by K. H. Kate
"Byron, did you-" I whipped around, seeing Zach out of all people. Now that I was interested in. He looked good, damn good for a ghost coming back to life. It was unfair, really. He was the one who died, he was the one who decided that mourning him would be useless when he wanted me dead.
But I was always a little crazy so I watched, shamelessly as they talked before he came to take me to my little room. He was probably waiting for me to refuse or hiss at him, which only happened like one time but I stood up without a care, mimicking something that could have called a smile.
"Where to, murderer?"
I loved the way he flinched at the nickname every time. It made me powerful or hollow when that look quickly vanished. "Come on."
We walked past the staff courter to the dining when he finally snapped, breaking our no talking rules for the last three years. "Ok, shoot me. You haven't looked at me once, not fucking once, Lana. What do you want me to do? Say sorry?"
I looked at him then, letting him see the damage he caused by hunting me for days. He made me believe I was doing the right thing, clinging to his memories only to snatch them away when it fitted him.
Sorry?
No, I wanted him to suffer. I wanted him to dose up on guilt, choke on it until he couldn't even recognize himself.
He started raising his hands but in the end, thought better of it. "Say something."
"Is this a deliberate dream too?" I went for the hit. Besides, pent-up guilt was a good look for him. "Is there any pill in your sleeves that will make me sleep for another fifty years while you keep torturing me with my worst mistakes?"
"You're joking, right?"
"My life's a joke to you, Zach. What do you want me to think?" I shrugged, ignoring his sad little eyes. "No, you know what? I need answers. You could have started a life outside of these walls. So, why? Why are you still here?"
He took a step forward, cradling my face. "Why do you think?"
"To torture me." I was offended that he could touch me so easily without thinking of the consequences. "To fuck with my mind. To kill me-"
"Stop it!"
"A Gun would have been too messy and a knife too personal. So, you chose something more sinister. My love." I ripped his hands from my face, wiping it for good measure. But I was still petty, still fucked up so I brought his face closer to mine, teasing a forgiveness he'd never get. Only when he closed his eyes and his breathing changed that I looked at my long-broken nails, slashing his face with it.
I heard his scream, saw three long marks on his pasty skin. But it didn't give me any solace. It only made me sick. So sick of everything.
"What the fuck, Lana?"
"Be glad it wasn't your neck," I whispered, finding it hard to control my heartbeat. Those pesky little emotions were coming back and I didn't want him out of everyone to watch the withdrawal.
The rest of the journey to my room was pretty uneventful. Maybe because Zach didn't tattle to anyone why he looked like he survived a zombie attack. Or maybe it's because I was starting to tear up, thinking of all the time I've imagined our showdown would go only to get a piss-poor version of it.
"Lana, I-" He started trying again when we reached my room but something made him stop, and then he was pushing past me to find whatever he just saw. It didn't take me long to understand what it was. The smell was basically familiar by the way it ruffled my nose.
Blood.
Lots of it.
***
"Dear diary,
Today there were words about some girl who is going to share my cell. I'm still calling it a deliberate prank from Byron. That idiot is trying to break my shell, make me talk. As if. Sadly, I haven't seen anyone besides the doctor, nurses, Byron and Zach in months. Not even Sandy or those creepy as fuck sisters. Heard one of them ended up in the tunnel, good riddance.
Bonus point? I've started seeing Samara. She stares at me with her sad little eyes. Sometimes she even cries. She tells me not to give up. Not to take Zach's words in my heart. Says he's just lost his way and will come back to me one day.
***
Ok, it wasn't a prank. That girl had arrived a few weeks ago.
She is completely strange. One would think she's mute like the way she doesn't even make a sound. She just stares ahead, sitting all day near the window. She even caught me using my powers but no word. I thought of scaring her away by taking a nurse's soul right in front of her but she had no reaction whatsoever. Even when I became irritated at her, she was silent. I wonder what made her come here in the first place.
***
That girl spoke to me today.
