First of all, I'd like to say that this is a very old piece of writing I just happened to stumble across tonight when looking for something. I wrote it two years ago as my 17-year-old self, so don't be surprised if you think this is worse than my current writing style.
Please use constructive criticism if you can; it'd be useful to see where I was going wrong and how I could improve it. I'm not too fond of the ending either. I felt it was a bit rushed, but whatever.
Forgiveness was not the answer, it never was. He had died right in front of her, but she had to leave him in there. If she stayed there with him, then she would have been as good as dead as well. Since that fateful night, things had never been the same.
Cassie Black was your everyday teenager, hence the word ‘was’. She was quite tall, had long brown hair, blue curious eyes and was fourteen years old. She had been nice, pleasant and friendly at times. But after an unfortunate ‘accident’, Cassie had changed so much. Even her friends did not recognise her anymore.
This ‘accident’ was when she had stumbled upon the underground headquarters of a secret ancient clan only known as the Timekeepers. Cassie’s life changed forever. She had been zapped by an old statue and found herself being able to use the power of time.
She had never intentionally wanted to find them. She really did regret finding them. What came next was something she was completely unprepared for.
The Timekeepers taught Cassie that some people were not meant to die – it was not their fate – and it was not their time yet. They also told her that, with the power of time, she could go back to save them.
But it would never be easy. Someone would always be in the way. Cassie found herself learning different ways of fighting and controlling time before it would control her.
After three months of intense training, she was ready. Cassie began to save lives and she was still only fourteen years old. However, one innocent life escaped her grasp …
His name was Jake Lee. He was a tall young man of fifteen years of age, short brown hair and dreamy green eyes. There was a twist, however: he was Cassie’s best friend. The pair had known each other since they were very young.
But it had been about a month since it happened. Now Cassie felt alone. He had been the closest person to her at all since she lived in an orphanage and her family had all died when she was only a baby. Even though she would have many wanting to adopt her, Cassie had refused … and it was for her friendship with Jake.
She was depressed. Watching her best friend die right before her eyes was traumatic enough. She blamed herself for not saving him in time. The events of that night kept on coming back to her. Cassie would have nightmares constantly haunting her.
Six months of saving lives had ended right there. Not even the Timekeepers clan’s head, Isaac, could persuade her to continue. But even so, Cassie could not go back to save him and the Timekeepers forbid it. She had tried so many times, but had to accept he was gone for good.
No one understands my pain. No can possibly understand.
Cassie sat alone in the park. It was dark and late, but she did not care. She thought that the orphanage would be looking for her by now, although they were not to be seen yet. Footsteps were heard from a distance.
“Hey,” came a male voice.
“Leave me alone,” growled Cassie.
“What? Still like this?” sighed a female voice.
Cassie lowered her head, feeling guilty. She did not want to look at them. They were actually the only friends she had left. She could not bear seeing them ever since Jake died. It tore her apart to see that they were oblivious to the truth.
“Nick, Amber,” she said. “Just leave me here. I don’t want any trouble anymore.”
The first to step forward was Amber Blake. She was the same age as Cassie, had short blonde hair and brown eyes. Cassie took one look at her and felt guilty instantly. Looking at her friends made her think of Jake.
Next came Nick Mason. He was tall, had black hair, blue eyes and was fifteen years old. He sat down on the bench with her, continuing to smile, despite the gritty atmosphere that they were in.
“How much longer?” he sighed. “You gonna keep being a pain in the bum? It’s not working, you know.”
“Yeah, I don’t like this Cassie,” moaned Amber. “I want to know where you took my Cassie!”
“It’s still me,” said Cassie. “I’ve just changed.”
She rose from the bench and started to walk out of the park. She hoped that they would leave her alone, but the pair followed her all the way through the streets.
“Stop being like this!” pleaded Amber. “If you just opened up a little more …”
“I keep myself to myself,” muttered Cassie, as she stormed off in a different direction.
A few days passed by. Cassie had resorted to staying indoors for the majority of time. She had still been experiencing her nightmares when Jake had died. She was still grieving for him.
She sat in her room one night thinking about, most oddly, the Timekeepers. She wondered what they were doing right now seeing as how she had sensationally quit and abandoned her call to duty. Cassie did wonder what they did when she was away from the headquarters. Did they know who would need saving and did not deserve to die? Or did they secretly watch her from a distance? She would never know, unless she asked them in which she never saw it herself. After all, she thought that she would never see them ever again. How wrong she was.
Cassie cried herself to sleep. Her depression was worsening with each passing day. She would often cry herself to sleep or not even sleep at all. Those around her could see that she had not gotten over Jake as of yet, but failed to see how bad it really was.
As the rain poured down heavily outside, Cassie was tossing and turning in her bed. She just could not seem to get to sleep. She was like this every time she would have a prophetic dream of those in danger or a nightmare involving Jake. But this was different somehow.
“No, no …” she muttered and then screamed moments later. “NICK!”
She was breathing heavily and she was sweating.
“N – Nick,” she whispered, trembling by what she saw.
