Death is a funny thing, or perhaps I should say he’s a funny guy. I’ve gotten to know Death pretty well over the last…however long it is now it’s been since I died, and he decided to pull my soul of of the stream.

Of course, Death has a name one I uttered for the first time only recently despite how many years I’ve been his companion now. At first I resented him for taking me out of the soul stream, and not allowing my rebirth. All I wanted to do after all was to be born again, and hopefully be found by Opal again, and yet…that was an impossibility now thanks to my soul being snagged.

It took a long time for me to come to terms I was now Death’s companion, and that Opal might just be moving on without me. Of course I wanted Opal happy, nothing more than that in fact. You might wonder how I could be found by one after being reborn, that of course they’d be dead by the time I was of age.

Well, it’s simple when you’re the companion of a God. I recall the first time I saw Opal, he’d washed up on the beaches near my home, we had no name for our tribe, we were just one of many water tribes there on Iais’i, but we are one of the larger tribes there.

He came during a large wave while our home was under attack from a sea creature, and our guards were busy defending us all. The wave wiped away several of the men, never to be seen again, and in theirs and the creatures place stood Opal.

I knew immediately he was someone special, after all who else but someone special could come from the great waters, and in one piece? Still, he never told me just who…or perhaps more fittingly what he was. It didn’t matter, I was immediately enamored by him, I was maybe fifteen the day I saw him.

Of course I was an oddity amongst my people I had different colored eyes, and was shunned for that. My older sister was shunned because she was so tall. Our mother drank the strong water, and died one night after too much, so ashamed of us she was.

I was one of the many divers, I collected gems, mosses and other what not from the waters, or climbs up the cliffs to get things from there, I was adept at what I did, and I found a small measure of worth in doing that. But of course that day I was unable to do my usual tasks, and so I’d stood there watching.

I remember his eyes locked onto mine, and I stared a moment before I looked away and ran off in embarrassment to the lodging I shared with my older sister. Of course he was brought to her to tend after his time in the water, she was a healer, a good one even then, and she was the one who’s turn it was to be at the beck and call of our people. It helped to have many so everyone got their own time, to rest and see to personal things.

So, the stranger was in our lodging, in the spare bed that we kept for moments like this, and my sister asked me to help her with him. He was a tall man, taller even than my sister, and she was taller than all the men there, I remember seeing the shock on her face when he stood in front of her, and couldn’t help the soft laugh that came from me.

Our new arrival, we called him Opal, no name was ever given by him, but his hair resembled one of the stones I constantly dove for and he seemed to like it. With him, came the water. It rained almost constantly, not the violent storms we were used to, but gentler rains, warmer rains, and the rumors started that he was the Rain Bringer, the Water Maker, and many began to treat him with more respect, many thinking he was a God walking on Iais’i, gracing us with his presence.

I had a habit of singing while I worked, especially those jobs that kept me above the water though for some reason I found myself going out of my way to not let Opal hear me sing. I still to this day can’t explain why I didn’t want him hearing me, maybe I was afraid of being looked at funny by him. He’d accepted my eyes and my sisters height…but the singing was also unheard of amongst my people, so it was one more mark against me.

Yet, one day unbeknownst to me he heard me singing, and not long after went to the king of the tribe, and requested me as his companion and I was gladly given to Opal, I think perhaps in hopes of when Opal would leave I’d be taken with him.

Opal was given his own lodging, and I was told I was to take my things and move in with him. It was an altogether frightening experience for me really because while I found him interesting, I didn’t know anything about him for as little as he spoke.

That first night, he asked me to sing for him, and at first my voice was soft, hard to hear over the water crashing into the rocks, but it grew in volume, and the look he gave me, I flushed from it. He looked so pleased with my voice, and told me I was just what he’d been looking for, for so long.

The following days, was spent in one anothers company, getting to know each other better. I still helped out since my sister and others relied on the things I gathered, but most of my time was spent with him, and it wasn’t long before I stopped feeling entirely uncomfortable curled up next to him in his sleeping area. In fact it started to feel more like home, than all my years living with my sister had, and it was the scariest thing I’d ever experienced up to that point.

I recall the day I asked him out right if he’d take me with him when he left, because I knew Opal wouldn’t stay forever, and the complete relief I felt when I was told I was his, and would of course go with him when he left.

That, was the happiest moment of my life, at least up until that point. A few short turns of the moons later, and I was able to count sixteeen years, and my gift from him, was nothing material, no…it was him claiming me as his completely.

That became the happiest moment of my life, knowing he wanted me in all ways, though it was of course also the most painful moment in my life. At least up to that point it was. Still, I would have changed nothing in my life, and it continued on in this way for some time, my never realizing that there was darkness on the horizon.

About a year after I’d been given to Opal as his companion, one of the healers from another tribe that had come to us for more in depth training tried to insert herself into Opal’s life, to gain his attention and favor, and though he was always kind, and courteous, seeing as he was never anything but that, there was an obvious dislike of the woman.

Every time she attempted to hug him he side stepped, her tries to get him to go somewhere privately with him turned down, and he’d take me off somewhere instead. He was trying to blatantly, but politely make it obvious it was my presence he wanted and preferred.