There was no, hello, who are you, why are you here or blah blah blah. She simply sat on my bed and said. "I know who you are."
Just like me, she had a number. 5133. I wasn't feeling good that day so I entertained her question with a laugh. What could she even do? Tell everyone? LOL. Everyone already knew who I was. As if she could hear what was in my mind, she sighed. "I know what you are. You are a Reaper."
Well, there, you have it karma. My cellmate knows."
I closed the diary only to drag my sweaty hair away from my forehead. The mirror in front of me was deflecting the anger in my eyes. After the meeting with Zedkiel, I couldn't sleep at night. I thought I knew what I was doing but fuck, maybe Zedkiel was right. Maybe I should have stayed away. Sometimes I wondered if the Red clan cursed me a lifetime of bad luck or something. I wouldn't put it past them. And if I was sure of what was I about to do with this particular case...
Maybe it was best not to wonder.
TWO MONTHS AGO
Guess I had gluttony for suffering cause I didn't bat an eyelash when I looked at the source of blood.
A girl on the floor, bleeding from a wound on her neck.
Zach did though. He was yelling for help while pressing something down to her neck to stop the blood flow. "Lana, come on!"
I walked slowly, dropping down to touch the wound once I reached them. A fresh one. If I didn't just come from Byron's room, I would have accused him of feeding on the patients. It was just that easy. But the wound looked nothing like a vampire would leave. It was nastier, intending to make a point rather than just a little tasting.
"Where is everyone?" Zach yelled again, looking for a pulse.
"No one's coming." I gathered that much. After Era ended up in the tunnel, no one would want a case like this so soon. So, we'll have to do.
"Bring her to the bed. Make sure there's no blood on the sheets. I'll have to fucking clean it myself if you do." I ordered, looking around to find something helpful when my eyes locked with something else. Something not possible.
"What the hell?"
"What-" Zach started only to notice the same thing. His eyes widened and if he was still holding 5133, she'd been dropped on the floor for the second time. "Why's a dog there?"
As if the dog could hear him, it growled. Definitely not how a dog sounds like.
"That's not a dog. Dog's don't have eyes like this." Like red. Glowing.
"Then what the fuck is that?"
I'd like to know the same thing but my cellmate's bleeding on my sheets. Thoughts of Byron making me clean every part of it made it easier for me to focus on her rather than whatever creepy-looking thing that was.
"We'll look into it later. Call Sandy."
"What?" He looked at me like I'm insane. "And leave you with that thing?"
"Yes, Zach. Your abandoned issues are not new so just..." I trailed off, remembering how I was crossing a line I wouldn't dare in the past. No talking about his parents and no talking about Samara. Dammit. I didn't want to but if this was what took him to finally leave me be, so be it. "She's bleeding. She needs help."
He looked troubled, maybe because I brought his abandoned issues up for the first time ever or maybe he was truly afraid for me. Who knew what the fuck went through his head nowadays? But thankfully, with one look at the new addition in the room, he left.
Sighing, I looked at the wound again. Dam
n. It's a blessing that she's even breathing.
"5-513-" I heard a wheezing and immediately went closer to hear better. "Found us. Run."
What?
"Who found us? 5133, tell me!" But she was already coughing, letting more blood seep through than words. Fuck. What's taking so long?
Cursing, I looked at the dog again. In the dark, I could only see its eyes properly but it was bigger than an average dog. Bigger than a wolf even.
"What are you?" The question left past my lips before I could stop myself. In answer, I heard a bark.
Intrigued, I whispered again. "Can you understand? Do you know me?"
I heard two barks at once.
Holy hell.
Before I could think deeper into all of these, I heard footsteps and then a voice I really didn't expect to hear.
"Er ta culsu ki paya re na ma."
My head throbbed and a whimper left from my lips at the pain. I was starting to see two of everything. Fuck. I shook my head to stop the dizziness but just as I turned, I saw Fredah smile, her voice getting higher by the second.
"Te yare he mi nco la eram."
