by RJ Pritchett
“That’s a lie!” Rebellia said.
“Well, let me test your theory out,” Orion said with a smile before turning back to Faye. “Okay, Faye. Tell me how Quentin died.”
Quentin and Rebellia exchanged confused looks while Faye put on her own confused expression. “He… he died in a… car crash. Right?”
“Did he tell you his entire story? Do you know exactly who this man truly is?”
“Ignore him!” Rebellia shouted to Faye, “Don’t let him-”
“Quentin-?” Faye looked at Quentin and then Rebellia. Quentin looked away and sulked, chains holding his limbs in place. He avoided eye contact when she looked back at him.
“Quentin, would you like to tell her, or should I?” Orion asked, paying little attention to Rebellia’s shouts.
“Go to hell,” Quentin said, still avoiding eye contact. His eyes were locked on the marble floor.
Orion laughed, “I guess that means I’ll have to do the honors. Don’t worry, Faye. I’ll give you the shortened version. I won’t drag this out. Long story short, Quentin here had a niece that was killed during a class field trip to the zoo… a tragedy like none other. He was so sad about his niece getting killed that he started drinking… a lot. Quentin here got lost in the alcohol bottle every chance he got. His family understood his pain, but they couldn’t stand to see Quentin self-destruct over time. They wanted him to go to rehab after a while, but he refused. After the intervention, he was upset with his entire family. He felt that they didn’t care as much about little McKayla the same way he did. He hopped in his truck and drove away to clear his mind. With the alcohol bottle in the passenger seat, he drove. In broad daylight, the road was blurry, and he didn’t see that the light was red. He crashed his truck. Once realizing what just happened, his mind was conflicted. He didn’t know what to do, so he listened to the voice in his head that told him to just drive away and not look back. Quentin left you there, Faye. He left you lying in the street after he ran you over. He left you to die.”
Daphne gasped.
“And Rebellia knew all about it, but she never told you a thing out of fear that you would finally get closure from your life and depart this world, leaving her behind. She kept the truth from you because of her own selfish reasons to keep you here. She knew Quentin’s real story because she was there when Quentin told me,” Orion stared as Rebellia shouted obscenities, and threats while trying to break free. “You weren’t her lover, Faye. You was her prisoner. A prisoner bound by love and greed.”
“Why-?”
“Faye! Look at me!” Rebellia called out.
“This man is the reason you won’t be seeing your parents for a very long time. This man recklessly drove while intoxicated and ran you over. This man told Rebellia and I about it as soon as he remembered, but they decided to keep it a secret even though I offered to tell you myself to cushion the blow a little bit.”
Rebellia’s eyes blurred as she could feel tears coming, but not a single drop left her eyes. She stared at Faye, who just looked around with the same confused look. “Why…?” Faye didn’t know what she wanted to ask. Many questions filled her mind.
“I’m sorry, Faye,” Quentin stared at the floor, “I should’ve told you a long time ago, but I didn’t want you to hate me forever. Rebellia wanted to tell you a while back, but I kept telling her that I was going to do it. I kept telling her that I felt that the time to tell you was approaching, but sadly, I never built up the courage to tell you. I was in a fucked up state of mind back then. I couldn’t live with myself after McKayla passed. She was like a daughter to me. I did drugs to calm myself; I drunk so much alcohol that I was no longer in control of my thoughts or actions. I’m sorry, Faye if that means anything to you. We both died because of that accident. When realizing what I did, and that I could never go back from it, I drove into the nearest body of water. I know you won’t-” Quentin finally looked up… but Faye was no longer there.
“You son of a bitch!” Rebellia roared squirming in her chains. The chains stayed sturdy, keeping her in place. “I’m going to fucking kill you! I swear to fucking God as soon as I get my hands on you, I’ll fucking destroy you! You son of a-!”
“She’s in a better place now. You should be happy for her,” Orion said, walking towards the screaming, kicking woman he had shackled to the walls of the dark room they were inside. Orion pressed his gloved left hand against Rebellia’s lower torso and she immediately felt the shockwaves traveling through her soul. She shook, and her eyes widened and darkened.