She was the darkness on our horizon, the blot of sorrow on our happiness. After several months of this, she finally stopped and it was thought she’d given up on Opal and no more thought was given.

I could now count eighteen years, and I was beyond happy. Opal had become close friends with the princess, and spent quite a bit of time with her, mentoring her a bit, she knew she was to be sent away to be married to the prince of another tribe, to form alliances and I didn’t begrudge that time he spent with her, Elyanor was a sweet girl after all.

It was shortly after that I fell and injured myself, and my sister was unavailable to tend to me, she’d traveled to a near by tribe, and was helping some sick people there, so I was treated by the healers we had available to us, which was fine. I had no reason to be wary of any of them, they helped us after all.

It wasn’t long after that, my injury healed, but I was weak, and I was sick. I could barely lift my head most days, eating and drinking became a chore, and I could see the concern in Opal’s eyes. Even though my lips were so dry they cracked and bled, I continued to assure him I would be okay. That the healers would figure out what was wrong and heal me.

After all, thats what they did. They fixed us. So I took the medicines and herbs they brought, hoping to get better. By this time, Lirilei had returned and even she couldn’t help me, I could see in her eyes I was too far gone to help.

Opal almost never slept to begin with, and he slept even less so in my final weeks. I remember the day I died. He’d sat up all night holding me, pain wracking my body, but I refused to let any cries of pain leave my lips. It was bad enough he had to see me so sick, I didn’t want him hearing the pain I was in.

I didn’t want to be drugged and fall asleep. I wanted to be held, and listen to his heart when I wasn’t tense with the pain, when my eyes weren’t full of tears I looked up at him, and tried so many times to speak but I couldn’t find the strength.

As the sun began to rise, I could see it was dark outside, dark clouds had filled the sky, and I knew it was raining, I could hear the soft rainfall as I looked up at him.

My final words to him were a whispered “I love you Opal.” my fingers had been against his cheek caressing it softly, and I recall his lips touching mine, his own repeated words of love, and then I simply sighed, a peaceful sound, and I died in his arms.

Death wasn’t as scary as it’d been made out to be, it was a calm process and as I left my body I heard the sky let loose, the torrential rain, and I saw Opal clinging to me, calling to me to come back to me, and I ached to do so, though it wasn’t a possibility.

My soul drifted along, and before long I felt myself surrounded by others that had died, and flashes of things filled my senses such that they were.

Then, there was a warmth, a voice, and I was suddenly not as surrounded as I’d been, and I found myself kneeling before a man, as tall as Opal had been, and he wore a kind smile on his face, though there was sadness in his eyes.

He said he was sorry that he’d had to take me from Opal, and he hoped his friend could forgive him but there’d been nothing left to send me back to. I’d been poisoned so long that nothing could have saved me.

Of course I was shocked! Poisoned? But who? Of course it hit me, the shunned healer. It angered me, and I begged to go back, but of course I couldn’t. That was why it took me so long to speak Death’s true name. I couldn’t bring myself to say it, I resented being dead, and worse of having no chance to return.

I’d been chosen out of the stream because of the bright spot my soul contained, because I’d been touched, and chosen by one of the ones from the Island.

He explained it all to me. The Island was the home of the Deities. The Gods and Goddesses we’d worshiped were real entities. Opal, was of course Water and it all made so much sense to me, and I realized I’d known all along.

Finally, I stopped being resentful, stopped wishing I could go back, because I began to enjoy my new companion, he was quiet, and melancholy, but given his role, I could see why.

Which is why I feel bad it took me so long to speak his name to him. The way his eyes lit up, his face dropped the years away and he looked so young…it made me wish I’d said it sooner.

Now, I say it daily, and I relish the fact I’m a spirit. I don’t exactly exist, not like Opal, or my sister…only one can interact with me now.

Timaeus.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

December 23rd, 2005
Home for orphaned children Den Helder, Netherlands

“S’not the same since Eve left…” Of course it wasn’t. At fifteen, the twins had lived all of their lives in the home, abandoned by parents when they were too young to realize or recall at all. Evelien, on the other hand, had come to live within the home when she’d been thirteen, after a fire had killed both her parents and left her without family anywhere else.

Being all of nine years old then and having lived at the home longest, they had seen plenty of children come and go, be adopted by willing parents. However, none had been willing to take in two at the time. So the arrival of a slightly older girl had brought some hope that perhaps a friend would stay longer than the others and they had easily become close.

Eve had left the home just a year before and while she had only been there for a few years, her departure had left quite a mark on the young twins. At least they had not lost track of her and still knew where she was. She sent them updates and notices now and again, they knew where she was, it was warming, even if it was lonely.

Her departure however had shifted things around and while Eve had been on gathering duty—taking inside what the delivery folks brought in—it had been shifted down to Anastasia. It would have been shifted down to both Ana and her sister, had said sister’s health not been so fragile. Spending time outside for Roslyn, especially when the cold months began to settle in, were a bad idea.

Most of her life had been spent sitting by the window in one of the large bedrooms of the home. Even in the summer, spending time outside was a bad idea, especially if it was spent around with the other children, running and playing. Easily short of breath, attacks were common and medication to see to these issues not quite so.

