But Faith knew the answer to her own question and spoke now to the shadows where Madness was hovering; because I was using them to keep you at bay.
Hope appeared from the archway dressed in a clean pair of jeans, long sleeved t-shirt of an olive-green colour and a pair of black trainers. Her body felt invigorated from the hot water and her mind revitalised from the lemon fragranced shower gel. But as she walked toward her sister, she stopped in mid-stride at the sight of Faith’s appearance.
Her sister’s skin was drained of all vitality and well-being, the scalp was covered with open sores and her sister’s body continually rocked backwards and forwards. Please, Hope quietly prayed to her mother, let the stardust protect my sister’s mind.
Faith stood at the approach of her sister and handed her the rucksack. “This should keep you going for a couple of days. You know that this place is your home also. I purchased it in the belief that we would all live together…”she scratched at her head, “it hasn’t quite worked out that way.”
Hope smiled softly. “I need to keep flowing the Festivities of Life and Rich Banquets where there is none.”
“I understand. But it would comfort me to know that you are safe.”
Hope put on her denim jacket, reached for Faith’s hand. “Thank you,” she said and kissed her sister on the cheek.
“There will always be clean clothes, food and shelter for you here Hope.” Faith squeezed her sister’s hand, opened the front door. “Come,” she said. “Let us tell Charity what she does not want to hear.”
∞
One hour later, Faith and Hope stood outside a four-storied building made of steel and glass. They found the main door to be locked and sighting a buzzer, Faith pressed it.
A man appeared, dressed in a black and yellow uniform. He peered through the glass door, before he unlocked and opened it.
“We have come to see our sister Charity.” Hope said as she smiled at the man.
“Crikey,” he said, looked at his watch: 7.56. “You’re the early birds catching the worms eh? Names please?” He asked and scrolled down the list of names for ‘Faith’ and ‘Hope’. “You’re not down on the visitor’s list,” he said and looked up and between the women. “If your names aren’t on the visitor’s list then I can’t let you in… beside I’d need to see some identification as well.”
Hope frowned as to why it was that they were always being asked to prove who they were. “Is it not enough that I stand before you?” She asked of the man. “I am Hope the sister of Charity and…” she pointed to Faith, “this is Faith, the sister of Charity and thy Self.”
The man raised his eye-brow. “That may be but I still need to connect your face with your name. Passport? Driver’s License_”
“Mr Row.” Alastair interrupted, “Let them in.”
He stood and waited until the women were inside his clinic. “Follow me.” he said and swiped a card into a silver box, led them up a flight of stairs; through a maze of corridors and then up another flight of stairs before finally ushering them into a very large room. “I’ll escort you both out in twenty minutes. In future I insist that you ring the clinic before you next intend visiting it.”
Hope was about to acknowledge the request but Mr Herringbone had already left the room.
She smiled over toward Charity who was sitting in a high-backed cream-coloured armchair positioned underneath the room’s only window.
Hope smiled again and walked about the room, breathing in the fragrances from the vast amount of flowers; roses, carnations, daffodils and fuchsias. If it were not for the array of colours of the flowers then the room would have been stark within its colour of white.
“Many people wish you better.” Hope said. “You always did shine bright within the Universe and you do so upon Earth. I am pleased for you Charity.” She smiled gently at her sister and continued to walk about the room, reading the many messages on the cards attached to the stems of the flowers.
Charity rolled her eyes toward the ceiling at Hope’s annoying habit of forever being cheerful. She ignored Hope’s comments and concentrated instead on what she wanted them to say to the media. “You are not to speak to the press,” Charity said, “and if you do you say only, ‘no comment…’” she paused, “for pity sake do not let on that you are my sisters…” she held up her healthy arm to stop Hope from talking. “Let me finish. I will not have you telling the world that you are my sisters.” She looked over at Faith and wondered why she had yet to utter a single word.
She “tutted” in disgust at the way Faith continually scratched at her head until her scalp bled. “Faith!” she snapped. “Will you stop behaving as if you are some sort of nutcase? The ghosts speak to you… you relay their messages. End of. Deal with it.” Charity looked around the room. She saw nothing - no auras of anything or anybody – human, ghosts or otherwise.
Charity looked at Faith and questioned. Why her? Why does she still get to see all creatures in existence?
“Charity,” Hope said. “You make it sound as if living within the Realms of the Afterlife and Life were as easy as…” she hesitated in saying what she was going to say but decided to say it anyway, “… as easy as having your photograph taken.” Hope held her hands up. “No Charity. Let me finish. Never forget that Faith struggles with the limitations of the mortal mind. Can you not see what waits within the shadows? Do you not see how Madness is all too happy to fill it?” Hope looked over at Faith but she could not help but stare - open-mouthed - at what she was now witnessing.
There was a creature – similar to the one in the dream – hovering in between Faith and Charity. This one had five spindly, tendrils of threads that were connected to what appeared to be a speckle of black. Hope looked for its auras and life-force… but she saw nothing. “No life-force?” And this confused her because whatever that thing was it was alive.