Cassie paced around her room the next day. She was struggling on whether she should save him or not. He was one of her friends and she remembered what happened when it was Jake in one of her dreams. Now it was Nick’s turn to be in one dream.
I can’t not save him. I can’t let him die.
“He won’t die,” she muttered. “He won’t die!”
She put on her jacket and left the orphanage. She was going to the place she thought she would never return to.
“Aaaahhh!”
Rolling down a hill and banging her back against the tree, she opened her eyes, realising she was alive. She scattered the leaves hiding the secret entrance to the underground base of the Timekeepers and then jumped down the hole leading to darkness. As she landed on a comfortable mat (one she had put there for a good landing after finding the Timekeepers for the first time) and got back on her feet again, Cassie proceeded towards the temple, which served as headquarters for the Timekeepers.
As she pushed the huge doors open, many turned to catch a glimpse of her. Cassie thought she would never come here again. So many were surprises to her once more, whilst few had been expecting it.
Cassie stopped at the stairs leading to the meeting room of the clan.
“Isaac!” she called. “It’s me! Come out!”
The golden door opened moments later and out came a man followed by others younger than him. He was tall, had longer silver hair, green eyes and looked wise. His name was Isaac.
“Cassandra Black,” he smiled. “As expected.”
“It’s Cassie, not Cassandra,” muttered Cassie.
“What brings you back here?”
“Well … don’t act so shocked. You know why I’m here.”
Isaac continued to smile.
“We cannot give you advice, Cassandra,” he said. “Only you can decide if you must save your friend or not.”
“God, you make it so damn easy!” shouted Cassie.
“Maybe your other friend could help.”
“What other friend?”
Cassie could not stand Isaac and his riddles at that moment. She hated it when he would speak a lot of nonsense and just smile. But for once, she was beginning to understand what he meant. She looked to the nearest statue and walked towards it. She disappeared out of sight after going behind it.
“Aha!” she smiled.
“Get off me!” moaned Amber.
Cassie pushed her into Isaac’s sight. Amber gulped at the look of him and threw Cassie a dirty look.
“So what? You’ve been hiding this from me?” she glared coldly.
“Amber, it’s not like that!” argued Cassie. “It’s complicated.”
“You can try, but this isn’t complicated!”
Before she knew it, Cassie was spilling the beans.
“This is more complicated than you’ll ever know! I ended up here almost a year ago and my life changed forever! I found myself able to control time and then I had to use it to stop people dying! You don’t even know the half of it! You didn’t even see Jake die! You don’t know how hard it was to leave him there! I wanted to go back, but these pathetic morons wouldn’t let me! And now Nick might die if I don’t do something!”
Tears streamed down her face. She had never broken down like that before. Once Cassie had stopped crying, the Timekeepers explained everything to Amber since she had seen too much already.
“Cassandra saves those who are not meant to die,” concluded Isaac. “So that is why she never told you anything. Now as what to do to you …”
“Don’t do it!” interrupted Cassie. “It’s not right!”
“Do what?” asked Amber.
“She has seen too much,” he said. “It is only right that she should share the burden with you.”
“No! Don’t let her be punished!” protested Cassie.
“I could just not tell anyone,” said Amber.
“Oh really?” said Isaac, raising an eyebrow.
“You can trust her!” said Cassie. “Who would believe her?”
“I mean, we have to save Nick!” agreed Amber.
“Very well,” smiled Isaac. “Cassandra, your mind is made up. Whether you like it or not, you must save your friend before it is too late. Amber is involved now. The pair of you have to go back. You must go back in time and discover how Nick was taken. Remember, Cassandra: you must not be seen.”
Cassie examined her watch and turned to Amber.
“What time do you make it?” she asked her.
“Nearly one o’clock,” yawned Amber.
“Don’t yawn so much,” said Cassie. “You’ll get used to time travel sooner rather than later.”
“But I’m so t-t-tired from it!” she complained.
“Ok, just watch this. Nick will be standing right there and someone will take him away. We’re only here to see it happen, remember that we can’t be seen.”
“So we can’t save him?”
“Not yet, sorry. But we just have to wait now.”
Whilst they were out of sight in a dark corner, Nick appeared moments later. Amber patted Cassie on the shoulder. They had to wait for another person to grab him.
But in the meantime, Cassie looked pale. She looked ill.
“Are you ok?” asked Amber. “You look tired.”
“I’m fine, I –” she began.
Suddenly, she collapsed in her arms.
“Cassie! Cassie!” called Amber.
But she could not hear her. Her mind was drifting.
Cassie opened her eyes, knowing what she was feeling was merely a dream no matter how real it felt. She rose to her feet. The atmosphere was calm and peaceful. The water flowed gently from the waterfall and the flowers blossomed from the grass. Cassie knew it was a garden.
But why was she here? Why now?
“Don’t be afraid,” said a familiar voice. “You’re not alone.”
“Jake,” said Cassie. “Why here? Why now?”
He appeared behind her. Cassie felt his presence there, but did not turn to look at him. She lowered her head, feeling guilty.
“Danger calls you again,” smiled Jake. “Another life at stake. I guess this situation’s familiar to you, huh?”