“I’m g-g-going to f-fuck-king kill… you,” she managed to say before passing out again.
“Okay,” Courtney said, “because we’re already dead, that means… we can’t get killed. I always wanted to wrestle a grizzly bear, but my big brother told me that I couldn’t because I would get killed.”
“Why would you want to fight an animal?” Faye giggled, “animals are to be loved, not fought against.”
“I saw a man wrestle a bear on TV. It was the coolest thing ever. He didn’t even die.”
“That bear was probably tamed,” Faye said.
“Wow. There’s so much I can do now,” Courtney said beaming from ear to ear. She stopped smiling to squint her eyes as if it helped her see the person she looked at better. “Who’s that?”
“Oh, that’s a new girl that came here right before you. She doesn’t talk much though.”
“Let’s go say ‘Hi’ to her,” Courtney grabbed Faye’s hand and ran towards the girl, grabbing the girl’s attention immediately, “Hey, I’m Courtney.”
“… Hi, Courtney,” the girl said, looking away from the book she was reading. Her full head of hair was tied into a single braid wrapped around her head like a halo.
“What’s your name?” Courtney asked.
“… Rebellia,” the girl said, “They call me that around here.”
“She didn’t remember her name when she first came here,” Faye explained to Courtney. Orion picked her brain, spoke with her, and they both ultimately agreed on that nickname for her until she could remember her real name.”
Chapter 12 (Playing God)
“The world won’t end until science becomes the new religion.”
Daphne’s cries heightened as she saw Rebellia’s body hanging from the chains, motionless. “You… monster,” she sobbed, looking at the wall next to her where Faye once was. The only thing left in that space was loose chains that hang with no purpose. As she lowered her head, her long blue hair covered her face.
“I’m not a monster,” Orion said with a smile, “I’m actually far from being a monster. You know what I just did? I saved Faye. I saved the woman that betrayed me to run off with this blasphemous bitch,” he nudged Rebellia’s head and watched as her head tilted, and then fell back to its original position. “Faye is in a much better place because of me. That’s the purpose of this world, Daphne. That’s the purpose of this world, Quentin and the rest of you. None of us are meant to stay here forever. This is a world where you prepare for the next life, not create another life of your own. What this woman is doing here is against God’s will. I’m not a monster. I’m simply a messenger of the God I serve. You see, Daphne. Your soul was delivered directly to me before she stole you away. You are a special case. The first of many like you. I know all about you as I told you before. I know how you lived, how you died, I know why your hair is blue, I know why you were unable to talk, and I know why you found it hard to walk upon entering this world. I also know that you entered this world with full memory of the life you lived before, but you never told anyone even after your voice returned. You fit right into the group of liars that stole you from me. I also know that… if she didn’t steal you from me, history would’ve repeated itself. Your life, and mine.”
“I’m… gonna kill… you,” Rebellia grunted. Her voice was a bit shaky and her eyes twitched mid-sentence as she opened them.
“You work fast,” Orion sounded impressed when he turned to Rebellia,
“Thank God you’re awake though. I want you to hear this too. You see-”
“You’re dead!” Rebellia shouted, “You’re fucking dead!”
“I know, thanks for reminding me,” Orion sighed, “Daphne, please tell Rebellia to save her questions and comments until the end.”
“I’m going to destroy you and burn this fucking place to the ground.”
“Well, you pretty much already did that…” Orion said, “but right now I’m building a new place for my people. It’ll be in the form of a church. Let’s see if you find it in your evil heart to destroy that one.”
“Fuck your church. Fuck you and everything you stand for. The two of us are going to get obliterated. I fucking swear.”
“You don’t have that power,” Orion said, “however…” he reached down to pick up the glove he once threw to the floor, “I do. You see, Rebellia. If I really put my mind to it, I have the power to obliterate someone with these gloves on. I can obliterate you right now if I wanted to.”
“Do it,” Rebellia said, “obliterate me right now, you fucking coward!”
