Chapter 3
1168 Words
The body on the floor looked like a dirty rag pile. Crumbled and stained with blood. Only the long hair spilled around the head made it visible that it was a woman. Her hand was covering her belly.
The compartment was dark, only a light glow emanated from two figures hovering over the body. Yes, they were glowing, one in white and the other in silver. They were dressed in long robes and a bit translucent. Out of this world.
“Look at her, she tried to be braver than she ever was. And to what outcome? This shouldn’t end like this.” The figure in white robes shook her head and knelt. “I can’t do anything. At least she will soon feel no pain.” Sadness in his voice was overwhelming as he kneeled and stroked the woman’s hair. Bloody stains remained on his fingers.
The second figure, covered in silver robes, grinned and when she did, her perfectly beautiful face took a very wolfish expression.
“There is a way,” she said calmly. The white figure raised his head.
“How?”
“Give her to me.”
The figure stood up. Sadness mixed with consideration on his face.
“And what would I get from it?”
“I would owe you.” The silver one smiled lightly.
“Twice.”
“What do you mean?”
“There are two souls in her.”
“She is with child?” Her voice got excited. The white one nodded. “That’s even better. Give them to me.”
“What will you do with them? They are my children. I have to be sure that you will not harm them.”
“Nothing. I’ll just embrace them and let them live.”
“What are you planning?” He knew his sister, she never did things without a purpose. The silver one smiled lightly again.
“I’ve got many plans, all leading to one outcome. You desire this outcome as much as I.”
“But what will you do with her?”
“I will give her everything if she proves she is worthy. And the child would get even more.”
“How can she prove anything if she doesn’t know she has to?”
“That’s the point, my dear. She will prove herself not because she knows she competes for something. She will show her true self without any factors darkening the picture.”
“I don’t know if you are merciful or cruel when you act like that.”
“It doesn’t matter now. We are out of time, they are coming. These two could divert all the wrongdoing that had already happened. Restore the balance and stop the decay. It may be our last chance. That is why we are here now. When was the last time you personally went to witness an outing? Now, we need to hurry, they will be out in a moment. Decide.”
Just as she said, two white cloudlets separated from the woman’s body. The white figure caught them and gave them to the silver one. She held them delicately, forming a cage for them with her long, pale fingers, muttering something until they turned silver and she put them back in the body.
The woman on the ground stirred lightly.
“It is done,” the white one said. “I just hope you’re not wrong.”
“Of this, I can’t be sure. We are not omnipotent, we can’t change fates, we can only straighten some of the paths.” The silver one walked through the dark corridor to the room where a man was dozing on the couch. She leaned over him, examining his features thoroughly.
“What are you doing?”
“Giving my children better chances,” she grinned and slapped the man on the back of his head. He snorted and his body weakened on the couch. “I can’t make it faster for her, but I can still slow him down and buy her some time. By the way, he was corrupted.”
“Does this mean…”
“Yes,” she interrupted him. “They are far ahead of us. This means there is no time for fair game. And you can’t hold me responsible for doing anything to him. He is no longer yours.”
The white one looked at her in horror. They couldn’t, it would make them no different from those they were fighting.
“I know what you’re thinking. That is why we must act together. You will be my conscience. I will be protecting you from falling into your own flawlessness and righteousness that makes you unable to make this kind of decision. This way we will both be saved and this world with us.”
“Shall we go now?” The white one rubbed his bloody fingers and looked at the silver one with a pitiful expression. She nodded and they both disappeared into thin air.
***
Viola slowly opened her eyes. The pain was gone, all of it. At first, she thought she had some postmortem experience. But no, she was still on the floor in her house. Her body was a material one and there was no light she could follow. She had blood on her hands and torso, but it was dry and it didn’t seem that she had any injuries on her.
Yet something was off, but she decided not to think about it right now. She quickly stood up and gazed into the room. Mason was lying on the couch, apparently sleeping. There was an open bottle of whiskey and a glass on the coffee table.
His laptop was open and the screen emanated cold blue light, making him look as if he was dead. He wasn’t, his chest was rising rhythmically. The Viola from the morning wouldn't do it, but that Viola was well, dead.
She quickly browsed through the laptop’s contents. It only made her more firm in her decision to leave. She emailed some things to her own e-mail and deleted the emails from Mason’s mailbox. These were things to take care of later.
She was truly surprised by her actions and hoped that her newly acquired resilience and self-confidence would remain with her long enough to complete at least the first phase of her runaway.
Viola quickly packed some necessary things and all the jewelry she could find. Some pieces were missing. She rushed to her car and drove into the night.
When the sunrise began, she stopped at the forrest resting place. She didn’t know where she was and where she should go. Then she remembered that there was a phone number at the bottom of one of the articles she had read. The one for abused women. She didn’t remember the name of the organization, but she remembered that the line was 24/7. She dialed it and waited.
“Halo?” said a manly voice.
- Writer
