Death Lingers By Love's Side (C. A. Cupid x OC)

Chapter 6: Into the Storybook of Legends

The nine girls fell towards the center of a rather confusing sight. A circle of giant Storybooks of Legends with the spine toward the center. Cupid flapped her wings and she and Thalia landed softly.

Cupid straightened up and looked around. "Woah, what is this place?"

"Look at all the writing!" said Cedar, pointing out the various pieces of parchment on the floor. It was soon revealed that the girls needed to retrieve a page to get out. There was one book for each person, but they didn't know which book was their own.

The nine girls each selected one book randomly and were sucked inside. Thalia opened her eyes to see a scythe in her hands and Maddie living her life, as if she was watching a movie. There was a single lifeline strung in front of her and the scissors on her chains tingled.

She was in her own tale. Honestly, Thalia should have expected this. After all, only she could do this job. It had to be her.

She would have to "kill" Maddie. Suddenly, everything dawned on her. She already knew she'd be the one ending her friends' lives, but seeing it right then and there... she couldn't do it. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at how carefree Maddie looked, even in her elderly years.

Thalia couldn't do it.

"The page. I have to find the page, and then I'll go back." She muttered to herself, nodding softly and wiping the tears from her eyes.

She looked around, moved every weird artefact, looked under the bed and in between the shelves. She even looked for secret places, but she couldn't find anything. Frustrated, she let out a loud groan. She wanted to curse out loud to whoever had the higher power. The scissors in her chain tingled again.

"No! I don't have to do it! It's not my job yet! Not my time!" Thalia shouted. Her hands ran through her hair, messing with it as she fell down again, in a corner of the room.

Maddie had gone to sleep a few minutes ago, she hadn't noticed Thalia going through her place at all. It's like I'm a ghost, Thalia had thought at first. The lifeline string shined once more, and the scissors felt heavier than before. She had gotten the message in the midst of looking for the parchment, but she had refused to admit it.

Thalia took in a quivering breath, her bloodshot eyes shooting up the figure of her friend. Her chest heaved up and down in slow, relaxed breaths. The Angel of Death pressed her lips together, trying to stop the shaking. She could taste the salt of her tears that had been running through her cheeks for a good few minutes now.

Looking down at her hands again, she gripped her scissors and stretched the string that was shining brighter than before. "I'm sorry." She managed to whisper with her croaked voice.

And with a swish, the blades cut straight through the lifeline. When Thalia looked up, Maddie's chest was unmoving, and the thumps of her heart had stopped. A new cascade of tears fell out of Thalia's ruby eyes, accompanied by a new set of broken sobs. The "movie" was frozen, unmoving like its main character.

Thalia didn't know how long she'd spent shaking hunched in the corner. It felt like an eternity. When she felt like no more tears could come out and she had caught her breath, she rubbed her face with her hands. She got up, doing her best to ignore Maddie's figure in her bed and neared the mirror. She freshened herself up the best she could, and then she turned back again, locking her eyes on the parchment that had appeared as soon as she had... killed Maddie.

Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the parchment and watched as her surroundings faded away in a shower of gentle light.

She appeared back outside the book where everyone but Raven, Apple, and Briar were waiting. Cupid noticed that her girlfriend's eyes were slightly swollen, almost as if she was crying.