Aramina did not go to the dining room as she was supposed to. Instead, she went to her bedroom and opened a drawer on the wooden bedside table, searching for something behind the books. She almost took out a copy of The Picture of Dorian Gray, her favourite book of all time, but controlled herself. Aramina would probably read the same old paragraph about Sibyl Vane she had already memorised. ‘The girl never really lived, and so she has never really died’ she thought and thoughts one cannot control. It was not the full paragraph, but it still provoked a strange yet familiar feeling of belonging.
She picked up the velvet box, ignoring her urges to read, and opened it. A rose gold ring with a kite-shaped emerald stared back at her, making her lips curve. Aramina closed the tiny box, put it in her dress’s pocket, and went to the dining room. On her way, she heard a scream.
When she reached the dining room, she found Saskia near the counter with her face red, and no sign of Winnie. Aramina thought that was strange as the girl did not make a single noise or movement after screaming even after she arrived.
“Sas, are you okay?” Aramina asked, slowly approaching her.
She watched as the poor girl opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, as if unable to speak. Saskia finally moved her head up and down staring at Aramina with a frightened look. Aramina followed her gaze to the ground but there was nothing there, so she rubbed the girl’s shoulder in a vain wish that it would tranquillise her.
“You’re okay, you’re okay,” she said. “Come sit.”
Slowly, Aramina pushed her to a chair and helped her sit. Then, in a hurry, Sophie and Winnie both enter the room. Winnie looked lost in thought while Sophie looked like she had run a marathon to get there, panting.
“There’s something in the house,” Sophie gets out. “A monster.”
“It’s not a monster, Soph. It was warm and kind,” Winnie slowly brushed her hand.
Aramina noticed the marks around Sophie’s neck and let go of Saskia’s hands to run to her. Rage took over Aramina’s expression as she imagined what Sophie had to endure when she left her alone.
“It’s after you, I can tell,” Sophie was crying as she took Aramina’s hands and stared into her eyes. “I can’t lose you.”
“Cecil.”
Everyone looked at the petrified girl sitting on the chair, that name she had murmured echoed into everyone’s ears like a bell.
Saskia could barely move, still feeling restrained by that being, even though she was now with people; so many people that could not see. The being they were talking about was in front of them: a female figure with chocolate skin, black curly hair and eyes like the amber marbles she had seen. She wore a black corset top, stiletto heels and a long latex skirt that was fitted first, then flair on the knees and had a cut at the front. The being had a whip in its hands long enough to reach the other side of the room but left it rolled around one of Saskia’s legs. She was on her knees sitting in the middle of Saskia’s legs, fixing them into place using her hands.
“Tell them. Tell them the truth,” the being said before licking the exposed interior of Saskia’s thighs due to the dress. “And I will let you go.”
“They just want Cecil.”
At last, Saskia was free from the demon’s embrace. She just disappeared as fast as she appeared for the first time.
“And who exactly might that be?” Aramina asked, sceptical. “Also, who’s ‘they’?”
“There must be more than one. We have to hide,” Sophie Riviere declared as she tried to help the crying Saskia get up.
After seeing Sophie’s panicked expression, Aramina stopped asking questions and pointed her finger to the door to the dining room. Winnie and Sophie supported Saskia on their shoulders and quietly followed Aramina out of the room. Aramina only stopped at the bedroom door, then made the others enter before she could, and finally locked the door.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Winnie and Sophie put Saskia on the bed and sat on the floor, making the bed a backrest. Aramina sighed with relief before sitting close to them and taking Sophie’s hand. She thought about putting the ring on her finger right there but it was not the right time; Sophie was too stressed with their safety and she would only get mad.
Abruptly, they heard something hitting the door, then the walls started shaking, the lights started flickering, multiple whispers took over the air, and the room’s temperature began to rise. The floor they were sitting on felt like it was on fire, so they hurriedly jumped over to the bed which was also boiling. There was no way out of that situation unless they could get the attackers what they wanted, only they did not know what it was.
“We need to get out of the house,” said Aramina. “Use the window.”
