wishes vs. storms

Icy wind slashed at his face and the air turned black around him. David squeezed her hand trying hard not to lose her but he could feel her fingers slipping away. He tried to run after her but his feet were no longer on the ground. The black wind spiral lifted him off the ground and high into the sky spinning around and around, David curled into a little ball and squeezed his eyes shut, wishing to be back on the ground. he opened his eyes and, slowly he started drifting toward the ground, his wish the only thing in his head, until he saw Kate and Emy both girls were free-falling towards the grounds. His wish faded, changing into a wish for the girls to land safely on the ground, the wind spiral picked up again, spinning David back into the sky, the black wind covering his vision just as he saw Kate and Emy land safely on the ground. 

“We have to go back for him!” kate yelled over the roaring wind 

“It’s too late!” Emy yelled back “the wind tunnel is already disappearing”

“If you don’t want to come, fine!” Kate retorted as she took off running. She jumped across rooftops at lightning speed and took a flying leap right at the center of the spiral. Emy rolled her eyes and mumbled “Well I guess there isn’t much I can do know” she closed her eyes and with a loud pop was right on top of kate. She grabbed Kate's arm and with another pop, both girls were right in front of David. Kate screamed as David’s limp body fell into her arms but Emy grabbed them both, pulling them towards the edge of the spiral. She pushed her head out grabbing at anything that stuck out far enough for her to grab onto until she finally managed to grasp a brick ledge on top of an apartment building. She pulled Kate and David out of the black spiral. David's body flopped out of Kate’s arms and she put an ear to his chest hearing a faint heartbeat she let out a relieved sigh thankful he was still alive. tired Emy flopped down next to David breathing hard she managed to choke out a few words before falling asleep, “Could - have - used some - help” 

“Sorry Emy,” Kate said even though she knew she was talking to herself “I had to take care of David”. she sprawled out on the roof next to her friends and closed her eyes thankful that Charlotte and Hanson hadn’t won yet.

“UGH!” Charlotte screamed, so loud Hanson stumbled backward covering his ears “THAT SHOULD HAVE WORKED!” 

“I know” Hanson sighed, spinning a mini wind spiral on his fingertip “but they can’t fight forever”.

“Says who” Charlotte snapped “that Emy girl, you know the short one with curly blonde hair, she can’t disappear!”

“Not really” Hanson corrected her she can move between space and time reappearing instantly almost directly on top of either Kate or David and we would know anytime she did as she creates a loud pop where she disappears and where she appears”

“Ok, ok,” Charlotte conceded, “but she’s not the only one. We can’t forget that Kate can jump far and run fast. Did you not see her on those rooftops!”

“Yes I saw her but, her emotions are too strong they can easily be manipulated”

“Yeah, I guess. She is pathetic when it comes to her friends” 

“See, nothing to worry about,” Hanson said blowing a cool breeze through her thick black hair with his mini spiral 

“But-” charlotte started “what about David.” just mention of him pumped charlotte so full of emotions she started to glitch, Hanson saw multiple charlottes flicker in and out of view, 

“What about him?” Hanson asked wrapping an arm around her shoulders 

“His power!” she exploded the louder she yelled the more of her clones popped up “his wishes did you see how he stopped your spiral and how he got Kate and Emy to the ground”

“Yes I saw that,” Hanson said holding his head his ears ringing “but he’s too weak to sustain more than one wish at a time, as soon as he wished for the girls to be safe my spiral took over again”

“Yeah I guess,” Charlotte said calming down her clones starting to disappear one by one “but - but”

“But what,” Hanson said we know all their strengths and all their weaknesses, they can’t resist forever,” he walked her over to the black leather sofa “there is nothing to worry about”

“I guess you're right,” Charlotte said, sitting down, all her clones gone now.

 Hanson could feel her heart rate slow and breath becoming normal “besides with you by my side nothing can stop us”.

David woke up on the rooftop with Kate and Emy he bolted upright the last thing he remembered was Hanson’s black wind spiral sucking him up high into the sky after he wished Kate and Emy safely to the ground but now all three of them were on a rooftop 8 stories off the ground 

“Hey! How’re you feeling” Emy asked him 

“Ok I guess” he replied even though his head was pounding and he was extremely confused “but how did we get up here?” Emy looked at Kate who smiled sheepishly. 

