Ten - Part 1

by Sin Ribbon

An air of severity sobers the clairvoyant. “I don’t think anyone could be more patient than me.”

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  The afternoon clouds float by in the skies of the Steel City, drifting aimlessly in pursuit of nothing. Spring approaches full bloom; the green and the flowers have transformed the sun’s energy into a kaleidoscope of color.

  Siha strolls along the lively streets of Pittsburgh in her usual blue jacket. Beneath that, she wears a full-length, beige skirt and a white, cotton blouse. She sidesteps pedestrians while humming Vivaldi. Although her mood has lifted somewhat, a heaviness clings to her like a barb.

  Just a few blocks, and she reaches Ink Exchange. The narrow tattoo shop has a historic roughness, tucked between a bar and a pizza window. Peering through the tall, storefront windows, Siha spies Thane finishing up on a customer inside. Tattoo machine in hand, he inks new lines into the forearm of a young man as if nothing else existed in the world. She smiles, admiring his precision and artistry. Fearing an unwanted—and permanent—addition to the customer’s tattoo, Siha decides not to disturb him. She leans against the side wall and waits.

  The brunette watches the clouds drift by overhead, until a familiar pang whips her attention to the street corner down the block. She focuses, gaze intensifying.

  For a moment, nothing.

  Then an older, short, black-haired woman rounds the corner with a spry, little girl at her side. Siha smiles briefly, her face balancing between trepidation and warm recognition. The pair meander down the street. The child points at the unique shop items, twirling in a purple dress and tugging on her caregiver. The poor woman follows with deflating energy, even as the girl celebrates the spring’s temperate arrival. They walk on the opposite side of the street, unaware of Siha’s presence.

  Siha watches them with a long view that stretches into the future.

  Thane soon exits the tattoo shop, not at all surprised to see his visitor. “I see you found the place. Ready?”

  It takes a moment for Siha to snap out of her trance, even as the older woman and young girl disappear around the corner of a nearby building. “Oh! Yes.” She turns to Thane with a smile. “Let’s go.”

  ~ TWENTY-NINE ~

  Thane

  “So what’s the bad news?” Thane stirs his coffee, sitting across from Siha at a round, two-person table. Beside them, the glass door panels have been pushed open to welcome the pleasant weather, providing a wide view of the patio and street. The local bistro bustles with the chatter of midday patrons.

  Siha snaps to him. “Excuse me?” Her brown hair appears messier than usual. A cappuccino warms her hands, clutched in her grasp despite the tepid airflow.

  He shrugs. “You invited me out. You’re obviously down.”

  She responds with a deflating chuckle. “Sometimes knowing so much ... it’s difficult.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. How much do you know about me?”

  She straightens. “We don’t have to talk about this.”

  “Humor me. Please.”

  She relents with a sigh. “I know you prefer a rye bourbon over a wheated because you find wheated bourbons too sweet.”

  He sips his coffee. “Guilty.”

  “I know you love Hemingway and that you and Orion got a place together when you were sixteen. You supported her until she could get on her feet.” She pauses, eyeing him to see if he’s satisfied yet.

  “Keep going.”

  “You’re fascinated by astronomy, history, spirituality, and you’ve been with ... a few women.” She clears her throat to temper her embarrassment. “But you’ve never found anyone that mirrored your interests or expanded your perspective. No one’s truly challenged you.”

  He props his elbows on the table and leans in, intrigued.

  “You don’t seem surprised.”

  “I’m not.”

  Her shoulders slump. She recedes into herself as if reluctant to continue, but he has no intention of stopping.

  “And the Bible on my shelf?”

  “Was hers, I know.” Her eyes soften with remorse. “She seemed like a wonderful woman.”

  “She was.”

  The brunette rubs her shoulder. “Thane, I ... appreciate your openness, but why are you asking me all this?”

  “Because I’ve been thinking since our conversation in the stairwell, about this thing inside me, the nightmares.” His dark eyes narrow, burrowing into hers. “About Cole. You talked as if you knew what happened to him, so do you? Everything?”

