gown, suffocating me. Towards the op-

posite direction I heard a loud, rumbling and very frightening roar,

Followed after by an ear piercing, high pitched scream which made

my bones rattle and a shiver run up my spine. I ran. I didn't know

where I was running too or why I was running, all I knew was that I

had to get away from here. Now.

I didn't know how long I was running for. But I felt my muscles burn-

ing and my lungs screaming for air so I guessed it was a long time.

When I finally slowed and came to a halt I found that I was on the

other side of the forest. I inhaled slowly and deeply and then ex-

haled even more slowly so as to try and calm myself down. As I bent

over and tried to control my breathing I heard another rumbling

roar. I felt my breath catch in my throat as I looked up into the sky.

It was black. Pitch black.

My teeth chattered as I made my way towards the roar. Half of me is

telling me to run, to run and never look back. But the other half of

me is screaming at me to keep on going, to do the right thing. I'm so

confused and I'm all on my own. Cold tears ran down my ice cold

face as I pushed forward.

“Keep going, you can do it!”

What? Who is that?

“It's your inner-self, well, you’re good side anyway.”

but, that just means I'm talking to myself.

“Yes, I suppose that is right.”

So, I'm mad. Great, what a life I have! First I get freaky dreams

which turn out to be real. Then my best friend leaves me and now

I'm going mad! Fantastic! I thought to myself sarcastically.

“You’re not going mad, and by the way, Renning hasn't left you.”

Um, yes he has!

“No-”

Look! Listen to me and stop butting into all my thoughts, I can't see

Renning around here so obviously, he's not here!

“No, he's just not here right now. But he'll be back.”

“You’re just saying that....Or I'm telling myself that? Well, whatever,

leave me alone!”

“But I'm here to guide you!”

“Well I have news for you, I don't need guiding!” I screamed the last

four words in my head as loud as I could. I paused. I couldn't hear

anything, only the sound of the wind blowing around my ears. I was

alone again. Fantastic. I leaned against a tree and held my face in

my hands. Soon enough, my hands became very wet from my tears.

I wasn't too sure but I had a feeling that something quite serious

was going to happen which could possibly change my whole life, and

to be honest I didn't like the sound of that very much. Suddenly I

had a very uneasy feeling that I was being watched. I stood up and

looked around carefully. I couldn't see anyone, but that didn't mean

that I wasn't being spied on. I decided it was probably safer to

move, so I started sprinting again in no specific direction.

“Whatever you do, do not stop running!” The small voice in my head

had obviously woken up.

Eurgh, not you again!

“Yes it's me again. Now shut the hell up and listen to me. Do not

stop running,”

Why?

“Just don't! And don't worry. Help is on its way. Just hold tight and

stay safe.”

What? What does that mean? I didn't get an answer. I was on my

own. With some danger that I had absolutely no idea about. And

what did it mean about, 'Help was coming'? Well, I am officially and

massively confused. I realized that I was still running and was about

to stop to catch my breath when I remembered what I had told my-

self just now. And so I just sped up.

After about ten very long minutes of solid running I gave up and de-

cided that I had to stop for a few minutes or I would collapse of ex-

haustion. I slowed down and came to a halt. I bent over and gasped,

trying to get my breath back. And that was when I heard it. From be-

hind me I heard leaves crackling and very faint breathing. Some-

thing very wet and gooey dropped onto my back and I leaped away

in terror. I looked up and stopped breathing. Standing in front of me

was a monster. And I don't mean those kind of monsters you get out

of fairy tale – Oh no, I meant a proper massive monster!

It was a sickly green and yellow color and had bumps all over it

which looked suspiciously like warts and boils. Scars and cuts cov-

ered most of its body and it had claws that looked so sharp they

could cut a tree trunk in half with one swipe. Its head was rather

small and it looked like it had no neck. He only had one eye and it

was a bright piercing yellow. At a guess, I would say it was about 15

feet high and when it looked down and saw me it mouth stretched

into a small, evil smile with miniature fangs jutting out.

