A Tale Of Shadows (Wattys 2023) - REPLACED BY DIVINE ASCENSION

Chapter 16 - Transformation

When noon had come on the following day, Melinda was smiling, her high-heels being pressed gently against the grass as she slowly walked around the courtyard, looking for the Joneses, having no idea as to where they could be at the moment. Her hands were adorned with the same white gloves she held the dagger she murdered her husband with, which she was also holding during this opportunity. The sky was as blue as it had been for the rest of the month, and although the fact that rain had not poured for a long time was surprising, she merely sighed in relief at the absence of it. It was as though the sky had realized that she already had more than enough things to be melodramatic over. There were no animals in sight, no witnesses of any kind that could produce a sound to warn others of what she was going to do, except for the pretty flowers that encircled her, and whose lovely scent had engulfed her nose, allowing the blood within her veins to cool down and her to smile without any concern at last. If she could find any of the Joneses soon, that would have been perfect.

Her eyes twinkled with joy once she had noticed that one of them was approaching her, also smiling. It was Ingrid, who was wearing a yellow dress that reached her knees and white heels, her hair loose. She leapt into an embrace as soon as she saw Melinda, but the other woman withdrew from her. 

"Why are you not willing to embrace me?" Ingrid said, her mouth wide open.

Melinda did not say anything in an attempt to answer the question, even as seconds passed and the wind blew, causing her to shiver. She stood still as a statue, staring at one of her former closest friends without blinking, her right hand subconsciously reaching for the dagger. She could feel the bulge beneath her glove as Ingrid's jaw clenched thanks to her having seen that Melinda had a blade with her at that very moment. She knew she had to select her following move carefully, as she was not ignorant. 

"What have you brought this treacherous weapon for?" Ingrid gasped, her face turning pale.

Melinda pursed her lips together, her gaze bereft of emotion as she took the knife from her pocket and grabbed the maiden's neck with her left hand, wrapping her fingers around it tightly enough for the victim to have difficulty breathing and doing anything to move Melinda away from herself, which wouldn't have been much of a problem either way. Her right hand slowly rose towards the neck, and Ingrid breathed heavily moments before Melinda could do anything to it. However, even with the inevitability of her death hanging right above her, Ingrid mustered the courage to tell her former friend some words.

"Melinda, my Queen, if it even is you still inside of her, none of us will ever have the hope to comprehend what had happened. For all these years, and during everything that has occurred in this dark era, I have been right by your side. I was not always present, especially not when you were kidnapped, and I understand your pain, yet I do not see any reason why you would be doing this."

Melinda sighed. "I wasn't expecting you to do so."

"Of course you weren't," Ingrid spat out. "You are not the Melinda we once knew."

"Months ago, even I wouldn't have known, but that matter is unimportant in the present. What truly matters is that I transform you into a zombie and then do the same to the rest of your family."

Ingrid took a deep breath. "Although I would have been a fool had I believed that you would leave them alone, my mind is not convinced at all, and I hope that you realize just how much of a monster you are and what I think of you. May you never look at your reflection again without shame. May your crimes be repaid with the most painful death you could encounter."

"Do not condemn me so easily. You know not of all that which I have done and which I am planning on doing. Then and only then would your words be proper," Melinda hissed.

Ingrid furrowed her eyebrows. "You must be the kingslayer as well!"

"Yes, Ingrid, I am, and so much more," Melinda whispered, smirking, grabbing her neck with both hands.

"What have you become?!" the other woman hollered, shuddering at the vicinity of her fingers and the blade in them.

"That will be determined by ages past, ages present and ages yet to come," Melinda responded, slicing through the smooth skin of her neck, and thus making her incapable of answering to her.

"Now you will be permitted to sense everything that lies within my heart," she spoke as her victim coughed up blood.

Ingrid's bones had commenced feeling cold, her surroundings shifting into a black canvas while her murderer's smile, gentle and carefree, haunted the remnants of her horizons. She could not do anything but give in and let the invisible hands of fate do what they had to.

Before she could fall onto the ground, Melinda gripped her neck, her gloves becoming red as a rose. She then began to turn Ingrid's shadow purple, swinging the dagger close to the grass, and the eyes of the maiden gained a dark shade of silver.

However, as she noticed that her eyes were not fully silver yet, she carved her nails into her weapon, recalling everything that had happened since the kidnapping. Her heart was black with hatred and cruelty, and now Ingrid was able to see all of it. She stared at who used to be her friend, and who was shaking in pain during the process of her eyes flickering between brown and silver, smirking at the screams she knew no one was going to hear, a demented gleam appearing in her own eyes as Ingrid's accepted the silver at last. By turning her shadow purple again and clenching her right hand into a fist, she turned Ingrid's eyes brown again, for reasons even a child would understand.

"Now I need to find the rest of your family and do this to them," she said, and Ingrid followed her to the headquarters.