Taking Liberty -- Part 26

Well faithful few, here we go.  I don't think it'll be much longer before we find out what happens to Liberty and Elizabeth.

If you have no idea what exactly is going on, make sure you check out my Taking Liberty page.  It has an explanation, links to all the story parts, and summaries if you're short on time.

Liberty took another step toward me.  With each inch she crossed, I could feel waves of energy ripple toward me.  Each slap of it made me feel a little weaker, a little less substantial. I tried to close my eyes and block it out, make it go away like I could once manage.  I could feel the lids slide closed, but Liberty was still there in front of me.

I was slipping away.

Liberty had stopped stalking me.  Now she was standing, squinting at me.

"What does it feel like for you?  Does it feel empty, lonely?"

I heard a whimpering, and for a moment thought I might have managed to make the sound.   But then I realized that it wasn't just Liberty and I in the room.

James.

Without actually moving, I found myself next to James. Inches from his face.

"You have to help me." I whispered, and knew that nothing audible was said.

His eyes got wider, and he looked up at Liberty.  "I can't."

I could hear Liberty moving quickly behind me.  "Then I'm sorry. I really am."

I pushed myself toward him.  It felt like I was jumping into an icy lake, freezing me to the core.

Then there was darkness.

I opened my eyes and looked up at Liberty.  I pushed myself up with a power I wasn't used to and staggered.

"We're not so different after all, are we Elizabeth?  Both willing to take what isn't ours."

She leaned forward and brushed her hand across my arm.  I could feel the sensation, but it was disconnected in a way. Distant.

I heard James whimpering again.  This time it was louder.

"Don't worry, James.  This part'll be over soon." I whispered to him.  "But I'm afraid it's going to hurt you more than it hurts me."

I clenched my fist, feeling James' muscles ripple, and charged at Liberty.

I think this just might put a damper on the Elizabeth/James romance.  Not sure you can really be with a person after they've been that...close to you.

Hope you enjoyed and you stick around for next week's episode!

3WW Taking Liberty -- Part 25

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Without a shadow of a doubt, we're close to the end now.  After the events of last week, that caught even me off guard a bit, there's not much I can do to put off the face off between Elizabeth and Liberty.

But now I'm in a dilemma.  Do I post the climax in one big scene or in several smaller ones?

I know that I usually don't bother when I open a page to a wall of text, so I want to avoid that if possible.  I guess we all get to wait and see how wordy I get in this last stretch.

If you'd like to catch up on exactly what's going on, please check out my Taking Liberty page.  It has links to each individual episode, as well as brief summaries if you want to get an overview of the story.

Liberty's eyes grew wide at the sound of the floor creaking.  Even though she was looking at me, I could tell Liberty's mind was elsewhere.  She took a tentative step forward. I could hear the rustling of her clothes against her skin and the soft whisper of her feet on the floor.

She was staring at her feet and hands, discovering them again, like a newborn.  For a moment, she had forgotten that James and I were in the room.

"James." I whispered.  James didn't move or look at me.  "James--" I tried to say louder, but my voice was still barely more than a sigh.

I turned to him, reaching out a hand to touch his arm.

My movement breached Liberty's calm reflection.  She looked up at me.

Her face was no longer calm, but a searing ember of fury.

"One way or another, this ends now."

Well, Liberty's made my choice for me.  One way or another.  For the next few days, I'll be working on the ending of Taking Liberty sans the inspiration of 3WW.  I'll still be posting new segments on Thursday (however many they might be), but expect more than the little nibble we had today.

After today, it's serious business.

Hope you come back next week for the beginning of the end...for Liberty or Elizabeth (or even James), I'm not sure.

3WW--Taking Liberty Part 24

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Well, one more step closer to the end.  I've been putting off writing this one, because I haven't really had any idea where to go from here.  The dangers of writing without planning, I suppose.

If you need to catch up, please check out my Taking Liberty page for all the links and brief summaries of the parts so far.

Wish me luck. Hopefully it'll live up to what I put into place last week!

Liberty stood grimacing on my stairs, her chest heaving with effort. With each noisy breath, she became a little more solid, a little more real.

James was slowly inching toward me, whether for my protection or his, I couldn't tell.  Liberty's eyes followed his movement for a moment before turning to me.

"Before all . . . this" she shrugged her shoulders, "before whatever this is, you know I used to admire you?  Not very often, but every now and then, I really wished I could take a piece out of your life."

Her voice quavered and she looked away from me.

"Liberty, I'm sorry.  I wish I had known.  But this, it can't go on."

She smiled a little at me.  The smile you give a child when they talk about Santa being real.