“Don’t tempt me, girl,” Orion said, snapping his glove back over his hand. “I have orders to help heal your broken soul. You may have given up on me, but I haven’t given up on you. Okay, back to you, Daphne,” he turned and walked closer to the blue haired girl. With his gloved fingers, he reached out towards her, she flinched and continued to shudder as he felt her hair with his thumb and index finger. “You were looked at as an abomination by outsiders because of your natural- or should I say unnatural hair. Before you were even a fetus, your parents chose this hair color for you. They also chose the color of your eyes. They chose the color of your hair and eyes to mark you as pure for the world to see by the orders of their cult leader. All of this was possible due to the help of science. Scientists are well-known for attempting to disprove the idea of God while trying to become Gods themselves. Your DNA was tampered with before you took your first breath of life. Being a ‘designer baby’ usually wouldn’t help you in a world that refuses to accept people who are different than themselves, but you were very fortunate. You were marked as pure, and the leader of your parents’ cult treated you well. Even after your parents were killed for trying to escape. You know about cults, so being here with Rebellia is nothing you can’t handle. Question is, how long before you turn on her too? How long before you see her wicked ways and stand up against her? You know, when you were paralyzed from the waist down, you blamed God. You resented God for paralyzing you, you resented God for allowing you to be born into a cult, you’ve also burned a Bible before to impress the man your parents worshipped once upon a time. The reason you are here, Daphne… is because you misplaced your faith and never corrected your mistakes.”
“I’m going to… kill you,” Rebellia said.
“You see, as time goes by and technology gets more advanced, humans tend to use their new technology to tamper with nature. It happens all the time. Weather machines, deforestation, genetic engineering, cloning, amongst many other ways. That needs to stop. Nature is not to be tampered with. The more nature is mocked by scientists playing God, the more it will lash out with a vengeance.”
“Yeah, Rebellia,” Orion said, sitting down at the table across from where Rebellia sat looking down at the writing on a piece of paper, “when we enter this world, we all revert back to our natural states. No make-up, no piercings, tattoos, hair dye, or skin conditions.”
“I figured,” Rebellia said, “all that other stuff is unnecessary anyway.”
“You’re a very strange girl,” Orion said, laughing. Rebellia didn’t. “I mean that in a good way. You think differently than a lot of women your age. How old were you when you died? Eighteen?”
Rebellia shrugged, “I believe so.”
“You could pass for eighteen, and I mean that in a non-creepy way,” Orion said, laughing some more.
“-Can I ask you a question?” Rebellia asked, flipping the page over to see the contents on the back of it.
“Sure,” Orion nodded, “I encourage all my students to ask whatever’s on their mind.”
“That intern of yours. What’s her deal?” Rebellia asked.
“Oh, Faye? I found her in the same place we found Courtney. Beneath that willow tree out there. It’s the only willow tree I’ve seen around these parts. People jokingly refer to it as the ‘Tree of Knowledge’. I found her, she was confused much like everyone else that enters this world. I took her in and-
Orion paused when the door behind him opened. When he turned around, he saw Courtney, Faye and another guy walking into the room they sat in. Courtney pulled the guy by his arm as he nervously submitted to her.
“Orion! Orion! Look! Faye and I found somebody. He was just sleeping outside, just like I was when you found me. We rescued him!”
“Does he have a name?” Orion asked, standing up. He stood about a foot taller than the stranger that accompanied Courtney and Faye into the room.
“Uh… the name’s Quentin,” the new guy shook Orion’s outstretched hand, “I was told that you can explain to me exactly where I am…”
“Oh… Yes,” Orion said, “can you ladies give Quentin and I a second to talk?”
“Okay,” Courtney grabbed Faye’s hand and walked her to the door.
“I think I’ll stick around,” Rebellia said with her arms folded, “I still have more questions.”
“Nature is one opponent that humans can never win a war with,” Orion said, staring at Quentin who just hung his head, saddened by the preceding event. “No matter how much they think they control it. It just can’t happen. Nature’s too unpredictable for the mind of mere humans to comprehend.”