  She bites her lip. “Just ... pieces. I can see events, not thoughts.”

  “That sounds like more than pieces.”

  She averts her attention to her coffee.

  “Maybe you already know what I’m going to ask. I need a second opinion on this, Siha, and you’re the only one who can give it to me.”

  “I really don’t know!” she snaps, hiding behind a waterfall of brown hair.

  He pulls back, disappointed. “Then I’ll tell you.”

  ~ THIRTY ~

  Qiu

  She gawks at the array of plastic containers, each housing a different type of candy in a rainbowed display of decadence. Beyond them, a glass case of chocolate goodies: pretzels, strawberries, marshmallows all dipped in chocolate and some in peanut butter too for good measure.

  The Promised Land at last.

  Qiu looks to Olivia, eyes watering with gratitude. “G-gracias.”

  Olivia chuckles. “I figure you’ve earned a reward.”

  The girl sprints down the aisle and doubles back, assessing her options. “Dios mío!” She wanders to the selection of chocolates. “What did you say this place was called again?”

  “Pittsburgh.”

  She slaps her arms on the display case, attempting a hug. “We’re never leaving!”

  Olivia exchanges a laugh with the cashier behind the counter. “You can choose two different kinds.” She smiles, oblivious to the overwhelming task she’s lumped on the poor child.

  Qiu’s eyes widen at the sea of choices. “I-I dunno what to choose!”

  Olivia kneels beside the girl. “How about a chocolate turtle? And ... let’s see. Oh! Let’s get a small box of truffles. We can share them.”

  The little girl stares, distracted by a bizarre feeling crawling its way up her back. “Olivia, something’s wrong.” She nibbles on her forefinger as she turns toward the windowed entrance.

  Olivia wraps an arm around her shoulders, huddling in. “Are you all right? Is it the shadow?” she whispers.

  Qiu shakes her head. The dark feeling pulsates from elsewhere, though nearby. Its ripples brush against her in a series of invisible waves.

  “It’s a shadow,” she clarifies, “but not mine.”

  ~ THIRTY-ONE ~

  Thane

  “I was nine,” Thane begins with a deep breath. “Cole was seven. We were at the community pool. God, mom loved to take us there.” He can’t stop the meager smile that crests his lips as the memory surfaces.

  “What were they like?” Siha asks.

  “Mom had black hair, smile lines, and open arms ... and Cole, he followed me everywhere. Always wanted to do what I was doing. Mom raised us on her own after dad died. Staten Island seemed so boring compared to the city, but she made it fun.” He traces his finger around the rim of his coffee cup. “She made everything fun.”

  Siha stares at him, never breaking away. Her expression suggests she knows the story, but she waits, listening with apprehensive, empathetic eyes.

  “That day, she bought us ice cream cones, but Cole, he dropped his halfway through. He started bawling his eyes out, so mom made me give him the rest of mine. I remember getting so pissed.” He scoffs. “Stupidest thing.”

  Siha reaches across the table and places her hand over his. He doesn’t react, too lost in himself to notice.

  “I felt this well of rage build up inside me. It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I was a fucking kid, what did I have to be so angry about? But th
is ... emotion boiled to the surface. Dark. Consuming.”

  “Thane, we don’t have to talk about this.”

  He leers at her, pulling his hand away. “But you know, don’t you? That Cole died that day?”

  “... Yes.”

  “And did your sight show you what they pulled out of the water? I never touched him, but he ... It didn’t even look like him anymore, like he’d been down there for months.” He leans towards her, intensifying. “I never laid a hand on him, Siha, so why did he come out so withered and cold? His flesh was grey, rotten, shriveled to the fucking bone.” He flops back against his chair and pulls his hands over his face. “I’ll never forget the way mom screamed.”

  “It wasn’t your fault.”

  He chuckles, low and sarcastic. “But it was the hate in me, wasn’t it? Haunting me ... all this time.” His fingers snake around the edges of the table, gripping it tight. “That feeling of death, enveloping everything around me ... including my brother.”

