The Witch of Storn

Chapter 26

Long after she could no longer hear Zaria moving about below her, Rey lay awake, staring up at the ceiling. The house was dark around her; even the brilliant moon was clouded by the curtains drawn over the window. The room was shrouded in darkness, creating twisted forms out of the objects she knew were different in the light of day.

Just like her thoughts. Dark, loathing, and in need of light to make everything look as it truly was. It was still night though, so she supposed until dawn came she would have to wrestle with the darkness that weighed her down.

Things are not as bad as you're making them out to be, one inner voice said, sounding a lot like Zaria strangely.

Oh yeah? What's good about any of this? This was Rey herself, the voice she acknowledged as her own.

There was no answer.

See? You can't even name one thing that I should be happy about! Someone is trying to kill me, I'm injured and in debt to a witch, I'm lost, I died because my best friend orchestrated her own k********g to take me out—

You don't know that.

If the voice was a real person Rey would have punched it. She wanted to punch herself. Why was she still defending Helene, even after everything? Always it was Rey who took responsibility for whatever Helene had done; paying her bail, nursing her when she got sick from too much partying, lending her money that she never returned! After all of that, what did she do?

The voice was silent. This time there was no way to justify Helene's actions, no matter how much Rey tried.

The cold truth was that Rey had been sold out by her best friend, by the girl she considered to be her own blood. It was not a sphere you could turn around to see why things had turned out that way; it was a flat piece of paper, with both sides exactly the same.

The voice tried again, hesitantly. You don't know that she tried to murder you; maybe it was something else—

Shut up, Rey seethed. The voice went quiet, feeling the pent-up rage boiling and willing to erupt at the slightest provocation. Rey knew it was still there though; ready to play the angel on her shoulder. What irked her most about the voice was that it was hers. For some reason she still wanted to forgive Helene; she didn’t want to believe that Helene had orchestrated everything in order to have her killed. If Helene truly wanted to kill her, poison was the easiest option. Rey would have taken anything from Helene, even if it was the green tea she detested, and Helene knew that.

That’s why she planned the k********g. She knew no matter what happened you’d come for her. Because that’s what family does.

Rey clapped her hands over her ears and shut her eyes tight, as if blocking out her surroundings would work. It didn’t, but she left them that way, needing something to ground her.

She wanted to let loose the scream trapped in her chest. Doing that would bring Zaria to her door in a flash though. She wished she could tell the older woman about her troubles – Zaria was a great listener in spite of her attitude. But how do you tell someone that the body you’re occupying isn’t even yours? Rey would have to deal with this on her own. She didn’t want to. It was too painful.

She couldn’t keep avoiding it forever though. One day she would have to deal with it.

There’s nothing to deal with though. I’m dead, and that’s the end of it. What was she supposed to do? Forgiveness sounded like a good idea, but could she forgive? Then again what was the point of holding onto a grudge against a person you couldn’t even get revenge on?

Her thoughts ran on and on until finally she fell asleep, tear tracks staining her cheeks.

                                                            ******

“Ugh. Why am I here again?”

“Believe me; I am not jumping with joy at your presence. I had hoped it was good riddance the last time,” the last part was said under their breath.

“Hey! I can hear you, you know.”

“So you can.”

The being, looking the same as the last time Rey had seen them, rolled their eyes at Rey.

“Welcome back, Rhaenar.”

“It’s Rey, not Rhaenar.”

The being gave her a smug look. “No it’s not.”

She stared at the being for a moment. Obviously they wanted to dangle whatever this was over her head so she evaded the argument.

“Fine. Why is it Rhaenar instead of Rey?”

The being sunk a little in their now modest chair and pouted at Rey. She wished she could unsee it.

“You’re no fun. Boring humans. Well, it’s because you are now Rhaenar.”

Rey frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense; I am Rey and Rhaenar is Rhaenar. I’m only occupying her body, right?”

The being shot her a grin, one she disliked because it said they knew something she didn’t. Which was to be expected, but she still didn’t like it.