“I know it’s not the same since Eve left, but we gotta just hold on. S’just three more years and then we can go and do our things. Plus, you’ve started to find means of getting in touch with her with more than just the postcards she sends so it’s not such a bad thing, right?”

“Guess so. Still.” Ros tapped a fingertip to the window as she gazed out quietly, wrapped snuggly in a warm blanket. “You think they’re gonna come?”

“Well it’s the date they came by with the deliveries and they haven’t come by yet, so I bet they do come.” Which was a good thing for one but not the other. Ana did get to talk to the delivery boys when they came, briefly, but her sister, stuck inside, could only watch from the window, eyes wide and hopeful, just for an upward glance..

She knew well enough that it was foolish to hope that something would come of now and again delivery visits with these boys. They weren’t even allowed inside and she couldn’t be out. What sort of friendship could one develop if one couldn’t talk at all? Of course she knew that her sister often pointed up to the right window, but what was there to see and do? It was ever so frustrating in the end.

“I like.. last year.. remember last year?” It was hard to forget that year really. The boys had added streaks to their hair, it had stood out rather clearly. Quite festive and it had amused her to a point, had rather honestly been the highest note of her holidays as she’d gotten sick just a day before Christmas and had spent it mostly out of her mind from fever.

“I wish just once you could come down with us and at least say hi. I mean I know you can’t but it’s unfair. They’re nice.” For how little she saw of them herself since it had been Evelien’s job until that point though she had helped now and again.

“Wrap up, it looks like it’s going to get cold in here before long.” The home wasn’t new, it was old and parts of it were falling to pieces, but it was all the orphans had. It was that or they were moved off and to the nearest proper orphanage which was in Haarlem, an hour away from where they were now.

Ana looked about the bedroom a moment and located one of the blankets which she brought back and wrapped her sister in. There was a kiss to her cheek and a tight hug before she was running off to find her jacket and go outside to help with the deliveries.

They were coming up the street. Perhaps this holiday wouldn’t be so horrible, if nothing else, perhaps she could have a glimpse, maybe just a look.. if Ana pointed at the window again, maybe they’d look. She didn’t hold onto much hope but there was still some to be had.

Some so very, very vague hope.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The price I paid for my sins is heavier than most would ever imagine it to be. I speak to others about what they think the dark to be and their dark, compared to mine, is nothing. I deserved my punishment though it has left me scarred beyond what can be repaired. I know that much, admit to that much and am somewhat afraid that my current housemate will eventually grow worn of being at my bedside during the nights where it gets so bad that I could wish to want to die again.

Since I am writing down everything in that passes through my mind in this journal, I suppose I could begin at the very beginning.

While I loved my life, adored my friends, there was a darkness within me, something that was a constant in my life. I don’t know what it was, I don’t know where it was from, but when my brother finally settled, found a woman to call his own, I found myself spiraling towards an oblivion that I couldn’t avoid.

I adored that woman myself, I loved her in ways I shouldn’t have and I knew that given a choice, I stood not a chance if the competition was to be between my brother and myself. She was my best friend and she had been for a long time by that point. I didn’t want to take away from my brother his chance at happiness. The aching loneliness I felt then was more than I could handle, more than I could wrap my head around and I did the foolish thing of trying to take my life.

My memories of that moment are relatively fuzzy. I remember the hotel room, I remember the ache, the pain though none of it seemed to equal to the ache I was trying to leave behind. I remember the dark and then.. I remember him.

Tall, god so tall I felt dwarfed next to him and he was staring at me as if he was judging me, as if he was weighing the good and bad I’d done in my life. He said that it wasn’t my time but that he couldn’t send me to the den. The den was for those who had been brought to the verge of death accidentally, those who had been near killed or outright killed during a battle for the greater good. Not those who were suicidal like I was. He said that I had to think back on why, he said that I had to figure things out and that.. thing, it just opened under me. A void of dark and I fell. Oh god I fell. I just fell and fell and it was so dark.

I eventually began to slow down and after I don’t know how long, I was still, just floating down in the middle of nothing at all, left with no more than just myself.

I guess most people would be fine with being in the dark. I mean, I hear about others who have gone willingly in the dark and the thought honestly terrifies me. I can’t even sleep in a dark room. I keep my blinds open to let the lights from outside flow in. I have a slight lamp hanging just outside my bedroom door and it is always lit. Always.

Being in the dark though, I can’t begin to explain how I felt, how it was. I had no sense of time, I had no sense of when, where or how. There was no hunger, there was no need for anything. I wasn’t dormant, I couldn’t sleep. Or if I did, I don’t know how long or how well since my thoughts kept on centering on the horror I could begin to feel I had inflicted upon those I loved.

The only thing I could focus on was that I had been selfish, so very selfish to bring that kind of hurt to those I adored beyond words. To the two people who mattered the most to me. So very selfish and I was being made to pay the price. All I could see in my mind’s eye and all around me, as if it was projected all about, was the images I had last seen. The note I’d written for Aurore, the bloody mess in my hotel room, the despair I knew I had caused them. It was like I was on a carousel and going round and round, seeing the same things over and over again.

How much I wanted to curl in on myself and forget everything, be and let go of it all but it was my punishment. No matter how I curled, there was another image there waiting for me. Now, whenever I close my eyes, the blood flashes in front of my eyes for a brief moment before it goes.