“I want to be forgiven,” said Cassie. “I’m sorry.”
“Forgiven? By who?” laughed Jake. “I’m absolutely fine. I don’t even know why you’re here, Cassie! You have to wake up!”
“What?”
“You’re dreaming, Cassie! Wake up! Find Nick!”
“You’re dreaming, Cassie!” shouted Amber. “Wake up! We have to find Nick!”
Cassie opened her eyes. She sat up to see that she was still in the same dark corner that they were hiding in.
“Were we seen?” she asked.
“No, I got us out of sight,” replied Amber. “When Nick was taken, the guy who took him dropped this. You seen anything like this before?”
She gave Cassie a photograph of a middle-aged man.
Cassie looked at it closely and her eyes widened.
“Him …” she whispered, her fist shaking violently.
“You’ve seen him before?” said Amber.
“Seth Yates!” said Cassie angrily. “He’s the one … the one who killed Jake … the one who caused me my pain.” She got to her feet and began to run. Amber hurried after her.
“Cassie! Wait!” she panted.
“I’M GOING TO KILL HIM!” yelled Cassie. “HE KILLED JAKE AND I’M GOING TO KILL HIM BEFORE HE DOES ANYTHING TO NICK!”
Amber suddenly stopped. She grabbed the piece of paper pinned to a wall and read it with a horrified look on her face.
“Cassie,” she called. “Read this.”
Catching her breath, Cassie stopped and took the piece of paper. Her face showed relief and terror, as she read:
To the Timekeeper,
I have your friend in my custody. I know all about you and your power to control time. Come meet me at the docks to discuss terms at nine tonight. Be there or else your friend may not be so lucky.
Seth Yates
She just stared at the piece of paper blankly. Cassie’s fist clenched. She tore up the piece of paper and threw it in a bin. The grey clouds were gathering and the rain poured down heavily. Anger was expressed on Cassie’s face. Even Amber was scared of her at that moment.
“He’s got Nick and he killed Jake?” she said. “We have to stop him from doing any harm to Nick! Are you in or what?”
“Of course I’m in!” shouted Cassie. “That scumbag is going to pay! There’s no way that I’m going to let Nick be another victim!”
The pair of them prepared themselves for the next few hours. When they were ready, Cassie and Amber walked down to the docks like soldiers marching to war ready to die for their country.
Cassie jumped down from the old abandoned warehouse and landed on a wooden box. Moments later, Amber appeared from around the corner. She yawned, as Cassie checked the area for ‘unwanted guests’.
“It’s not like him to do it,” assumed Cassie. “These are criminal minds, Amber. They’re not exactly perfect angels that follow the rules.”
Amber shrugged her shoulders and continued to not believe her. But they were suddenly attacked by three masked men. One of them kicked Amber into a wall and held a knife to her throat. The remaining two approached Cassie slowly and carefully.
“Come with us and she won’t get hurt,” one said.
“You wish,” smiled Cassie.
Before they had time to react, Cassie turned to the guy holding Amber hostage. She curled her hand into a ball and released her fingers, outstretching them in their direction. The pair of them froze. This was Cassie’s power to control time and how used it, with her right hand.
The other two punched her in the stomach and head. Cassie took both blows well; she would have gone down so easily if she had not been trained properly by the Timekeepers.
Cassie reacted angrily. She ducked when they tried to attack her again. But this time, she froze another guy and knocked the last one off his feet. She jumped back to her feet and knocked him out with a metal bar she found lying on the floor.
“And stay down!” she grinned.
Next, she turned to the frozen guy who was trying to attack her before, but missed. She unfroze him and then swung the metal bar. However, the swing did not knock him out. Cassie bent down and grabbed his shirt collar.
“Do me a favour,” she whispered in his ear.
She punched him in the face and he was knocked out.
“Play dead,” she smiled.
But then the pain came. Cassie shook her hand violently. The knuckles were red. She didn’t care much, except for the pain. Now her attention turned to Amber and her attacker. She unfroze them both.
“I take it back!” said Amber loudly. “I believe you now, Cassie! Just get this idiot off me!”
“Not gonna happen,” he sniggered, but then saw the other two guys knocked out. “What the hell? Why’d my guys go down?”
“Because they messed with me,” said Cassie, who kicked him out of the way, making him drop the knife. She twisted his arm and let him fall to the ground. “And they just couldn’t keep up with time.”
“Cassie, I love you!” shouted Amber.
“Heh, you don’t,” grinned Cassie.
“Fine, whatever,” sighed Amber. “But we still have to save Nick! Come on!”
“All right, let’s do this,” smiled Cassie.
They ran around the last lot of boxes and finally got to the docks. Cassie saw Nick straight away tied to a boat in the water.
“Nick!” yelled Amber.
“Amber, no!” shouted Cassie, holding her back.
“So nice to see you, girls,” came a dark voice.
“Come out, you murdering scumbag!” screamed Amber.
“Shut up, Amber!” pleaded Cassie.