I struggled to make myself breathe again. I had to seriously move

otherwise I would be a very yummy snack for this.....thing, but my

feet wouldn’t move. It was as if they were super glued to the floor. I

gasped as the monster bent down and sniffed me. It straightened

back up again and judging by the look on its face I would say that it

had gone into deep thought about whether I was good enough to

eat. Something suddenly grabbed me from behind and I opened my

mouth to scream when it covered my mouth and pulled me slowly

backwards into the forest. The monster was so in deeply in thought

that it didn't even notice me disappear.

I was pushed up against a tree and I hadn't even noticed that I had

shut my eyes when I opened them.

No. I'm imagining this! This is all another dream. It's not real!

“Hello Betsy.” Renning said quietly. No, I wasn't dreaming! My eyes

widened and my face formed the biggest grin I think I have ever

smiled in my life.

“RENNING! Oh my god, your back!” I cried and I threw myself at him

with such force that he stumbled backwards into a tree. He grunted

in pain as his head hit the tree but wrapped his arms around me and

didn't let go.

“Oh my god, Renning I'm so sorry! I thought you had left. I didn't

think you were ever going to come back.” I whispered onto his

shoulder bone as I soaked his shirt with my tears once again but he

didn't seem to care.

“Of course I wouldn't leave you on purpose.” He told me gently. “I

would never leave you. I only left because you were so angry at me

for a minute that you stopped believing in me. But as soon as I had

left and you realized what had happened you believed in me again.

This is why I am here.”

I sighed.

“And by the way, what happened to your hands and your head?” He

asked as he pulled back and studied me carefully. I paused for a

second.

“After you left, I came back here and tried to do magic. I tried a fire-

ball again,” I ignored his look of terror as I said this and carried on

talking. “ I managed to cast one....sort of, but it sort of threw me

back against a tree and well, yeah.”

Renning shook his head.

“Whoa, that sounded nasty. Are you alright?” He asked. I nodded. I

looked at Renning.

“What was that? Back there, that....that thing, what was it?” I asked

him. He looked away.

“I'm not entirely sure. What I do know however is that, it came from

your imagination.”

“What!” I asked him baffled.

“Well, you made it up. All your anger and sadness and every other

negative emotion is probably in that monster because that's proba-

bly what it is.”

“What is it?” I asked completely blown away.

“It is all your negative emotions. You've been feeling angry, sad and

very confused and so you poured them all together and made this

monster.”

“Oh.” I looked at the sky. It was filled of bright stars. It looked so

pretty. And then a horrible and ghastly thought occurred to me.

“Renning, my dreams become real.” I whispered in horror. He

looked at me confused.

“Yes?”

“I dreamed that monster! It'll be in reality!” I gasped. Renning's

eyes widened so much they scared me and his face turned from

confusion to pure terror.

“Oh my god!” He said jumping back. “We have to go back and fix

this.”

“How?” I asked him dumbstruck.

“I have no idea at all, but there's always a way. You'll wake up in the

minute and I will be at your side. Don't worry. I'll see you in a

minute.” He pulled me tight for a second and then let me go. I

stared at him for a minute as I watched him slowly fade away.

“Good bye.” I whispered. I reached out to touch him but then he was

gone. But before I could even think about being lonely I felt myself

starting to fade away as well. I closed my eyes and let the darkness

take me.

9

Bad Dream

I woke gasping for breath. I was vaguely aware of someone being by

my bedside but I didn't really take it in properly. When I was able to

breathe more easily I glanced up and saw that it was Renning sitting

by my bed. My breath caught in my throat. His expression was cold

and hard. Something was bad – very bad. I sat up straight. Then I re-

membered my dream and bit my lip.

“How bad is this?” I asked Renning, worried. He looked at me for a

second and then sighed.

“Very bad!” He admitted gravely. I nodded, taking this in. We sat in

silence for a minute and I glanced out the window to find that it was

pitch black outside. Renning suddenly jumped up.

“We have to go.” He simply said.

“Go? Go where?” I asked as I began to pull myself put of bed.

