Cairo

Chapter 43: Final Respite

The fire consumed her. It ate away at her, and despite the odds, Fifi still managed to keep her foot on the ground. She took one step back as the fire swirled and blackened with the smoke from her body. Her eyes were dilated.

"Fault..." Fifi turned her body towards Aerie and thrust her chest out as she let out a bellowing voice. "It's your fucking fault all of this is happening!"

She let out one final scream as the fire around her intensified. In a bright flash of light and heat, the fire dissipated into a small simmer. Fifi's body looked like a shriveled, black prune. Smoke rose from her remains.

"Damn pests never want to die."

Cairo turned his head to the source of the voice. Fia stood in the entrance, Fire swirling around her body like she had her own gravity around her. With a wave of her hand, the fire was sucked into her body, and her eyes glowed red. She pointed her finger behind Cairo.

"I'm not the one you should be focusing on."

As Fia finished speaking, Aerie dug her fingers into her scalp and screamed. It was piercing to the ears. Loud like a siren. Words and images rushed through her head in a blurry flash, and felt like they were slamming against her head because they had no breaks.

Your.... fault.... because of you...

The memories were coming back.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

The images stopped moving. For a second Aerie thought she could make out something, but just as it focused, darkness engulfed her. She closed her eyes, listening to the beating of her heart. Only slight crackling could be heard over her heart, and it continued on until she finally opened her eyes.

Around her, the world was clear. Color flooded her vision and sounds flooded her ears. Aerie looked all around her to the familiar brick walls that reminded her of a prison tower and the backs of people's heads that left a name stuck on the tip of her tongue.

A light flashed in her face. She fliched back, drawing up her hand. When she opened her eyes, in front of her stood a man with a large pair of glasses. They were shaped like an eight and the lenses were black so Aerie couldn't make out the face.

Behind the man the man was a young man. A lean build, light hair just like hers, but he stood there with a cold, impassive face that looked like death as he watched her from in the shadows. Another man stood next to him. He was fatter, more plump, and had a very excited expression on his face. He moved his hands up and down along with his mouth, but Aerie couldn't make out what he was saying at all.

"Don't worry, Princess," the man with goggles soothed as he leaned in front of her, pulling out a needle, "this won't hurt a bit."

No sound came out of her voice even though she tried to scream. Blood lined her fingers when she placed her hand on her neck. She shivered as the man drew closer, a pain surging up in her throat that made her want to double over and cry.

She hadn't felt pain in years. It wasn't nostalgic; it was a slap to the face. A cold wake up to the reality that was swirling around her.

The images distorted in a blur, swirling like a carousel in a barrage of colorful lines intertwining until everything stopped and darkness came around like an old friend again. The room had been loud and full of banging, clanking, and shouting in the background. It would have been assumed that the quiet of the darkness would have been a relief, but it wasn't. Her nerves were frying as she looked all around for anything at all, but she couldn't tell if she was looking left or right, up or down. Or if her eyes were even open at all.