Amethyst

"Amy I know you're in there. I love you come back to me," Greg begged ignoring the taunting raspy voice. He saw her blink and seem to struggle for a moment.

"Greg?" she asked looking around confused. Six women circled the daybed including her mother. "What's happening?"

"You've been dreaming," he said in relief and pulled her up into his arms again. The women began a whispered chant, and she stiffened in his arms again twisting and contorting. "I love you, stay with me, please Amy stay with me!"

"No!" she cried in a strangled voice and placed her hands to her temples. Greg watched as her eyes rolled and she sneered. "Nice try ladies but I am far too strong for you now." He seemed to look at them all carefully. "Where is the old warlock? I look forward to facing him again and seeing the chagrin on his face. Did he finally leave you, Shelly? Gone never to return?"

"Why would you even care, Simon?" Shelly spat. "Do I detect a chink in your bravado?"

"I'm disappointed not to see him here. I hope nothing untoward happened to him," Amy's face took on a sinister smirk that twisted her features in an unnatural way making Greg recoil as he watched her. A deep guttural laugh broke forth from Amy's throat. "Go home little boy! You are not man enough to take her back from me."

"I'm not fucking around with this anymore, Shelly. I'm taking Amy to the hospital," Greg said clearly rattled by what he was witnessing.

"No, Greg that's not what she needs. If there is any hope of getting her back, she needs to be here. You can call a doctor if you need to, but I won't let you take her anywhere. She came here because she knew I would move heaven and earth to help her and I will," Shelly said in a loud stern voice.

"Witches are Bitches man, take the cue from the old warlock and get out of Dodge, my friend," Simon laughed in a rasping way. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a sexy woman waiting for me to fuck her into the next life."

"No!" Greg shook her shoulders as if trying to shake the spirit free of her. Amy's body hung limply in his arms, and he pulled her to his chest. "Don't leave me," he whispered, "I love you, Amy, please don't leave me."

*****

Amy had been walking through the dark landscape for what seemed like days when she came upon the sunlit waterfall and sat happily in the bright, white light that seemed to warm her from within. It was a long drop and clouds of misted spray rose up obscuring the white water at the end of the waterfall. It looked soft and comforting. She wasn't afraid to be perched on the edge of the stony outcropping high above the falls. She looked up into the bright white light above her and felt its warmth and life. She was content. Happy even despite the surrounding darkness of the forest she had been walking through for so long.

"Amy!" A familiar voice called. "I've been looking for you for hours, did you hit your head or something?"

"I, umm, I don't know," she murmured touching her brow. "I'm a little confused as to how I got here, but it's so nice in the sun maybe I lost track of time?" She stood close to the edge but wasn't afraid. She looked up into the bright white light above her and could see a large white bird circling. It was comforting to her, and she felt at peace somehow knowing it was there.

"Luckily I knew you would be here at our waterfall and came back for you. I love you, step away from the edge and come back to me" Simon said in the begging tone he had heard Greg use with her.

"Greg?" she asked tentatively seeing Simon's shape alter slightly to look more like the man she knew she loved.

"No it's Simon, Greg left, remember. We love each other now, he's accepted it and moved on," Simon said carefully seeing her confusion.

"Greg wouldn't do that. He loves me," she said softly, a great sadness welling up in her.

"He didn't have much choice; we've been fated to be together since time began. No one can fight a true love like that, not even you with your memory problems," Simon caressed her with his words trying to drown out the confusion and anxiety. "Come let's go home," he said gently and held out a hand to her.

"Can't we just sit in the sun for a little while longer?" she asked. "I feel like I have been walking in that dark forest for days."

"We have to go," Simon said sternly looking up at the big white bird. "There's a storm coming, and I want you safe and secure at home when it hits."

"Okay," she sighed and felt strangely frightened by the mention of the storm. She stood teetering on the edge of the ledge, and Simon reached out a hand to steady her and stop her from falling. The hand was ice-cold, and she shrank away from it, but he gripped her tightly. She looked over her shoulder into the waterfall and felt a warmth emanating from the clouds of mist and spray.

"Don't leave me. Please don't leave me," echoed up from the bottom of the chasm.