I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around how long I’ve been lost in the dark until he let me out. Until he opened the doorway and all I could see was a pin of light. It then grew until all I could see was white and it was like it had swallowed me whole. He told me I had served my time, that I was free to finally try and find peace amongst the living again.

I can’t spend any amount of time near the man. I can easily enough wrap my mind around the fact that he merely set me there for my own safety, for my own well-being or that much I suppose was it but he terrifies me. I just about choked on the juice I was drinking the morning Aurore told me he was her brother.

There is so much I can’t tell my brother. So much I can’t tell a single living soul. It terrifies me. The world terrifies me and there are so many reasons for that.

My world is slowly fading to dark. With every passing year. I don’t know if it’s a side effect to being in his darkness or if it’s just something wrong with me but I can’t begin to want to tell the medical folks. The idea of being put under for the tests is bad enough to keep me away. I can’t see from my right eye and the vision in my left is mostly there though it’s not clear on some days.

Kannon.. I don’t know how to express my thanks properly for his presence in the house. I didn’t know what I was honestly doing when I invited him to live with me. Though I suppose I can better understand it now. The aching loneliness that had been present, that loneliness that led me to being in the dark in the first place was settling once more. Yes, I have a big family though they’re not mine in the end. My brother has children and some children of their own and while I love spending time with them, it is something of a present ache to go back home when the place is empty.

He’s been such a blessing since he first stepped in. I can understand the reasons why he was sent in the dark, at least I think so and his having been fresh from the dark was another reason why I wanted to offer him something, anything.

I have nightmares when I sleep. In the morning I act like I don’t remember and it just.. it feels safer that way. I know on really bad nights I toss and I turn, I whimper, whine and I sob away in some cases but he’s been a steady presence and I feel that soon he won’t be able to stand any of it and he’ll find himself another house, he’ll settle elsewhere and I’ll be back to being alone.

I don’t want to go back to being alone. I don’t want to go back to the dark. The dark is the last place I want to be but it almost seems as if my life is on a leash and I’m always going back to that one point, to that one place. At times I wonder just how well my sanity is anchored into this reality.

I’m broken and there’s no fixing me.

The day begins as any other would. For one woman, it continues on, as if it had not yet come to an end. The birth of the child too early but it was the only way it could have happened. Living through the whole of the pregnancy would have been the end of her.

The child eventually born, wrapped and offered to the mother for a few moments before he was taken to be settled to an incubator would be called Shadei Frederick Morgan. His mother smiles at the little face, at the quiet little cry before her arms go lax and the child is taken away.

As he is settled into the incubator, his mother is settled back comfortably to her bed.

On the morning of October 28 of the same year, Olivia Morgan was found as having passed away in her sleep, leaving behind her husband, their three year old daughter and their son who would most likely never even know what his mother looked like.

September 8, 1995

Nearly nine years have passed since Shadei’s birth. The first few years were difficult for the frailness of his body though he was so strong in spirit that it could have almost been overlooked. Slightly small in build for his age, he manages as much as his sister and she holds back in no way when they’re together.

Those times are rare, at twelve, Marie spends her weeks away in a private school, sleeping in the dorms and only coming home on the weekends. Only the best of education as per her father’s request and he would have done a lot to make his daughter happy. The only issue was perhaps why he had picked a private school all the way across their state. The more she grew, the more she reminded the man of his dead wife and it was all too clear he still was not over it.

There were no pictures of the woman anywhere in the house, no mementos. While Marie had spent the first few years of her life in the presence of their mother, her younger brother hadn’t had that luck and yet he never truly had asked about it.

Unlike his sister, Shadei was rarely let outside of the house. His father still saw him as the frail little thing he had been able to bring home nearly three months after his birth. Tutored at home, the homework was no less difficult, if not perhaps more so, than it would have been at school.

When Marie was home in the weekends, she usually tended to try and make time for her brother so they could play.

Play is what they were doing now, bouncing the ball back and forth within the yard. It was one bounce too hard that had that very ball go right over their fence and out to the street. It was Shadei who took off after the ball, getting to it without so much of an issue. It was on the way back, as he started crossing the street that one car turned the corner too sharply and rammed right into the child.

It would only take a few days before the news was out and in the open that the sole male heir to the Morgan family would never, ever walk again.

The media swarmed and the papers rolled out, the prints printed and there was not a soul in New York City who didn’t know the story of the broken child and the driver blamed for the accident.

March 10, 2003

At sixteen, Shadei spends the better part of his days locked home. It was rare enough he was allowed outside in his own yard, let alone anywhere else. He still was tutored daily, had his weekends to himself though the presence of his wheelchair kept him from going to most places even in the house.

His room had been moved to the first floor where he had access to the kitchen if he was hungry, his bathroom had been modified and the locks on the doors were far out of his reach when it came to heading outside. There were no ramps anywhere or any means for him to get upstairs so he kept to the first floor.

When his sister was home, she usually was dubbed his caretaker and they were allowed out of the house. Her visits were far and few in-between. At nineteen, she had herself a boyfriend and it was looking to be turning into more, she had a job one state over and she managed a visit every few months, for a day or two over the weekend.

It wasn’t something that bothered him more than he should have. For having spent the last nearly seven years locked inside, he was rather used to it though he cherished the days where he could have a moment of his sister’s time.