“We need to find that....monster...thing, and figure out how to de-

stroy it.” He replied and then went to the window and started un-

locking it. I clutched my head as I stood up. The room spun and I

clutched onto the bedpost for balance.

“Are you ok?” I heard Renning ask.

“Yes.” I gasped. Slowly the room started to stand still, I blinked for a

few seconds and then pulled off my dressing gown and grabbed a

jacket before joining Renning at the window which was now wide

open with cold air blowing freely into the room. I shivered as I

zipped up my jacket. Luckily I had only shoved on a dressing gown

earlier and hadn't changed into my pajamas. I nodded to Renning

and he pulled me onto his back and the climbed out onto the win-

dow sill. I held my breath as he dropped off the edge. But instead of

falling heavily onto the floor, he glided gracefully down and on to

the grass. I slid off his back and followed Renning out of the back

gate quietly so as not to wake any neighbors, or my family at that!

“Where are we going?” I asked Renning as soon as we were out in

the main street. It seemed a lot more beautiful at night. It was a lot

nicer than daytime.

“We're going to that meadow where we practiced magic that one

time. You remember?” He asked, glancing at me.

“Yeah, yeah I remember. But, why there?” I replied feeling thor-

oughly confused.

“Oh, I just have a hunch.”

“Oh great. What happens if you’re wrong?”

“Nothing.”

I looked at him in disbelief.

“Nothing! But, then how will we find the monster?” I asked.

“Well, let’s face it, It's about 15 feet high. It is not going to be that

hard to find!” Renning told me, rolling his eyes. He chuckled quietly

as I grinned to myself. We walked in silence after that until we ar-

rived at the meadow. Once we were at the edge of the meadow we

stopped and looked up into the sky as if waiting for something to

happen. Nothing happened. I laughed nervously and Renning

squeezed my hand comfortingly. I smiled gratefully and took a deep

breath. Then slowly we both walked into the midst of the dark and

eerie meadow, and possibly straight towards our deaths.

10

The Macabre

We stopped when we reached the meadow. We dropped hands and

Renning looked around cautiously. I stood, frozen to the spot. I

wished I had grabbed my scarf and maybe my gloves. I had pulled

my hair up into a scraggly pony tail and the wind blew against my

revealed ears making them turn numb. It seemed awfully quiet.

Maybe we had both gotten this wrong and there was no disgusting,

horrible monster at all! I swallowed and turned to Renning.

“Um, Renning...Maybe, just maybe there is no monster...” I whis-

pered. My teeth chattered. He shook his head.

“No, there is something here. I can feel it!” Then started walking

slowly away. He sounded so sure. I nodded silently but I wasn't con-

vinced – or at least, I didn't want to believe it. Either way I didn't

want to be left standing on my own in the darkness so I followed

Renning into the middle of the meadow. He froze and stood very

still. The wind blew through his dark hair, making it blow around

wildly. He held his head up to the sky and breathed in deeply and

then let out a long sigh. Renning had his back to me and he was

looking towards the tree's opposite, as if something were about to

emerge from the darkness. I prepared myself just in case.

I didn't really hear it. I just kind of sensed it. But as soon as I was

certain, I very slowly and warily turned on the spot, my trainers

squelching slightly in the damp grass. Then I was looking at it, what-

ever it was called. It was crouched down so that it could look right

into my face and I was staring into its single very yellow and very

bright eye. My lungs were robbed of breath as I felt my eyes open

wide in horror. I gasped quietly. Without turning my back on the

monster I tugged at Renning's arm.

“Renning....Renning....Turn around!” I whispered softly trying not to

move my lips.

“What is it?” He asked turning quickly and I heard his take in sharp

breath of shock as he faced the monster. The monster....I think I will

call it the macabre.

“Okay, Betsy, very carefully start backing away.” I felt Renning's hot

breath in my ear, it felt good. I nodded and with Renning gripping

onto my arm tightly I started moving backwards, still facing The

Macabre, its eye was on me. Boring deeply into my skin like fire. My

breath came out shaking and unsettled.