It was now making its way toward Faith’s neck.
“Faith_”
“Hope,” Faith interjected. “Fear not. They bring me no harm.”
“What can you see?” Charity snapped out as she looked to the area that Faith and Hope were gawping toward.
She could see nothing.
“Why is it,” she asked with resentment. “That I cannot see what the two of you do?”
Charity waited for an answer and when one did not arrive, she glared at Faith who was still behaving like a nutcase; rocking backwards and forwards.
Faith then pointed at something above Charity’s head.
She looked up, saw nothing. “What the fuck are you gawping at_?!”
“You have killed five people?” Faith stated and then asked. “Can you not smell the car fumes? Can you not smell the fragrance of their dead Souls?”
She narrowed her eyes. “My,” Charity replied with bitterness. “What an extraordinary gift. You are able to see those who have been killed and indeed those who have killed.”
“I can see all things Charity.” Faith answered. “I see the car accident that was no accident. I see the mortals as they lived in life. I see them as they exist in their next life… empty.”
“I have no sympathy for ghosts!” Charity snapped. “Where were they? Not one single ghost ventured out of their world to warn us about the party that we were trapped within? I am not the killer of anybody Faith. It was not me who drove the car and crashed it into a bus.”
She continued to stare at Faith as she thought again about her sister’s extraordinary gift and how dangerous it was to those who have killed. “So,” she asked, “what do you intend to do with the knowledge that you are acquiring from these… empty-ghosts?”
“Help all those that I can_.”
Charity stood up from her armchair and took a few steps toward her sisters. “The two of you have shown more concern to the race of the mortal than you have shown to me… your own kind.” She pointed to the door indicating the world outside the room. “Just because we look like them it does not mean that we are them.”
Hope st
ared at Charity… her sister – but saw only a stranger. “What on this earth has happened to you. What have the mortals ever done to you?” She could not understand why her sister was so bitter toward this particular race of people. “You lie and deceive because you cannot cope with the way that your body has aged?”
She pointed at Charity and saw not a sighting of remorse within her sister’s auras and told her as much. “You kill Souls but I see no remorse. I see no turmoil… grief or regret.” Hope stared at the swirling mass of muddied-red in her sister’s auras. “That…” she pointed at her sister’s resentment and anger, “is all that I can see. Anger and a swirling mass of blame, hatred and loathing. You need to stop blaming Earth’s creatures for the state of affairs that you find yourself in_.”
“You dare to ask me.” Charity interrupted Hope and using her good arm, prodded her finger at her sister’s chest before continuing. “You dare to ask me what is happening. What the fuck has happened to the two of you? Look at the pair of you. You have the sight of the auras and you…” she looked at Faith, “can still see the existence of all things in the Universe. But neither of you use what you have to find a way back home.” She raised her voice. “No! Not you!” She shouted. “You waste it on a race of people who believe in nothing but themselves.”
Faith raised an eye-brow and was about to warn her sister not to take too big a bite out of Hypocrisy for it might just choke her, but Charity started to speak again.
“Look at you. How easy you accept ageing decaying flesh.” She stepped away, sneered in disgust at her sisters and putting a sarcastic tone into her voice, said; “Ooh…” but she paused, looked up at the ceiling and tried to decide what name to call the vindictive bitch that left them like this – because for sure it isn’t going be Mother Earth. “Ooh thank you earthy… thank you so much for turning us into mortals!”
“You blame Earth and her creatures.” Faith said. “When you know that the blame is with Hera. It was she alone…” Faith raised an eyebrow, “Hera and her jealousy.”
“Furthermore,” Hope added. “You are not the only one who has struggled within their transformation_.”
“Shut up Hope.” Charity interrupted. “I really don’t care what it is that you have to say.” And she smirked at the sight of tears welling up within Hope’s eyes. “Now run along and get yourself a drink. Life’s just got a little bit too… tough for you.”
“That’s enough.” Faith said harshly. “You speak not to your sister with kindness or with compassion. Do so now.”
Silence hit the room.
Charity narrowed her eyes at Faith and resentment coursed its way into her body at the loyalty that Faith and Hope had toward one another and yet… neither had any for her. “You do not speak to me as if I were the child and you the adult. We are of equality… remember that Faith. And remember also that we are no more tied within the bonds of a Unity. We are not sisters.” She turned away from Faith and stepping closer to Hope started to prod at her sister’s chest again; daring her to be angry, nasty – anything but this optimistic, good-natured_.
But a searing pain shot through Charity’s fingertip.
A burning sensation seeped into her hand, arm and now her shoulder.
She stepped back in pain; gasped aloud and narrowed her eyes. She may have lost the sighting of the auras but she remembered what stardust felt like. She stepped hesitantly toward Hope, placed her hand onto her shoulder again but pulled it back sharply when she felt the sensation of flames. “You are shielded with stardust?” She spoke to Hope in a whisper. “Who gave it to you?”
Hope took a step back away from Charity. “You know who… our mother. She protected us with stardust… in a dream_”
Charity narrowed her eyes. “My dream was interrupted.” And looking at Faith asked. “So what are you protected from?”