Today was one of those times and she had managed to sweet talk their fathers into letting them out into the zoo not far from where they lived. It perhaps help that their father was the main caretaker, the owner, so to speak, of that very zoo.

Shadei loved the animals though he understood how they felt, locked behind bars. He understood a little too well. The place had been quiet on that day since the day had been just slightly chilly. At one point in their visits, Shadei had managed to sweet talk his sister into letting him finish the visit on his own. He had craved so much the chance to be by himself outside that he would have done most anything.

It took some puppy-eying and some pouting but she relented and he was off on his own. The day was turning out to be going just the way he wanted it except for one small detail and that detail had him so distracted that he sent himself, and his chair, tumbling down a large staircase.

A moment of panic later when he checked himself for anything and everything and found that he was still in one piece brought some relief until he noticed that his chair was quite a ways away from him. Not such a good thing that in the end though the day did turn out better than he was expecting it to for a single reason.

There was someone. Someone who helped him and someone who kept him company throughout the day. Shaile had been nice and fun to spend time with. The other couldn’t have been much more than two or three years older than him and it was comforting to spend time with someone who wasn’t going to judge him because of the chair.

How much he would have wished to spend more time with his new-found friend but he knew that the moment he was back home, it was going to be back to the cage and it would be worse than before.

July 8, 2009

The days bled into one another at that point and they were achingly lonely. After his little stunt of wandering on his own in the zoo some six years back by that point had made going out or anywhere for that matter resound with a big fat ‘no’ out of his father, despite that he was well over eighteen by that point.

How he had wanted to know more about Shaile, to have some means or ways to keep in touch but asking for an address would have felt out of place since they had met that morning, had spent a few hours together before the zoo had been closed for the day and that had been that.

At least he had made no promise to the other about managing to meet again though he never was far. It had been his first friend who had not been part of the family and he was rather certain that he had lost that very friend the same day he’d made that friend.

Marie’s visits were less and less frequents, he saw her perhaps once or twice a year, usually around holidays as she was now a married woman with a little one to take care of.

It was one of those rare visits and their father had summoned the both of them to a dinner at a quiet little restaurant so they could catch up once more. While the man still took care of the zoo, he rarely was home and Shadei was left in the care of the staff and it did nothing to take away the aching loneliness he felt from watching people walk on by from his window.

Still, for those rare times he was out and in public, he was all smiles and happiness. It was what his father wanted of him and that was all he could do. He knew, from reading journals and old newspaper that he had taken away from his father, their mother and could only imagine that the man must have held some sort of grudge against him, even after all this time. He knew more about the maids than his father, he’d rarely ever seen the man face to face.

The trip to the restaurant was event-less, as was the dinner, it was the trip back that seemed to prove that something was out to get to him whenever he stepped out of the house and beyond their fences.

Why or how remains a mystery though it made the headlines in the papers. Right as they were turning the last corner to head on home, something rather literally exploded from under the car. Whether a bomb or a malfunction, no one has yet been able to find out any detail about the incident.

That night, Shadei lost more than simply the sight in one eye. He lost his sister, lost the child she didn’t know she was pregnant with. Her husband and their child were never heard of again, they never stepped up to know more, as if they had never been.

At twenty two, nearly twenty three, Shadei swore to himself that he would never, ever again set foot outside of the house for the fact that no matter what happened, something was always taken away from him when he did.

In the following weeks, he found himself with a newly appointed caretaker. Malcolm shared his quarters, shared his meals, kept him company though most of the time, Shadei realized it didn’t matter. Malcolm was helpful, the burning scars along his shoulder tended to pull horribly depending on the weather and he welcomed the help when it was necessary.

In the presence of the other he still managed the happy façade that was his to wear but once he was left on his own, so rare those times now, he was left to wonder just as to what the point of it all was.

February 6, 2011

A year and a half after the last accident found Shadei sitting on his bed and staring off. Malcolm had slept elsewhere and he was waiting on the man so he could honestly get out of bed properly. His shoulder was aching in a way that made it near impossible for him to get to his chair and it had been left out of his reach as it was.

His eyes were on the far wall where he kept cut outs from the newspaper, every time it mentioned something about the zoo, about his family. Those were bitter reminders but it kept him from going outside, no matter how beautiful the day might have turned out to be.

When he heard the key turn into the lock, he sighed softly and shook his head. It had been a fair while now since Malcolm had seen through his masks and he barely ever bothered to put them on.

The man stepped inside, grinning like a loon and it was easy to gather from that look alone that he’d spent the night with whomever had caught his fancy the day before. “I’m glad you’re happy and all but I’d like to get out of this bed, if you would?”

It was rare that the skin of his arm pulled bad enough to keep him from moving on his own though it was perhaps more the chair being across the room that had made him stay right where he was. Malcolm rolled his eyes at him a moment and went to fetch the chair, setting the breaks on. “Aren’t you just cheery this morning?”

Still his lips were quirked into that grin and he snickered, letting the other move as he desired into the chair before he wheeled it towards the bathroom. The routine was settled well enough at this point that it wasn’t hard to get through it with his eyes shut. “Well no matter, today is special and today we’re going out to the zoo!”