Bloody witches and their spells. That's the only thing I could think before everything went black.
***
"Wakey, wakey."
Struggling to open my eyes, I groaned, wondering what's the new plan this place had for me today.
"Wake up!" Someone shouted, kicking whatever thing I was laying onto.
Scowling at whoever was making this much fussing, my eyes opened only to find myself in a stretcher and Fredah hovering over me. Funnily enough, even 5133 was with us in another stretcher, looking better than she did when I saw her last.
"What the hell, Fredah?" I asked at last. "Seriously. If you are looking for ways to bring trouble, just kidnap Byron. He's more vulnerable than any one of us."
She laughed but something told me it wasn't a friendly laugh. "You think I want to bring trouble here? Huh? Do you know where Era is right now?"
"In the tunnel. Giving up her flesh for some kind of nutcase who feeds on fleshes?" I wondered aloud, watching her face getting red. Ok, so the rumors were somewhat true and I just pissed off a witch.
"You think this is funny."
"I don't." None of this was funny. Besides, my arms were starting to twitch. I had neither the pill nor a soul in my body. Honestly speaking, she couldn't find a worse time to kidnap a Reaper.
"You fucked us over, you know? Letting us do magic but not do something when we were caught." She started circling me, stopping near her. "Poor thing would have died if I didn't heal her. You attack one of your own and don't get punished. We practice some magic and get punished to not even breathe? How's that fair?"
I couldn't stop the chuckle. "Um, have you noticed where you are? This place isn't fair, these people aren't fair. And, you did practice for me like four years ago. Why should I care what happens now?"
"Because you started the circle! Et kem." I was starting to choke up again, the pain hitting too fast for me to not notice. "My sisters are in pain because of you. Because they think you'll start a war in here. Everyone loves you."
Even in pain, I had to snort. "Yeah. Tell that to the people who died in my hands. Sure they love me."
"Shut up! I'm going to keep you two here until I can get Era out of there. You two are my leverage now." She told me that quite clearly but the way she was shaking, it hadn't been a long time plan for her. She just crossed my room and thought to take us on a whim.
That's even worse.
"I didn't hurt her, you know? 5133. Something else did, a dog or a wolf. I don't know..."
"Stop lying!" She got into my face, screaming until my eardrums almost gave up. "You're a liar. A liar. A liar! Why don’t you just die!?"
“Um, there’s not enough hole in the ground for my lovely personality to fit. I’ll pass.”
She backhanded me, bitch. “Shut up!”
"Don't believe if you don't want to but you're using magic now. Don't think they'll know?" I blurted out, stalling her from doing something stupid. Something like, kill us. I didn't know if I was even killable but I wasn't interested to find out any time soon.
"We're way down below, 5132. These walls block magic from getting outside. I found this place yesterday when I was trying to find my sisters." The way she said it... "Even your screams won't get out of this room."
Fuck.
I was screwed.
TWO MONTHS AGO
The next time I woke up, there was no crazy Fredah hovering over with me with her witchy woo woo but 5133 was. Awake and apparently disoriented by the way she was kind of staring at the ceiling. Not that the ceiling was anything special. This place was shit to look at.
I couldn't keep the pity out of my tone. "You good? Need anything inspirational to hear?"
She didn't heed to me once.
Ok, fine. I could find a way out of this myself.
I looked down, finding nothing binding me to the stretcher. Ok, that was a good starter. Both of my wrists seemed to move without any restriction so I raised them only to find an invisible barrier stopping me from doing so. Oh, she didn't...
"I tried that too. Didn't really work." Now we're talking.
"What did you do to piss her off?" I asked instead. If only she bound my hands with a rope or something that I could actually see, would make this a little less miserable for me. But of course, once again, Fredah was making a point.
I was messing with something I didn't understand.
"I'm your roommate. That's enough to piss her off." 5133's lips turned into a smirk and I was instantly intrigued. She hardly talked to me since she came here. Who knew being kidnapped brings all of your vocabulary out front like this?
