The Edge of the World

Chapter Thirty-Two

My name is Lady Beth — To whomever reads this, take heed... you are not what you seem. This place is something beyond your scope of understanding. I don't understand it all yet, but I think I am dead! Oh, and so is my betrothed, who has been acting strangely since the train accident. After our discovering of one another, and the odd, but powerful need we felt for each other, we dozed in each other's arms after coming to realize that our connection runs deeper than the average love. I know many will roll their eyes at this and claim their love is just as deep, and I am not here to dispute it. I am saying we are reincarnated lovers from days passed, and we are looming on the precipice of a deeper discovery since we woke and found ourselves on this corpse of an island.

I last remember the sounds of the train's brakes, the trembling of the walls around us and the screams of other passengers. Then the metal started twisting, squeezing us until the fear and pain was replaced by a wispy night. We woke on the beach, freezing cold and confused how we found ourselves to be in this place.

The night we stumbled upon this cabin, I sensed we'd been here before.

At first, this island was cold, like the tundra, but before long the clouds parted, and the warmth blew in like a sudden miracle!

But this place is mysterious, to say the least. The deformed creature who cries beyond the walls surrounding this cabin and the woman who lives in the woods always screaming... it's bothersome.

And Haru, my once loving betrothed who hadn't left my side since we found ourselves here, has pulled away from me. He leaves during the night, moving like a sleepwalker of sorts, disappearing into the woods for hours at a time. I try to call him back... pull on his arm... scream in his ear, but he shoves me away, stumbling from me as if afraid!

I searched for him long past the sunset just last night and found myself in a cave hidden far to the north of the cabin. In there I had such memories! Childbirth and the cries of my children long murdered echo throughout that cavern. As well as other secrets I cannot quite grasp.

But despite the memories haunting me I am consumed with the knowledge that I'm losing Haru. I also figure that because I am losing my love, the air is turning cold again, and I sometimes find myself trapped in the memory of my death. A voice lulls me, urging me back, but even the voice is growing tired. I don't know what is happening to us... to me... but I believe I am dead and have been this entire time.

And I'm frightened. The voice in my head, the memories I never lived through, and the screams of the monsters are terrifying.

I am so often alone here now. Him being bewitched, for what other explanation is there, has left a gap between us and the woman inside me weeps from it. She claims that we have failed again... and I am certain she wants me to follow the voice into rebirth. I must sound mad, but this is all I know. I was compelled to journal this, in case I've gone insane, and someone finds these words! Maybe they can save us before we are lost forever!

Tears spill from Tatum's eyes as she reads the words of her second oldest aspect. The ghost of Beth cries with her, for they are the same. Everything Beth suffered through is what Tatum suffered through, and the realization was Earth shaking. Oh, sure Tatum always understood it was that way, but for the very first time, she actually felt it... comprehended it... really grasped it. It was like waking up after living in a dream. She could see Haru staring straight ahead once the sun lowered, unblinking, unfeeling, and moving away from her, as if she were the enemy. He left her alone, too weak to fight the magic consuming his mind. Too weak to fight for the love he had for Beth and, ultimately, he left her alone, broken and sinking into her own madness until the voice lured her to rebirth.