Claire waved at me, her face full of emotions but the only one I could recognize was happiness. A grey figure dashed past and her head was gone. Her body went limp and fell to the floor, I just stood there petrified.
What…first my harp…and now…why is this happening?
The boy grabbed my hand and pulled me away. He's screaming…but his voice is muffled. What is he saying?
"GET UP AND RUN!"
I punched the ground and pushed myself upward and ran behind the boy. But my foot jammed into something and I fell. I turned back to see what I tripped on and it was Claire's decapitated head. My heart dropped as my body reacted the only way it knew how.
"RYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The boy turned back to look at what I was screaming at. He didn't even react to Claire's decapitated head and pulled at my collar.
"Get up!"
Wait…why are her eyes following mine?
Her eyes went black and her teeth fell out of her mouth, with only her gums she twisted her face into a smile that tore open her cheeks. My body froze.
No, your body didn't freeze. Let's tell the audience how you really reacted, Ambika Vyasa. You didn't care for that silly little half-breed. You're selfish, the only person you care about is yourself. You kicked her head away and turned to run away. Isn't that right? Claire.
Claire's decapitated head flew in front of my face. I clenched my fist and punched her full force. Her head fell to the ground, and let out a haunting scream.
"PLEASE HELP ME! AMBIKA PLEASE! THIS IS YOUR FAULT! WHY DIDN'T YOU LET GO! THIS IS…" my fault.
I turned back and faced her.
"NO, IT ISN'T. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS!"
Her headless body slowly emerged from the woods and pulled her head towards it. She grabbed onto her head and placed it on her neck.
"Ah, that's better. Ambika, let's not lie to ourselves now."
The boy picked me up and ran full force. The thing stood still, staring at us make our escape.
Suddenly a devastating slap deformed my face. I launched up and looked up at the perpetrator. I grabbed a random axe and swung it at Claire's head. She gasped in fear but my gasp of shock was far louder, she was a person.
I jumped back only to see my bare boobs. The color in my already pale face disappeared. I launched myself at her and grabbed her clothes. I cried out, naked.
"PLEASE CLAIRE! FORGIVE ME! I DIDN'T WANNA LEAVE YOU! I DIDN'T MEAN TO TREAT YOU SO BAD! I WAS JUST TRYING TO SHOW YOU HOW GOOD LIFE COULD BE! YOU DIDN'T DESERVE IT! BUT CAN YOU BLAME ME?! I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE A HALF-BREED! I JUST WANTED TO SAVE YOU FROM YOUR DISGUSTING LIFE!"
I looked up to see her void like eyes and gummy smile.
"It's all your fault! You should've never come here."
"I know, I should have never ran away. I don't deserve freedom. All I do is make things worse."
"You should die."
I quickly raised up my head and grabbed at the axe and sliced her head off.
"NO, this isn't my fault! It's your fault for taking care of me! If you didn't take care of me you wouldn't have been in this mess! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT CLAIRE!"
Her headless body grabbed at my throat and squeezed it tightly.
"I'll kill you."
I raised up my head slowly and stared at her empty body. My elegant blood dripped out of every hole in my body, showing that this frail and weak body still had enough strength to stay alive.
"Try it!"
I woke up only to see the boy sitting in front of a fire. I didn't react, I just laid down on the dirty floor in silence. He gazed into the fire and I gazed into the spiraled sky. He opened his mouth but I quickly interrupted.
"She got herself killed."
The boy rested his chin onto his palm.
"No need to say tha…"
"There is a need. I don't want you to feel guilty for someone else's mistakes."
A singular tear fell down my face because of my previous yawn.
"What's your name?"
His smile was uncanny.
"Charles Oedipus, I'm here to protect you."
"Protect me…"
Charles giggled before grabbing a leaf and placing it on my lip. I swung upwards and blew the leaf off of my lips and glared at him. He smiled again, his body looked sickly. As if he was hiding that he was gonna die tomorrow.
"There's no point in worrying when we're in a situation we can't control."
"Where are we?"
He slowly waddled away and stared into the sky.
"A place with a sky that has the properties of a whirlpool and trees are grey. A place that is physically full but spiritually empty. A place full of life yet filled with death. A…"
"Do you even know where we are?"
"No."
I stood up and dusted myself off. I stared Charles in the eye and smiled.
I've read a lot of books ever since I was born. If someone knew something it would be me. My knowledge is endless. The grass was a light dirty brown and the trees were dead but lively. It was so noisy that it was silent. It was…man now that I think about it I'm a genius. Wait…what was I thinking about?
I turned to Charles and smiled. He smiled back and waited for my answer.
"I'm not gonna tell you."
I'm gonna die.
Charles turned to me and stared at me for a good 10 minutes.
"Hm, interesting perspective."
Wait…WE'RE IN A NEW WORLD. I ran over to Charles and grabbed both of his hands. I smiled at him with a devilish grin and widened eyes.
"We're free. No rules."
I'm gonna die.
I pushed Charles to the ground and began to dance. There's nobody to see what I do. Nobody judges me. No expectations. No point but to survive. I jumped into the grass and held onto my belly.
"haha."
I'm gonna die.
I twisted my body to face Charles, eyes gleaming with curiosity.
"Charles this world is far better than the boring one! There's nobody to tell us what to do. We can do whatever we want whenever we want. Haha."
I'm gonna die.
The sound of my guts fighting a battle to the death quickly stopped my laughter. Charles stared at me awkwardly and I stared back.
"You hungry?"
"Nah."
Charles walked up to me and raised my chin with one finger.
"Don't lie to me Ambika. I can't protect you if you don't be truthful with me."
My head boiled with emotions but my face stood frozen as he looked at me with genuine kindness.
He hasn't lied to me once. Why shouldn't I trust him? He's my protector. When I'm with him I don't even have to think. He let go off my chin and began to walk away.
I quickly jumped up and dusted myself. I ran up to him and grabbed his hand. He looked at me with shock but my smile slowly eased his anxiety. A little spider crawled towards us, we stared at it for a moment.
"We're spiders always that big?"
It was the size of my foot. Suddenly it jumped up and opened its mouth, but an arrow quickly pierced it. A mysterious young voice immersed from the dark forest.
"Whoa, are you guys human?"