"You're right, it can't.  Look at your hand, Elizabeth."

I heard James groan behind me as I turned my head.  My hand was holding the towel on my cut, but for some reason the towel was slipping out of my grasp.  For a moment, I couldn't wrap my mind around it.  Then there it was.

I was looking through my hand at the towel.  I jerked up to face Liberty.

She took a step onto the hallway floor, and it creaked under her.

Not quite where I had planned for this to go, but I think it's an interesting twist.  What do you think?  This episode was short and a bit talky, hopefully next week we'll get to some action.

3WW--Taking Liberty Part 23

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I hope I didn't lose too many of you by playing hooky last week.  Work got really busy, and I think I'm getting a bit nervous about sticking to my guns and finish this thing.

I have to say, this whole writing without planning thing is getting a good bit harder now!

When we last left the story, Elizabeth was trying to break the news to James about her "guest," and we found out a surprising reveal about James and Liberty's relationship.

(If you need to play catch up, please check out my Taking Liberty page for summaries and links to previous episodes)

"Let me out of here, you bitch!" Liberty screamed inside my head.

The sound of her voice impacted me like a body slam, and I fell to the floor.  I crashed down into a console table with my arm, and barely missed the corner with my head.  Somehow I felt that my trajectory wasn't a complete accident.  Even locked away in the prison I made, she was getting stronger all the time.

James rushed to my side again, but this time I was able to get up on my own.

"She doesn't want me to tell you."  I said, gasping for breath as I blinked away the stars in front of my eyes.

"She--wait, you mean, she's in there with you?"

I nodded and reached my hand down to rub my elbow.  The stinging I felt there rendered into a deeper burning  when I felt a deep cut and a steady flow of blood.

"Jesus." I heard James say as he sprung to the kitchen.  He returned and started wrapping a towel around my arm.  "You might need stitches."

His voice was fading as I stared at the blood on my hand.  My brain itched with some thought triggered by the sight.  And the burning in my arm was spreading.  The sensation was pooling in my chest, building until I was sure my rib cage would crack open and eject some awful monstrosity.

Like a flipped switch, the pain cut off.  I must have jerked with surprise, because I heard James muttering apologies as he tied the towel tight around my arm.

I looked away from my hand to watch him, and saw movement out of the corner of my eye.  James saw it too, because he glanced up.  He let out a strange hoarse yell and backed into the wall.

I looked where I had seen the movement.

Standing at the base of my stairs was a shadowy figure.  As I stared, it began to take shape.

It was Liberty.

She looked furious.

Sometimes our subconscious works out problems for us.  While trying to figure out what to do for my final climax, I realized that some of the groundwork had been laid in previous episodes.

Now to just take this germ of an idea and see how this ends for everyone.  I really want a happy bunny ending for everyone involved, but I'm just not sure how it'll believably happen.

What do you think?  Should everyone get what they want, or should they get what they need?

3WW- Taking Liberty Part 22

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Thanks for all of you who've come back and stuck it through. For any new readers, I'd recommend you check out my Taking Liberty page to read all the episodes, or to read a quick summary.

Every week, I take the words supplied by ThomG at 3WW and write a mostly unplanned segment of the larger story of Elizabeth and Liberty.

When we last left, Elizabeth had gained some control over Liberty and was getting ready to let James in on her interesting situation.

"What type of things?" James furrowed his brows.  The wonder in his voice had left.  "What does this have to do with. . . her?"

The door in my head rattled a little louder.  It couldn't be more obvious that I was racing against time to get the story told than if there was a countdown clock hanging over my head.  I couldn't ease into this, it was all or nothing.

"Why did you jump into the lake to save Liberty?"

James took a step away from me.  From the way he stumbled a bit, I wondered if his legs were as weak as mine were.  They must have been, because he sat down on the stairs before answering me.

"I--" He swallowed, "I used to be friends with her, when we were little."  He crossed his arms and leaned back on the stairs, his eyes focused somewhere behind me.  "We went to daycare together, before her dad left.  She was different then."

I walked over and sat next to him, putting my arm around his shoulder. He leaned his head against me and continued, his voice dulled by trying to hold back tears.

"She wasn't as . . . sad, angry.  She was just a kid." He picked up his head and looked at me, a small smile on his face. "And she was really funny, too.  When I saw her in the water--" His voice faltered again.

"I know." I said, hugging him closer to me.

We sat in silence for a while, and I stifled a yawn.  I felt James pull away and look at me.

"You never answered my question.  What does all this have to do with Liberty?"

"That day, by the lake.  After you tried to save her, she got inside my head."