"Greg?" she tried to pull her hand back struggling with Simon as she looked down into the waterfall. The large white bird swooped down to dislodge the icy hand that held her tightly. Struggling, the grip loosened then she teetered backwards and fell. She opened her mouth to scream...

*****

"Greg?" Amy opened her eyes blinking into the sunlight. "You didn't leave?" she sounded confused.

"I love you why would I leave?" Greg said with more cheer than he felt. He certainly had considered it more than once over the last few days as she lapsed in and out of consciousness. "You need to eat something while you're awake," he said picking up a cup of warm soup and handing it to her.

"Amethyst," Patrick said in a soft loving tone.

"Daddy you came?" she smiled. "Where's Mum?"

"I'm here drink your soup, your father has something to tell you," Shelly said in a no-nonsense tone and Amy turned her eyes back to her father.

"Greg tells me you have been dreaming of the waterfall?" Patrick asked rhetorically and watched her nod as she took a sip of the soup.

"When you were younger something dark and tragic happened there. I took that image of the waterfall and bathed it in white light so brightly that it would drown out all that tragedy and darkness. I made it a safe place for you, a place free of the awful memories that haunted you at the time," Patrick paused and let Amy take that in.

"So he was right you did take away my memories?" she accused.

"With very good reason," he said unapologetically. "If I attempt to hypnotise you and undo that subconscious block you have concerning the events at the waterfall you will be in such a deep state of sleep we may not be able to bring you back. Simon may well take over; do you understand?"

"He already has!" Shelly cried. "She's barely been conscious for a week."

"A week?" Amy shook her head and looked at Greg, who she now saw had dark circles under his eyes. He nodded in confirmation. "I heard you in the waterfall," she stroked his face. "Thank you for believing in me and bringing me back. I know this must be difficult for you."

"You know me, show me proof, and I'm a believer," he smiled lopsidedly. "I've seen some strange things over the last few days, but it doesn't' change how I feel about you. I'm here for the long haul remember."

"Stay with me?" she asked.

"I'm not going anywhere," Greg smiled and kissed her.

It was hard for her to believe she had been wandering in the darkness for a week before finally finding the waterfall. She hadn't remembered waking up at all since being on the daybed, but she assumed she must have by the way they all talked. It was frightening to know she wasn't in control of her world or her body.

"Halloween is in two days?" She asked her mother who nodded. "You have a plan then?" Again her mother nodded without saying anything. "Daddy, just do what Mum wants you to, I trust her to look after me, and as long as Greg doesn't let go, I will be fine." She held his hand in hers and squeezed gently. "I want my memories back, how can I know what to do if I don't have all the information."

"I agree," Greg said. "Amy has the right to face Simon knowing what he did to her."

"I want my memories back," she said quietly, shocked by Greg's words. The name seemed strangely familiar but once again the holes in her memories swallowed the information, and it was no more.

"We thought we were doing the right thing at the time, hiding them from you," Patrick said. "Maybe we could have handled it differently, but no parent wants to stand by and watch their child suffer unnecessarily."

"I understand, but I need to remember, it can't be worse than this," she said helplessly looking around at the people who loved her.

*****

Amy sat on the edge of a footbridge looking down into the chasm below. It was a long drop and clouds of misted spray rose up obscuring the white water at the end of the waterfall. It looked soft and comforting. She wasn't afraid to be perched on the edge of the rickety bridge high above the falls. There was no cliff or stone outcropping she was on a bridge, and she remembered it. She looked up into the bright white light above her and felt its warmth and life. That warmth and light she knew was pure love from her family, especially Greg.

Images of her childhood and adolescence flickered through her mind like a short movie and she smiled as Simon walked across the bridge toward her, she wasn't afraid of him. "I remember you," she said quietly.

"I know," he came to sit beside her. "I can feel it."

She shivered as the cold wind that seemed to accompany him blew around her. She gripped the railing and felt it crumble under her fingers.

"No!" He reached forward as if to grab her hand. "You'll fall again. Come off the bridge, come with me," he pleaded with her staying within the shadows of the trees at the edge of the bridge.

