One Little Spark: Part 1

Chapter 39

"And now..." said Rachel with her back towards her friends holding one of the little sparks, "because of what I have done, I am forever doomed to live the rest of my life with this awful memory. I'm forbidden to talk about what happened. I'm forbidden to stand my ground against anything. I'm forbidden to dream. Up until now, I've tried to keep it that way so I wouldn't get into anymore trouble despite how horrible it has made me feel every single day of my life. But in all of my efforts, the memory of all these events, they always keep coming back to haunt me until the end of my days. I had hoped that...if you two hadn't come up and convinced to come along with you, I would have ended my misery a lot sooner...one way or another."

          The Dreamfinder and Figment, bewildered by the words Rachel had spoken and unable to neatly contain the idea in their minds to their full extent, they stand where they are stiff in numbness, staring at the back of their most unfortunate friend. They watch each of the little sparks float closer to their "Mama" whimpering. An animated eyebrow wrinkles upon Dreamfinder's forehead. He can see the girl's arms and hands trembling in fear. Though his realization of what Rachel has really gone through throughout the course of her life has overcome his expression. As for Figment, his eyes turn red with frustration as they grow big and wide and full of tears, listening to Rachel's story. He takes a handkerchief from behind his back, as if he made it appear completely out of thin air (or better yet, imagination), and blows his snout consistently like the sound of a horn.

"That's why you were afraid to come up to the center stage at the expo!" Dreamfinder realized. "Because you were afraid that if you thought of something imaginative and made it happen, Nebulus would have come back to take you next."

"Waaaaa-ha-ha-haaaaa! Oh Rachel!" Figment cries. "That's so sad!"

"That's awful, Rachel! I knew all the time there was something wrong, but this...this is too much."

"Do you believe me then?" asked Rachel.

          At that moment, Dreamfinder's head hangs slightly downward with his eyes lightly closed. His thoughts are coming to order. He had been wrong about Dr. Channing this whole time. The truth about Rachel that has finally been unraveled, which had occupied both him and Figment for almost an hour, has made his whole body, along with the rest of his nervous system, quite unsettling. In the past, he thought however, there have been times where if he and Figment have ever gotten into a situation just as bad, there's always a way to solve it. They are not usually like Rachel's, but that still leaves no exception. There is no doubt that this sort of predicament can be helped as far as he is concerned.

"...Yes." said Dreamfinder in a sedately grim tone. "What can we do?"

"Nothing." Rachel says, plainly.

"What? What do you mean nothing? There has to be a way to save him!"

"I tried to find Uncle Eli for ages. There is no clue I could find in knowing his whereabouts. Only Dr. Channing and Nebulus knows where he is. And if Channing wouldn't tell me where Uncle Eli is, then it's obvious that Nebulus won't tell me either...wherever he is. There is no hope. No path. No way out."