The Third Hour: Flame

☾

It was as if a bullet had pierced through the flame on my head, flash and bang and gunpowder would have stunk everywhere.

"Uso-tsuki," a soft breath escaped her mouth. Muffled were the cries in her heart, unable to shoulder the burden of vicious rumours and lies in her life.

I did not know what to do. What could I do?

"Banette, do something you doll!" I thought fast. Wait, what could a doll possibly do? But it's Banette. She will do just right.

Right?

Banette refused to budge. A tear ran down her cheek as she watched the girl caress her arms. The scissors dropped.

What else could a doll do than to watch the inevitable happen? I should have known.

'Don't . . .'

The swirls of blue was breathtaking to me. All I could hope now is that my beautiful kessaku will catch her attention.

"A beautiful masterpiece," she spoke with extra courage, her lips quivering as her eyes came to the dry blade in confusion. "You just distracted me!"

It was intentional. I could finally get her attention. Slowly, the flames in a cursive script, manipulated to engulf her in an eerie warmth.

'Why' I could only scream and shout but it would only sound like cries to humans, an equivalent at least. The same word copied and pasted, circling the girl, surrounding her, tormenting her.

'Why' I could only watch her scream and shout inside but she would only seem fine while masking her pains behind a smile to humans. The same word copied and pasted, melting her heart, calming her soul, corroding her spirit.

'Why' was I doing this to her?

'Why' did I cause her to break?

'Why' was it always me being the martyr—Why are we all the same?

"Don't sympathise if you don't know what I've been through. Convicted to become victims, that's how cruel it is," she was slumped against a foot of the bed. Her face was covered with sweat and tears. Her brown eyes were murky and radiated defiance. Sitting on the bed, she clutched the pillow and ripped its fluffy insides out. White fell and floated like snow. A distraction. Was it the cost of peace?

There was a choked sob before she opened her mouth once again.

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre,
The Talonflame cannot hear the Talonflamer.
Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold,
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world."

I shifted myself to the centre of her vision. 'There's something I want you to see.'

She gave a slight nod. She was the Talonflame, the falcon that took flight in an orange dusk, the falcon flapping her wings hard, perking her ears up but she would never be understood.

All hell would break loose soon. I had to initiate the plan.

☾

Froslass let the backdrop fall before Tsu's eyes. The girl had an oil lantern in hand after complaining I was too small to be her light. Both Froslass and I stared at her intently, hoping to receive the reaction we hoped to see.

The corpse of a man hung on a tree in the deadly winter, with a coarse rope raping his neck. The bark of the tree peeled and shuddered with the endless night breeze. Freckles of lightning once again coursed through the now darker cardinal sky. The moon waned across the vast sea of nearly invisible clouds. The stars shone and dimmed momentarily.

"That's it? You can do better," she said with a raspy voice. Froslass shook her head and patted my body of wax.

"Can we freeze her? Or trap her in the delusions of beautiful life?" Strangely, these words popped out from my mouth. I had no desire to let go of her. She may be the key to unlock the door away from loneliness.

"How would you feel if you were frozen in time or trapped in meaningless delusions?" The mistress shot back. "Her strong emotions far exceed our expectations. She is too powerful of a guest. Her emotions negate her appearance."

There had to be something we could do to change her mindset.

Her brown eyes morphed into fear, an icy terrain where the earth's heartbeat lay beneath, frost and fire concocted in a potion of insecurity.

Wreaths of frost lingered in the air from her gaze. It still was strange to me how they did not resemble pins and needles or daggers like those other guests.

She stood in silence, her skirt swaying in the moonlight. The oil lamp fell from her grasp, the oil overflowing the tiles and raised carpets. From her blouse, there was a pocket I failed to notice. From the pocket, her left hand fished out a pen and a mini notepad.

"Hey, how should I repay you?"

'Repay us by not dying.'

"That will be nullified," she huffed before turning her back against us. Her hands rose robotically as she twirled and teetered in an elegant way. Ink dripped with the rhythmic metronome of the grandfather's clock. I swore she scribbled something really quickly before the pen slipped into a bleak wonderland. The piece of paper floated and shut its eyes tight for the fall.

'Why die when you can live?'

Tears brimming in my eyes.

It was too late.

She fell, fell. She fell and flamed in a wild dawn.

An icy gaze stung me. Her eyes were now whites, blank choppy waves blurring and circling the darkness of her still life.

"It's bullying. Don't let your emotions overwhelm you though, it's not your first time witnessing this," Froslass sniffed and danced silently beside me. When her mouth opened once again, frost clouded my vision. "You got to be ready. Soon, you will realise. Soon."

I stole a quick glance at the piece of paper. She answered my question. The cursive script smirked at me, reminding me that the inevitable had occurred.

That premonitions always come true.

Because lives are made up of choices. And this is the choice I make. I'll live through it be it life or death. Doesn't matter if I get a second chance at life. I will still end up being the perfect victim. I will still be caught up in a similar, if not worse, tragedy. Thank you for giving me a very sumptuous last meal.

The remnant flames remained lit in her eyes though delivering the cold unwavering gaze. Her mouth wide open as if to ask me "Why did you not save me? Why didn't you try?"

I tried. I did try. But I didn't try hard enough.

The flames danced in a fiery and deep within the mansion, silence roared so deadly that I wanted to be infected by its plague.

Then, I let my petite hands come into contact with Tsu, closing her eyes. White turned into fading light. Opening my tiny mouth, I sucked all the life energy present in her. Her body was converted into mist. I watched her grace fly away into faraway sundered lands.

Lightning crackled and light flashed in the horizon.

The light shone from the guest room Tsu was sleeping in just two hours ago.

I was about to head into the direction of the light when a soft tug brought me into her dim realm of dark memories.