The Sound of Our Souls

War Zone

Josie stood in the clearing surrounding the school. Just moments ago, she had confronted Lizzie and knocked Hope unconscious. The previous Josie, the one who was fragile and docile, would have felt bad, she would have run into her sister's arms to beg her forgiveness. But Josie was no longer that person, something had changed, and that something, whether it was the darkness or her newfound independence, made her, for the first time in a long time, feel unapologetic.

She wandered the area for quite a while, reveling in the sounds of nature. The chirping of birds, the constant cricketing, and the small waves forming on the lake, yet his favorite sound was silence. The silence was a constant reminder of solitude. Josie had never felt so good in her own company. Before, being alone with her thoughts meant a kind of endless torment filled with guilt and self-deprecation. Now it was just relaxing.

When she got tired of waiting for something interesting to happen, she decided it was best to prepare to carry out her plan. To be honest, her first thought hadn't been to bring The Merge forward. She just wanted to make a little show of power to keep any of the pesky persons surrounding her from getting in the way of her freedom. That is until Lizzie spoke up, God she really was annoying. At that moment all came rushing to her, she was going to use The Merge just to get rid of her irritating sister.

Josie knew this was the perfect time to perform the ritual. She was stronger than ever, and that was going to continue at least as long as the dark magic invaded her body. She was aware that with the dark magic, neither regret nor sadness would be a problem. But she was also aware that this state was not going to last long, so if she really wanted to do it, it had to be as soon as possible. It was after all these ruminations that she decided to head back to school. She was going to end this once and for all.

She started on her way back when an intrusive thought came to her mind. Maybe it was the fact that she was tired, or maybe it was the glimmer of light left inside her, but she decided that she would give the people at Salvatore High School one more day before terrorizing the school with her presence. Just so they could prepare, she wasn't going to let them get rid of her completely. Being feared gave her a certain satisfaction. To some extent, it made her feel like some kind of deity. After all, they too enjoyed passing off fear as respect. 

But the torment could wait.

She continued roaming through the forest until she found herself at the old mill. She sat there and stopped thinking for a while. Once again, she decided to delight in her surroundings. The musty smell, the creak of old wood, and the sound of the swinging of an old punching bag hanging from a rusty metal piece attached to the ceiling. Once she ran out of sensations to distract her, she fell asleep.

She awoke when a ray of sunlight reflected directly into her eyes. From the position of the sun, she could judge that the day had started about three hours ago. Which meant that the people at the school had awakened not long ago. It was the perfect time to make her appearance.

When she walked through the gates of the institute, no one batted an eye. To be honest, she expected there to be an army on the other side ready to apprehend her (or as close to an army as could be achieved with the three people still there) but apparently, the others had more important things to do. Not long ago, she had discovered how good attention felt, so she went in search of some.

She knew the most likely place to find Lizzie in the vastness of the facility was their room. She headed there and soon realized that her hunches were not wrong. There, she found her sister sitting in the middle of a circle of salt, candles were haphazardly arranged, and a few books lay open on the bed. 

"What do we have here?" Josie said, intending to emphasize her presence.

" I wonder the same. Did you get tired of threatening little hares? We know you were in the forest"