Chapter 8

The Tragic Fate

*SNAP

A loud snap was heard and in an instant, the whole place was spinning. A loud scream was heard and then everything went black.

"-liya, Maliya, Maliya!"

A shake woke Maliya up from a daydream. Big drips of cold sweat was falling from her forehead. She just had a nightmare.

" Are you okay? What's wrong? Are you hurt anywhere?" Lucas asked as he held her in her shoulders. However Maliya didn't answer. She was so absorbed by her dream which she thought was real. She stared at the blank space until she heard Lucas.

" Maliya!" he said angrily. " What happened?"Maliya's thoughts came back as Lucas carefully looked at her. There was a hint of worry in his face.

She looked side by side and saw both Marianne and Lilith sleeping soundly.

"N-no." she said in a low, stern voice."I-it can't be...." she said as she looked at Lucas with a scared face.

Suddenly, there was a loud silence. Nothing was heard as the ominous silence drooped around them. The atmosphere was different as she felt everything turning eerie.

"Stop!" she shouted. " Stop this carriage now!". Maliya's hands were shaking. Her heart was pounding loud and clear as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up in fright. But Lucas couldn't understand.

"Maliya, calm down!" he said as he tightened his grip on Maliya's shoulders. He thought that she was just hanging from her daydream that she was unable to recognize the reality. But it was different. Because Maliya had just seen everything that can happen within a minute now.

"Lucas, " Maliya pleaded. "Please make this stop." she said in a frightened voice as her eyes shake with fresh tears, cold sweats dripping. Though Lucas couldn't understand what Maliya meant, he gently asked her father to stop the carriage. But things have turned awry instead.

"S-son, it won't stop." James said in a low voice. " I can't stop it". And with it, Maliya's hands shaked uncontrollably.

*snap

A loud sound was heard.

She didn't know what to do now. "It's happening." she said as tears continued to flow fron her blue eyes. "I can't stop it ."

Everyone woke up from the loud snap. The carriage was heading towards a cliff and worst, it seemed out of control. Another loud snap was heard as the horses neighed and galloped away from the carriage. Now the carriage was completely disbanded from the horses.

There was a loud screech as the steel grinded with the rocks soon heading towards the cliff. Everybody was franctic. With James in the front and everyone at the back seat, there's no way the carriage would ever stop.

Inside the carriage a cry was heard as Lilith tightened her grip on her mother's arms. Marianne could do nothing but hug her daughter tightly as she held Lucas' hands. She looked at Maliya and saw a blank face staring in the thin air. She looked at Lucas with gentle tears falling from her eyes.

"Can you protect her?" she asked. Without a doubt, Lucas turned to sit beside Maliya and held her hand tightly as another shake was felt.

" Can you do it, hon? " Marianne shouted as she asked James about something.

" I guess I can!" said James in a half- pessimistic tone. Marianne's tears fell from her eyes. It was the end for them. She glanced at her daughter and gently planted a kiss in her forehead. Tears were falling uncontrollably from her eyes now as she turned her gaze towards her grown- up son.

" You've grown into a fine young man, son." she said as a gentle smile escaped from her lips. Though the carriage was shaking roughly, she tried to tell her son the things she wanted to say. " I know its hard but please protect them, your sister and Maliya."

Lucas couldn't understand. Why does it seemed like his mother was bidding goodbye?

"W-what about you?" his face twisted as he felt a terrible pain from his head.

" It's our time now." his mother replied.

"James! Is it now?" she yelled, directed towards her husband who can't hold the carriage any longer.

A moment of silence fell.

"Now!" James yelled as the carriage completely fell off the cliff .

The whole place was spinning. Loud screams were heard and in a snap, everything went black.

...

" Ughhhh" a cough was heard as Maliya gently opened her eyes. The vision was blurry. Everything was hazy and all parts of her body fell into terrible pain. She gently heaved herself with her shaking arms, as she tried to crawl out from the broken carriage.

Pieces of glasses pierced through her hands but Maliya couldn't feel the pain anymore. Her whole body was numb from the excruciating pain that no pain was ever left to be felt. Small drippings of warm blood feel from the side of her head as the haziness continued.

Finally, she managed to break free from the broken carriage. But the worst scenario is yet to come. As she tried to stand up, cracks of bones were heard. But she didn't listen to all of it, her scream, her sadness, her pain. All that she could ever hear was a loud cry of somebody as she drew nearer and nearer.

With her hands shaking, she covered her mouth in horror. In front of her, Marianne was covered all over with blood as Lucas held her in his arms. Lilith was crying crazily as she gently shaked her mother's arms asking her to wake up. But the pale hands showed that there was no more life left.

Maliya fell into her knees. Terrible pain was coming from all over her body but pain she had felt now surpasses all of those. She fell into despair. Once again, she couldn't do anything.

" It was your fault!" Suddenly, Lilith came storming into where Maliya was. " I know it's your fault!" she continued. " All our misfortunes in life is because of you, Liya! I hate you!" with her cracked voice, Lilith shouted from the top of her lungs with her fingers pointed at Maliya.

"Ever since you came! Everything became different. You should have died instead!" hearing those words, Maliya remembered everything from her past. It was those similar words her mother had said to her. Every little thing that she tried to forget resurfaced in a minute.

"You're a monster."

" You should have died, Maliya."

Those lines repeatedly echoed in her head. Maliya tried so hard to cover her ears but the voice did not disappear. Louder and louder, the sound circled all over her. Her body couldn't take it anymore.

" No!!!!!!!" she shouted as her weak body fell hardly upon the ground.