"I didn't choose you as my roommate."
She nodded, chuckling. "She thinks we're friends."
We weren't friends but I could imagine a beginning of a friendship right here. If she was here, we both ought to be equally crazy. We could come up with something unbelievable. Enough to outlive Fredah or any of her sisters.
"Also I have been keeping an eye on her." She added, destroying my imagination of a friendship out of this but it was still negotiable. I just had to behave myself. "They were planning something big, something that can bring the master right back here. Era got caught in the middle of it, that's why she is pissed. You and I are the scapegoats of her frustration."
Shit. "That doesn't sound good. We have no way out of this."
It took her a few minutes but she shook her head. "Actually there's a way-"
"Screaming? Hoping she forgot about us? Murdering her crazy ass?" I started to wonder and each one felt better than the other. Yes, I could be creative when I wanted to be. "Or get Byron to do it..."
"Actually I was talking about something else."
"Are you a witch?" I blurted out, noticing the way her hands moved along with her head in a weird tune. I had seen Sandy sometimes do that without even realizing and by the way her eyes widened, she didn't either.
"Yeah, I am."
That solved at least one of our problems. "Then why aren't we out of this mess yet?"
"I’m not like other witches, I don’t do incantations." There we go hope. Puffed right at the edge.
"Fuck!"
"Hey! I didn't say we're completely hopeless. There are spirits all over this place. I asked one nicely to pass on the news that we need help. Magic may not cross these walls but these spirits can. Now, I asked for someone who can actually control his magic." She sounded confident, she truly did but I hated how easy it was to watch that hope crumble for someone like me. I practically invented that shit.
I leaned over as much I could dare without hurting my wrists. "Who's going to help us exactly?"
She looked away. "Just trust me."
Trust her? Yeah no.
"I need an answer, 5133. If I didn't give up the vibe that I've trust issues, I'm telling you face to face right now. Besides, you haven't told me how that dog
gy came into our room yet." I almost forgot about our dog but thankfully, my mind wasn't that bleak yet.
"You saw it too?" Her eyes brightened suddenly. "I thought that was a dream."
"I don't dream about doggies, only souls and assholes I'm attracted to." I had to snort at my own joke. "No, seriously, how did that happen? And you said something about found us and run."
She tried to avoid my gaze but I stared at her, almost making her uncomfortable. This was something the pill made me learn. I could smile like a dolly but feel like a puppeteer. Now that I was off of it, it made me look even crazier.
"I don't remember the part about found us and run but I had just finished lunch and the nurse told me to take a nap. I had therapy at night so I thought a nap would be good for me. I tried to get on the bed when I saw it, with its red eyes...it's not a doggy, 5132. It's a hellhound. You should have seen it. It's like I saw death right in front of me..."
The thing was I saw it.
But it didn't feel like death. It felt familiar.
"5132?"
"Yeah, I'm good. We have a hellhound as a neighbor now. What's the big deal?" I cackled, an ugly one I was sure by the way she flinched.
"It is a big deal if it attacked me-I could have died." And...that's why I didn't do friendships. The constant struggling and when to stop being myself was a war I didn't think I could win. She started saying something else when she paused suddenly, hearing what could have been footsteps. My ears also picked up in alarm. It could be Fredah coming back or worse, some nameless hellhound looking for fresh blood.
"5133?"
I heard her deep breath. "Yeah, I know."
I was expecting Fredah or someone else but I didn't expect my nose to pick up a smell of decaying flesh again. A human? No, it was somewhat different. There were no tunes, nothing to feed my curiosity. I couldn't pinpoint it. Not until whoever was coming for us tried to walk in only to stop because of the shield on the door.
"Fuck." I heard a curse, willing myself to calm down. It wasn't a human, fuck, it was something worse alright. My eyes took in the man currently trying to get in while my breath got labored, my body betraying itself. I wasn't supposed to turn right here, right now. Closing my eyes, I could feel the hunger come back tenfold harder.