  She shakes her head. “Thane, I wish I had the words to help.”

  He fixes his gaze on her, trembling. “I don’t want help, I want answers. Tell me, Siha. Was it because of me?”

  “Thane ...”

  “Tell me.”

  “It was the Fate. It wasn’t you!”

  His eyes glass with moisture. “Did it kill mom? Dad? Is it going to take Orion?”

  “Thane—”

  “Or you?!”

  “Stop it.”

  The guilt sears his voice like water on hot coals. His breath quickens, the bitter winter of realization paralyzing his body. Siha grabs his hands and squeezes, but her presence is fading from his mind. He hears the repetition of his name piling into the air, a bid to return home, but all he can see is Cole’s twisted corpse washing up at his feet.

  Siha yanks and pulls. A waiter rushes to her aid, patrons gawk with alarm and confusion, but even they are just noise.

  The images well up in his brain, more than he can bear. The woman hanging at Diablo’s. Piles of bodies in the streets. Flashes of people reaching skyward, their pleas for the apocalypse ringing in his ears. And his mother tucked into her coffin, further than he could ever reach.

  “I’m so sorry,” Siha’s words crack through sobs, “for all the pain you’re about to feel.”

  As he tumbles into the abyss of memory, a pale grey hue swallows the dark of his eyes—a void in the soul carved out by hands of Fate.

  ~ THIRTY-TWO ~

  Siha

  Before her emerge the pale eyes she never wanted to see. Dread swells within Siha as the outline of his footsteps scorches the Earth. Though he wears Thane’s face, any sense of human has evaporated; veins rise to the surface as if trying to escape, tendons contort in agony, and a universe behind those translucent eyes, cutting the wind from her lungs.

  He rises, a man devoured by the power slumped between his shoulders.

  Screams pierce the café. A woman shrieks as the man sitting across from her turns ghoulish. His skin dries up, whitening hair falls from his head, and his eyes vanish into his skull. He is already a corpse by the time she feels her own limbs crackling into dust.

  Dozens of people fall around Siha in minutes, collapsing in on themselves into mummified remnants. The brunette staggers back in awe. Few have any hope of fleeing before their bodies become shriveled silhouettes of what their lives used to be.

  The pale-eyed man steps out into the streets, casual as if it were another day to be consumed. He stretches the limbs of his newly acquired form as dark clouds circle overhead. Siha stands alone in the bistro amongst the ashes. She lowers her head and clenches her fists, quietly accepting her powerlessness. Her abilities cannot reverse what is decided by the Fates.

  The plague erupts into the streets of Pittsburgh, surging with enough force to blow out nearby windows. Cries of anguish congest the air. Dozens attempt to flee before dropping dead in their tracks. Siha wonders if some part of Thane can see the events unfolding before him, forced to stand in the silence of his body’s actions.

  He walks at a steady pace, clunky with his movements as the possession struggles to take hold. A whirlwind blows the dust of the fallen away, and he turns towards her to flaunt his satisfied grin. She freezes with rigid anger. Though she’s aware this state is temporary, the devastation will be catastrophic all the same, and he will enjoy every moment of it.

  Rolling his shoulders back, the Fate begins his trek down the road. She rushes out after him but is quickly immobilized by the unfolding horror. Precious few cling to life, their zombified hands reaching for scraps of hope before disintegrating into nothing.

  Siha inhales to prepare herself for what awaits. With gritted teeth, she follows and bears the sight of those perishing in his wake, dead before they even hit the ground.

  ~ THIRTY-THREE ~

  Orion

  “Hold her down!” Orion commands. She dives at the couch and grabs a heavy blanket.

  “What’s wrong with her?!” Madison cries, hunching over a screaming Riya.

  The raven-haired woman grips her head with eyes clenched shut as she flails wildly on the floor. Sebastian attempts to steady her, face pale with worry. A frightened Sirius barks from the corner of the living room.