“We’ll get to that soon. I am pleased to inform you that this will be the last time you will be here—“

“Oh thank goodness.”

“Ahem. As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted—“ they shot a withering glare Rey’s way, “—everything has been settled, so all I have to do is give you a little information and send you on your annoying way. We usually don’t do this,” they gave Rey a nasty look when she tried to speak, causing her to shut her mouth, “but since I made so many mistakes,” they spat the word out like it was poison, “They have decided to compensate you a little.”

Oh. That was nice of them?

“Uh, thank you?” Rey had no idea how she was supposed to respond. The being waved her words away.

“Stop talking so I can get this over as soon as possible.”

They picked up a paper from the pile on the table and scanned it, dropping it some moments later.

“Yes, now I remember. First things first: would you like to know anything about Earth before you go back? This will be your one and only chance, so choose wisely.”

Rey’s eyes widened. She could do that? There was only one answer, really.

“I want to know what happened to Helene after I died.”

The being raised an eyebrow and shrugged. They searched the pile until they found what they needed and pulled the paper in question out of the pile. Rey leaned forward as they began to read.

“Let’s see…oh, she confessed to planning the k********g…” Rey’s heart sunk. Helene confessed. Did that mean--?

“…she’s in prison, 4 years behind bars for conspiracy and some other charges…sentence was reduced because she showed true remorse and assisted the police in capturing the kidnappers…she says she didn’t want anyone to die, she just needed the money…oh, she’s your sole inheritor?”

Rey nodded, unable to speak past the lump in her throat.

The being whistled. “That is a lot of money -- not that it matters, she’s giving it away? That’s a lot of guilt for one person.”

“She’s giving it away? But nobody’s going to hire her when she gets out of prison!”

The being shrugged. “That’s her problem, not mine. Is there anything else you would like to know?”

Rey shook her head instantly. She was done; it was enough to know that Helene didn’t mean to kill her. Anything else she could forgive easily.

The being eyed her with distrust. “You aren’t going to start crying, are you?”

Rey glared at them. “Aren’t you supposed to be doing your job?”

The being grumbled a little, picking up the first paper again.

“Ah yes. The other thing you need to know is that you are Rhaenar.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Actually, you were Rhaenar before you were Rey.”

“What? That doesn’t even make any…sense…” a thought occurred to Rey.

The being sighed loudly. “Yes, Rhaenar is one of your past lives.”

Rey froze. It seemed unbelievable, but on the other hand she finally knew why some aspects of her new life weren’t so unfamiliar to her and why no one thought there was anything different about her the first time she had awoken as Rhaenar.

“So that was your mistake?”

The being frowned but nodded. Rey opened her mouth but they beat her to speaking.

“That’s everything and you are hereby forbidden form stepping foot in this space again unless you die and goodbye and good riddance!”

The being stamped the paper in their hand with a stamp that had just popped up from thin air and threw both the stamp and the paper in the air. They disappeared and they gave a loud cheer.

“Finally! I’m free of this case!”

“Err—“

The being snapped their fingers and a portal appeared in front of Rey.

“Goodbye, Rhaenar! See you nevermore!”

Rey rolled her eyes at the waving being and stepped forward, back into her new life. The portal winked out of existence as soon as Rey had disappeared into it and the being slumped in their chair, breathing a sigh of relief. Thankfully nothing had gone wrong this time—

“Nooooooo! I forgot to wipe her memories!”

They stamped their feet over and over, throwing a tantrum. No one was around to console them though, so in a few seconds it was over. The being wiped a hand over their face, turning back to the papers. Rey’s paper wasn’t there and they groaned.

“I forgot, it’s already been approved and archived.”

They sat there for a moment and then they shrugged.

“Oh well. I won’t be able to do anything about it anymore. Plus it’s not like she’ll remember everything.”

They consoled their self and snapped their fingers again. This time it was a door that outlined itself out of empty space. They got up and walked to the door, leaving the space.