Pretty Poison

Forty - Nine

Everything around is bleak, nothing but white crowds my senses. I search around me, confused. I stare down to my hands, my legs, my melanin restored to a normal shade.

"Hello?"

I whip my neck around, searching in hopes to find something.

"Hello?!" I shout, but my voice only echoes. "Hello? What is this?"

Nothing, the place is silent. I swallow my fear, and walk forward. My pace quickens to a jog, then a run. My hair slaps against my back with every bounce, stands falling over my shoulder and becoming tangled in my lashes. Some fall into my mouth, and I spit them back out quickly.

I stop. The space is a never ending place that seemingly grows with every step I take.

"Hello?!" I shout again, out of breath and tired as I hunch over my knees to catch my breath and slow my heartbeat.

I stand up straight again, slapping my hands to my sides, "What is this?"

"Purgatory."

I turned around to the soft voice that seemingly whispered in my ear. The hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up, my heart ready to jump from my chest.

"Who said that?" I say, turning every which way in search of a source, but there's no one around.

"You are in purgatory, Beatrice," the same voice states, the tone soft and soothing. The voice seems familiar to me.

"Who's there?" I question again, desiring an answer.

"It's the place between heaven and the physical world. You don't belong here, but you don't belong down there either. You are stuck."

"What do you mean, 'stuck'?" I ask.

This time, it directly responds, "You have to pass your rite. That is why you were placed in the physical world. You have a duty assigned to you."

"What duty?"

"That is for you to find out, you are close to it, very close."

I pause for a moment, none of this makes any sense. I kneel down and place myself on the ground, their words repeating in my head.

I inhale a deep breath, "Who are you?" I ask.

"I'm not a 'who' but rather a 'what'. And to that, I'm just like you."

"Like me? What do you mean?"

"You'll find out sooner rather than later," it responds.

"This doesn't make any sense, you're not making any sense," I retort, frustrated and angered.

"It doesn't have to, Beatrice, just listen. This is a warning. You are here because you are stuck. You belong neither in heaven or the physical world. You've been given a duty in which you must complete in order to pass through the rite to the gates. You don't belong here either, you must go back to your body. Your duty has not been completed, you must stop him before the outcome cannot be changed."

I stayed silent for a moment, "Whose he?" I ask this voice.

"You already know his name, you know his face. You must warn them of the danger they will create by the use of your poison, mortals cannot handle it until it is their time."

"What?" I stand up, my frustration becoming more evident in my tone, "Why? What am I, then? Why am I like this?" I bellow, begging, pleading for an answer, an explanation.

"You will understand soon."

"No! Tell me now!"

"I mustn't, you must find the answer yourself, you hold the answers to everything you want to know, Beatrice, you've already seen them, heard them, you just have to unlock your mind from deep within. There, you will find every single piece of information you could ever possibly want to know about you, your past, everything. Once you do this...you will finally rest in peace."

"What?" I question again, just as the space around me begins to fade away. "No, no, tell me! What do I need to do?!"

"You already know the answer, Beatrice. You must go back and complete what you were destined to do. You must wake up...you will be back again, but you will not be alone."

"No, no, don't send me back, please! No!" I scream, everything around me slowly dissolving into smoke.

I run forward, rushing to hold onto the last bit of this place I can. I need answers. I need to know. I need to understand.

"Beatrice, WAKE UP!"