Chapter 4: Deceived

She looked deep into my eyes and asked, “Are you willing to take that chance?”

I glared at her with determination and said, “Are you?”

She backs away as she stutters, “Uh n-n-no. Hell no.” She looks at me terrified “But you can give it to me to carry afterwards. If you trust me that is. I promise I will take good care of it.”

I rolled my eyes, “What is that supposed to mean? Of course I trust you.”

She smiles while fidgeting her fingers, “That’s great! Let’s hurry up though. This place gives me the creeps.”

I sighed and reached for the stone slowly. It starts to turn red. I jolted back. It turns gray like a regular gray stone. I took a deep breath and picked up the stone. It is bright red but I don’t feel any pain. I sighed in relief and stepped off of both boulders.

I handed the stone to her as I headed to the doorway, “Okay. Let's get going.”

I stopped at the doorway when I noticed that she was not following me. I turned around. She is grinning at the stone.

I grunted, “What are you doing now? I thought you wanted to leave.”

She chuckles, “I have been waiting for this moment for a very long time.”

She smiles sinisterly and looks at me, “Oh I’m so sorry honey. Did you ask me what I was doing? Well here, let me tell you.”

She grips the stone tightly and gives me a very serious stare.

The stone is glowing bright. It is red and green spotted.

I feel a sharp pain in my chest.

I grunted in pain as she continued to speak, “None of your goddamn business! I am doing exactly what I want and you can’t do a damn thing about it!”

The pain grows sharper in my chest.

She announces loudly, “I am running the show now, and you will do WHATEVER I say, WHEN I say it.”

I drop to my knees as the pain dissipates.

I asked breathlessly, “Why are you doing this? What have I ever done to you?”

She blasts out a laugh, “Oh, That's right. I forgot that you didn't know.”

She slouches to her knees and looks disgusted, “Ugh it’s been so long now pretending to be your dear- sweet- beloved- side- kick. I forgot about you not knowing all the details.”

I angrily yelled, “Know what!?”

Extreme sharp pain hits my chest. I cringed my teeth growling in agony.

She huffs and speaks to me like a child, “Patience honey and I will tell you.”

The pain stops as I try to catch my breath.

She gladly announces, “ I have waited twenty years for this fucking stone. TWENTY YEARS! If Jack didn't fight me for it then I would have-''

I interrupted, “You knew my father!? What the fuck did you do-”

My chest pain sparked. I gasped, feeling winded.

She informs me, “I was talking.”

She sighs bummed, “He was a great lover but he just wouldn't stand beside me to use the stone. We had a huge argument about the stone. I wanted to use it and he wanted to put it in a fucking museum! So I had to kill him. The only thing that I regret is that I killed him before he touched the stone, otherwise this stupid stone wouldn’t have burned me.”

She watched me puzzled.

She leans down close, “What’s the matter? Don’t believe me? Maybe this will help.”

She pulls out a book behind her and tosses it to my knees. It is the same book we saw earlier that has my father's name on the cover.

I clenched my hands into fists, “And Tom?”

She half smiles, “Oh he was easy to get out of the way. Although it would have been much easier if you didn't argue with me about splitting up.”

She looks down at me disappointed and snickers, “You are as stubborn as your father.”

I angrily glared at her trying to contain myself on my knees. She steps off the boulders and the entire room shakes. She stumbles and drops the stone. I dived and snatched it. It instantly turns red.

The boulders are cracked and falling apart. I stand up and a new doorway appears.

This doorway has trees, grass, and a blue sky on the other side.

The room is starting to cave in.

She slams me against the wall and demands, “Give me the stone!”

I clutched it to my side and elbowed her in the stomach. I ran for the doorway. She grabs my foot and trips me.

I rolled the stone through the doorway and looked over my shoulder. She is dragging me away from the doorway.

The ceiling above us collapses and huge rocks land on her back. She screams in pain and lets go. Many more rocks fall around her as I roll my way through the doorway.