I was awoken by a soft knocking at the iron door... "May I come in?" a friendly voice rang. I felt myself hesitate at the absurdity of the question; what kind of prison was this where keepers asked permission to enter an inmate's cell?
"Uuuuhhh.... yes..?" I answered with bewilderment.
Miss Marie forced the iron door open with some effort and then, giving an exaggerated sigh when she was finally able to squeeze in. She laughed in embarrassment, holding a stack of towels and some soap in her arms.
"I thought you probably would want to wash up before we take you to see Lord Death today." she explained jovially.
"Well, I guess I don't look or smell all that pretty, and I do want to look my best for my trial." I mumbled
"Oh don't be silly, we're not going to punish you... we just thought it would be best if you explained your situation to Lord Death, maybe he could help you." Her golden eye peered at me empathetically.
"You don't think I'm a witch?" I knew she didn't, but I wanted to know why... since no one was able to see my soul.
"No, I don't think you're a witch." she responded with frankness.
"But why? you can't see my soul either."
She thought that over for a moment, "true, but sometimes you can just tell by looking at someone in the eyes, whether they're good or not." she concluded cheerfully.
"Come now, let's get you cleaned up.... and find you some other clothes?" she made a grimace as she pulled another piece of hay from my sweater. I nodded and followed her out of the dungeon to a more welcoming level of the DWMA where the lady's room was.
A Warm shower never felt quite this heavenly as before, but it was over 2 weeks since I had some sort of full body-wash... I mean, if you count taking a dive into a lake. I was always quick at washing up though, probably because I was in a mindset of constantly being on the run. Six minutes was all it took to take a shower, five minutes to get dried and dressed up. Miss Marie had left a new change of clothing for me; black straight-legged slacks, and a white loosely fitted chiffon blouse. I walked over to one of the sink mirrors to revel in the reflection of a clean face. My face looked lively once again, my eyes glinted amber, and I could see the freckles sprinkled across my nose and apples of my cheeks where the dirt had covered them before. I pushed my damp hair over to the left side of my head revealing the shaved area on the right side... My dark brown hair barely touched my collarbone, but this section of my hair grew out to be three quarters of an inch from when I had last buzzed it. I stepped out of the room; Miss Marie was astonished at how quick I could clean up.
"Well, you certainly aren't an ordinary girl," she smiled.
"If I had make-up and hair product it would have taken me longer... you know, I did used to care about my looks." I said a little more solemnly than I meant, but it was true, I used to take such pride in how well-kept I was... but being forced into a nomadic life for more than a month changes things. We continued through the school and up it's many flights of stairs to The Lord Death's quarters.
"Here we are" she offered me a smile before opening one of the doors for me.
"Um... is it just going to be me..." my voice shook, I could feel the anxiety building.
"I'm sorry I can't, but you'll be fine I promise"
"okay... just wanna get over with this already," I said, an undertone of resentment was laced in my voice. She patted me on the back gently as I stepped through the doors and found myself under archways of guillotines leading into a room that looked to be the sky.
Walking through this hallway of guillotines felt like I was set up on a chopping block. A moment of fear overtook me and my eyes darted to my feet, I was still standing on solid ground. The path led to a circular platform in the middle of the room, a throne-like chair was placed in front of a large mirror at the center of the platform. I couldn't see who was sitting in the chair because its backside was faced towards me but there was dark cloaked figure standing off to the right of it.
I stood there for a moment, in view of what probably was Lord Death but he seemed too absorbed in the current conversation to notice. His voice was awkward, it sounded male ,of course, but it was kind of raspy and high pitched. The other voice was lower, a melodic hum, and his speech was very precise.
I cleared my throat as respectfully as I could so I wouldn't interrupt their conversation... but I was eager to get this "meeting" over with.
"Ooooh my!" the Reaper exclaimed "I'm sorry I didn't see you there."
Well this guy was more oblivious than I had expected, he wasn't at all what I thought death to be.
"Pardon," I bowed slightly "but I was sent here to speak with you about... uuhhh.." my eyes shifted towards the chair; I didn't want anyone else present to hear. The Reaper could sense my discomfort, and so he excused whoever was sitting their.
"Alright, kiddo, we'll have to put this off for later." he said to the person infront of him. Two hands grasped the arms of the chair and a slender boy in a business-like suit stood up; black hair, two-toned yellow eyes, and three horizontal white stripes on the left side of his head. Well... that's an odd birthmark. He stared at me intently for a few moments... what was he trying to see, my soul? That wasn't going happen... his expression changed to one of disapproval and he sauntered down the steps shooting an intense glare in my direction.
"Liz, Patty," his voice was commanding.
"Coming!" two voices chimed in unison and the two pistols transformed into one short haired blond girl and the other one was a long haired blond. Both passed me but the shorter one briefly smiled then winked at me.
"Hey Kid wait up!" she whined playfully before she caught up to the boy's right side.
The trio disappeared down the hall of guillotines and I was left there with Lord Death.
"You aren't as intimidating as I thought you would be," I said with surprise "your skull mask... I thought death was supposed to strike fear in people just from looking upon it."
The reaper chuckled "Oh, well I couldn't very well run a school for children if I stayed that scary, now could I?"
"You can see my soul though... you know I'm not a witch"
"Oh yes indeed, what I'm curious about is why you feel the need to hide it? and why you hide those symbols on your wrists?"
Lord Death's tone wasn't at all cynical, it was filled with curious wonder.
I glanced at my wrists which were covered by the sweater... how did he know?
"It's a long story," I could feel the sorrow sinking in.
"Don't worry we have lots of time, just start from the beginning?" he offered kindly.
I exhaled my exhaustion and then took in a deep breath... this could be painful.
