“Oh, his arrival was a glorious time, I have to tell you, an extended honeymoon for the two of us and one that I wished could have gone on forever. But status quos being what they are and nearly impossible to maintain, that time passed as all times must. After a few years, Geoffrey, being Geoffrey, started to get restless. He began to go off on his own, far too often and far too long for my taste. I became lonely again during his absences and since I was born as monogamous as I was gay, taking on another lover was never an option. It’s true that I could have simply gone into the city, back to the life of pointless acquaintanceships that I had lead before. It might have been enough for Geoffrey, but I needed more. I was tired of superficiality and began to long for a real family life.
“In answer to my prayers, Arrosha brought us Illea. While she was a teenager of fifteen, once Arrosha erased her trauma, Illea seemed much younger than her years and was as innocent a small child.
“I couldn’t help but love Illea from the very beginning because she reminded me so much of my little sister Beth, my very favorite sibling. Beth, who was eight years younger than myself, was the sweetest child anyone could ask for. She was the one bright spot in my first life and I doted on her completely. But we lost her at the age of seven to rheumatic fever and I was never able get over it. In Illea, it was as if Arrosha had returned Beth to me in a way, because they were almost identical to each other in both nature and personality.
“Geoffrey, who had never been a family man before, came to love that life and took to staying home most of the time. Illea was very shy at first, but Geoffrey won her over easily with his charm and entertaining humor, the side of him that I can’t wait for you to meet. We loved Illea enormously and took to spoiling her excessively. Whenever we’d ask her what she wanted, we would take such pleasure in watching her eyes light up with joy when it appeared the next day. Every day was like Christmas and I think that Arrosha and Santa Claus became one and the same in Illea’s mind there for awhile, with Geoffrey and I taking on the role of the good elves,” he chuckled, his eyes twinkling as he thought of those happy times.
“Whenever Geoffrey and I took her into the city, we’d take her shopping and buy her anything she wanted. Oh, how Illea loved to shop back then. You see, Ashley, while Arrosha will give us anything for the asking, she also gives us a generous allowance to use in the outside world; she understands very well that sometimes it’s the actual shopping that’s the most fun.
“The three of us had so much fun in those first few years. We’d take Illea everywhere, from zoos and fairgrounds to concerts, plays and movies. Later on, we’d go clubbing and listen to the local bands. We traveled greatly outside of New Orleans in those days, flying to New York and San Francisco, to England and to Europe. Arrosha arranged for limousines to take us to and from the airports; we always flew first class and we always stayed only at the very best hotels. And no matter where we went, she always made sure to supply us with enough of our water to last us through the trip. We were such a happy little family for awhile, so very self-contained. It was such a lovely, innocent time, and we adored Illea as if she were our very own daughter.”
“Since she’d had no schooling in her life before, I began to take on the role of Illea’s teacher. My love of books came in very handy, then, I have to tell you. She was so bright and easy to teach and soon her mind began to grow and to catch up with her body. All too soon, it was her time then to become restless for more than just the company of Geoffrey and myself. She needed a boyfriend, so Arrosha brought in Ricky, who was chosen specifically to suit Illea’s tastes. They were introduced as soon as the transformation ceremony was over. To say that it was love at first sight would be a gross understatement, and they’ve been a couple ever since.
“After that, Arrosha began gradually to add to our little group over the years. Robert was next. Then Antonio and Kenny arrived within a couple of months of each other. Timothy was the last man to join our group about a year ago. Finally a few months ago, the Three Sisters were added and then a few days ago, you showed up.
“Okay, Ashley,” Ben said after taking a deep drink of water, “Now that you know our time line, it’s time for me to tell you some deeply personal things about who we were before we came to this mansion. This is where it starts to get heavy. Since you’ve seen the evidence of her miracles, today you’ll be able to accept what I’m going to tell you. You need to know that what she’s done for us goes far beyond amusements and cosmetic improvements.
“Now, please don’t think that I’m telling tales out of school. After Arrosha gave you her official approval this morning, we had a group meeting to discuss this very subject. Every person here gave me their permission to tell you their story because we want you to know us for who we really are. I have to warn you in advance that none of our stories are pretty because weren’t always the way you see us now. Before Arrosha rescued us, we were far from fashion plates and we certainly didn’t lead charmed lives. Quite the opposite was true, as a matter of fact. We were society’s unwanted. Of course, it’s not who we are anymore, but as with anyone else, our pasts have definitely left their imprints upon our psyches. None of us begrudges it, however, since we all know just how lucky we are to have been chosen. I like to think that our past lives makes us more, that it makes us better than we would have been had we been simply born beautiful and privileged. In our meeting, the others expressed hope that in hearing our stories, you’d feel as if you’d come to know us better and in so doing, that maybe you wouldn’t want to leave us. Most importantly, however, we feel that if you realized how far we’ve come as a direct result of what Arrosha has done for us, it would help you to see the extent of Arrosha’s power and to understand why we know that she is the true Goddess.