  Orion throws the blanket on top of Riya. “Sit on it!” The redhead hops onto the cloth with Madison and Sebastian quickly following suit. Riya continues to thrash, albeit with limited movement.

  Sebastian labors to keep the blanket beneath his hands. “Is it a dream, her telepathy?!”

  “It must be!” Orion answers through clenched teeth. “Something’s happening! Can’t one of you do something?!”

  The Brit closes his eyes. “I sense ... Siha and Thane and ... two others?”

  “Others?” Orion asks.

  “Yes. Four of them, Siha and Thane included, some several blocks away.” His eyes shoot open. “Christ almighty.” He meets their troubled expressions with quivering fear. “It’s Thane. The Fate inside him has awakened.”

  Silence steals their breath. A terrible dread seizes Orion, tensing every fiber of her body, but Riya’s writhing snaps the three of them back to the matter at hand. The redhead presses her fists in the sheets. “That must be what’s doing this to her!”

  “Riya!” Madison calls. “You have the power to stop this! Remember, you can turn it off! You can fight this!”

  “That’s right!” Orion adds. “You’ve come this far!”

  Sebastian leans down, touching a hand to the young woman’s head. “Riya, you’re the strongest woman I know. Please fight it!”

  Riya’s wails of agony gradually subside to hyperventilating. Sebastian wipes the sweat from her brow with the blanket as her chest rises and falls in sharp bursts.

  “Will she be all right?” he asks.

  “I think so.” Orion stands and hurries to the kitchen. She grabs a paper towel and wets it with cool water before returning to place it on Riya’s forehead. The redhead traces her fingers over the cloth, smoothing it down. “That’s it, girl. Just breathe.”

  Riya’s panic deflates in steady increments.

  Madison sighs with relief. “You’re safe, Riya. You’re gonna be fine.” He combs a gentle hand through her hair.

  After several moments, Riya’s breathing returns to a normal pace. Her eyes crack open as her composure returns. Clutching her head, she works to sit upright. The others prop their hands against her back to help her.

  “God, I feel like I was hit by a freight train,” she groans.

  “What happened?” Sebastian asks, anxiety buried in his tone.

  “I’m not really sure. Out of nowhere, this ... shadow invaded my mind. Like a vapor, ethereal. Then I saw a sea of bodies and ...” The words catch in her throat. Goosebumps spring up on her arms and legs. “All these voices crying out, then fading away until ... all I heard was laughing.”

  The omen sends a chill through Orion. She lowers her head, considering Thane’s torment. He’s long carried a weight
of darkness, and now that pain is being used against him, twisting him into something she shudders to think will destroy him.

  Madison summons his courage above his trepidation. “If Thane’s been possessed, we have to go.”

  Sebastian nods, resolute. Riya offers a sardonic but affirming smile, and they all rise to their feet, ready.

  Fear gnaws at Orion. She rubs her shoulder, forlorn. “Should I come too?” A whining Sirius nuzzles against her to provide support, and she pets him in kind. “I wanna help, but I dunno how being close to Thane will affect me.”

  The three of them seem to share her concerns. They eye one another, awkwardly trying to determine who should respond.

  “It might be better if you stay here,” Sebastian proposes with an air of regret.

  Riya places a hand on Orion’s shoulder. “If we need you, I should be able to reach you with my thoughts.”

  Madison raises a determined fist in declaration of victory. “Don’t worry. We’ll handle it.”

  The redhead forces a smile, hoping to mask her shame. “All right. Bring them back safe, okay?”

  They respond with confident dispositions before racing out the door, leaving an apprehensive Orion behind. She kneels to hug her furry companion. “And be safe yourselves, kiddos.”

  ~ THIRTY-FOUR ~

  Olivia

  Dark, wounded clouds circle overhead, collecting into a slow-moving vortex. Olivia shields Qiu’s eyes with her hand as the people around them explode into dust. The pair stand on a sidewalk outside the candy shop, mercifully sparred from the devastation.

  “My God ...” Olivia braces herself against Qiu to remain upright.

  “What? What’s going on, Olivia? Something smells really bad.”