Prologue
As the darkness of the night crept unto the kingdom of Croatia, all went quiet. Or so it seemed, for in the shady outskirts of the kingdom, a place where broken buildings and lost souls lay, a baby was being born, and its mother dying, breathing out her last words.
"You must get through this, Freya!" the woman cried out, anxiety making her sweat. She scrambled frantically to do whatever she could to help, even senseless things like slapping herself in the face to stay awake to attend to the new mother in the late hours of the night. The young mother screamed in pain, trying not to cry out any more, fearing her friends would get more worried. Tears of pain streaked down her cheeks, and she bit her lower lip, hoping for the best. She cried out once more, and all was over. The mother rested back onto the bed, and sighed in relief, white-hot pain still coursing through her veins and body.
The baby was born.
"Marissa, look at her." The mother said, smiling weakly. Marissa, as the proud godmother, held the baby, and began to smile at her friend.
The exchange was short-lived between the two. The mother smiled, and her eyes began glazing over at a rapid race; her breathing becoming more shallow. Marissa looked over to Freya, and handed the baby over to the other person standing by quietly, and she ran over to her weakening friend.
"Freya, no, no! Please, do not go to sleep! Freya!!!" Freya smiled, and her eyes fluttered, before her whole body went limp, and then her hand fell of the improvised mattress she lay on, the fire behind illuminating her dead body in glory. Just before she closed her eyes, however, she whispered,
"Loraine."
She slept.
Tears dropped down Marissa's face, and she turned over to the woman holding the baby.
"She had so much life left in her." Marissa whispered. The other woman smiled, grabbing an object behind her back. A flash gleamed through the gloomy room.
"So did you, my friend. I'm sorry we had to break up our long-lasting our friendship this way." Marissa looked up, confusion in her eyes.
"What do you mean C-"?
Suddenly, drops of vibrant red liquid ran down her onto the ground, swarming in curious scarlet pools around the room. Marissa looked at her friend in surprise, and quickly looked to see a knife etched into her stomach, and she knew at once that nothing could save her. Realization of something else flashed through her mind; betrayal. Slowly, she lifted her hand up and touched the wound. Marissa looked up, a silent questioning in her eyes. She dropped down, and choked out the blood rising up her throat, making sure her last words would haunt the person who killed her until the day they died.
"Why?"
The whisper rang throughout the room, echoing off the walls even as Freya's eyes closed for eternity. The murderer looked down in a remorseful way, chilled to the bone. It had felt like she had cursed her. Of course, it was impossible; Marissa was no magician even though the contrary could be said to the other one. She knew nothing of the plan, however. But still, the silent echoing and the deathly silence... It was as if something more than she and her accomplice could ever predict.
Disaster...
The killer whipped her head around the room, her eyes panicked. The word that had flashed throughout the dying place of the two women quickly disappeared as soon as it had appeared, and the woman was quickly relaxed again.
On that night, Marissa and Freya lived no more.
~*~*~*
The woman looked down at her two fallen friends. They had trusted her.
And yet, she had betrayed them.
No one could ever learn the terrifying truth, however, and it had to be done. Unfortunately to the murderer, she felt no pangs of guilt or sympathy.
It had taken over her.
She silently tried to mourn over her friends, but smiled when she looked down at the baby. Not all was lost. She closed Marissa's eyes, and walked away from the abandoned cottage. She stepped down the cobble path, and approached a carriage. The door creaked open, and she slid in.
"So." The voice next to her questioned, and she picked up the object that was speaking to her.
"They're dead. Unfortunately, Freya died too, she just couldn't take it anymore." The woman stated. The voice chuckled.
"No matter, we have the baby. For now, we must do nothing. But when the time comes..." The sentence hung in the air, and the woman smiled.
Of course, it would play out this way, right?
Then let the games begin, she thought.
Indeed.
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 12.03.2012
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Widmung:
To life in general, you have not chosen me as your favorite; but you have given me memories that I will cherish and an imagination that I hope will change the world.