Uncovered

Chapter 10: The Subconscious

MAL

A sharp pain in the back of my head jolts me awake. I'm in a cold dark room with rocky walls and no apparent way out. I reach a hand to the back at my head and wince at the touch. It burns. When I look at my hand again, it's covered in bright red blood. I stare at the blood for a couple of seconds, but my focus is pulled by a blinding flash of green light. When the light fades and my sight returns there's a green orb of power floating in the middle of the dark room. It spins slowly as I circle around it. I lift one hand and reach into the green light. It grows in an instant and fills most of the small room, knocking me to the side. It slowly becomes smaller and smaller, but keeps the room from complete darkness. When it's almost nonexistent a figure stands on the other side.

"Hello Darling" my mothers face appears on the other side of the green light with an evil smile.

"Mother?" My eyes widen in shock. I don't understand.

EVIE

After classes I head to my dorm room. I'm surprised Mal isn't there when I arrive. Fairy Godmother changed her curfew a couple of days ago from 7:30 to 8:00, but since the brake up she's usually back right after her classes end. I send her a text and change to go hang out with Doug. However, when it's almost 9:00 and she hasn't texted back I start to worry. When the movie I was watching with Doug ends, I kiss him goodbye and walk back hoping that Mal's there when I open the door. She's not there. I go to Ben's room and knock at the door. It takes a few seconds, but he opens the door in his typical blue blazer.

"Hey is Mal here?" I ask like nothing's going on.

"No" he sounds disappointed and the dark circles and red eyes show he hasn't been sleeping well lately. "She's probably in your room. Remember we have an 8:00 curfew"

"Yeah" I nod, "but she's not there".

"Did you check Jay and Carlos room?" He suggests.

"No" I shake my head. Of course she could be in their room. "I just assumed she'd be here. Thanks" I smile and start to walk away.

"Wait" I spin around and Ben leaves his room. "I'll come with you"

We walk to the boys room and knock on the door. Jay opens up and I can see Carlos hypnotized with some video game in the back.

"Is Mal here?" I ask frantically.

"No" she shakes his head, "have you gone to Ben's?"

"She's not with me" Ben steps into view. We all stare at each other unsure of what to do next.

"What going on?" Carlos breaks the silence.

"Mal's missing" Jay explains and Carlos grabs his jacket.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Carlos walks past us and stands in the hall, "let's go find her".

"Won't she be mad that we're babying her?" Jay asks grabbing his jacket and closing the door.

"She might say she doesn't need help" Carlos says sternly, "but she does, and we're going to be there for her no matter what she says"

"You're right" I nod, "lets go".

We all start walking to the exit.

"Where are we going exactly?" Ben asks

"We should check your room to see if she left anything that could tell us where she is" Jay suggests, and that's exactly what we do.

There's nothing in our room. We've searched and searched and searched, but all we have found is a half eaten strawberry yogurt in Mal's bedside table. Where could she be?