"Let's just stay and talk for a minute, my memory is still a little foggy," she gave a half-hearted smile not wanting to leave the warmth of the light she sat in. She saw him nod, but he came no closer to her. "My memories are just starting to come back. Patrick removed to image he covered them with."

"We grew up together, loving each other. We were best friends from our first days at school," he said wistfully. "I have loved you all my life Amethyst. I will love you for all eternity," he said softly watching her carefully.

"I remember," she laughed. "Do you remember our first time?"

"Best day of my life," he laughed with her. "We could relive it here, we did get better at it over time, or at least I learned some self-control," he said genuinely happy that she remembered what they had meant to each other.

"I don't remember being here with you, though. I don't remember this place at all from those times," Amy said with a frown. "Before when the railing came away you asked me not to fall again. Did I fall here before?"

"You don't remember being here? Even now?" Simon asked his face darkening and the air around her dropping further in temperature.

"I don't remember, honestly!" Amy said, a sense of panic rising within her. She knew there was a danger in remembering that day, and she didn't understand what it was. She felt herself slipping and the air around her tightening its grip as if to stop her from escaping his darkening mood.

"Try to remember!" he demanded making her look at him.

"I am trying, I asked Patrick to give me back my memories but," she shook her head feeling helpless again. She knew she had loved Simon once. She stared at him blankly trying to fathom why he was here scaring her and making her choose between life and death. The noisy rush of life that was the waterfall became louder as she felt the warmth of the sun again for a brief moment and she closed her eyes.

"Try to remember. We have loved each other deeply for the longest of times. Look into my face and try to remember," Simon begged Amy. "They tried to stop us from being together. You must remember why I came here," he yelled at her.

"I don't so tell me instead of playing these games," Amy was becoming frustrated with the holes in her memory.

"Your parents sent you to visit your grandmother, to separate us. I bought a bike and rode for days to get here to see you," Simon said angry that she didn't remember how much he loved her and what he had done to get here and see her. "I need you to remember that you loved me, that you wanted to be with me, no one else. Not now not ever!" Simon growled and grabbed at Amy. She fought against his touch and opened her mouth to scream, but closed it again abruptly.

"I do remember. I did love you. I just don't remember why we came here. I don't know what it is you want from me," Amy sighed. "You're dead, I'm not, tell me why you're playing these games with me!"

"I was never the one who played games. You came here to meet someone else, he got here too late," Simon sneered. "He didn't even care enough to be on time for your rendezvous." She followed his hand to where he pointed at the picnic area below the falls and saw a young man enter and call her name. He can't see us. We were gone by the time he showed up."

"That's my cousin, Keith," Amy said horrified by what Simon was saying. "He worked here for the new owners." The memory flashed into her head. "You were following me?" Memories started to crowd in on her of that day making no sense and adding to her confusion.

"You didn't want me here, what else was I supposed to think," he raged.

"This is why I wanted a break, Simon. I couldn't do anything without you accusing me of cheating. It's ridiculous. I loved you, and you ruined everything by stalking me here to meet my goddamn cousin!" She was angry now. "What happened did you followed me onto this rickety bridge and picked a fight with me over some imaginary guy you dreamed up on your own?" She stood to face him. "Keith was my cousin, my friend, my family! What happened Simon? Did you push me? Force me over the edge? Decide that if you couldn't have me, no one could in some melodramatic moment of despair?"

"I didn't mean to," he cried loudly. "How did I know who he was?"

"You should have known who I was and trusted me," she accused. "You should have left me alone like I asked. You came here to kill me and thought you had succeeded," she spat.

"I never meant to kill you. I didn't come here to kill you. Things got out of control," Simon cried out in guilt and anguish faced with her anger and accusations.

"So what now? Do you plan to kill me again so that I can walk in the darkness with you forever?" She asked. "That will never happen because I will never forgive you. I loved you once but I never will again. Even with my memories, our love paled in comparison to what I have now. Look at me, look at my face, I'm older than you, I've changed. I'm not the same girl you loved and who loved you. Let me go, get out of my head and leave me alone," she demanded. "I will never be yours again."

"That's where you are wrong!" Simon stepped out of the shadows onto the sunlit bridge with her closing the distance between them in a just a few quick strides. He grabbed her then and spun her to face him. "I plan to save you. Save you from your meddling parents and that loser Greg who fucks you all the time!"