“After we landed safely on the ground I jumped back in to save you” she explained “if it weren’t for Emy we both would be in the hands of Charlotte and Hanson”

“That still doesn’t explain why we’re on the roof of an 8 story building and why I don’t remember any of this! and why does my head hurt so bad!” David snapped. kate opened her mouth to answer but Emy jumped in 

“YOU WERE SUCKED SO FAR UP INTO THE CLOUDS YOU RAN OUT OF AIR AND ALMOST DIED!” she told him “I saved your life and you said you would give me $50” Kate looked at her like she was crazy 

“But what actually happened,” David asked raising an eyebrow at Emy 

“After I jumped into the spiral Emy hyper leaped and pulled us both out of it. You were unconscious and she was tired from pulling me through a leap so I sat here while she slept.” Kate explained “Emy only woke up a few minutes ago but now that you’re up I guess we should probably get off this roof”.

As the trio climbed down the rusted fire escape they didn’t notice a tiny black wind spiral following them listening to their every word.

“Why aren’t they talking!” Charlotte screeched 

“I don’t know,” Hanson replied, trying to calm her down “maybe they don’t have anything to talk about.” Charlotte didn’t like that answer and Hanson’s head spun watching Charlotte clones appear and disappear trying to remember which one was the real Charlotte. 

“Maybe we should go” she suggested, “face them in person?”

“We could but I have a feeling they’ll come to us,” Hanson said, twirling another tiny spiral across his knuckles. All the Charlottes started disappearing until there was only one left, she walked across the room and sat next to Hanson curling up in his arms 

“I guess you're right” she whispered “you always are” her cold fingers wrapped around the back of his neck and she pulled herself upright. Hanson wrapped his arms around her waist holding her in close, so close their noses touched, his eyes shut and their lips touched for the briefest moment; Charlotte jumped, 

“What?” Hanson asked surprised 

“I heard something,” Charlotte said getting off the couch and walking towards the door 

“It probably nothing Char,” he told her but he got up too, walking around to stand next to her. 

“I don’t think this is the place” Emy’s muffled voice came from behind the door “and even if it was I don’t think we should walk in the front door”.

“I’m sure this is it,” kate said grabbing David’s hand “I mean look at the place it's dark and gloomy, what villain wouldn’t live here”

“But it’s right in the middle of town” Emy argued, “aren’t villains usually hiding from people?”

“This is the place” David jumped in “now be quiet or they might hear us”

“If they’re even home,” Emy said, rolling her eyes “who knows maybe they’re out buying groceries.” Kate sighed and looked toward the door 

“Let’s see if there’s a back door she said and spun around, A horrible scream ripped from her lungs. 

“Ch-Ch-Charlotte” she stammered. David and Emy both whirled around to look but no one was there. David turned to look back at the door and saw small black spirals squeezing out the cracks in the door. Before he could yell at the girls to run, all the tiny spirals merged into one lifting them off the ground. David grabbed for Kate but the wind was pulling her farther away. He heard a loud pop and Emy appeared next to him. He felt a hard shoved at his stomach and fell out of the spiral onto the roof of the house. Almost immediately after kate came tumbling down into his arms and Emy popped in right next to him, even though Emy landed gracefully, the old roof couldn’t hold the weight, it caved in and the trio fell with it landing hard on Hanson’s couch 

Charlotte couldn’t help it she let out a haunting laugh as she grabbed onto Hanson’s arm, he looked a little startled at first but quickly shook it off  

“That was not the way I expected you to ‘come to us’” he said standing over the trio sprawled on the couch, covered in dust and old shingles from the roof. Charlotte laughed again.