The deer in headlight look was missed altogether as he turned his back on the man in the chair, letting him take care of his basic needs as he went about digging out the necessary clothes.

“Last thing I want, Malcolm, is to go outside and you know this as well as I do.”
“Ah but see, met up with someone I hadn’t seen in years a few days ago and I invited them out to the zoo and you need some fresh air. I know you don’t want to spend time out there but I’m not giving you much of a choice. So wash up, I have clothes set out for you and we’re going to the zoo.”

Rolling his eyes, Shadei still went about his morning routine as best as he could before he was slowly wheeling himself out of the bathroom. “I know too well I’m not getting out of that one, just by the look on your face. Just so you know, if you somehow get maimed for some reason, you can’t blame me for it.”

“Won’t blame you for it. I promise.”

Well it did seem as if his day was going to take a whole different route than the one he had been thinking of, which would have been nothing more than stare off, maybe read some, rinse and repeat.

If anyone did get maimed.. he knew it would be just another cut out on his wall.

~~~~~

“Come back to bed, mom. It’s late and we have to find somewhere else to head to tomorrow. This place just doesn’t have anything for us and we can’t afford the room anymore.” The words were spoken softly by the young woman sitting on the bed though she knew they were pointless as they went unheard by the older woman standing by the window, staring outside.

Melysandre eased to her mother and turned to face her, offering the ghost of a smile as she reached out and brushed hair away from that face. Her fingers moved then, shifting to signs. You need to sleep, mom. We have to head out tomorrow to try and find elsewhere to stay at. I know it’s going to be cold out so we really need all the energy we can get. Please try to sleep?

It was heartbreaking. It had been heartbreaking for the years since it had all happened. When their lives as a whole had gone to hell and that had been it. There had been the war, the fighting and then nothing. As if time had stilled for all of a minute and everything had gone dark. Melysandre woken first and looked high and low to find anyone whose features might have rang a bell, anyone who might have seen her mother. Finding anyone had been impossible and finding out just where they were twice as so. Finding her mother however, had come to happen about a week after she had started looking and what she had found had been far from what she’d hoped for.

Wounded, half-blind and back to the deafness she had been born with, it had taken a lot of work to manage more than the simplest of things and the forest had been a fair host for the two of them while wounds were licked and until they could manage more than an hour or so of walking every day. There was a permanent limp to the older woman’s steps, the deafness made it near impossible to find work of any type, which left Melysandre to fend for them, to find money and shelter.

The biggest issue had been their looks. The day they had finally made it from the forest, the first important thing that had been noticed is that they stood out. An issue easily enough fixed, so long as the way used to fit in was not lost. Both women had the ability to change the way they looked, one more thoroughly than the other so energy was focused into two medallions, each set about a respective neck and there it was. The pale skin of humans, the rounded ears of human. The dark hair of one remained while on the other it shifted from white and darkened until it was ever black. The red eyes however turned out to be another issue and were instead changed for blue.

For years now, the medallions had been kept and worn, old coloring and features well hidden from sight. The only downside to the wear of the medallions perhaps was that whatever powers had remained within the two women, they were now dormant and the only way to get in touch with that very power, was to take the the medallions off. Not something they looked forward to.

From the window, the older woman offered her daughter the ghost of a smile and nodded before she turned away from the window and padded to her bed to slip between the covers.

“I miss your voice, mom..” How those words were breathed, a low sigh following suit as she watched the woman settle beneath those covers. “Sort of like I miss dad and the rest of everyone, who knows what happened to the lot of them.”

“I miss how you used to sing me to sleep. And I miss the way it all was before it went to hell and just.. Well I know there’s no turning back so we make do.” The words of course fell to deaf ears and she handled that much well enough. Instead, she moved to the bed and tucked the woman in nice and comfortable. Her health wasn’t all it used to be though perhaps it was for the most basic of rations they had had to live on for the past years. It was hard to find someone willing to let them work anywhere for lengthy periods of time.

Padding about the small room, she packed their things back into the slight travel bag they had, leaving out the cloaks and gloves, the warmer, thicker clothes. The weather was less than pleasant, downright cold and traveling out there to make it to the new town would be difficult though it needed done. At least there were enough rations packed into the bag to manage at least a few days out, depending on how long it would take them.

“Sleep sweet, mom.” Nestling herself next to the older woman, atop the covers, the tugged up the slight blanket she’d kept about and closed her eyes. Just one more night, a few hours of sleep and they’d be out in the cold again.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It is so strange, when one manages to find means to settle into a new household, or at the very least, they do try to find means to settle into a new household. However temporary that might be. Certainly he does not think to allow me to live here forever? While I do understand that this seems to be repayment for saving his life, allowing me simply to leave the Shiroshinrei household was more than enough to repay that much. Maybe it is best I begin at the beginning?

The day had started as all other days tend to, an early start, at the very least an hour or two before the sun was to rise to begin the preparations for the breakfast. There were more than one things to prepare, the Master ate a full breakfast shortly after the sunrise and the Mistress ate hers, something light but filling, normally around eight or nine.

