O Death ⇉ Paul Lahote

five

When Heidi awoke the next morning, she was back in her bed and wondered if she dreamed the whole thing until she pushed the covers off her and saw her feet were still covered in dirt. So it wasn't a dream, then. She walked slowly towards her bathroom and stared at her reflection in her mirror – whatever had happened last night, it certainly made Heidi feel different. She didn't know what it was but she knew something had changed inside of her, and that scared her. There was a presence with her, and she never felt alone, like someone was behind her and was constantly watching her.

Shaking away those thoughts and feelings, Heidi took a shower and changed out of her dirty sleep clothes. Tying her hair into loose braids, Heidi walked out of her room towards the kitchen to see a note on the counter; "out for a run, help yourself to whatever's in the fridge, Paul". A slight smile came onto her lips as she read the note before she walked towards the fridge, opening it and began looking for something to eat; eventually settling on some chocolate milk to keep her going.

Just as she was about to pour herself some milk, she saw a dark figure out of the corner or her eye, causing her to drop the milk and the bottle shattered on the floor beside her feet. Turning around, the figure was still there and staring at her. It continued to stare for several moments before it moved towards the sitting room, Heidi following behind it. Heidi stopped in the middle of the room, looking around to find anyone there but of course – there was nothing there. "What do you want from me?!" She screamed to the invisible entity that surrounded her. The house fell silent after her scream, but that didn't put her at rest; in fact, it only made her even more alert of every small movement that was happening around her.

When the dark figure reappeared in front of her, Heidi didn't bother screaming at it. Backing away slowly, she kept her eyes on it until she was out of the room, then she turned and began to sprint out of the house and into the woods to get away from it.

She looked back at it and although she didn't see anything, she continued to sprint further and further into the woods until she reached a clearing where she stopped to catch her breath. She wanted to cry but she knew that crying wouldn't resolve anything so she didn't let her tears fall and swallowed the sob that was threatening to leave her lips.

Heidi didn't know how long she was out there but she knew she had been there long enough to make her way back, but before she could the shadow figure returned. Heidi was paralyzed with fear and her feet refused to move, no matter how much her mind was screaming at them to move.

Instead of the figure simply staring, it seemed to morph into something else. The dark mist that surrounded it moulded it into the shape of a lean, muscular woman with stark white skin and dark black eyes. The woman was nude with only a wrap skirt around her waist and her long dark hair covering her chest that went down to her hips; on her head was a dark headdress with skulls upon it.

The woman walked slowly towards Heidi and spoke in a surprisingly calm and almost robotic voice. "Hello, Heidi, it's so nice to finally meet you. I have waited millennia for you."

A single tear dropped from Heidi's eye and rolled down her cheek as she watched the woman come towards her, the power of speech slowly returning to her. "Who are you? What do you want from me?"

The woman almost seemed to smile as she stopped in front of Heidi, kneeling down in front of her; giving Heidi a chance to properly look at her face which was almost beautiful but Heidi knew that it was too good to be true. "I am Ereshkigal, and I am your salvation, Heidi of the Americas."

Note

All will be revealed soon, my loves. For reference; Ereshkigal is a real goddess and if you guys wanna learn more about her; she's the queen of the underworld and the goddess of death in Mesopotamian mythology. She's pretty awesome. You pronounce her name like ey-resh-kee-gahl.