She brought Amber to the ground angrily. Amber did try to break free, but Cassie would not allow it. Now the tables had turned. It was Amber who was being angry and Cassie, who, for once in her life, was scared of her.
“Please calm down, Amber,” whispered Cassie in desperation. “We don’t really know what he’s capable of!”
“You can say that again,” said that dark voice.
The girls heard footsteps straight away. Nick could not warn them – he was tied to the boat and had a blindfold on his mouth and eyes – but he could hear them.
A tall man with short black hair and grey eyes appeared out of hiding and in sight. He looked at Cassie and Amber, smiling nastily. He crossed his arms and laughed.
“I love it when friendships are broken because of me,” he said.
“Seth Yates,” glared Cassie coldly.
“I was expecting one of you tonight.”
“Yeah, well … you got two now!” exclaimed Amber.
“Having a sidekick doesn’t help,” assumed Seth.
“She wasn’t meant to be here, but I was,” said Cassie. “My name’s Cassie Black and I’m the Timekeeper. I got your message and you wanted to discuss terms?”
“What about me?” piped up Amber.
“And this is my friend, Amber Blake.”
“Not so pleased to meet you though, Seth Yates.”
“I could see that,” said Seth. “So I’m a ‘murdering scumbag’, eh? Your friend isn’t even dead, but he will be if I don’t get what I want.”
“Discuss terms,” nodded Cassie, crossing her arms.
“It’s really simple,” he continued to say. “I’ll give you your friend if you give me the power of time.”
“That’s it?” asked Amber.
“That’s it,” nodded Seth.
Cassie could not believe it. She had to choose between her friend and the power of time. Nick’s life was important, but the Timekeepers had trusted her with the power of time. The power of time was her responsibility, but she could not let Nick die like Jake had.
“No deal,” she said. “Time for you to freeze.”
She tried freezing him, but he would not freeze at all.
“WHAT?” she said loudly.
Seth showed her a talisman he was wearing. “Can you believe it? This stops me freezing and I guess you can’t do anything to help your friend. You almost got there, but you were too late.”
“YOU MURDERING SCUMBAG!” yelled Amber, dashing forward. “YOU KILED JAKE!”
“Amber, stop!” shouted Cassie.
Amber had interfered too much. So Cassie was left with no choice. She froze Amber, who stood halfway in between Cassie and Seth.
“So,” smirked Seth. “She tried so hard to come between us. But I guess it all came down to this.”
“Yeah, I guess it does,” glared Cassie. “You’ll pay for killing Jake.”
“Jake? Oh, I remember now,” he taunted. “I loved every moment of it. But I’m going to enjoy killing you even more.”
The pair of them dashed forward, going towards each other. Seth punched Cassie in the face, but she kicked him in the chin. They were fighting like animals battling over food. He grabbed Cassie’s throat, but she also did the same to him. They walked nearer to the water. It was all about to end.
“Aaaahhh!” cried Cassie.
They had released each other, but Seth was beating her down. He kept on kicking her and she began to bleed. At the last moment, she grabbed his foot just as he was about to stamp on her face.
“Don’t fight,” smiled Seth nastily. “Look at that, your friend’s going down.”
The boat that Nick was on was sinking and had just gone underwater. Cassie didn’t know how long she had to save him. But would she kill Seth? Or save Nick?
“Everyone has a choice,” whispered Seth. “Go ahead and make it.”
Using every last ounce of her strength, Cassie threw his foot off her and kicked for one final time in between the legs. The pain caused Seth to fall into the ocean.
Sooner rather than later, Amber was unfroze. She saw Cassie lying there, covered in blood.
“What happened?” she asked, amazed how Cassie had the strength to stay again. “Oh no! Nick!”
“You’re scared of … water, right?” panted Cassie. “I’ll … save him.”
Despite Amber’s pleas, Cassie jumped into the water to save Nick. She swam as fast as she could, she really did. She eventually found Nick, who had been able to almost set himself free.
She undid his arms that were tied up and he swam up to the surface.
I’m glad he made it after all.
Cassie was running out of breath. There was no sign of Seth. She swam up further and further, but she felt herself blacking out. As her eyes faded to darkness, a hand reached out for her …
Opening her eyes, Cassie breathed long and hard. She could have sworn that she was dead.
“What?” she whispered.
“Welcome back.”
“Huh?”
“What? No hug for me?”
“Am I … dead?”
“Nope.”
She could now see clearly.
“JAKE!” she yelled, throwing her arms around him. “You’re alive?”
“Yeah, I fake my death to get away from Yates!” laughed Jake. “There’s so much that I want to tell you …”
“So anyway,” said Jake some days later. “I feel for you, Cassie Black. I really do! But do you?”
“I’m sorry,” said Cassie. “But I’m a Timekeeper, Jake. I can’t be with you.”
She walked away from him.
But she was right. After all, she had lives to save: it was her call to duty. She was the Timekeeper.
Yeah, I'm not too fond of the ending - especially from when they finally encounter Seth. It felt a little rushed, but then again, my mind was a little more crazier back then with writing than it is right now.
Comments, anyone?
If anyone's confused about anything and wants to ask questions about anything regarding this, then please ask away.