“I’m going to fucking kill you.”
A knock on the door prevented Orion from responding to Rebellia’s umpteenth threat. All eyes were now on the door, aside from Rebellia’s eyes which were too busy shooting daggers in Orion’s direction.
Daphne, Quentin, and Orion all saw the newcomers. A group of people all dressed in black with those familiar black and silver masks covering each of their faces. Rebellia finally looked at the group as one of its members stormed towards her. The person grabbed Rebellia’s face and pushed it with her hand. “Not so tough now are you, Bitch?” a woman’s muffled voice emanated from the other side of the mask. Rebellia kicked and screamed in retaliation, eager to exact revenge on the person that taunted her. This person removed their mask to reveal her face to everyone in the room. A woman with short curly black hair, brown eyes, and a scowl that matched Rebellia’s. “Yeah, that’s right. Just sit right there and do nothing,” the woman smiled as Rebellia lunged for her again to no avail.
“Hello, Vivian. Nice of you to join us. Nice for all of you to join us,” Orion said, smiling and clapping his gloved hands slowly.
Vivian looked around at everyone else shackled to the wall of the church, “This is all we could get? I thought there were more of them in the forest.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” A muffled voice from her group nodded, “There were seven in total that we caught. The rest got away.”
“Then why am I only counting six?” Vivian asked.
“That’s because Faye… You remember Faye, right? My former assistant. Long brown hair, beautiful eyes, sometimes wore glasses to look smarter than she actually was?”
“Yeah.”
“Sadly, she left us,” Orion said, his head lowered, and he wiped a fake tear from his eyes with his right sleeve.
“Wow, really? And I missed it? Oh, I would’ve loved to see the look on little miss free world’s face when her little girlfriend moved on without her,” Vivian smiled at Rebellia, “How’d she do it?”
“Well, a little someone in this room revealed her killer to her, and that was enough,” Orion stared at Quentin, “She was gone before he was even able to get his apology out. She was wondering why these two hid the truth from her but she didn’t stay long enough for their pathetic excuses.”
“Oh,”
Vivian laughed, “that must sting. So, Rebellia… how does that feel? I know that must be heartbreaking. You held the truth from her just to buy a little bit more time with her. To make matters worse, she found out the truth, found out you didn’t tell her, and she probably hates the both of you right now. Damn. Now you have another reason to avoid trying to get into Heaven.”
“Go fuck yourself,” Rebellia said in an angry whisper.
“What?” Vivian asked in a soft voice, “Come again? I couldn’t hear you mumbling…” she walked closer and placed her hand behind her ear to help hear Rebellia when she repeated herself. But Rebellia didn’t repeat herself, instead, she leaned forward and sunk her teeth into Vivian’s ear. Loud screaming ensued. While Rebellia’s teeth were attached to her ear, Vivian unholstered the gun that waited patiently around her waist and directed a bullet through Rebellia’s head without hesitation to free herself from the clutch on her ear. Daphne screamed while the rest of the prisoners flinched at the sound of the gunshot. Tobias’ eyes shot open.
“Rebellia, Rebellia! Look what I found!” Courtney shouted, holding up a small bag of some sort. Rebellia turned her head but couldn’t make out what it was.
“What’s that?”
“I think it’s a fanny pack!” Courtney shouted, “My mom used to wear one of these back in the day. It looked just like this one too except hers was black. This one is gray.”
“You just found it on the ground?”
“Yeah. Right here.”
Rebellia walked over and looked to where Courtney pointed, “Hmm. Someone must’ve dropped it. Is there anything inside?”
“Nope,” Courtney said unzipping the fanny pack open. “It’s empty. I’ll keep it until the person who dropped it comes back. What if it’s my mom’s? What if she just got a new one?”
“Sure. Whatever,” Rebellia shrugged, “at least we finally found something. I don’t think there’s anybody out here, and I’m sick of looking. We should just head back to home base and tell them that nobody’s out here today.”