Monster of the Dark

by KT Belt

  She gave up the game after only a few minutes. It was too tiring to play for very long. With that change, the other ducks no longer paid her any more undue attention, and as before it was a welcome feeling. She moved through them unnoticed or, if noticed, acknowledged politely. Nevertheless, she still didn’t have a destination, and it was time for that to change. Someone or something had to be after her by now.

  She touched her face and then glanced at her ice cream covered fingers. This won’t do at all, she thought. Her first instinct was to remove the ice cream telekinetically, but she spotted a water fountain a short walk away and chose the more fun option.

  The fountain was quite large with three distinct levels, and the top towered over her. Designs were carved into the stone of each level. She didn’t know what they meant, if they even meant anything, but they were pretty to look at. She even took a few seconds to study them when she got a little closer. The water flowing from the top didn’t shoot into the sky like a geyser; it clung to the etchings in the fountain, subtly enhancing their appearance before emptying into the large pool below.

  Carmen sat calmly on the edge of the pool. A few others rested quietly around her, but she paid them no mind. Instead, she wondered why someone would make such a nice fountain and not stock it with fish. Oh well, she thought. Then she dunked her head in the water. That move garnered her so much attention that, instead of announcing itself as a soft pinprick on her consciousness as such things usually did, it came as a bolt of lightning. Carmen, however, was in no position to care. The novelty of her new sensation was worth it. It was hard as a Clairvoyant to really touch anything—a grand irony, she thought. Falling leaves, rain, and dust flowed around her just as people parted her path.

  She concentrated on the cold water pressing against her face before pulling her head out and savoring the feeling of the water sliding down her features. A little ice cream remained on her face, so she dunked her head in again. There was still one small speck left when she pulled her head out yet again, so she took care of the blemish telekinetically. A quick head shake stopped the water from dripping all over the rest of her, but it soaked everyone around her instead.

  She looked at them sheepishly when she realized and then muttered a soft, “Sorry.”

  A young girl looked at her and giggled. “This one is silly,” she said. It took Carmen a moment to realize it was the same girl she saw earlier. Her father was still with her.

  “Yeah, she certainly is,” he said sarcastically while he rung out his shirt.

  Carmen guessed that may be true and smirked. She then noticed the girl had a coin in her hands. She tried to skip it along the water, but it sunk to the bottom after a loud plop. Carmen looked at the coin through the glassy surface. A thought came to her as she gazed at the many others. She had never skipped a coin before. If only she had some money. She thought about it then was struck by the obvious.

  She held her hand over the pool, and a coin from the bottom leapt into her palm. The proper technique to skipping coins escaped her, so she just chucked the thing. As it impacted the water, anyone watching had no doubt that the coin would be skipping to the bottom of the pool. A Clairvoyant didn’t have to play by the rules, though. A small telekinetic thrust sent the coin back into the air; another continued the motion upon contact with the water. The other side of the pool fast approached when a third thrust curved the coin around the outside edge of the rim to come back toward her. Everyone took notice as the impossible happened right before their eyes. Carmen simply raised a hand, which the coin popped into when it was close enough. Then she flicked it back into the pool.

  She looked again at the little girl, whose amazement was about as obvious as a continent from space. Carmen smiled at her and then looked at the “magic” coin at the bottom of the pool. It was then that she noticed something else: her reflection. It had been years since she had seen herself. It wasn’t that she’d forgotten what she looked like; it was just that, when faced with it, the ghostly apparition staring back at her was…striking.

  Her face was just so different from what she remembered. The markers that made her her were eroding away. They were transitioning, becoming sharper and more refined. Her knifelike eyebrows now looked like they could cut steel. Her face was thinner. Years ago, it would be hard for anyone to say she had cheek bones. Now they rested quite attractively where they should. She stared and noted how hard it was to spot the child from long ago. Even her hair was a different color—darker, though still quite blonde.

  Her attention drew her to the little girl again. Carmen watched her, but she paid her no mind. At any rate, she couldn’t help wondering what the girl would look like when she was older. There were traces of her father in her face—even in her movements and some of her speech. Her mother wasn’t here, so Carmen only had half of the picture, but it was still interesting to guess.

  She looked back at the water and realized she had no information to make much of a guess in her own case. She couldn’t really remember what her parents looked like. It was hard to even remember having parents at times. Carmen presumed there were echoes and shadows of them in her, but there was no way of knowing what they were. It was doubtful that she moved, spoke, or thought like them, though. She was different. She was unique. She was special. She looked at all the people around her, noting their seemingly alien dress, their utterly unfathomable perspective, and their completely inaccessible lives…at least for her. So special indeed, she thought.

  She stepped away from the fountain, telekinetically tying her hair into a ponytail as she went. As she consciously and calmly walked away, those in her path stepped aside, almost as if by instinct. Carmen didn’t notice them. She instead reflected on the bland sameness of the town, trying to remember the one she’d come from. It was long lost to her; she could recall nothing in particular. Perhaps every town was like that after a while. They just were. Everything else was simply reflections of a mirror in the dark. She didn’t know for certain. What she did know was that it was time to go. She’d wasted too much time here. Carmen looked upward and leapt back into the sky.