Please use constructive criticism if you can; it'd be useful to see where I was going wrong and how I could improve it. I'm not too fond of the ending either. I felt it was a bit rushed, but whatever.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
What would you do if one of your friends was in danger?
What would you do if one of your friends was in danger?
Forgiveness was not the answer, it never was. He had died right in front of her, but she had to leave him in there. If she stayed there with him, then she would have been as good as dead as well. Since that fateful night, things had never been the same.
Cassie Black was your everyday teenager, hence the word ‘was’. She was quite tall, had long brown hair, blue curious eyes and was fourteen years old. She had been nice, pleasant and friendly at times. But after an unfortunate ‘accident’, Cassie had changed so much. Even her friends did not recognise her anymore.
This ‘accident’ was when she had stumbled upon the underground headquarters of a secret ancient clan only known as the Timekeepers. Cassie’s life changed forever. She had been zapped by an old statue and found herself being able to use the power of time.
She had never intentionally wanted to find them. She really did regret finding them. What came next was something she was completely unprepared for.
The Timekeepers taught Cassie that some people were not meant to die – it was not their fate – and it was not their time yet. They also told her that, with the power of time, she could go back to save them.
But it would never be easy. Someone would always be in the way. Cassie found herself learning different ways of fighting and controlling time before it would control her.
After three months of intense training, she was ready. Cassie began to save lives and she was still only fourteen years old. However, one innocent life escaped her grasp …
His name was Jake Lee. He was a tall young man of fifteen years of age, short brown hair and dreamy green eyes. There was a twist, however: he was Cassie’s best friend. The pair had known each other since they were very young.
But it had been about a month since it happened. Now Cassie felt alone. He had been the closest person to her at all since she lived in an orphanage and her family had all died when she was only a baby. Even though she would have many wanting to adopt her, Cassie had refused … and it was for her friendship with Jake.
She was depressed. Watching her best friend die right before her eyes was traumatic enough. She blamed herself for not saving him in time. The events of that night kept on coming back to her. Cassie would have nightmares constantly haunting her.
Six months of saving lives had ended right there. Not even the Timekeepers clan’s head, Isaac, could persuade her to continue. But even so, Cassie could not go back to save him and the Timekeepers forbid it. She had tried so many times, but had to accept he was gone for good.
No one understands my pain. No can possibly understand.
Cassie sat alone in the park. It was dark and late, but she did not care. She thought that the orphanage would be looking for her by now, although they were not to be seen yet. Footsteps were heard from a distance.
“Hey,” came a male voice.
“Leave me alone,” growled Cassie.
“What? Still like this?” sighed a female voice.
Cassie lowered her head, feeling guilty. She did not want to look at them. They were actually the only friends she had left. She could not bear seeing them ever since Jake died. It tore her apart to see that they were oblivious to the truth.
“Nick, Amber,” she said. “Just leave me here. I don’t want any trouble anymore.”
The first to step forward was Amber Blake. She was the same age as Cassie, had short blonde hair and brown eyes. Cassie took one look at her and felt guilty instantly. Looking at her friends made her think of Jake.
Next came Nick Mason. He was tall, had black hair, blue eyes and was fifteen years old. He sat down on the bench with her, continuing to smile, despite the gritty atmosphere that they were in.
“How much longer?” he sighed. “You gonna keep being a pain in the bum? It’s not working, you know.”
“Yeah, I don’t like this Cassie,” moaned Amber. “I want to know where you took my Cassie!”
“It’s still me,” said Cassie. “I’ve just changed.”
She rose from the bench and started to walk out of the park. She hoped that they would leave her alone, but the pair followed her all the way through the streets.
“Stop being like this!” pleaded Amber. “If you just opened up a little more …”
“I keep myself to myself,” muttered Cassie, as she stormed off in a different direction.
*
A few days passed by. Cassie had resorted to staying indoors for the majority of time. She had still been experiencing her nightmares when Jake had died. She was still grieving for him.
She sat in her room one night thinking about, most oddly, the Timekeepers. She wondered what they were doing right now seeing as how she had sensationally quit and abandoned her call to duty. Cassie did wonder what they did when she was away from the headquarters. Did they know who would need saving and did not deserve to die? Or did they secretly watch her from a distance? She would never know, unless she asked them in which she never saw it herself. After all, she thought that she would never see them ever again. How wrong she was.
Cassie cried herself to sleep. Her depression was worsening with each passing day. She would often cry herself to sleep or not even sleep at all. Those around her could see that she had not gotten over Jake as of yet, but failed to see how bad it really was.
As the rain poured down heavily outside, Cassie was tossing and turning in her bed. She just could not seem to get to sleep. She was like this every time she would have a prophetic dream of those in danger or a nightmare involving Jake. But this was different somehow.
“No, no …” she muttered and then screamed moments later. “NICK!”
She was breathing heavily and she was sweating.
“N – Nick,” she whispered, trembling by what she saw.
*
Cassie paced around her room the next day. She was struggling on whether she should save him or not. He was one of her friends and she remembered what happened when it was Jake in one of her dreams. Now it was Nick’s turn to be in one dream.
