novelraw Chapter 57: Bella
Chapter 57: Bella
"Should we break in?" Freddy asked.
"No! Don’t break my door," the owner cried out immediately.
Stanley shook his head. "We need to find a way in without breaking the door," he said. "Can you send me in?"
Freddy shook his head. "I need to see where I’m sending someone. It won’t work without vision," he said.
"Hmm, then..." Stanley looked around the location and saw something on top of the shop. An open window.
"Miss, what does that window lead to?" he quickly asked the woman.
"That’s... to my son’s bedroom," the woman said.
"It connected to the room down here, right?" he asked.
"Yes, it connects to the shop," the woman said. "But... how are you going to go there?"
"Freddy, send me up there," Stanley said.
"Up? I don’t think I can send you inside," Freddy said. "Even placing you on the window will be hard."
"Don’t worry about those things," Stanley said. "Let me worry about it." He got ready to be sent up while Freddy prepared to do as asked.
"On 3. 1, 2... 3."
Stanley arrived in midair, not inside the room or even on the window, but rather to the side of it. He was ready for it, and perhaps that was why the danger warning did not come.
The crowd gasped in a panic, but Stanley acted before panicking. His arm stretched to the side, grabbing the ledge of the window before using both arms to haul himself in.
Once inside, he motioned that he would be going downstairs, so Freddy had to clear up the people that were around just in case.
Stanley looked around the room that didn’t have that many things in it. All there was, was a messy bed that clearly belonged to someone that wasn’t even 10 years old. There were a few wooden toys to the side, which Stanley ignored and walked out of the room.
Once in the hallway, he quickly found the ladder to the lower floor and went downstairs. He made sure to not make much noise while he did so.
When he arrived, he hid for a moment, taking in the surrounding.
The place he was in was a tailor. There were tailored clothes as well as uncut clothes hanging from racks. He slowly looked toward the door and saw a young girl pushing onto the door with her body, blocking it.
The girl wore blue pajamas and had a look of fear in her eyes.
"Bella?" he called out before slowly walking out from the darkness.
The girl’s eyes widened in panic as she tried to back off, but there wasn’t any further back she could go.
"Don’t come close to me!" the girl shrieked as much as she could with genuine fear in her eyes.
"Bella, I’m not going to hurt you," he said. "I’m here to help you. I’m here to take you back to your parents."
"No, I’m not going back," the girl shouted. "Don’t come near me."
Stanley paused for a moment. "Is there a reason you don’t want to go back?" he asked, fearful of what he might come to learn. "Do they... hurt you?"
"What?" the girl seemed confused for a second before shaking her head. "No, my parents love me."
"Then?" Stanley asked. "Why don’t you want to go back?"
"Because I don’t want to hurt them," she said. "Please, don’t take me back."
Stanley couldn’t help but frown after hearing that. "What do you mean?" he asked. "How would you hurt them?"
The girl didn’t answer. She sat by the door, pushing on it with her body.
"Bella, you’ve got to talk," Stanley walked toward her. "Tell me what’s going on so we can help you."
"NO! Go away!" she covered herself with her arm and huddled by the door. Stanley tried to talk to her, but she wouldn’t listen at all.
He couldn’t help but worry about what was happening.
"Bella, you need to talk," he said. He arrived next to her and slowly grabbed her hand to talk to her.
As soon as he touched her hand, the warning came. The feeling returned and with it a sense of urgency. His heartbeat sped up while his breathing became faster as well.
He wasn’t even ready for it, so it felt very out of nowhere for him.
However, that wasn’t the only feeling he was getting. There was another, a sense of tiredness and lethargy that spread throughout his body. He couldn’t tell what was happening.
Before he could figure it out completely, the girl pushed him.
"Go away!"
Stanley was tossed back and slammed into the wall in the distance. A bunch of clothes fell from the racks, covering him up.
"No," the girl shouted. "I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you."
Stanley slowly got up from within the pile of clothes, his chest hurting more than his back. ’How did she push me so hard? How is she so strong?’
"A-are you okay?" the girl asked.
"I’m... alright," he said, grunting a little. He was hurt, but he wasn’t wounded. "Your parents said you didn’t have any powers. Were they lying?"
"No," the girl shook her head. "I just got it today."
Stanley was a little surprised. "Is your physical body strong as well?" he asked. He wondered if that was why she was so much stronger.
"No," the girl said. "I... I steal life from other people."
Stanley stopped for a moment. "What?" he asked.
"I steal life from people. My... my powers make me steal other people’s life to make myself stronger," she said.
Stanley couldn’t believe it. ’Was that what that feeling was just now?’ he thought to himself. Was his life being stripped away?
"Alright," he said. "You are scared because of your power, but it’s alright. As long as you don’t activate it, you will be alright."
"No, I can’t stop it," the girl said. "It works whenever there is someone around me. The cow in our shed, the people on the road, I steal life from everything."
"If... if I go back to my parents, I... I will kill them with my powers."