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Post by Faye Vedette on Jul 31, 2006 19:18:32 GMT
Faye smiled. The two of them were submerged deeply into themselves. Silently she shuffled forward, and gently - so that they did not notice - Faye took hold of both their wrists. Taking a deep breath, she opened the mental connection...
Faye was floating once more, the air around her sharp and swift and cold. Darkness swam around her like an ocean, or a starless foggy sky, and with exhuastion she turned to see if Grace and Girty had managed. It was hard with the three of them, but Faye did he best to keep them in the Void.
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Post by Girty Hubbles on Jul 31, 2006 19:21:29 GMT
Girty felt herself be pulled into the iciness of the void. She opened up her mind to find them floating in the darkness she saw the professor struggling. She shot her a smile and waited in hope for Grace to join them.
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Post by Prof Grace Marks on Jul 31, 2006 19:28:32 GMT
Grace felt cold pulling at the walls in her mind, they broke through and darkness flooded her mind. She was floating ... floating in the air. She could feel only the cold and dark and she was there floating in the darkness with Faye and Girty.
((hope that's right))
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Post by Faye Vedette on Jul 31, 2006 19:31:13 GMT
Faye began to draw a little strength from the two girls as they full intergrated into the Void. "Yes... well done, girls!" she smiled. "Welcome to the Void, Grace. Don't be afraid - this is just your mind in it's relaxed state. Now that you are aware once more, memories should begin to come to you. Perhaps Girty has told you of her experience?" Faye joined hands with Grace and Girty. "Keep together, this mental wind is strong!" she laughed. "And fifteen points to both of you for managing it so quickly, and doing it with so many of us!"
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Post by Girty Hubbles on Jul 31, 2006 19:39:53 GMT
"Fantastic!" Shouted Girty. She was so happy they managed it and that Grace was here too.
"OK Grace a few rules.
1) do not use magic as it will destroy the void
2) these are memories we will see, so do not worry they can not hurt you and you can not hurt it.
3) We must not let go of each other otherwise we will get lost
4) Enjoy!"
She giggled and held on to Graces tighter.
"Now i want you to free you mind and hopefully you mind will take us to the first memory."
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Post by Prof Grace Marks on Jul 31, 2006 20:10:21 GMT
Grace looked around. The Void, as Faye and Girty called it, was vast and dark and cold. It was like being back in that cupboard. Suddenly they were there, in the cupboard. It was a long narrow room, with coats and jackets hanging on either walls, but it was dark. There door had slits through it. And in front of the door, on her knees was an eleven year old Grace, her hands on the door, and her tear streked face and her red puffy eyes were facing away from them. Grace knew the face was so because she had been here ... once. And now she was there again.
She heard the shouting voices. They drifted through the gaps in the door and were as loud and piercing as they always were in her dreams.
"What the f*** do you think you are doing?" Her fathers comanding voice was layered with alcohol echoed from the kitchen. There was the sound and a slap and the crashing of china onto the floor.
"You b******!" her mothers voice ran powerful as it always does. "You come into this house like this and expect ...."
There was silence.
Eleven year old Grace was now huddled in the corner, hugging her knees tighly to her chest and crying. Grace looked at herself, nothing had changed. Nothing could be heard except the whimpering of a sad girl.
Then the sound returned... "well then go!" her mother shouted. "GO! LEAVE!! We don't need you! We never have-" another slap... then silence... Grace heard the sound of a body landing on the china and a foot meeting it, slipping on it.
Grace's eyes welled up with tears and she sniffed, she didn't want to see any more... the image dissolved into a haze of darkness and light and the sound of a piano floated on the air and it whirled around them in a torent of doutb and anger.
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Post by Girty Hubbles on Jul 31, 2006 20:20:41 GMT
Girty was amazed. This was the scene she had heard bits about but now she was here however it did not last long. The sound of a piano rang around them.
Girty looked at Grace and saw her normal bright blue eyes filled with tears.
"No Grace you can not let fear win!" Girty shouted over the music. "You have to face it. Grasp the bull by the horns. This is how we will find your inner animal." She looked at Grace in hope but knowing it would be a tough battle to fight. The mind and soul was a hard thing to fight when such emotion ran through it.
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Post by Prof Grace Marks on Jul 31, 2006 20:33:57 GMT
Grace closed her eyes. Girty's right, Grace she thought, you can beat it. You are strong enough! A tear ran down her cheek and the sound of her favourite thing faded back into the uncomfortable, uncertain air in the cupboard. They were back there. She opened her eyes and looked at Girty and Faye, her eyes sore with withholding tears, "what now?" she stuttered.
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Post by Girty Hubbles on Jul 31, 2006 20:39:47 GMT
Girty gulped as they traveled again form memory to memory. When they reached the dark cupboard again she looked at Grace and then the professor. As normal Girty was stumped. She linked slowly and looked back at the 11 year old Grace.
"What happens now?" She asked half wishing she did not.
"We need to find your inner animal, the mind will take us to the parts which are important. This must have been an important part in your life which connects to it."
Girty tried to think back from her lesson with Vedette and what she had told her.