I can’t not save him. I can’t let him die.
“He won’t die,” she muttered. “He won’t die!”
She put on her jacket and left the orphanage. She was going to the place she thought she would never return to.
*
“Aaaahhh!”
Rolling down a hill and banging her back against the tree, she opened her eyes, realising she was alive. She scattered the leaves hiding the secret entrance to the underground base of the Timekeepers and then jumped down the hole leading to darkness. As she landed on a comfortable mat (one she had put there for a good landing after finding the Timekeepers for the first time) and got back on her feet again, Cassie proceeded towards the temple, which served as headquarters for the Timekeepers.
As she pushed the huge doors open, many turned to catch a glimpse of her. Cassie thought she would never come here again. So many were surprises to her once more, whilst few had been expecting it.
Cassie stopped at the stairs leading to the meeting room of the clan.
“Isaac!” she called. “It’s me! Come out!”
The golden door opened moments later and out came a man followed by others younger than him. He was tall, had longer silver hair, green eyes and looked wise. His name was Isaac.
“Cassandra Black,” he smiled. “As expected.”
“It’s Cassie, not Cassandra,” muttered Cassie.
“What brings you back here?”
“Well … don’t act so shocked. You know why I’m here.”
Isaac continued to smile.
“We cannot give you advice, Cassandra,” he said. “Only you can decide if you must save your friend or not.”
“God, you make it so damn easy!” shouted Cassie.
“Maybe your other friend could help.”
“What other friend?”
Cassie could not stand Isaac and his riddles at that moment. She hated it when he would speak a lot of nonsense and just smile. But for once, she was beginning to understand what he meant. She looked to the nearest statue and walked towards it. She disappeared out of sight after going behind it.
“Aha!” she smiled.
“Get off me!” moaned Amber.
Cassie pushed her into Isaac’s sight. Amber gulped at the look of him and threw Cassie a dirty look.
“So what? You’ve been hiding this from me?” she glared coldly.
“Amber, it’s not like that!” argued Cassie. “It’s complicated.”
“You can try, but this isn’t complicated!”
Before she knew it, Cassie was spilling the beans.
“This is more complicated than you’ll ever know! I ended up here almost a year ago and my life changed forever! I found myself able to control time and then I had to use it to stop people dying! You don’t even know the half of it! You didn’t even see Jake die! You don’t know how hard it was to leave him there! I wanted to go back, but these pathetic morons wouldn’t let me! And now Nick might die if I don’t do something!”
Tears streamed down her face. She had never broken down like that before. Once Cassie had stopped crying, the Timekeepers explained everything to Amber since she had seen too much already.
“Cassandra saves those who are not meant to die,” concluded Isaac. “So that is why she never told you anything. Now as what to do to you …”
“Don’t do it!” interrupted Cassie. “It’s not right!”
“Do what?” asked Amber.
“She has seen too much,” he said. “It is only right that she should share the burden with you.”
“No! Don’t let her be punished!” protested Cassie.
“I could just not tell anyone,” said Amber.
“Oh really?” said Isaac, raising an eyebrow.
“You can trust her!” said Cassie. “Who would believe her?”
“I mean, we have to save Nick!” agreed Amber.
“Very well,” smiled Isaac. “Cassandra, your mind is made up. Whether you like it or not, you must save your friend before it is too late. Amber is involved now. The pair of you have to go back. You must go back in time and discover how Nick was taken. Remember, Cassandra: you must not be seen.”
*
Cassie examined her watch and turned to Amber.
“What time do you make it?” she asked her.
“Nearly one o’clock,” yawned Amber.
“Don’t yawn so much,” said Cassie. “You’ll get used to time travel sooner rather than later.”
“But I’m so t-t-tired from it!” she complained.
“Ok, just watch this. Nick will be standing right there and someone will take him away. We’re only here to see it happen, remember that we can’t be seen.”
“So we can’t save him?”
“Not yet, sorry. But we just have to wait now.”
Whilst they were out of sight in a dark corner, Nick appeared moments later. Amber patted Cassie on the shoulder. They had to wait for another person to grab him.
But in the meantime, Cassie looked pale. She looked ill.
“Are you ok?” asked Amber. “You look tired.”
“I’m fine, I –” she began.
Suddenly, she collapsed in her arms.
“Cassie! Cassie!” called Amber.
But she could not hear her. Her mind was drifting.
*
Cassie opened her eyes, knowing what she was feeling was merely a dream no matter how real it felt. She rose to her feet. The atmosphere was calm and peaceful. The water flowed gently from the waterfall and the flowers blossomed from the grass. Cassie knew it was a garden.
But why was she here? Why now?
“Don’t be afraid,” said a familiar voice. “You’re not alone.”
“Jake,” said Cassie. “Why here? Why now?”
He appeared behind her. Cassie felt his presence there, but did not turn to look at him. She lowered her head, feeling guilty.
“Danger calls you again,” smiled Jake. “Another life at stake. I guess this situation’s familiar to you, huh?”
