Lost in Darkness

Lost in Darkness

Prologue

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who in the land is the evilest woman of them all?

You, Bellatrix, are the evilest woman of all.

Bellatrix snorted. She wasn't going to waste her time dignifying the voice's mocking comments with an answer. She had learned over the years that the voice only wanted to get her upset, and she wasn't going to give it that satisfaction.

What's wrong Bellatrix? Surely you must have realized you are the evilest woman of all. Is it starting to bother you?

"No, it isn't. Now shut the hell up," Bellatrix snarled.

She stood up from her bed of the room she had rented from the Knockturn Alley Inn and walked over to the window. The view wasn't very splendid. You could see a small fen growing down by the bakery and wrappers and papers littered the street floors.

That was kind of harsh, Bell. I'm only trying to have a conversation with you.

"The hell you are. Leave me alone. I don't feel much like talking right now," Bellatrix said, crossing her arms moodily, "especially to some voice that only I can hear."

Such rudeness. I suppose I shouldn't expect any better from the evilest woman of all.

Bellatrix ignored the voice's last remark. She turned away from the window and started back toward the bed. The moment she passed the bureau the voice spoke again. Bellatrix looked over her right shoulder at the mirror on the bureau.

There was the voice mocking her on the other side of the mirror, looking exactly like Bellatrix, but not reflecting everything Bellatrix was doing like a normal reflection would do. She was laughing and teasing Bellatrix. She stopped laughing for a moment in which she gazed back at Bellatrix with a serious expression.

"Why don't you just go away, you idiot?" Bellatrix asked rudely. She was starting to get extremely annoyed with the voice and was feeling a sudden urge to just smash the mirror into bits and destroy the babbling voice.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who in the land is the evilest woman of them all? You, Bellatrix, are the evilest woman of all.

She broke into laughter again, and pointed at Bellatrix tauntingly. She knew just how to push Bellatrix's buttons, just how to get Bellatrix's temper high and nostrils flaring. Bellatrix took an angered step closer to the bureau mirror with her hands curled into fists.

Temper, temper. You really don't think your going to get rid of me by breaking this mirror, do you? I'm here to stay, Bell. And, you'll just have to accept me sooner or later.

"Don't call me Bell," Bellatrix whispered.

The Bellatrix on the other side of the mirror laughed again.

I'm sorry, Bellatrix. I didn't mean to hurt your lil' feelings. I've been a very mean girl. I'm sorry. Will you ever be able to forgive me?

She spoke with a small and apologetic frown until she could hold it no longer, and collapsed into giggles again. This time she even had to bury her face in her hands.

"Shut up!" Bellatrix shouted at her, "JUST SHUT UP!"

She didn't. She continued to laugh with her arms around her stomach in pain from so much laughter. She even appeared to be tearing at the eyes. Bellatrix watched herself on the other side of the mirror continue to cackle joyously for a few moments, not knowing what she should do.

"Shut up! GO AWAY!" Bellatrix yelled, moving her arms in anger, "GET OUT OF MY LIFE!" Bellatrix swung her fist at the mirror as hard as she could and shattered it right down the middle. Shards of glass from the mirror fell onto the bureau and the rug. Bellatrix was left with quite a bloodied hand, but a satisfied smile.

There was silence for a few brief moments. Bellatrix grabbed a piece of cloth from her drawer and wrapped it around her bleeding hand. She was left with a satisfaction that she hadn't felt since she had murdered her cousin, Sirius Black.

I bet that hurt. You should really see a Healer about that.

Bellatrix let out a wail and let herself fall onto the edge of her motel room bed. How could the voice still be alive? She had killed it. She was so positive she had murdered it.

Look at the mighty Bellatrix Lestrange now. Crying, because of a voice only she can hear. Pathetic. Plainly pathetic. Why couldn't I be a voice for some other evil monster? I would have been so much more entertained. You're going soft. Even your younger self wasn't this sensitive.

Bellatrix stopped her sob of frustration and opened her eyes, now thinking about something. It was weird to explain, but she was hit with a realization at that moment. Yes, she was a Death Eater. And, yes, she was known all around the magical world for it. But, she had never realized how much she had changed.

It seemed for the past eighteen years or so she had been telling herself she was always like this. She was always ruthless and cold-hearted to everyone she met, but Lord Voldemort. For the first time in a long time, Bellatrix remembered clearly what she used to be like.

Reminiscing? Pathetic. I cannot believe how pitiable you are. So what if you were once actually kind and good-hearted? You're not anymore. You sold your soul to the Dark Lord, in other words, the Devil. You'll never get your soul back. It's gone. It's kaput. It's as dead as the trend of ruffled robes Madam Malkin's Robe Shop started. Face it. You'll have to sooner or later. Or destroy yourself refusing to anyway. Tee-hee.

Bellatrix said nothing. She was in too deep of thought to really hear anything the voice had to say. For the first time in a very long time, Bellatrix was actually missing the person she used to be. The person with so many dreams and hopes; the person that used to smile.

So many people thought she was nothing, but evil. Someone that murdered whoever was in her way, even her family, just to achieve acceptance from her Master Lord Voldemort. And that was what she was. But, she wasn't born that way. Bellatrix used to be a girl with dreams. You used to actually be able to look into her eyes and read her emotion, rather than now looking into her eyes and seeing years of pain and hatred.

What a tale it was to remember for her. It really did feel like that person was her twin and not really she, but it was. Bellatrix looked out dazedly toward the motel window at the falling flakes of snow, and began to remember it all, the whole sad, sorry tale.

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