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Post by Prof Grace Marks on Aug 1, 2006 15:40:25 GMT
Grace shook her head and closed her eyes tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks now. "No!" she whimpered, "No! I don't want to!" she said, the eleven year old Grace mimicking her, "you can't make me!"
The door was open and a dark figure lurked over the small eleven year old. A long, strong arm was reaching out to to Grace's younger self. "No, Father please!!!" the frightened girl cried, her cheeks glistening in the light that streamed into the cupboard.
Between the tall mans legs, an open doorway to the kitchen could be seen and through the door way an unconscious woman was lying on the floor amongst broken china. Grace stared at the figure on the kitchen floor, but was brought back to the scene in front of her by her eleven year old self crying, "NO! FATHER! NO!"
Grace looked at Girty and Faye, "Please! I don't want to go through this again! Please don't make me go there again!"
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Post by Faye Vedette on Aug 1, 2006 19:12:48 GMT
Faye had been unable to speak for a long time, although she had wanted to. The void was stretching with the pressure of the three of them, it preternatural walls uncoiling like weak, rough thread. She could taste blood in her mouth, hot and thick running from her nose. Through Grace's shouts of panic and distress she could hear all their hearts pumping like drums. She wanted to talk to Grace, to reasure her, but she could not. The Hufflepuff's memories were assaulting her, hard and real and strong. Grace's hand was slipping from hers...
"Grace!" she managed to whisper. "You need to fight this, please!" Faye begged. She knew Grace wanted out, but they were so close - surly her inner animal was in one of these memories? "Look out the window, Grace - find what you're looking for..." Faye breathed, looking towards the cloudy sky...
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Post by Prof Grace Marks on Aug 1, 2006 19:52:23 GMT
Grace took a tighter hold of Faye's hand, and breathed in. She knew what was coming, she knew it... The scene unfolded before them, and Grace still did not open her eyes, she didn't need to.
A deep voice came from the tall, dark figure, "Come!" it said. It's long arm took a jerky hold of the small, whimpering girl's arm and pulled her to her feet.
"NO!" she cried, "PLEASE FATHER, DON'T!"
The big man lifted her arm above her head and shook her violently. "STOP CRYING! You spoiled son of a b****!" All that did was make her cry more! "STOP CRYING!!!" he shouted, puling on her arm hard. He pulled her out of the cupboard and towards the door.
The three were hurled into a swirl of light and static. Then a green garden came to view and a door to a house. Grace gasped as she heard the sound of the swinging door being shoved aside by the small girls body. Her father had obviously thrown her out the door. She rolled down the stares, a crack echoed from the fragile body, and rolled down the path.
A tall, unshaven man stood in the door way and limped down the stares, advancing on her shaking eleven year old. She propped her small body up on one arm and began to crawl backwards. "NO! PLEASE!" she cried. "I'll be good I promise! I won't tell! I won't!" She was no longer crying, she had nothing left to cry, but her cheeks glistened with her tears.
The big man stood over the quivering girl. She looked up at him and whispered, "please!" A sparrow hawk, high in the sky just above the towering figure's head, caught the shaken girls eye. She wished she could be with it, wished she could just fly away. She glanced at it briefly, then looked once more at the man. "Father, please!"
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Post by Faye Vedette on Aug 1, 2006 20:01:07 GMT
Cold tears of anger slipped down Faye's face. She gripped Grace's hand as hard as she could, wishing that she could protect the girl from what had already happened. All around them the garden was sunny and lush and blooming, and Faye wondered how it could be so vibrant when Grace, in the center of it, was dwindling. "Oh, Grace..." Faye said sympathetically, although she knew it changed nothing.
Something sang overhead now. Faye looked up, a beautiful brown sparrow hawk perched on the branch above them. Faye's eyes widdened.
With all her strength she will the girls up to the bird. For a moment she let go of Grace's hand, just long enough to grasp the wing of the large bird between her fingers...
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Post by Prof Grace Marks on Aug 1, 2006 20:38:37 GMT
Grace heard the sparrow hawks cry, soft and sweet as it always was. She was always there for Grace, ever since that day. She opened her eyes and looked up at the hawk. It was looking down on her eleven year old self, and she was looking on her father.
Faye spoke, soft and sweetly like her hawk. Grace did not look at her friend or teacher. She stared at the hawk. She sniffed. The three floated higher and, still keeping contact with Faye, reached out and did something she always wanted to do but never could. She touched the hawk, stroked it's fine smooth plumage.
As her hand touched the hawk, a heavy weight was lifted of her chest. She felt like she was freed from years of oppression and despair had been lifted off her and she was now calm and collected. She could have stretched out her arms and flown with the hawk high above all the smog and tension of the city ... and her life.
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Post by Faye Vedette on Aug 1, 2006 20:45:20 GMT
The scene was fading now, plummeting back into the roaring cold darkness of Grace's mind. The crying girl and the yelling man vanished, and once more they were floating in the Void...
Grace had the sparrow hawk perch on her arm, its tallons gently pressing on her skin so as not to scratch her. Faye whipped away her cold tears. "Do you know what this means, Grace?" she asked, her voice echoing.
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