“I want to be forgiven,” said Cassie. “I’m sorry.”
“Forgiven? By who?” laughed Jake. “I’m absolutely fine. I don’t even know why you’re here, Cassie! You have to wake up!”
“What?”
“You’re dreaming, Cassie! Wake up! Find Nick!”
*
“You’re dreaming, Cassie!” shouted Amber. “Wake up! We have to find Nick!”
Cassie opened her eyes. She sat up to see that she was still in the same dark corner that they were hiding in.
“Were we seen?” she asked.
“No, I got us out of sight,” replied Amber. “When Nick was taken, the guy who took him dropped this. You seen anything like this before?”
She gave Cassie a photograph of a middle-aged man.
Cassie looked at it closely and her eyes widened.
“Him …” she whispered, her fist shaking violently.
“You’ve seen him before?” said Amber.
“Seth Yates!” said Cassie angrily. “He’s the one … the one who killed Jake … the one who caused me my pain.” She got to her feet and began to run. Amber hurried after her.
“Cassie! Wait!” she panted.
“I’M GOING TO KILL HIM!” yelled Cassie. “HE KILLED JAKE AND I’M GOING TO KILL HIM BEFORE HE DOES ANYTHING TO NICK!”
Amber suddenly stopped. She grabbed the piece of paper pinned to a wall and read it with a horrified look on her face.
“Cassie,” she called. “Read this.”
Catching her breath, Cassie stopped and took the piece of paper. Her face showed relief and terror, as she read:
To the Timekeeper,
I have your friend in my custody. I know all about you and your power to control time. Come meet me at the docks to discuss terms at nine tonight. Be there or else your friend may not be so lucky.
Seth Yates
She just stared at the piece of paper blankly. Cassie’s fist clenched. She tore up the piece of paper and threw it in a bin. The grey clouds were gathering and the rain poured down heavily. Anger was expressed on Cassie’s face. Even Amber was scared of her at that moment.
“He’s got Nick and he killed Jake?” she said. “We have to stop him from doing any harm to Nick! Are you in or what?”
“Of course I’m in!” shouted Cassie. “That scumbag is going to pay! There’s no way that I’m going to let Nick be another victim!”
The pair of them prepared themselves for the next few hours. When they were ready, Cassie and Amber walked down to the docks like soldiers marching to war ready to die for their country.
*
Cassie jumped down from the old abandoned warehouse and landed on a wooden box. Moments later, Amber appeared from around the corner. She yawned, as Cassie checked the area for ‘unwanted guests’.
“It’s not like him to do it,” assumed Cassie. “These are criminal minds, Amber. They’re not exactly perfect angels that follow the rules.”
Amber shrugged her shoulders and continued to not believe her. But they were suddenly attacked by three masked men. One of them kicked Amber into a wall and held a knife to her throat. The remaining two approached Cassie slowly and carefully.
“Come with us and she won’t get hurt,” one said.
“You wish,” smiled Cassie.
Before they had time to react, Cassie turned to the guy holding Amber hostage. She curled her hand into a ball and released her fingers, outstretching them in their direction. The pair of them froze. This was Cassie’s power to control time and how used it, with her right hand.
The other two punched her in the stomach and head. Cassie took both blows well; she would have gone down so easily if she had not been trained properly by the Timekeepers.
Cassie reacted angrily. She ducked when they tried to attack her again. But this time, she froze another guy and knocked the last one off his feet. She jumped back to her feet and knocked him out with a metal bar she found lying on the floor.
“And stay down!” she grinned.
Next, she turned to the frozen guy who was trying to attack her before, but missed. She unfroze him and then swung the metal bar. However, the swing did not knock him out. Cassie bent down and grabbed his shirt collar.
“Do me a favour,” she whispered in his ear.
She punched him in the face and he was knocked out.
“Play dead,” she smiled.
But then the pain came. Cassie shook her hand violently. The knuckles were red. She didn’t care much, except for the pain. Now her attention turned to Amber and her attacker. She unfroze them both.
“I take it back!” said Amber loudly. “I believe you now, Cassie! Just get this idiot off me!”
“Not gonna happen,” he sniggered, but then saw the other two guys knocked out. “What the hell? Why’d my guys go down?”
“Because they messed with me,” said Cassie, who kicked him out of the way, making him drop the knife. She twisted his arm and let him fall to the ground. “And they just couldn’t keep up with time.”
“Cassie, I love you!” shouted Amber.
“Heh, you don’t,” grinned Cassie.
“Fine, whatever,” sighed Amber. “But we still have to save Nick! Come on!”
“All right, let’s do this,” smiled Cassie.
*
They ran around the last lot of boxes and finally got to the docks. Cassie saw Nick straight away tied to a boat in the water.
“Nick!” yelled Amber.
“Amber, no!” shouted Cassie, holding her back.
“So nice to see you, girls,” came a dark voice.
“Come out, you murdering scumbag!” screamed Amber.
“Shut up, Amber!” pleaded Cassie.
She brought Amber to the ground angrily. Amber did try to break free, but Cassie would not allow it. Now the tables had turned. It was Amber who was being angry and Cassie, who, for once in her life, was scared of her.
