Reasoning those mind games

Chapter 11

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On the mid world

****"****

Mariah moved quickly, her focus entirely on keeping Tracy anchored to existence. The Mid World was unstable-one slip, one emotional collapse, and Tracy would be lost into the void without return.

"Tracy respond.. can you hear me. Hold on Don't give up." Mariah shouts in dread as Tracy limps in her arms and starts to fade out. Her soul starts getting dim. She was actually slipping into the void.

"Oh my goodness Tracy no no no goddammit! You can not go to the void... oh no this is not happening!.. what do I do .. what do I do" she left Tracy, turned around grabbing her hair and breathing heavily, she started to pacr up and down the room.

Tracy fell back on bed and closed her eyes.

Mariah took a deep breath and softened her expression, deliberately forcing herself into a calm and controlled state. Confidence had to be projected here. panic was only making the Mid World more unstable as well as Tracy's soul.

"No this can not happen. Tracy you can't die. You have to fight it. What do I do" Memory from when she when she had faced a situation like this before flashed before her eyes.

She was sitting beside a calm riverside when all of a sudden a loud thunder broke the peace. suddenly there were broken pieces of wood rushing down with water and dead bodies floating around. Mariah started shaking out of fear at the sight.

Tracy flickered.

Uhh ok Mariah calm down first. Your fear and panic will make things worse. " she stopped walking and started taking deep breaths to calm herself down.

"That's it girl, stay cool, stay positive.,"

For a moment, she was gone completely. Mariah was scared but remained positive and strong.

She walked back to Tracy and sat beside her trying to stay as contained as she could.

"Im here girl. I'm with you. Stay strong."

She smiled , holding Tracy's hand and started to hum a song in her language.

Μάτια λαμπερά, μαργαριτάρια τ' ουρανού

Μαλλιά που ανεμίζουν, κύματα του ωκεανού

Πάρτε την δυστυχία,

Με το χαμόγελο γιατρέψτε τον πόνο του μυαλού.

Χρυσό μου σπουργίτι γύρισε πίσω.

Γύρισε κι έλα κοντά σε μένα.

Μόνη ποτέ δεν θα σ'αφήσω.

Σκληρά θα παλέψω μόνο για σένα.

(Shining eyes like pearls in the sky.

Waving hair like ocean waves.

Take the misery away and

Cure the pain of the mind with a smile

My golden sparrow come back

Come back and return to me

I will never let you feel alone

I'll fight for you with all I have)

****

Drowning in darkness Tracy felt completely numb. Floating in heart of nothingness but black she was lost and helpless. With no hope or way to contain herself Tracy's soul began to give up as if it has decided to accept this darkness as her fate.

She took a deep breath for one last time and closed her eyes.

Sighing shakily, just as she was about to let go a sweet woman's voice poured through her ears,like a new life in her.

The song and rhythm worked like a magic spell slowly illuminating rays of hope around.

"No . I can't give up!"

Tracy thought and with this new wave of confidence and strength she forced herself up.

****

Tracy came back into the midworld with a sharp gasp, as if she had been pulled out of deep ocean.

Mariah didn't waste a second.

"Tell me how long you were gone," she demanded immediately.

Tracy blinked, disoriented. Her voice came out shaky.

"I... I don't know. It felt like minutes... maybe ten.. or.. ."

Mariah's expression tightened.

"That's too long," she interrupted flatly.

"In your world, they will declare you dead in six hours. You have only two hours left before your body is sealed off completely."

Tracy's gaze sharpened at that.

"So I don't have time," she inquired breathlessly.

"You don't," Mariah confirmed.

There was a brief silence between them.

Then Tracy straightened up, stubbornness cutting through her exhaustion.

"I'm not leaving without Clara."

Mariah studied her for a long moment, as if weighing something unseen. It felt like nostalgia had hit her strong. Her instincts told her that no matter what, Tracy wasn't giving up on her word

something inside her finally made her give up. she exhaled slowly.

"...Fine," she said at last. "I'll help you."

Tracy didn't relax.

"It won't change my decision."

"I wouldn't expect it to," Mariah replied assertively with a frown.

A pause followed, heavy, deliberate.

Mariah finally broke the silence, her tone turning colder, more serious.

"It's not easy though or.."

Tracy met her gaze without hesitation.

"I'm ready."

That answer made Mariah pause for a fraction of a second longer than necessary.

Then she nodded once.

"There is only one way out of the Mid World," Mariah sighed. "A sacrifice."

This time Tracy didn't interrupt.

Mariah continued, her voice lowering slightly, as if speaking about something she had long stopped being at peace with.

"I was not always like this..."

she spoke softly. Her eyes glistened with tears she was trying hard to keep in.

"I wasn't mortal. I gave up my immortality once... to save a man from a shipwreck."

Her pupils dilated faintly.

"I loved him," she admitted with broken breath, though it sounded more like a fact than a confession.

"And because of that choice, I was bound here.

Tracy's heart beat a little too loud.