  The hair on Kali’s arm stood on end. “Right on time,” she said to herself.

  She still couldn’t see her new charge, but the effects of her approach could be increasingly felt. Eventually, she could see a speck in the far distance. It rapidly grew. In moments, Carmen slid to a stop right behind her.

  She stood in place for a long moment after that, saying and doing absolutely nothing. Kali waited for the girl to make some sort of acknowledgement until it became obvious that she’d have to ask the question.

  “Why did you come back?” Kali asked over her shoulder, though she already knew the answer.

  Carmen turned to face her but remained mute. Kali doubted she’d lost the power of speech during her short time away. If anything, it looked like she was chewing something hard. Her mouth would open, nothing would come out, and then she’d close it only to repeat the process a few seconds later. Kali couldn’t read her at all. Edge was far too strong for almost anyone to do that. She didn’t know what was on her mind.

  Carmen looked at her handler, who stared back expectantly. She didn’t know why this was so difficult. She knew exactly what she wanted to say, but for some reason, she was unable to give voice to it. Kali continued waiting, and Carmen soon tired of the attention. She walked past Kali and sat on the edge of the bluff. She just couldn’t take her gaze any longer. A few seconds more and it would have made her burst into flames—at least, it felt that way. Kali sat down next to her.

  Carmen ignored her and simply looked at the horizon. As she had assumed, the town could only barely be seen. She pondered the events of the day, and that seemed a fitting circumstance.

  “You know,” she started softly, but in truth she wasn’t really speaking to Kali, “when I was younger, I used to think that, if I was good enough, they’d let me go home.” She nervously glanced at her handler, who looked back, expressionless. “Pretty stupid, hu
h?” Carmen muttered.

  Kali smirked and then gave a quick nod. “I guess so.”

  Carmen looked back over the water before she spoke again. “…There’s no going back, is there?”

  “You can try,” Kali said after a brief pause. “I don’t recommend it, though.”

  “Why?” Carmen asked out of curiosity.

  “Hmm. Figured you’d know. But, anyway, I don’t need to tell you that you’re different. I’m sure you realize that.”

  “Damn near since the day I was born,” Carmen said after a sigh.

  Kali smiled for a moment. “But do you know how?”

  “That’s simple. I’m a Clairvoyant.”

  “Anyone can be a Clairvoyant,” Kali said. “Most choose not to be, but either way, it’s not very unique.”

  Carmen considered her words for a minute or two. She remembered Janus saying something similar. Nevertheless, she made no response. It was obvious Kali was going to elaborate.

  “What makes you, me, and every other Clairvoyant here different is that we never had a choice. Our Dark wouldn’t allow it.”

  “What do you mean?” Carmen asked.

  “When you were in the town, what did you see?”

  “People,” she replied simply.

  “And what did you notice about them?”

  “Well,” Carmen began, considering her response.

  “It should have been obvious,” Kali said.

  “Well, they were kind of disjointed.” Her handler nodded slowly, and Carmen continued. “I don’t really understand it, but big things sometimes meant nothing to them while little things caused them distress. Or they’d be rushing, rushing, rushing with no place to go. I guess the best way I could describe it is that their right hand didn’t know what their left was doing. I don’t know how they could live like that. It’s…meaningless.”

  “Nor can they fathom how you can’t,” Kali said. Carmen looked at her quizzically, and she laughed. “Edge, not everyone is consciously aware of when someone is lying to them, or happy, sad, or depressed in casual conversation. Not everyone knows what they want. More important, not everyone is consistently motivated to get it. There are also few incapable of deluding themselves positively or negatively whenever it suits them. We’re clairvoyant not because we know that which is unknowable but because we constantly face and engage with reality. We’re too sensitive to just ignore it and go on about our days. That would drive us mad.”

  “But what about the Dark?” Carmen asked.

  Her handler didn’t answer right away, instead pausing for a moment to think. She motioned with her head to the town far over the horizon and then turned back to Carmen.

  “The difference between you and them is not that you have a Dark. Everyone has a Dark. It’s merely a question of volume.”

  “I don’t understand,” Carmen said.

  Kali leaned close before she spoke again. “Let me whisper in your ear,” she said, doing just that. “Let me talk to you each and every day. Let me tell you things you need to hear, even if you don’t want to listen. Now, how long will it take for you to ignore me, if you can even hear me in the first place? How steady would your nerve be if, the moment everything was quiet or calm, you heard me from out of nowhere? Would that make you disjointed, as you say?”

  Carmen nodded.

  “Good,” Kali said. “Now let me SCREAM!” she yelled. The transition caught Carmen so off guard that she almost fell off the bluff. “I will yell and shout at you every second of your existence! I will only get louder the more you try to ignore me! I will not give you a moment of peace. I absolutely will not stop…EVER, until I get my way! And that,” Kali said after a brief pause, “is the difference between you and them. You can’t be like them. You won’t allow yourself to.”