“As I tell you this, you’ll understand why I couldn’t have told you any of this stuff yesterday. You would never have believed me then. Now that you’ve seen and experienced the magic that exists here for yourself, you should be able to accept our stories in full. It is the truth of who we are.
“Before Arrosha came into our lives, we were a collection of broken people, either from accident of birth or as a result of the cruelty and madness of others. There’s not one of us at this mansion who was not damaged in mind or in body or both. Ashley, take a look at that piece on the wall over there, the water fountain.”
“Okay.”
“When Arrosha found it, it was smashed into a thousand pieces and yet she’s restored it as if it was never been broken. There’s not a crack on it now, not a seam, nothing missing. You see, Arrosha has incredible and marvelous powers of reconstruction; she makes things and people whole again, better even than new. She did the same thing for this fabulous fountain that she did for me and all the rest of us. She put us each back together again and made us far better than we ever were before. This is what we mean by being transformed, because we were quite literally changed into something better. You’ve experienced some of it yourself, as you’ve become younger, thinner and fitter. As remarkable as that is, it’s small change compared with the transformation that the rest of us have had. You are still basically yourself, albeit an enhanced version. We, on the other hand, have been changed completely. We’re all products of the miracle of Arrosha’s transformations and have little resemblance to our former selves. She gave us a beauty and grace beyond our wildest dreams. She took away our pain, our personal demons, and brought us joy instead. We’re all whole now, we’re are healed, both in body and in mind. She took our broken bodies, souls, spirits and turned them into beauty incarnate. I don’t say this to brag, it’s just that before Arrosha found us and changed us, we all thought of ourselves, in one way or another, as ugly. I hope that you’ll remember that and please indulge us if we’re a little prideful of our looks from time to time.
“We’re all rescue cases, in one way or another; we were desperate people leading desperate lives. Everyone here has a different story, but none of them are good. Despite what we are now, our little group a
ctually began as a motley collection of society’s disenfranchised and castaways. We were not beautiful, not even pretty, just invisible. In one way or another, we’d all been given up for dead or worse. We were the lost and the forgotten before Arrosha found and rescued us. She changed us then, erasing our horrors, our pain and our pasts. In their places she gave us these young, beautiful bodies and this perfect, idyllic existence which should go on forever, because we never get old, Ashley and we never get sick. It’s why we accept her as our Goddess, for who could perform such miracles except the divine? Who we are now is a direct testament to Arrosha, to her powers and her benevolence.”
“Were your first lives really that bad?” I asked, using the term I’d learned from Ben.
“Oh, yes. Although we fell into several categories, in one way or another, we were all dying. Most of us were hopeless medical or psychiatric cases and victims of either terrible diseases or abuse. One of us was a homeless junkie and chronic alcoholic, and several were forced into prostitution and drug addiction.”
“That’s awful,” I said, shocked at hearing the truth of these people that seemed as if they had never had an “off” day in their entire lives.
“Robert, Kenny, Antonio and Timothy were all born with disabling afflictions. Robert was severely deformed with neurofibromatosis, the cystic disease that’s commonly known as the Elephant Man disease and his was a particularly nasty case. He seldom got out at all, so his familiarity with the outside world was incredibly limited. Other than interactions with health care workers, his socialization came almost entirely from old movies. He was so isolated that these movies became his world, much more real to him than the world outside his window. During first essence, he envisioned himself as a romantic leading man, so that’s what his mind used as a pattern after during the transformation ceremony.”
“Okay, now his romanticism makes sense to me,” I said.
“I knew it would, once you knew his history. Now, Timothy, on the other hand, was crippled all of his life by a terrible case of cerebral palsy and both Kenny and Antonio were end-stage ALS sufferers. To look at them now, you would never know. Arrosha changed them all into the handsome, healthy, young and strong men that you see today.”
“That’s incredible,” I said, amazed. Even though the fountain of youth effects would have been beyond belief if I had not experienced them firsthand, they paled in comparison to the story that Ben was telling me now. It was incredible to think that Arrosha could do things of that scope.
“Oh, yes, Ashley. We’re all of us walking, talking miracles.”
“What about the rest of you?”
“Illea was horribly scarred by a past so traumatic that she even asked Arrosha to rename her.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yes. Her story is terrible. Do you remember I mentioned the music box that’s in the room you share?”
“The one she used for the transformation ceremony, right?”
“Yes. It belonged to her mother, who inherited it from Illea’s grandmother. Her mother had intended to give it to Illea when her daughter got older, but she never had the chance, because she disappeared without warning when Illea was very young, barely six years of age. Her mother was the only good thing in her life, always protecting her from Illea’s extremely abusive stepfather. Illea always loved her mother and knew that she would never have left of her own free will, even though the stepfather continually insisted that she’d abandoned them because Illea had become too much of a burden. He claimed that his wife would have remained had Illea never been born at all. At the hands of her stepfather, Illea was a victim of extreme abuse, mental, physical, sexual. Almost every day, she would run into the woods and hide, watching and listening intently for any sign of her father’s coming home, hoping she could stay awake long enough for him to pass out so that she could sneak back into her bed before he woke up the next afternoon, praying that he wouldn’t come looking for her. But after several years, even through the cloud of his drunkenness, he eventually found all of her hiding places and eventually imprisoned her inside the house. While Illea had begun life as an extraordinarily beautiful child, her stepfather beat her so badly and so often that it permanently altered her features, turning her face into a mask that was nothing but a testimony to his own vileness.”
