Hello everyone. I’m sorry it took me so long to update you all. I needed to take some time to process everything that happened. I didn’t know how to explain everything. I considered lying, creating a fantastic story where I was the hero and everyone was saved. I considered not updating at all, deleting this entire experience and trying to forget it all myself. But I knew that wouldn’t help me move on, and it isn’t fair to you all. So I will tell you the truth, and in doing so, I hope to find a way to forgive myself.
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“I will help you.”
I looked up at Eleanora, seeing the surprise in her eyes. “I did not think you would believe me.”
“I’m not sure I do. But I’ve seen what Corey has done to my coworkers, and I don’t have another choice. I will help you, if only to save my friends.”
She gave me a solemn nod, and told me her plan. Not surprisingly, she had thought this through very carefully, and told me exactly what I needed to do. I doggy-paddled my way back to the building, and was just barely able to make it to the front entrance. I stopped for a moment, sitting in the doorway to catch my breath. I took in the souls in the water under me, and made a silent oath to help them when this was over. Finally, I gathered my courage and opened the front door, my little pocket knife in hand.
In a building as small as this, it’s easy to hear everything that’s happening, no matter where you are. So I was extremely unnerved by the silence I was met with when I entered. Daniel and Patrick’s screaming was gone, I heard no rustling in the air vents, and worst of all, there was no sign of Corey. I walked around, stabbing my little knife around every corner, but no one was to be found. I stood, dumbfounded, unsure of what to do next. I didn’t understand where they could have gone, but this would make Eleanora’s plan even easier. I went to the breakroom and used a chair to climb into the air vents, and made my way as quietly as I could through the maze. Finally, I found what I was looking for: the symbol on the vent I had seen with Sam. I took my knife and, as quietly as I could, started scratching it out.
I was about halfway done removing it when I heard it: very faint, but very distinct footsteps, from inside the air vents. I paused, my heart racing, and as I stopped, so did the steps. I thought I was imagining it, so I started scratching again, this time faster. As I did, the steps sped up. Panicking, I worked as fast as possible, and finally got everything removed, just as Patrick turned the corner, panting and drooling like an animal. It looked like Corey had completely drained the life from him in the short time I was gone. His skin was pale and clung to his bones, as if he hadn’t eaten in weeks. His eyes were completely fogged, and I could see no trace of himself in them. His body was obviously shutting down, but Corey’s power was clearly stronger, as he ran at me faster than I could believe. I sprinted down the air vents as fast as I could, but he was closing in fast. I made it to the air vent leading outside and crawled to the opening.
“ELEANORA! IT’S DONE!”
I had just enough time to see her silhouette turn to face me before I felt hands on my ankles, dragging me away. I kicked and screamed, an innate fear overriding my compassion for my brain washed coworker, and I felt his bones breaking from my blows. However, this did not stop him, as he dragged me all the way back to the break room vent and dropped me down, right into Daniel’s arms. He looked just as bad as Patrick, and as I clawed at his face and screamed, there was no empathy in his eyes, no emotion at all, just a false determination in the way he carried me right to Corey, who was sitting on the couch, smiling. Her face was that wretched other side, slightly deformed, and without the usual scowl, it was almost more terrifying. Her smile was just a little too wide, her teeth a little too white.
“Well, look who decided to join us,” she smirked, as Daniel dropped me onto the floor in front of her feet. “You did quite a number on your friends there. I’m not sure they’ll be too happy about that.”
“Fuck you,” I spat, attempting to sound intimidating, but my trembling voice and tear stained face made her smile even bigger.
“I definitely underestimated you, dear Harper,” she said, standing and circling me like a shark. “I didn’t think you’d be smart enough to find a way to reach Eleanora, but look at you. You jumped out of the building, swam all the way to her pathetic little island, and got yourself all worked up thinking you could help her. You really think destroying that little drawing in the vents can stop me? That was nothing more than a symbol of dominance, to tell this building I am the new owner, and it better obey me. She still cannot enter this place! She is weak! I am in control!” She sounded deranged, screaming into my face.
“You’re slipping,” I said, trying to tame my fear. “You can’t keep up your faćade anymore. It’s too much. I can feel it. You can’t get into my mind.”
“What makes you think that?”