  “So then what do I do?” Carmen asked, trying her best not to sound forlorn.

  “That’s up to you. Janus had you fight simply because it is the best way for you to learn how to use that energy effectively. I know you won’t believe me when I tell you, but it broke his heart to have you do it. He loved you. That’s why he resigned after your fight with Artemis. He couldn’t take it any longer.”

  Carmen didn’t know he’d resigned. Either way, Kali was right. She didn’t believe her. That monster didn’t have a heart to break.

  “Are you going to have me fight?” she asked.

  “No,” Kali said. “I have a more difficult task. Janus taught you how to live. I’m here to teach you why.”

  Carmen looked at the water below. That was a question she asked herself more and more frequently. She didn’t say anything as she sat very still. Kali sat with her, seeming to enjoy the view. A few minutes passed in silence before her handler ended the moment.

  “Would you like to go?” she asked simply.

  Carmen had been thinking just that, but she still didn’t speak. Instead, she stood, and Kali stood with her. Carmen glanced at her handler, thought about it for a moment, and then put her hand in Kali’s. The woman smiled, and they walked off, hand in hand.

  10

  Why Live

  Carmen sat in her bed, ready and waiting. The items in her room, static and unchanging as always, were her only company. She looked at the spot where Mikayla used to lie. It was hard to imagine that had been only a few days ago. Now there was no sign that her friend had even existed. Her room had been cleaned so thoroughly when she was away that not even the smell remained. Her eyes turned elsewhere as she tried not to think about it.

  Kali said she would come for her in the morning, though she didn’t say for what. Carmen didn’t think it would be anything very bad—her handler did say yesterday that she wouldn’t be fighting anymore. Perhaps it would be a different kind of test.

  Several more minutes passed, but her new handler still didn’t appear.

  Carmen sighed loudly. Although there were no clocks in her room, she was quite certain Janus had come to retrieve her at the same time each day. It was only now that she realized just how accustomed she was to his schedule. No matter how sleepless her nights ever became, she was ready for him come in the morning exactly when he needed her. Now? She guessed Kali had more trouble getting out of bed. She sighed again and got out of bed herself.

  She paced slowly around the room. She knew every inch of it—she’d had six years of unremittent study. Six years… she thought. Carmen closed her eyes and touched the wall as she had countless times before. She knew every millimeter, each and every surface imperfection, and could describe such with the same ease as reciting the alphabet. Yet, when she opened her eyes, she was greeted by her distorted reflection from the brushed metal wall. That she didn’t know. Her monstrous reflection didn’t even look human. It was certainly her, what else could it be? She looked again at the spot where Mikayla used to lie, and then her eyes turned away. Her handler was coming.

  Kali opened the door and extended her hand. Carmen smiled, went to her, and took it. Then they left the room, and the lights shut off behind them.

  “What are we doing?” she asked casually.

  Kali nonchalantly let her hand go after a moment or two. Carmen didn’t mind. She welcomed the gesture, but she didn’t need her hand held everywhere they went.

  “Today, we are going on a field trip,” the woman said.

  “Field trip? What’s that? What’s it for?” Carmen asked as they got in the elevator and stood side by side.

  She watched her handler intently, but Kali wasn’t looking in her direction, nor did she answer her question. After a time, Kali glanced at her out the corner of her eye. Carmen noticed she wore a slight smirk.

  Like a shot, Kali’s hand flew towards Carmen’s face in a backhanded slap. Carmen easily blocked the blow and then reflexively raised a hand to vaporize her handler’s head. She stopped only when she consciously registered that Kali wasn’t actually attacking her.

  “I’ll let you guess what a field trip is for.”

  Carmen didn’t speak, but the young Clairv
oyant’s confused face said more than a thousand poems. Kali laughed lightly upon seeing it.

  “Edge, you have been conditioned to a very fine point for only one thing. You would have killed me without even thinking about it until it was all over,” Kali said without the slightest hint of concern.

  Carmen looked at her still raised hand and felt oddly embarrassed. “Sorry,” she said meekly.

  “Good, good,” Kali said. “It’s good you apologized without me informing you that you should. That is what a field trip is for—to dull that point slightly.”

  “I…don’t understand.”

  “Edge, not everyone everywhere you go will be seeking to fight you. In fact, very few shall. You and I can talk, and you can talk to the other assets here, but that won’t give you enough experience in how to interact with the many varying personalities you’ll have to engage in day-to-day life. You need practical experience. So, we go on field trips.”

  “That’s it?” Carmen asked, wondering about the catch that was sure to exist.

  “In so many words,” Kali quasi elaborated.

  Carmen nodded slowly. “I really am sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

  The elevator door opened, but the two of them remained still. She didn’t really know Kali. Honestly, she didn’t fully trust her. But she didn’t want to her hurt her; even the idea of it made her feel sick. Her thoughts began to stray back to Mikayla when Kali unexpectantly patted her on the arm and smiled. The contact produced a brief shock in both of them from the interaction of their bioelectric fields.