It seemed like a million years but eventually I saw a tree pass me

and I knew we had made it too the street. We had made it out

alive.....just about. We stopped and I closed my eyes and breathed

in and out heavily.

“You okay?” I felt a hand place on my shoulder. I didn't say any-

thing, I just stood there, trying not to collapse. I felt myself being

shaken ever so gently but I could slowly feel myself going to pieces.

There could be a world mass destruction and it would be all my

fault. I took a deep breath, and wiped my eyes dry and then turned

to Renning.

“What are we going to do?” I asked, my voice shaking slightly. He

looked at his feet and didn't say anything. Then he looked at me, his

eyes were black and suddenly I felt myself freeze. For once since I

had known him, I suddenly felt a bit scared of him. His face had

turned a ghostly white and he had dark purple rings under his eyes.

His lips had turned pale blue. Only slightly, I shrank back against the

tree and then scolded myself. Renning wouldn’t hurt me, he was my

friend. Renning took a deep breath.

“We have to send the monster back to your mind,” He said.

“How?”

There was a pause, only a short one, but a pause all the same.

“I don't know.” He admitted. I held my face in my hands and

groaned.

“Its fine, we'll find a way.”

“What if we can't stop it?” I whispered, and Renning turned away

and looked up into the sky where a bright and very large full moon

sat in the middle of a group on stars.

“Anything can be stopped, it's just a matter of finding out how.”

11

The plan

We were back in my bedroom. Renning had said that we were per-

fectly safe from the Macabre because as it was thought up in the

meadow (also known as a forest in my dreams) it could not leave

the meadow.

“So why can't we just leave it in the meadow?” I joked, although it

didn't really work, and all that happened was that Renning gave me

a look as if to say 'don't be so childish'. At this moment Renning was

sitting at my desk and I was curled up in a tight ball on my bed. I

had to be careful to listen out for my parents because due to me

tearing the lock off the door the other day, the door now has no lock

and so my parents could walk in at any moment, which would defi-

nitely not be a good idea! As Renning worked on an idea to 'save

the world from mass destruction' I thought back on everything that

had happened during the past few days and suddenly felt very

guilty. One of my friends was lying in hospital terribly ill and I hadn't

given her a second thought. But then again, I suppose I have a good

excuse, and anyway I am thinking about her now aren’t I? I closed

my eyes and sighed. Just as I was beginning to feel a bit drowsy

Renning cried out in delight.

“That's it!”

“Hrm...?” I grunted, as I tried my hardest to wake up as fast as was

possible for me, which was going to take quite some time.

“I've got it! I know how to send the Macabre away.” He said, glee

ringing in every word he said.

“How?” I said in a voice thick with sleep and my eyes blurry.

“Well, it’s so simple really!” He smiled. “You have to imagine it dis-

appearing from the earth and going into your mind or back to wher-

ever it was before it turned up here”

“Oh....It's always me!” I yawned as I gave him a weak smile. “Okay,

so is that it?”

Renning frowned.

“I suppose it is, although things are not necessarily what they

seem.” He replied.

“Great.”

“Yeah...”

I sat up and reached down to grab my shoes.

“We better be off then.” I said as I tied my laces slower then usual

and I heard Renning grunt quietly and he pushed the window open

and climbed out onto the window sill. I jumped up and zipped up my

jacket before joining Renning on the window sill. He jumped off and I

pushed the window closed, leaving a little gap for me to be able to

open it when I get back. If I get back that is.

12

The better plan then before

My nose was red raw by the time we reached the meadow and I was

shivering slightly, although that might not have been from the cold.

Renning placed a hand on my shoulder and although he didn't say

anything I knew that he was saying don't worry. I gave him a small

smile back.

“W-when should I think it back to my mind?” I asked, not quite sure

if I had asked it right but to be honest I didn't care too much.

“Now.”He replied. I nodded and closed my eyes. I wasn't too sure

what to think but I thought of the Macabre and then made it vanish.

I imagined it locked up in my mind, unable to get out, trapped in

there forever.