Now Saskia was crying loudly as if they were all going to die. Sophie and Winnie nodded, watching Aramina move out of the bed, and open the window, waiting for something. As it did not seem to understand, she used her hand to sign them to go.
Winnie did not even wait anymore and jumped out of the window, feeling the coldness of the grass hitting her feet like ecstasy. Then, she extended her arms to help Saskia go through, and the crying girl felt the same happy sensations. She was ready to help one more of the girls when she noticed a shadow standing behind Sophie, who had already one leg out, but before she could say something, Aramina pushed Sophie out of the window and yelled:
“Get her out of here!”
Winnie and Saskia pulled Sophie outside the house while she resisted and cried. They watched from the window how the golden shadow turned into an elegant man dressed as he came from the Victorian Era, with crimson eyes and long pale hair — almost white — tied in a low ponytail. He grabbed Aramina by the neck and she put one of her hands on over his while the other reached for her pocket.
Winnie had Sophie under her embrace tightly but she could feel the woman’s desperation watching the scene. She almost closed her eyes when the blond man cut off Aramina’s left arm before she could take whatever she had in her pocket. Saskia burst into tears and started running away, and Winnie began to drag Sophie out of there too. She would not let that opportunity go to waste.
“Where is your mother?” the blonde asked in a demanding tone while Aramina screamed in excruciating pain. “Where is she?”
“Scram! All of you!” a manly voice that did not belong to that blonde man spoke directly in the girls’ ears.
Aramina’s screams were the only thing they could hear as they distanced themselves from the house. Winnie was still dragging Sophie who fought fiercely to retreat to her lover but lacked the strength to do so. Sophie Riviere had the expression of someone exhausted, her face red from crying, her legs only hanging on because of adrenaline, and soon the depression would kick her to the ground. Winnie had to use all her might to assure herself she could save at least those two, thinking of Aramina as a noble heroine who sacrificed herself for them.
Winnie ran after Saskia with Sophie by the hand through the streets until they were all so tired they could not hold on anymore and had to stop.
“Why are you being more of a monster than the one that made the love of my life hostage?” yelled Sophie pointing her finger to Winnie’s face, trying to break free from Winnie’s hold.
“Stop, Sophie!” Winnie let go of her hand. “We are not machines! That thing could get us all killed! If you knew her, as I do, you would know she would want us to be safe before attempting to play superheroes!”
“What about the ‘all for one and one for all’? Suddenly D'Artagnan gets his arm cut off and we are not supposed to care? She is our fucking glue, Winifer!”
“First, Saskia is crying and you don’t even care about it, and second,” her tone was of warning. “Don’t ever call me that.”
As if she did not care about the warning tone, Sophie continued:
“So am I, and no one seems to care either! But why should I care about someone who claims she loves us ‘oh so much’ but when we need her, she runs away like a coward? She would gladly give her life away for all of us!”
“She did, and I hope you genuinely don’t mean any of that because she would never want you to think about your friends in such a foul way,” defended Winnie. “She would be so profoundly hurt by the words you’re spouting right now.”
Those words made Sophie’s legs shake and her head throb like they had been engraved with heated metal on her body. She felt how weak her legs were after running, and the shock of what had happened to Aramina. She was about to fall to the ground.
“I don’t care! I love her and would give my life if it meant getting even a strand of her hair back. She is my universe, my fucking reason to live and do you think I can just give it all away? She is my soul, for fucks sake! Would you truly be living if you had no soul?”
“Don’t talk about your love for her as if it was eternal,” yelled Winnie. “Love is never forever, you know? Especially when it comes to her.”
“I honestly don’t care what you say because she might already be dead by now and I would much rather die with her than live the rest of my life thinking I could have done something to save her but I didn’t because I was fucking afraid! And why do you speak like you know her better than me?”
“Because she is my best friend,” cried Winnie.
Sophie was silent for a few seconds before asking, feeling an upsetting sensation in her chest:
“Then why didn’t you, of all people, stay?”
“Because she would want us to live, Soph,” Winnie rushed to embrace her. “She wants you to live.”