“Kate!” she shrieked “oh dear your face” Kate glared at her but did nothing. she and her friends were on their home turf. Emy pulled herself out of the rubble and yanked Kate up too, matching her glare toward Charlotte. Kate glanced at Emy then ran to the other end of the room. Charlotte and Hanson swiveled toward her giving Emy enough time to help David up. Clumsily David got to his feet knocking old shingles loudly to the floor. Charlotte and Hanson wirled back around but a loud pop filled the room and Emy was leaning on Kate still gripping David’s wrist. Charlotte screamed and everyone stumbled back as dozens of Charlottes filled the room swarming around the trio coming closer and closer. David squeezed his eyes shut and all the Charlottes started disappearing one by one. Hanson saw the strained look on Charlotte's face as she fought a mental battle with David’s wish trying to multiply again. He swirled his fingers and a black spiral appeared. He shot it at David trying to break his concentration but Kate jumped in front of him, the spiral sucking her into the air instead. A loud pop and Emy was next to Kate in the spiral trying to push her out but all Hanson’s attention was on them moving the wind to keep them inside while David and Charlotte battled mentally Emy leaped but her aim was off with all the wind making her dizzy; with a loud pop, she landed right on David’s head breaking his concentration as they clattered to the floor dozens of charlottes popping up again moving faster this time. But Emy leaped again, this time pulling David with her. all of them were in the spiral and David grabbed at Kate again but Hanson pulled the spirals into three different ones. Kate screamed and with a burst of adrenaline managed to run the opposite way of the spiral dispersing the wind she lept at Hanson’s with a flying tackle releasing the other two from the spirals David charged Charlotte pinning her to the ground but she quickly multiplied leaving Emy to fight off a dozen clones.

“DAVID!” she yelled “I could use some help over here” David understood, resuming his mental battle with Charlotte, slowly her duplicates started to disappear and Emy rushed over to help Kate. 

Charlotte was tough, her mind was strong but I knew her weakness. I knew her feelings. Instead of wishing her duplicates gone like I'm sure Kate and Emy thought I was doing, I was wishing for her mind to become lost in a single memory, a memory that would trap her in horrible thoughts and destroy her emotionally. Slowly I wormed the memory through the walls of her mind further and further into her subconscious. She fought back but I had been in her head before. I knew her weak spots. I pushed the memory further where I knew she wouldn’t be able to remove it and planted the tiny seed waiting for it to form in her head before leaving. As I removed myself from her mind and stood up watching the horror spread over her face as she realized what I had done. She screamed but it was a normal scream, not the splitting headache scream she used to do. she stood and her brow furrowed, I knew she was trying to replicate herself but she collapsed to her knees again shaking. I mumbled an apology under my breath as I tore my gaze away from her. I walked over to Kate and Emy pushed myself into Hanson's mind too. This space was new to me but he was weak. I broke through the walls of his subconscious easily and planted the seed of a simple memory in the deepest corner of his mind. It was a memory I had been wanting to get rid of for a while but hadn't had the heart to give it to anyone I knew. Hanson’s mind was the perfect place to dump it. It was the memory of my brother, nothing that he would have cared about but now that it was in his head he would feel it as if it were his own brother's death. My memory would consume him until he was nothing but a shell of a man. 

The memory played in my head over and over, I couldn’t shake it out. Slumped on my knees shaking uncontrollably, I watched as the worst day of my life played over and over in my head. I was sitting at a cafe table across from David, his face lit only by candles he reached over and grabbed my hand. I felt the urge to pull away. A small feeling in the pit of my stomach but I ignored it. As I gazed into his eyes everything faded away I only saw his amazing blue eyes and shaggy brown hair. she reached over and tucked a strand of my thick black hair behind my ear. my pulse pounded in my fingertips and I felt like nothing else mattered, nothing but the two of us here, together. until the knife in my boot wiggled back into reality my mind returning to why I was here tonight I stood up asking him if he wanted to dance. He stood too, taking my hand, leading me to the small dance floor. We twirled across the room in between tables not caring that we had left the dance floor and were closer to the back of the cafe gliding to the beat of the music. When he dipped me I slid the knife from its place under my sock and we took up the dance again as the music faded into a waltz. I leaned my head against his chest. I held the blade tip poised to stab him right between the shoulders but we spun around, another couple that had followed us between the tables saw the knife and the woman screamed I jumped and quickly hide the knife behind my back but it was too late David had seen it he backed away from me, tears forming it his eyes but he didn’t she the regret behind mine. The bartender had pulled his phone out of his pocket but I threw the knife, shattering it. I bolted out the back door. I hopped into the black limo parked behind the cafe trying to see David through the windows as it drove away.

David climbed off Hanson and spun around to face Kate and Emy 

“Let’s go,” he said his tone sharp tears hiding behind his sparkling blue eyes 

“But-” Kate stammered “what about them”

“I don’t think they will be able to do much anymore,” he said 

“What did you do to them?” Emy asked, looking shaken. “You didn’t kill them right?”

“No, but we should go,” David grabbed the girls’ wrists, pulling them toward the door. He didn’t look back as they stepped out into the sunlight.