Chapter 21 - ROSA
835 Words
Lying down in the dark, counting the hours till death is the strangest feeling. Regrets I didn’t even know I had, coil around my neck and suffocate me, hissing like snakes. The stupidest thoughts course through my head. Like how much I would have liked to punch Eric in the face at least once.
“That’s not a bad idea.” The creature’s voice almost makes me jump. “But I doubt you would have survived after that.”
“How did…”
“A monster that plays with minds. That is what I am, right?”
The thing is coming closer. I feel dread pooling in the pit of my stomach. My wrists and ankles struggle uselessly against the restraints.
“Ember…Ember…Ember…” It laughs. “How long will it take to penetrate your head that I mean no harm. I want the good for this world.”
“And good in your language is burning everything down?”
The Shadow tilts its head. “No…Good is ensuring that things that shouldn’t exist are erased.”
“I am not even going to try to understand what you mean.” I flinch a little as the Shadow extends its hand towards me. It touches me on the forehead with one long thin finger, right between my eyebrows.
“Who decides which Fairies should keep magic and which doesn’t? Who decides how humans should live?”
“You are talking about Siren…”
The thing laughs. “Not just the Siren, my dear. All those Fairies in their high and mighty thrones, not lifting a finger to stop a child from being killed. Not lifting a finger to stop you from being locked up in the basement of the Academy.”
“I don’t blame them for me. I could have been cursed.”
“But you do blame them for the death of the girl…” I can taste the malice in its voice. It is the same kind of evil I sense in Siren every time she twists and manipulates her way into something.
“I do,” I say. “But that doesn’t mean I want to kill them. If I do…If I use my grief as an excuse for despicable actions, I am no different than Siren.”
On hearing my words the thing throws back its head and laughs. The sound echoes strangely in the basement, slithering like snakes along the walls and plunging deep into my ears. My hands try to move instinctively to cover my ears but the restraints cut into them.
“A noble fool…You know…You do have a lot in common with her.”
“Her?”
“The Guardian who was initially in charge of you. She was…in the most basic human term possible, the angel on Siren’s shoulder.”
It is my turn to laugh. “There is no one in Dreamscape like that. The most loyal person to Siren is Knight and he…”
“What if I told you there used to be another one?”
“You do understand you are wasting your energy, right? I am dead at dawn. Your manipulations should be used on someone else.”
The Shadow leans towards me, whispering in my ear. “Are you saying you want to die, my sweet little Ember? I can’t really let that happen, you know.”
“Why the hell not!” I blurt out. The air is cold, and as much as I would like to look away, my gaze is fixed on the creature in front of me. The swirling mass of smoke that is its face appears to be smiling. I can feel the grotesque expression of compassion on it.
“You are important.” It says simply. “I can’t simply let you slip away into the good night…”
“You want to make me a murderer.” A myriad of emotions course through me. “You want me to kill my kind. You want me to destroy the entire damn world!”
“Oh, poor Ember…” The thing strokes my cheek. I flinch, feeling the sudden urge to vomit. “Does that t*****e you?”
“I will die just to make you go away.”
“I am not your monster, Ember. I thought we already had this conversation.”
It was pure exhaustion that makes me ask the question. “Whose monster are you then. Who wants the world to burn so much that created you? And who sent you to me?”
The thing c***s his head to one side. “Let me tell you a story, my dear. A story in which a young fairy wandered into a truth she shouldn’t have seen.”
- Writer