Breakfast was brought to the Master’s room where it was served with what he calls a side dish of pleasure, something I never have been able to grow used to yet it happens every single morning. With his breakfast eaten and his pleasure gotten, it is back to the kitchen to finish the Mistress’s breakfast so it can be brought to her for something of a repeat of the Master’s breakfast. A meal with a side dish of pleasure. There is no pleasure to be had when you are forced to wander back and forth between the bed of your keepers. Those details I sadly have to keep to myself.

After breakfast the chores are simple and usually varied depending on those who are within at the time. It is when lunch came about that things came to a rather abrupt change. Panic abound, rumours and hushed tones about a poisoning and I find myself within the Master’s room to see to what seems to be yet another case of poisoning. I do wish the Mistress would change her means if she really did wish to off the Master. Far from me thoughts such as these however, merely a statement.

Seeing to a counter-poison is by then far too easy as the Mistress severely lacks originality when it comes to these, they are the same every single time and I have learned to keep the countering agent not far in my room. Once the Master was seen to once again, I was about to head back to my station for the rest of my chores when I rather found myself asked for in another household. Another poisoning perhaps.

Herbs were packed, book of notes packed, a list of what needed done by what time frame handed down and explained to the rest of the maids and I was off again.

Certainly the ride there was some hours long as the Master’s household is not in the same city as where I was needed but that did matter little. Once there I took in the symptoms, took note of what might have been eaten and I simply prepared an antidote to the best of my abilities. That seen to, along with some extra left just in case, I wandered off on my way home to resume life as it should have been.

A couple of days after my visit beyond the walls of the Master’s home, I found myself punished for reasons I was not told. Some hours later, I then was told, by the Master’s youngest two daughters, women I can trust with me life, these two, that they were sending elsewhere, that I was being given my freedom but it would not be easy to get out of the house.

A mix of herbs set to paste that once ingested would slow down the heart, ease breathing to a near stop and fake death, a counter-agent to be given by whomever would see to my revival later on and a black car drive by the friend of a friend. Or at least, that was what I was told.

The first herbs were taken, my body laid to rest on my bed and I was pronounced dead, or I figure else I wouldn’t be where I am now. Then I imagine I was set to a bag in the black car but those are details I lack as when I next woke, I was in a foreign room, wrapped in a robe with, nearby, the man whose life I had saved but days before. What is it with wives and trying to poison their husbands?

There was a bonding ceremony not long after I came to be in this room, between the girls’ cousin, I had seen him but few times but he looked no different from what my memory served, and the young lady, unless I am mistaken, is the youngest child to the man whose house I now live in.

Else than the ceremony, it has been quiet. A time of healing though I see to the meals every day. It is a far cry from what I have been doing since I can remember but I am unsure as to what else I may have to do in the house to this day.

The man seems to be set on telling me I am free, that chores I might have been used to are not mine to do anymore. That is a complex request though I do try as I can. Still, if I can at the very least still keep to the cooking for as long as I may stay in this room then I might not ask for more. I clean what I can, my room is kept spotless.

The bruises are nearly all gone, the limp is no longer present though there still remains a vague ache in my ankle.

For now, I can do little else than sit and stare out the window. I ponder. How long until I have to find a place of my own? Will I be able to? I am a woman of no name, no papers and no certificates. To the world as it is now I do not exist. Certainly he must not want me to stay forever, it would make little sense. I dare not disturb him, ask him these questions, it wouldn’t be right.

He has been busy since I was brought in, seeing to things that have nothing to do with me and things I have no knowledge of. I leave him to his things though I do bring him his meals when the time about comes. What is second nature cannot be broken through and forgotten so very easily though I do try.

We spent today downtown buying out the cutest little store he’d run across. We wanted to ensure all this one of a kind stuff wasn’t lost when the world ends tomorrow. Vivianus consulted his book, saw what the world was coming to, the dangers is posed to those of us within Kariaste Manor, and came to me, asking for my help in speeding up the outside world, while our home beneath the shields remained intact. Easy job given I am the God, or Keeper of Time it’s self. The not so easy part is the fact Ethan and I will be spending so much time apart. We haven’t since we first met eight years ago, so this is something of an uncomfortable moment in our relationship for us you must understand.

I’ve yet to tell Ethan, or Vivianus about any possible side effects to this whole speeding time up by a 100 years thing I’ll be doing. It will age me that 100 years. I won’t look any different, save for much longer hair than when I leave, as I will be experiencing the passage of time in a way. However, and he’s unaware of it, I can put Vivianus within his own bubble of time, it’s easier for me to do that, than try to keep a whole Manor on one time and the world another. So I will have him in his time bubble and synced onto the Manor’s time flow. He will experience exactly the same amount of time as those within.

I will be the only one suffering through 100 years. Of watching the world destroy it’s self, the millions of deaths, and the planet taking over once more, while descendants of those who managed to survive scrabble out some form of a life. No. I’ve not told Ethan I will see all the horrors pass around us…and I will feel millions of ‘clocks’ stop running, as nuclear weapons are used, and the innocent are killed as well as guilty fall prey.

It will be hard coming home from that, even though I will be no further than the Manor’s roof. Such is the way things must be. I’ve consulted the Ebb, I am touching my powers, and have been since my birthday. Once I am done, my powers will fade once more till I actually need them for something significant. The small things I can do, require little thought, or focus unlike this.