“My dream was also interrupted.” Faith lied. She did not trust her sister one iota and to share that her mind… her mortal brain was beginning to function way beyond the norm would be dangerous information to somebody like Charity – somebody who was prepared to kill all for the sake of an image.
Charity turned from her sisters, walked toward the window and stared down at the pavement below. “Don’t you get it? Have you not seen what is valued over all other things… even life itself? I took from their bodies to give to them what they wanted, youth & beauty. But it is that that also generates the highest of wealth. Money is what we need if we are to survive… not stardust. Did I keep this wealth to myself?”
Charity banged the window pane with such violence it stung the palm of her hand. “No. I did not. I shared it with you, knowing that money is the only thing that can soften the harsher side of Earth and her creatures.”
She spun around and faced Faith and Hope. “If they saw me as I am now what do you think they would do? Do you think they would care for my value of life?” She walked toward them, “What does my stardust protect me from?”
Faith scratched at her head. “Yours protects you from your Self.”
“What does that mean?”
“You were using the human body to harvest a cream all in the name of Money? You can justify your actions for as long as you wish Charity but ultimately you chose to do it. You can blame Hera, our parents and the entire race of immortals and mortals, if it makes you feel any better_.”
“I do not want one of your lectures Faith.”
Faith shook her head and recalled how it was that Hope’s stardust had hurt Charity. “The pain that you cause onto another living being, you will receive back in equal measure. I believe that our mother gave you stardust to ensure that you never harm another living being.”
Charity smirked; too late - she tapped the side of her head to indicate the empty ghosts residing there. “I feel not their pain do I? I smell not their burnt Souls. If my mother thought she could save me from myself… then she is too late. But it is good to know that I have stardust.” She laughed aloud, stopped – looked at her sisters. “Stay within the remit of what I want you to tell the mortals and all will be well. If you don’t I will kill you. I care not for the pain that I will feel whilst doing it_.”
“We are leaving.” Hope interjected, “Perhaps tomorrow we might recognise the person you used to be.”
“Hope.” Charity said with a quiet coldness. “That person died months ago. Kindness is not necessary here. Gentleness is mocked and as to joy, merriment and laughter.” She stepped toward them. “I do not want to see the two of you ever again.”
Faith and Hope backed away from Charity.
Their sister’s resentment was showing itself as a mass of toxic blackness.
Faith glanced at the daffodils nearest to Charity; the yellowy-white light that shone around them was being consumed by the blackness and they were upon the point of dying. She looked around the entire room and became mesmerised by the petals of the roses and fuchsias; pink, red, purple and white petals... withering and turning to a dull-brown colour… floating, drifting… falling_.
“Faith?” Hope said with concern.
But Faith did not respond.
“Faith… we need to go.” Hope coaxed her sister out of the door and closed the door behind them. If any of the toxic blackness had reached them, they would have become emotionally and physically exhausted… sapped of energy, listless and dull for days - possibly months.
∞
Faith and Hope walked quickly down the last flight of stairs as Mr Row was making his way up.
“I’ve found them,” he said into his radio and motioned for the women to follow him. “I have to escort you ladies out of the building. It’s okay it’s normal procedure.”
When he got them to the main doors, he told them not to worry about bringing identification. “I expect Mr Herringbone will put you down on the visitor’s list and I know what you look like now.” He smiled, opened the door and watched them walking away but then sighted a group of reporters coming up the path. “Crikey. That was quick.”
> He immediately got on the radio and informed Mr Herringbone of the intrusion.
The group of reporters stopped Faith and Hope in their tracks.
“Is it true? Charity is here?”
“Do you know Charity?”
“What condition is she in?”
“Who are you?”
Hope answered the last question. “We are the sisters of Charity.”
Faith added. “I am Faith and this is Hope.”
A reporter asked. “So it’s true. Charity has been moved here? This is Mr Alastair Herringbone’s private clinic isn’t it?”
“That is true.” Faith said.
“What extent are her injuries?”
“Charity was very lucky. She has only broken a bone within her arm.” Hope replied.
Faith turned at the sound of Mr Herringbone’s voice shouting, “no comment! No comment!”
∞
Faith and Hope continued walking along the pavement in silence - each lost within their own thoughts.
It was Hope who spoke first. “That was… explosive.” She said as she retrieved her hip-flask and drank down a mouthful of wine. “Charity wouldn’t really kill us… would she?”
Faith nodded her head ‘yes’.
Hope stared at her sister for a few moments and referring to the damage that Charity had done to the flowers shared. “I see mortals doing that each and every second of their lives… consuming the energies out of the things they deem unimportant. But if they saw what happened with the emotions that they created, would it not change the way they are toward one another?” She watched the people walking along the pavement and wanted to believe that it would make a difference.
Faith watched her sister and after a few moments, she said very quietly, “I doubt it.”
Hope shook her head with sadness and realised that she had to accept the truth. “Our sister means to harm us.” She whispered softly.
The Protector of Memories (The Veil of Death Book 1) Page 6