I finally opened my eyes, and I had presumed that after getting rid

of the Macacbre I would feel happier, perhaps like a weight had

been lifted. But I didn't. In fact I felt like nothing at all had hap-

pened. I bit my lip.

“Do you think it worked?” I asked quietly. Renning shook his head.

“I'm not sure.”

I groaned.

“How will we know?” I asked, but sadly, I already knew the answer.

“We will have to go and have a poke around.” He said and I smiled

sadly.

“Yeah, I was afraid of that.”

But as we neared the middle of the meadow our worst fears were

confirmed. The Macabre was still here and perfectly fine. We hid in

the trees we watched the Macabre roam around in the long grass

and looking quite curious. Renning's eyebrows furrowed with confu-

sion and I couldn't understand either. Why hadn't it worked? I

leaned against a tree and looked up into the sky. I looked so peace-

ful up there.

“Perhaps....”

I turned to look at Renning.

“What?” I asked but he shook his head.

“It's stupid, I don’t know why I thought of it.”

“Tell me!” I pressed “I'm sure it's not stupid.”

Renning considered it for a minute and then obviously decided there

was no use saying no as I would get it out of him anyway.

“Perhaps, it's too strong at the moment. It won’t go into your mind

because it's too strong.”

I caught on quickly.

“So, if we weaken it and are very quick we could get it back into my

mind!” I said excitedly.

“Yes!” Renning cried “I'm sure of it!”

Despite everything, I grinned.

“We're so clever.” I smiled

“Oh yes, we most certainly are.” Renning said and patted me on the

shoulder.

“So, to weaken it, I'm guessing we have to use magic?” I asked, rais-

ing one eyebrow as Renning nodded.

“Yes, do you think you'll be okay?” He asked.

“I'll be fine, now let’s go kick some monster butt!” My face broke

into a wide smile as we emerged from the trees to face the

Macabre.

13

Pain

I ducked just as the Macabre swung a huge fist in my direction. I

wasn't very experienced in the kind of thing but I had to admit, I was

good! Out of the corner of my eye I saw Renning throw a fireball

which was spitting sparks as it flew through the air and wacked the

side of the Macabre and it stumbled back with a bewildered expres-

sion which would have been quite funny if it wasn't a world killing

monster. It let out a mind- blowing roar of pain and I clasped my

ears. But it was obvious that the fire had weakened it as on the

Macabres hip the skin was starting to peel away and blacken as if it

had been melted like wax. I turned to the trees and held out my

hands, palms facing the trees and pulled at the air. One of the trees

tore away from its roots and hung there in mid air. I just stood there

in surprise for a minute, I didn't think I would actually be able to do

that. Then I pulled the tree around and pushed at the air. The tree

flew through the air and collided with the Macabres face, which

howled out in terror. While at the same time Renning had just

thrown another fireball into in its eye and The Macabre clutched it's

face in pain. I grinned. It was all going so well, I didn't even see it

coming. But Renning could dodge put of the way The Macabre shot

out a hand and swiped it at him and Renning cried out in pain and I

noticed blood starting to seep through his shirt. I cried out in terror

but before I could get to him The Macabre threw an arm back and

knocked me backwards into the trees. I sat up just in time to see a

boil on the Macabre bursting and a deep purple liquid spurting out

and covering Renning from top to bottom. He screamed out in pain

and I saw him collapse in a heap into the grass.

“No!” I yelled. I got to my feet shakily. I didn't feel much up to de-

feating a monster at the moment but I know that if I didn't do any-

thing soon it would just regain its strength. So, I held my head up

high and stormed back out into the meadow. The Macabre had its

back to me.

“Oi!” I shouted. My voice trembled slightly. “Yes you, turn round you

great ugly thing!” The Macabre slowly turned and stared at me, al-

though I knew he couldn't see as Renning had burnt his eye and

blinded him.

“So, It's just us two now, huh?” I called, and when he showed no

signs that he had heard I nodded. “Right. Well, you deserve every-

thing you get!”