"I will remain trapped until my revenge is taken."

The last words lingered in the air like something unfinished.

Then Mariah's gaze returned to Tracy quickly as if shrugging out of a deep ocean of trauma.

"Since you came here as a sacrifice for Clara, there is a possibility, small, but real.. that the rules might allow you both to leave."

Mariah practically mumbled those words in a single go ,followed by a long sharp inhale.

Tracy absorbed that without hesitation. Although she was feeling bad for Mariah somewhere in her heart... The weight of it didn't seem to slow her down.

She lifted her chin slightly.

"Even if there's only one percent chance," she said firmly, "I'll take it."

Her eyes hardened with conviction.

"I'm Daniel Field's daughter I don't have a quit in my dictionary!." Tracy finished as if motivating herself.

But for Mariah, something else was more trancing.

Daniel's name landed heavily in the space between them, hitting Mariah with a chill wave. Mariah froze.

For the first time, her expression shifted just slightly, but enough to show something beneath her controlled exterior.

Her eyes widened and a tear she had successfully kept in until now betrayed her and trickled down her cheek .

But just as quickly as it appeared, she buried it again.

She quickly wiped the tear from her cheek before Tracy could question it she spoke in a firm serious tone.

"Forget what you just saw," she said coldly, turning away from her. "And listen carefully."

The atmosphere around them shifted again. The walls of the Mid World trembled faintly, as though the place itself was breathing. Tracy gulped her urge to hug Mariah right then and shook her head.

Mariah walked toward the doorway before stopping abruptly.

"From this point onward," she said quietly, "you cannot trust anyone here."

Tracy frowned slightly.

"What does that mean?"

"It means this world feeds on fear, grief, and desperation," Mariah replied as Tracy got up and started following her.

"Not everything that looks human is human. Some souls lose themselves here. Some become monsters."

Her eyes darkened.

"And some enjoy trapping others."

Tracy swallowed hard but nodded firmly.

"Clara is somewhere above us," Mariah continued. "The Mid World shifts constantly, so the stairs will not behave normally."

"Huh?" Tracy shook her head trying to wrap everything around it.

Mariah stepped toward the staircase forming slowly out of darkness beside the room. Tracy followed Mariah's gaze and then only it started to make sense. The stairs twisted unnaturally upward into shadows that seemed endless. Before, when Tracy had tried to climb up she didn't look that closely but now she could make out the patterns somewhat.

"You don't climb them like ordinary stairs," Mariah paused to make sure Tracy was all ears , and continued..

. "The Mid World reacts to emotion. If you panic, the stairs will stretch forever. If you lose focus, they'll lead you somewhere else."

Tracy stared upward uneasily.

"So how do I get through?"

Mariah gave her a disappointing gaze as if Tracy had asked a stupid question. But judging from the seriousness of her expression, she let it slide.

"You keep your mind fixed on Clara. Nothing else. Don't stop. Don't look behind you no matter what you hear."

Tracy nodded slowly.

"And you?" she asked.

Mariah hesitated for a moment before answering.

"I can't go with you."

"Why not?"

"Because the souls here know me," Mariah admitted quietly. "If I go too far, they'll come for us before you ever reach Clara."

Tracy clenched her fists in a mix of fear, nervousness and understanding.

"Great," she muttered nervously. "No pressure."

Mariah almost smiled at that.

Almost.

"Just keep moving," she said softly. "And Tracy..."

Tracy looked back at her.

"Don't ..." She warned sternly pointing towards her eyes.

Tracy nodded and with a deep breath, stepped onto the staircase.

The moment her foot touched the first step, the entire stairway groaned softly like something alive. Darkness shifted around her as the stairs stretched upward floor after floor.

****

At first, the climb seemed normal.

Then whispers began.

Faint voices echoed from below.

"Tracy..."

Her heartbeat quickened.

"Please don't leave me..."

The voice sounded painfully familiar.

Clara.?? She though for a second as her instincts almost made her turn towards the voice.

Tracy immediately stopped herself from turning around.

NO...

Mariah's words echoed in her head,warned her. Tracy immediately stopped herself from turning around.

She clenhed her jaw and continued climbing.

The higher she went, the stranger the Mid World became. Some floors appeared abandoned, filled with endless hallways drowned in shadows. Others looked disturbingly normal, except everything inside them was frozen in silence.

Time did not feel real there.

Tracy must have reached like fourth or fifth floor hallway .. or was it 35th??.. she had lost count of floors focusing more on Clara. But this was different. When she was almost halfway through to the staircase of next floor , she finally felt a presence behind her.

Clara?? She thought and froze in her tracks. Tracy stood there for a while her mind racing between weather she should trust her instincts and move on or look back to see if it's Clara.

After a few long and hard seconds of silence, Tracy decided to go with her gut and turn around, but before she could twitch a muscle, a sweet voice broke the silence inducing a shock down her spine...

"Hello..."

Tracy's gasped in horror as her eyes flung open wide. One word was enough to flush out the color of her skin.