“Please calm down, Amber,” whispered Cassie in desperation. “We don’t really know what he’s capable of!”
“You can say that again,” said that dark voice.
The girls heard footsteps straight away. Nick could not warn them – he was tied to the boat and had a blindfold on his mouth and eyes – but he could hear them.
A tall man with short black hair and grey eyes appeared out of hiding and in sight. He looked at Cassie and Amber, smiling nastily. He crossed his arms and laughed.
“I love it when friendships are broken because of me,” he said.
“Seth Yates,” glared Cassie coldly.
“I was expecting one of you tonight.”
“Yeah, well … you got two now!” exclaimed Amber.
“Having a sidekick doesn’t help,” assumed Seth.
“She wasn’t meant to be here, but I was,” said Cassie. “My name’s Cassie Black and I’m the Timekeeper. I got your message and you wanted to discuss terms?”
“What about me?” piped up Amber.
“And this is my friend, Amber Blake.”
“Not so pleased to meet you though, Seth Yates.”
“I could see that,” said Seth. “So I’m a ‘murdering scumbag’, eh? Your friend isn’t even dead, but he will be if I don’t get what I want.”
“Discuss terms,” nodded Cassie, crossing her arms.
“It’s really simple,” he continued to say. “I’ll give you your friend if you give me the power of time.”
“That’s it?” asked Amber.
“That’s it,” nodded Seth.
Cassie could not believe it. She had to choose between her friend and the power of time. Nick’s life was important, but the Timekeepers had trusted her with the power of time. The power of time was her responsibility, but she could not let Nick die like Jake had.
“No deal,” she said. “Time for you to freeze.”
She tried freezing him, but he would not freeze at all.
“WHAT?” she said loudly.
Seth showed her a talisman he was wearing. “Can you believe it? This stops me freezing and I guess you can’t do anything to help your friend. You almost got there, but you were too late.”
“YOU MURDERING SCUMBAG!” yelled Amber, dashing forward. “YOU KILED JAKE!”
“Amber, stop!” shouted Cassie.
Amber had interfered too much. So Cassie was left with no choice. She froze Amber, who stood halfway in between Cassie and Seth.
“So,” smirked Seth. “She tried so hard to come between us. But I guess it all came down to this.”
“Yeah, I guess it does,” glared Cassie. “You’ll pay for killing Jake.”
“Jake? Oh, I remember now,” he taunted. “I loved every moment of it. But I’m going to enjoy killing you even more.”
The pair of them dashed forward, going towards each other. Seth punched Cassie in the face, but she kicked him in the chin. They were fighting like animals battling over food. He grabbed Cassie’s throat, but she also did the same to him. They walked nearer to the water. It was all about to end.
“Aaaahhh!” cried Cassie.
They had released each other, but Seth was beating her down. He kept on kicking her and she began to bleed. At the last moment, she grabbed his foot just as he was about to stamp on her face.
“Don’t fight,” smiled Seth nastily. “Look at that, your friend’s going down.”
The boat that Nick was on was sinking and had just gone underwater. Cassie didn’t know how long she had to save him. But would she kill Seth? Or save Nick?
“Everyone has a choice,” whispered Seth. “Go ahead and make it.”
Using every last ounce of her strength, Cassie threw his foot off her and kicked for one final time in between the legs. The pain caused Seth to fall into the ocean.
Sooner rather than later, Amber was unfroze. She saw Cassie lying there, covered in blood.
“What happened?” she asked, amazed how Cassie had the strength to stay again. “Oh no! Nick!”
“You’re scared of … water, right?” panted Cassie. “I’ll … save him.”
Despite Amber’s pleas, Cassie jumped into the water to save Nick. She swam as fast as she could, she really did. She eventually found Nick, who had been able to almost set himself free.
She undid his arms that were tied up and he swam up to the surface.
I’m glad he made it after all.
Cassie was running out of breath. There was no sign of Seth. She swam up further and further, but she felt herself blacking out. As her eyes faded to darkness, a hand reached out for her …
*
Opening her eyes, Cassie breathed long and hard. She could have sworn that she was dead.
“What?” she whispered.
“Welcome back.”
“Huh?”
“What? No hug for me?”
“Am I … dead?”
“Nope.”
She could now see clearly.
“JAKE!” she yelled, throwing her arms around him. “You’re alive?”
“Yeah, I fake my death to get away from Yates!” laughed Jake. “There’s so much that I want to tell you …”
*
“So anyway,” said Jake some days later. “I feel for you, Cassie Black. I really do! But do you?”
“I’m sorry,” said Cassie. “But I’m a Timekeeper, Jake. I can’t be with you.”
She walked away from him.
But she was right. After all, she had lives to save: it was her call to duty. She was the Timekeeper.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Yeah, I'm not too fond of the ending - especially from when they finally encounter Seth. It felt a little rushed, but then again, my mind was a little more crazier back then with writing than it is right now.
Comments, anyone?
If anyone's confused about anything and wants to ask questions about anything regarding this, then please ask away.