She grabbed me by the jaw and our eyes met. It’s difficult to describe what I saw. It was as if I was experiencing everything and nothing all at once. There was a terrible flame burning deep within them, and I could feel the heat burning my skin. I could hear a million screams echoing in my mind, and I’m not sure when it happened, but I felt myself screaming too.
“Enough.”
Corey’s eyes released me, and I fell back to the ground, gasping for air. I followed her gaze and saw Eleanora, and her presence began to ease the pain in my mind. Corey’s face dropped, and the scowl returned with a fury I’d never seen.
“How-”
“Harper freed her from your grasp,” Eleanora said, smiling as she traced the brick wall with her fingertips. “You forget, we chose each other. You tried to steal her from me, marked her, but Harper freed her from you, and she drew me back in. We are one.”
“It doesn’t matter! None of that matters!” Corey screamed, coming face to face with Eleanora. Despite her horrible, true self breaking free, I could see the resemblance between the two beings. “You are tied to this realm, I made sure of it. You have no physical form to inhabit, no way to return. This is my world now.”
“Corporate, I blame myself for what has happened.” Eleanora held her gaze, and I could feel the sadness radiating in the room. “I became so passionate for clientele like us that I lost touch with what I wanted to do here. I wanted to live among humans, to be more like them. They house things of which we are not capable. I lost sight of this, and allowed you to create a monstrosity out of my shop, and destroy the very beings I wanted to protect. I will put an end to this, and I hope I can do that without causing you any more harm”
Corey seemed taken aback by this, and I saw her soften for a moment. I had hope, in that moment, that everything would be alright. That she would see the damage she had brought, and be willing to work to fix it, until Sam walked out of the back room, catching Eleanora’s eyes. She smiled softly at him, and I saw true love fill him for a moment. He looked at her like she was everything, and he whispered her name softly, catching Corey’s attention. All her previous rage returned.
“YOU!”
She ran to him, and he turned to flee. It was no use, as Patrick and Daniel came from behind and brought him to his knees, holding him on either side. He thrashed against them, but their strength was not their own. Corey appeared before him and grabbed his head, forcing him to look at her the same way she did to me.
“STOP!” I yelled uselessly, finding the strength to stand and rush towards them. Eleanora stopped me.
“He needs to face this. He cannot run forever.” I could sense her hesitation, but knew she was right. Sam couldn’t live in fear of her anymore. I watched as he struggled, and didn’t realize I had begun weeping.
“You have been nothing but trouble since the day you entered my warehouse.” Corey was seething with rage, and smiled as Sam desperately tried to avert his gaze. “I have been waiting for this. You will make an excellent addition to my collection. You will return to the warehouse, and you will do as I say.”
Sam suddenly went limp, and I could see a fog beginning to cloud him. I couldn’t wait anymore. I launched myself at Corey, knocking her down. I blindly struck at her, using all the strength I had left, until I felt hands pulling me away. I struggled, thinking it was Patrick or Daniel, but my heart sank as I realized it was Sam. I looked into his eyes and saw nothing. I screamed for Eleanora, and she grabbed Corey by the throat, pinning her to the wall like she weighed nothing.
“Release him. Now.”
Sam was holding me tight, slowly squeezing the air from me. Spots began filling my vision as I clawed at his forearms. “Please Sam, please let me go, this isn’t you-”
“RELEASE HIM.”
Corey smiled at her, a mockingly sweet and innocent look. Eleanora seemed panicked, and I could feel the walls of the building begin to shake. She had lost control, and looked at Sam with grief already bubbling in her eyes. I tried to tell her no, I tried to tell her to find another way, that I would be fine, but I knew deep down this was her only option. She dropped Corey to the floor and approached Sam, who glared at her with eyes that were not his own. She looked away as she gently touched his forehead. He immediately dropped me and fell to the floor. I struggled to regain my breath, feeling the bruises forming on my ribcage. I crawled to him, shaking and trying to wake him.
“What did you do?” I croaked, knowing the answer but hoping it wasn’t true.
“I didn’t have a choice…” Eleanora said, tears beginning to fall.
“WHAT DID YOU DO? HE WAS FINALLY MINE!” Corey screamed, charging towards Eleanora. She turned to her, a rage unlike any I have seen before radiating from her body. She grabbed Corey by the arm and twisted, forcing her on her knees.