In the distance, I heard the door rattle again and a guttural scream echoed faintly.

 "Really deep inside my head."

So not quite the fireworks I had expected, but now I think we can see why Liberty attached herself to James.  It makes Liberty seem a little bit sadder to me, instead of the angry force of nature she was becoming.

But I don't think she's happy that Elizabeth has spilled the secret.

3WW-Taking Liberty Part 21

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Do you get the feeling we're in the home stretch on this?  I do.  I have to admit there are times that it's very hard to restrain myself to sticking to this schedule.  I might have to include some bonus entries here soon.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out my Taking Liberty page for links to all the parts of the story, and a quick summary if you're short for time.

When we last left the girls, Liberty had just asserted more . . . control over Elizabeth.

"No, Liberty!  You can't do this to me." I screamed, pushing myself backwards off the wall.  Echoing through my bones, I heard the crash of a door slamming shut.

I collided with James, his eyes even bigger than before.

"Lib--"

I pushed my hands against his mouth, cutting off the name.  I could already feel her stirring inside, and I wasn't sure if his voice would summon her or not.  My knees were starting to shake and my hands were trembling as I slowly eased them off of James.

"Don't say it."  I said, leaning back against the wall.  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

Somewhere deep inside my mind, I could feel her squirming, wondering what was going on.  I thought about the door I had heard.  As I remembered the noise, I could see a large oak door in my mind.  There were boards nailed across it and even a padlock or two.

She was behind that door. The door I had made.  The knob rattled, and I could hear her banging on the other side, but she was in there.  And I had done it.

For now, I was free of her.

I opened my eyes and looked at James.  He was gaping at me, arms limp at the sides.

"Your hair, your eyes, they're. . . different again."

I looked at the mirror behind me.  I looked like my normal self again.  A more exhausted version, but myself.  Turning, I tried to find the strength to look James in the eye.

"I might have omitted a few things about our . . . relationship." I said.

Crap!  I guess next week will be the moment of truth.  I have to figure out how James will handle the big reveal.  I'm glad Elizabeth is taking control, even if it might be just for now.

And I bet Liberty will be pissed when she finds a way out from behind that door.

Six Sentence Sunday

This excerpt comes from the beginning of my serial story, Taking Liberty. Elizabeth is at her classmate's funeral trying to comfort a friend.

I reached out to take her hand and give the blanket cliches that cover the ground at funerals.

The words caught in my throat.  My hand was shimmering, changing before my eyes.  I was vibrating, shot through with electricity, melting. Some...Other was waiting behind a dark curtain in my mind.  I could feel it there waiting.

Hope you enjoyed it.  Feel free to check out the rest of the story if you're so inclined.  Looking forward to seeing everyone else's great entries!

3WW-Taking Liberty part 20

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Thanks for coming back.  If you're not familiar with what I'm doing here, I'd check out the Taking Liberty page for a breakdown of the story so far.

Taking Liberty is a serial story that I've been writing using the help of the folks at Three Word Wednesday.  I've made it so far into the story with minimal planning, and I sense that we're getting close to the end of our journey.

Let's see what comes next.

I couldn't make the words come, even in my mind. I felt myself eroding away under each wave of pain that hit me.

"That's what I thought."

Suddenly, I was released.  Before I could even grasp the concept, the scream that the torture had been blocking ripped from my throat.  I felt James' arms tighten around me.  I looked at him and tried to speak again.  He shook his head and started stroking my forehead.

"I'm going to call 911.  We need to get you to a hospital."

I felt a tightening around my heart and wondered if I might be dying or if Liberty was still making a point.  Caution was called for.

I shook my head, "No, I just need to rest a bit."

James stared at me a long time. Not the loving gaze I had been treated to earlier, but the keen observation of a scientist studying a lab rat for odd behavior.

"Are you sure?"

I nodded again and he helped me to my feet.  He put his hands on my shoulders to steady me.  My legs were still weak and I fell into him.  I looked up, trying to think of something funny to say to break the tension.

He stared again, "I really think you should go to the hospital, this is weird."

"It's nothing, I just fainted--"

"No, Elizabeth.  Your eyes. There's something wrong with them. Didn't they used to be blue?"

I pulled away from him, trusting my legs to get me to the hallway mirror.  I planted both hands on either side and leaned in, looking at my reflection.

"And your hair" James' voice trailed off.

In the mirror stared back a girl that definitely wasn't me, but could have been my sister.

My sister with brown hair and brown eyes.

If this was a traditional ghost movie, this is the point I would start yelling at the screen, "Get out of the house now!"

But what's Elizabeth supposed to do, the house is her body?