O Death ⇉ Paul Lahote

eight

During that week of silence and calm, Heidi allowed herself to relax and had finally gotten some good nights of sleep. She'd gotten closer to Paul, too, and got to know the man who had saved her life. As it turned out, they had a lot in common. They both liked the same type of music, weather and had the same plan to travel the world at some point. They almost kissed one or twice during that time, but Heidi stopped herself before anything happened. She wasn't ready for anything like that, and she wanted the entire mess with Ereshkigal to be over with before she began a relationship.

Heidi was sat on her bed, reading a book with loud music blaring from the small speakers on her phone to fill in the silence. As she got to the last sentence on the page she was on, she heard someone whisper her name in her ear, causing her to look around but finding no-one there. Shrugging her shoulders, she turned her music up louder and continued reading until she heard it again. Heidi frowned as she looked around her empty bedroom, expecting to find someone behind her or beside her, whispering in her ear but found nobody there. "Hello? Is anyone there?" She called out, placing her book down on her bed and moving off of her bed and towards her door to ask if anyone else had heard the voices.

Just as she was about to reach her bedroom door to walk out of it, the door slammed in her face, causing her to let out a slight scream from surprise. She walked up to her door and tried to open it, but found it locked. She frowned again, trying to open it once more but had no results, sighing she tried to walk back to her bed but her book fell off and narrowly missed her feet. She would've passed it off as the book being placed on an edge but since it was in the middle of her bed, there was no real way for it to fall over like that unless it was thrown off.

That was when she felt something grab her and pull her down, causing her to scream once more as she forced her way out of the grip of the invisible force that pulled her down. Forcing herself up, she ran towards her bed where her phone was but once she was on her bed, something pulled her body down and forced the phone out of her hand, landing on the floor beside her.

A dark, pitch black smoke seemed to surround both her and her room, making it almost impossible for her to see anything. She felt cold hands grip her body, holding her down forcefully before she saw them – shadowy figures surrounded her and refused to let her go, no matter how hard she struggled. Heidi knew what was coming, Ereshkigal had come for her. "No, please no... I need more time," she sobbed, trying to escape.

Heidi struggled in the cold grip of the... things that surrounded her, tears streaming down her cheeks as she desperately looked around for a way out. She looked towards what she guessed the leader, they were communicating with one of the other things before the leader got out a huge knife, causing Heidi to struggle and cry harder. "What is that? What are you doing? Please stop, if you let me go, I promise I won't tell anyone what happened. Just please, let me go." The moment her last sentence left her lips, one of the things placed a rag over her mouth and tied it tightly to stop her from talking and making too much noise, since one of the things smashed Heidi's phone to stop it from making any noise – leaving the room in a deafening silence.

The things started chanting a song that gradually got louder and louder until they were screaming, only stopping when the leader brought the knife down on Heidi's bare leg, causing a large cut to form on it. Heidi screamed into the rag in pain, trying to get out of the grip but still couldn't. The room fell silent once more, as another series of dark mists arrived in the room but Heidi knew this was different. One of the things took the rag out of her mouth but Heidi didn't scream – either out of fear or curiosity of the new entity that appeared in her bedroom, she didn't fully know.

The bedside light that was still on beside her fell off the table and seemed to roll across the floor until it stopped on one thing and showed trails of black fog dissipating behind it like a comet's burning trail, as it's – head? – drifted toward the back of the room. Then, in the pitch, she saw eyes.

Frightening eyes.

Animalistic eyes.

Glowing. Staring at Heidi.

The eyes belonged to a person, barely visible until her eyes adjusted to the darkness. It was a frail woman, only partially of flesh and bone. Heidi looked close and saw that she was also made of smoke, and fog, and mist. Heidi knew who she was.

Ereshkigal.

She heard the woman speak, but she wasn't certain if the voice was spoken aloud, or echoing somewhere in her mind.

"We've both been waiting our entire lives for this, haven't we, Heidi?" Ereshkigal asked. "Do you remember our deal?"

"Yes," Heidi replied aloud. "Of course I remember; they came in my dreams."

The black fog that was Ereshkigal drifted toward her, then reached out and held Heidi's face in amorphous, cold hands. "I am more than a dream, Heidi. I am your destiny – and you are mine."

Heidi tried to pull away but Ereshkigal's minions held her down tighter, making escape almost impossible. She struggled, kicking the minions as hard as she could but nothing seemed to work. She cried out as she fought them. "Let go of me! Paul! Help me! Someone, please!" But they wouldn't. She turned, twisted and tried to escape again, but they refused to let go.

"Stop fighting us, Heidi." Still Ereshkigal's voice was coming from the smoke. "This has been your destiny since before you were born; you know this far too well."

Ereshkigal's minions seemed to disappear into the black smoke then, knowing their work was done for their queen. Heidi was almost on the verge of passing out from the adrenaline that was pulsing through her veins, tiring her out after being activated for so long. She couldn't move; movement just seemed to take up far too much energy – energy that Heidi no longer had from fighting and being scared out of her mind.

"It is so exciting," Ereshkigal continued, as if she had not been interrupted. "Worlds are going to open up for both of us, and now that I have arrived here, you must let me in."

Heidi didn't respond, nor did she try to resist as Ereshkigal's face nearly touched her own.

"I must be whole again," the shadowy figure said as the smoky tendrils entered her prisoner's nose and mouth.

Heidi inhaled, and the two were one.

Note

So this is what you've all been waiting for and I hope this didn't disappoint. I based the scenes where Heidi sees Ereshkigal in her dreams (in chapter seven) and becomes possessed (in this chapter) from the Suicide Squad book so I don't take full credit for that.

Triple update, wow I do spoil you guys sometimes – hope you enjoyed it!