“I gave you a choice,” she whispered, her words full of venom. “I did not want this. I would have spared you, allowed you a chance to move on from here, to find another life to live. But you just took something from me that I loved. And now you will pay the price.” With one simple twist, she snapped Corey’s arm off, and her screams echoed through the building. She then grabbed Corey by the head. “If I find you again, I will not make this so painless.” She twisted and pulled her head, a ripping filling the room, then silence. Her body fell to the floor with a slight thud, and I realized she was hollow. There was no blood gushing, no red leaking onto the carpet, just an empty shell. Eleanora dropped the head next to her body and turned to me, a look of emptiness covering her face.
“I…” She stopped, unable to finish her words. Patrick and Daniel collapsed to the floor behind us, and I crawled to their sides, looking for signs of life.
“They’re still breathing,” I said, feeling a very weak rise and fall in their chests. Eleanora dropped next to us, and reached out to touch Patrick’s forehead. I grabbed her arm before she could. “No. Not them.” I saw shame fill her face.
“I will not do that to them. They are free from her control. I am going to wipe their memory of this. They will not remember what they did under her, and…” she paused, and took a deep breath before continuing. “They will not remember Sam.”
“What? Why the fuck not? Why would you do that?”
“Harper, if they are left with a memory of him but not of everything that has occurred, they will contact the authorities when he does not show up. They will report him missing, and there will be many questions asked that we cannot answer. Humans do not want to acknowledge the existence of being like myself. They will simply find someone to blame, and will punish them for a crime they did not commit. If Patrick and Daniel do not remember him, there will be no grief, no suffering, so sadness for them to feel. They will not know what they did to you, nor what you did to them.”
I looked at them then and saw the true damage I had caused. They were bruised and broken from my struggles, every injury visible and painful to even see. “What will they think happened?”
“They will have no memory of even being injured. I will use my energy to heal them, and they will be in better health than they ever have been. They do not deserve to suffer for what has happened to them.”
I hesitated, unsure if I could trust her after what she did to Sam. But I found myself once again having no choice but to trust this being, and silently nodded. She gently laid her hands across their foreheads, and I watched as their bones snapped back into place. Their bodies moved in unnatural ways as they were put back together, and slowly their skin filled in until their bones were once again hidden beneath muscles. Their breathing grew stronger, and finally they looked at peace. Eleanora fell to the floor, exhausted and weak. I couldn’t bring myself to comfort her, but I knew how to help. I felt the necklace Sam had given me around my neck, and slowly took it off. I offered it to her, and could see the disbelief in her eyes.
“Are you sure?”
“It’s yours. You need it more than we do.”
She nodded solemnly, and removed the pendant from the chain before swallowing it. She sighed deeply and smiled, and I could tell she felt whole again. She sat up, and we silently watched the two men before us breathing peacefully for a moment, before she spoke.
“Harper, I want to offer you the same treatment I gave to them.” Confused, I met her saddened gaze. “I can erase this from your memory. Sam, Corey, all of this. You can resume your life the way it was before this happened. I can heal your wounds, emotional and physical, but only if you want-”
“No. I want to remember this. I need to feel this pain.”
She nodded, before standing up and facing the wall, gently caressing the bricks. “Shall we?” she said, and I felt a slight breeze wash over the room. I glanced at the window, and saw sunlight streaming through the curtains. We were home. I said nothing as I walked out the front door, stealing one more glance at my coworkers who were beginning to wake up. I walked to my bus stop and sat on the bench, and cried harder than I ever have.
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This happened three months ago. I haven’t been back to work since, but Eleanora has been sending me my usual paychecks. I’ve decided to go back tomorrow. I know it is going to be difficult, and I might not be able to stay. I haven’t stopped having nightmares about that day, and running through scenarios in which I could have saved Sam’s life, but I’ve come to terms with it. I can’t keep hiding from my life, or from what has happened. I hope you are all a bit more forgiving of me than I have been of myself, and I hope you understand that I did everything I could to save him. Part of me believes he is still around, silently judging me. I know this is a normal thought to have while someone is grieving, but my cat has been meowing at nothing lately, and I know from experience that she can see much more than I can. I just hope it’s Sam she’s seeing, and not something worse.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10