Amy was frozen to the spot, not just by his words by the sheer sight of him. Simons translucent skin was stretched over an emaciated physique like some day of the dead parody. His dark hair had grown and hung limply to his shoulders, and his hollow eyes looked large and round in the skeletal face.

"When you fell I thought you were dead and searched for days with the emergency services," he admitted. "When they finally called the search off I followed you into the darkness, only you weren't here! You left me here on my own! So now I have brought you here to spend eternity with me. Where no one and nothing can come between us again."

"You can't keep me here, Simon," she tried to reason with him hiding her revulsion. "I don't love you anymore.It's been too long. I'm a different person now. We were just kids, I've grown up since the day you ruined both of our lives. I don't love you anymore," she repeated.

Amy looked down into the swirling clouds of mist below her. She understood now that falling was her way to escape Simon and this place. She knew the people who loved her waited there.

"I can keep you here trapped for all eternity," he snarled. "You will learn to love me again!"

"You could, but this place isn't real, nothing about this is real. Why would you want this?" Amy asked. "Every time you bring me here you will have to relive my death," she said sadly. "I can forgive you for the fight and making me fall from the bridge. I can forgive you for killing yourself and leaving me with the guilt of knowing you did that because of me. I can forgive you all those things and remember with love and warmth for all that we shared. If you trap me here, though, I will only remember the jealousy and possessiveness that destroyed our love in the first place. Look at yourself, do you think I won't recoil whenever you try to touch me?"

"Then I would rather you were dead than see you love someone else!" Simon raged and advanced on her.

In panic, Amy stepped off the bridge opened her mouth and called Greg's name hearing it echo around her. The darkness chased her downwards, and she heard Simon's whispering word, "Sleep."

This time, she did not wake when the mist surrounded her. Instead, she seemed to stay in that insubstantial whiteness just out of reach of the ominous dark cloud that was Simon for what seemed an eternity.

*****

"I'm here," Greg said gently cradling Amy in his arms.

"You might be, but Amethyst isn't" Simons deeper rasping voice spoke into Greg's ear making him drop her. "You can go home now. Amythest has decided to stay with me."

"So what's the plan, Simon? Keep her trapped there with you for a few days until she dies of dehydration and starvation? Then be separated from her forever?" Patrick said matter-of-factly. You know someone as sweet as Amethyst would never be doomed to walk the void with you,"

"Better option than letting him have her. You know he fucks her? Treats her like his own personal whore? You should see the things he does to her. It's not me you should be worried about here, old warlock," Simon growled.

"I've never seen her happier or more in love," Patrick shrugged. "She's a grown woman with a healthy sex life. Greg seems like a reasonable guy, and he obviously loves her or else he would have run for the hills weeks ago when you showed up."

"What's he fucking you now too with that giant cock of his?" Simon sneered. "You sound like your in love with him too."

"Can't say that I've had the pleasure," Patrick chuckled. "Impressive," he clapped Greg on the back trying to get him to snap out of the stunned look he was giving Simon. "So was that the plan, Simon? We get rid of Greg, and you give her back to live like a nun for the rest of her life?"

"Sounds like a plan but not what I had in mind. This is no longer a negotiation, Patrick. Leave her alone. I have her now," Simon threatened, and Amy's body went limp again as he departed.

"We gave her the time and information, but he was too strong. It's time to act and if you don't I will," he spoke directly to Shelly.

"Greg carry her to the small courtyard in her room," Shelly instructed ignoring Patrick with a shake of her head.

*****

Amy felt the mist beneath her strengthen and become solid as if she lay on a ledge with her feet dangling off the edge. She concentrated on the feeling, and the mist began to evaporate to show her on a ledge within the waterfall. The spray spread over her and her feet dangled into the rushing water making it bubble around her calves.

The great white bird appears above the waterfall again, and she marvelled at it as it flew higher. As she watched, small flaming specks dropped down toward her, and she realised the bird was flying too close to bright white light that kept her from the darkness surrounding her. The feathers flamed out in the spray of the water and the bird now fully alight with fire swooped and dived down toward her.