I stepped back slowly and thought for a minute. Water wasn't going

to do anything to hurt it as it would only help heal the burns. I could

try throwing some trees at him again but the last one I threw didn't

really do anything. Then I realized. I had to use fire to hurt it. I

groaned softly, the one bit on magic I couldn't particularly do or like

and I had to use it. I swallowed down bile that had rose in my throat

and stepped forwards.

“Come on then.” I called and then grinned. “If you think you can

handle me!” Then I closed my eyes quickly and thought of the hot-

ness, and the bright colors but for some reason I found myself think-

ing about all the times I'd been upset or depressed, I thought of Re-

nesmee in hospital, I thought about when Renning had disappeared

and I remembered Renning collapsing in a heap in the grass. A

sharp pain ran through my stomach and I gasped in pain. My legs

buckled as my hair whipped around my face and wind that hadn't

been there a minute ago bit at my face, making me cry. But I held

on and I could feel a hot feeling building up inside of me. My eyes

screwed shut as I cried out and cold tears ran down my sweaty face.

Grass around my shook and flew around violently and leaves were

being carried through the air. My brain started to thump and my fin-

gers tingled. My whole body was burning, like it was on fire. I

grunted and suddenly I felt it. I felt myself break. My eyes flew

opened as I screamed and snapped my hands out without thinking.

Flames shot out of my hands like I had never seen before. This

wasn't a fireball I had conjured. It was just.....fire! It hit the Macabre

all over and it screamed. It didn't roar like before, it was a proper

high pitched scream that rang through my head like bells and made

me grimace. The Macabre collapsed and I knew it was time. I closed

my eyes again and relaxed slightly. I imagined the Macabre going

into my mind again, being locked up there and never being able to

get out again. Freezing cold tears ran down my burning face as I

imagined everything going back to normal, wishing everything to go

back to normal again.

14

The Final Chapter

I just sat there, on the cold, damp grass shivering and crying.

Vaguely I felt the odd spot of rain drop on the back of my neck and

roll down my back making me shiver even harder. I finally came to

my senses and opened my eyes. It was perfectly quiet now. Slowly I

got to my feet and I looked around cautiously, it was deserted. The

wind blew ferociously at the plants and trees so hard I began to feel

rather sorry for them. Then something caught my eye on the other

side of the meadow. I ran over, breath catching in my throat as I felt

the rain grown stronger. I dropped to my knees and rolled Renning

over onto his back. Blood had soaked his shirt and the pus from the

Macabre seemed to have burnt him all over as if it were fire and he

were a piece of paper. But his eyes were half open and although a

little ragged he was breathing. He was alive, just about.

“Renning...” I choked out and he tried to open his eyes a bit more.

He smiled a little.

“Betsy, you have to let go now.” He said so quietly I had to lean in

to hear him “You have to let go of me. I've done my time and now.”

He smiled sadly and sighed. “Well, now my time is up. But I can only

go if you let go of me.”

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I refused to believe to what I

was hearing.

“No! No!” I said, my voice sounding desperate. “No, I am not going

to let go of you. I'm going to help you a-and you'll get better and...”

My voice trailed off towards the end just as it starting breaking in

funny places. But although I knew he was right I couldn't do it. I just

couldn't let him go, I didn't know how to.

“Please Betsy. It hurts.” He whimpered. I let out all the breath that

had been caught in my throat and took Renning into my arms. I

didn't care that he was covered in green pus and blood, I held him

tight and I cried my heart out. I felt him go limp in my arms and I

knew I had let him go.

“No...” I whispered. I laid him gently on the grass. He looked so

peaceful. The wind became stronger and my hair was dripping wet

from the rain.

“NO!” I screamed. I felt a piece of me fall away as I held Renning so

tightly, as if he may disappear. I screamed and cried and I didn't

care what I looked like or if anyone looked at me. All I cared about

was that I had just lost my best friend and there was nothing I could

do to help him. As of then I was not Betsy Moon. I was no-one. Betsy

Moon had died along with Renning and I couldn't save her either. My

old life was over and a new one was beginning. But now that my

dreams were reality, who could I trust?

THE END!