“Why didn’t the authorities step in?” I asked, appalled.
“They lived in a rural area and the shack they called home was so far away from any neighbors that it kept them very isolated. Illea was kept hidden after her mother disappeared and was never allowed to attended school. Her stepfather told everyone that his wife had deserted him without warning and that she’d taken Illea with her when she’d run away. He claimed he had no idea of either of their whereabouts and even filed a missing person’s report to give his claim more validity. After that, Illea became merely one more statistic that had slipped through the cracks of an overburdened system.
“Illea’s stepfather never allowed her outside of the property, because he was afraid that she might accidentally meet someone, anyone, adult or child, who might contact the police. He had frightened her out of any attempts to hitchhike from their remote shack with stories of horrors more terrible even than the reality she faced at home. The only other people besides her stepfather with whom Illea had any contact were his lowlife friends, who were as detestable as he was. Not only did they cover for him, they actually abetted him in the abuse. When she got old enough to decide that she would rather take her chances with hitchhiking her way out of the hellhole that was her life, fate stepped in to conspire against her as well. On only her first escape attempt, her father caught her. After that, he took took to chaining her to her bed so she couldn’t run away any more. I believe, at this point, that her story becomes self-explanatory.”
“That’s terrible,” I said, for it was the most shocking story I’d ever heard about anyone that I’d ever actually met. “How on earth was she able to survive?”
“She almost didn’t. To break her spirit even further, the stepfather slowly and methodically destroyed the few possessions left that had belonged to her mother. In the end, the only memento remaining was the beloved music box, which, even as a very young child, she’d had the instincts to place inside another box and bury in the woods soon after her mother’s disappearance. Knowing she loved it so and suspecting she had stashed it away somewhere, her stepfather looked for it often, but was never able find it.
“The box stayed buried in those woods until the day came that the bastard was killed in a knife fight in a bar. At last fate stepped in on Illea’s behalf. The incident and the events surrounding his stabbing attracted so much attention in their small town that the police went out to search their shack for drugs. As a result, Illea was found and finally freed. The atrocity of her situation so shocked the little community that the investigation was furthered, finally revealing the true nature of her mother’s disappearance. It seemed that inside of the large woods surrounding the tiny shack that her stepfather rented, the music box was not the only thing that had been buried. When Illea told the police the location of the box and asked them to retrieve it, they complied, thinking perhaps that they would find more drugs there. They found no drugs but what they found nearby, instead, was much more interesting. Almost by accident, in digging up the area, they unearthed the remains of her mother, who, by sheer coincidence, had been buried in a shallow grave a few yards from the music box. She had been murdered years before by her husband, Illea’s stepfather, and the son-of-a-bitch had gotten away with it scott-free until a higher power revealed his crime posthumously. Ironic, isn’t it, the survival of Illea’s music box? That monster of a stepfather of hers never considered searching for it in that particular location because he never wanted to get too close to the corpse of the woman he had murdered.
“However, before he was killed, her stepfather, may he rot in hell, did such a thorough job of destroying Illea, both mentally and physically, that instead of finding freedom at th
at point, she was soon committed to an asylum, her body broken, her mind gone, her pain so intense she blocked it out, along with everything else. After the initial rescue, once she had the one object she cared about within her possession, she completely shut down to the point of catatonia. She was able to do nothing but sit immobile in a corner, staring into space as she clutched her precious music box. It was in that state at that asylum in which Arrosha found her, took away the disfigurations and later transformed her into the beauty she is today.
“No longer catatonic on her first evening with Geoffrey and myself, for Arrosha had touched her, Illea still remained in one spot completely quiet, watching and listening like a cornered animal, all eyes and all ears. Despite our very best coaxing, she was afraid to say a word, for it was in fear, silence and watchfulness that she’d lived her entire life. After first essence she allowed me to show her to the room, but then locked the door behind her. The next day she was a little less afraid, even able to speak a bit. At her transformation ceremony, she asked Arrosha to rename her because her old name held only memories of hate. She never wanted any reminder of her past existence to taunt her again. To this day, she is the only one of us that Arrosha has ever renamed.
“Illea is perhaps the finest example of the importance of the transformation ceremony. It restored her body and made her beautiful once more. It restored her spirit, renewing it into that of an innocent child, untouched by her stepfather’s evil. Illea’s mind developed here at the mansion, as I mentioned, and she is now so outgoing that it’s hard for me even to think of her as the frightened creature that she was that first night. I like to think that she’s become the person she was meant to be when she was born, the person she would have been naturally, had she come from a good family.
The Nightmare Game Page 39