Still…Ethan’s thirty six or so hours, will feel as long as my one hundred years apart from him. I’m glad he doesn’t have to go through that long separation as well.  He asked me to keep close till it was time, and after. Little does he know all I will want is to just have his arms around me, and nothing more when I’m come back.

-Zaman Elios Demmas (though in my heart it is really Crawford)

-Karol Lumusi

So it was with that in mind that I headed to the second floor on the manor upon my return and secured a large area and began the setting up process. I did it in secret, ordering the proper items and all though I knew I’d have to order more, and possibly different stuff should it not be what was needed or wanted. I didn’t care though. I felt good doing this, knowing it’d been a dream. Once I had everything settled, I knew it was time. I had to find Tobiaas.

He’d told me once when giving me a massage he wished he could open his own massage parlor, but knew it couldn’t be afforded. Now he’s got that, and I don’t mind footing the bill on it. I’ve got money, more than enough that’s just been accumulating, waiting for a purpose. This is that purpose I now realize. So now I need to go find Toby and bring him down here….see if there’s anything he’d like me to order, or replace and a sign. He needs a name for the shop.  Plus I have another surprise for him. Not sure how he’ll handle either of them. I’ll be finding out soon though, I’m taking making him breakfast then we’re going for a walk, told him there’s something I wanted to show him.

I plan on leading him to the second floor (with his eyes closed) and once in front of his shop door, putting the key in his hand and telling him it’s all his. The second surprise can wait till I see how he handles the first. Hopefully well though.

-Jin Lauroyal

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

THWACK!

Her eyes remained wide open, staring with something very close to hatred as she bit into the gag that had been forced into her mouth, swallowing down the hiss of pain that tried to escape. She refused to give him the pleasure of hearing her react, of seeing her show the pain. She wouldn’t. “Precious, how I love those eyes when they shine this way. The way you’re looking at me, I could keep you chained forever, shame your brothers might just wonder, mm?”

THWACK!

A slight rattle of chain as the paddle landed on an already reddened and painfully sensitive skin though still she refused to close her eyes, still glared with all she was worth. The more the pain settled into her core, the stronger her hatred, her strength in keeping the man from what he wanted. He wanted to see her break, he wanted to see her beg and cry and those were the very last things on her mind.

THWACK!

Breathing in a sharp gasp about the gag, she did close her eyes for a few painful moments as she tried to get her bearings. It was his grimy fingers brushing along her bared breast that startled her back to the present, that had her eyes open. She struggled against the cuffs that were biting into her wrists and only had the rattle of the chains holding her standing and his pleased laughter as companion and answer to her efforts.

Charlie swallowed back the need to cry and merely focused on trying to glare him into non existence. She knew it was foolish a thought but it was worth it. She nearly had managed to build up that hatred she felt for him back to the surface when she felt the prick of a needle into her neck and her world darkened around the edges again.

This was something she was used to, why would it be any different this time? Nearly all of her life, on her and her brother’s birthdays they would be taken away, separated, hurt. Though last it had happened had been nearly six years back, her memories had dulled somewhat in that time, really.

The over-warm burn of something liquid being poured over her skin brought her back to awareness with less than a warning and she tried to pull away. Whining sharply when her shoulder pulled at her struggle, again she closed her eyes and tried to ignore the wax as it trailed and cooled. Her arms were once more bound, this time together and above her head. Her legs spread, each ankle bound to a foot of the bed she now found herself on. The earlier stinging pain from the paddle blows were dull in comparison as more low-quality wax was dripped upon already reddened skin.

“I’ll produce your movie, precious. All you’re missing is the male lead, right? So once you find someone, we’ll do your movie. Just remember to keep your nights open for me, precious.”

She wanted to glare him back to oblivion again but the burn of the cheap wax where it never should have gone forced her eyes shut again as she swallowed back a soft sob.

<Charlotte, are you alright?>

The words startled her and she opened her eyes, staring into the confused and worried face of her brother. When had he come about? What had she been doing for the past few hours?

<Charlotte? Come on, you look scared out of your wits, what were you thinking about?> Italian still and his words were soft, full of that worry she knew belonged there, it was genuine and she knew it. She understood it but couldn’t help the small cry of terror as he reached out to touch her arm. Scooting away, she shook her head and pulled her legs closer to herself, hugging them as if that barrier would keep her safe.

<I can’t help if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.>

His words were heard but she still couldn’t find it in herself to answer him. Shaking her head sharply when he once more reached out to try and comfort her, she begged him to keep his distance and he did.

Shuddering, she pulled her knees all the closer still and pressed her face to the top of them as she shuddered and fought not to cry though the tears were already running down her cheeks.

“He used me, abused me!” Perhaps in more than those few words as they could lead one to confusion as to what was done exactly. When he once more was reaching out, she merely started to cry harder, shaking her head, murmuring brokenly about how she was still pure. She couldn’t. She didn’t want to.

Digging deeper, one would find that perhaps her mind had simply locked it all away, lost and forgotten and that a so very simple event the night before, event that had been tender in ways nothing had ever been in her life before, had brought it all back up. Sighing softly, her brother leaned back and eased to his feet and padded towards the balcony. This situation required a touch he didn’t have, a touch he couldn’t offer. Who best to calm a hysterical woman down than another woman?