Exquisite Poison (Original Draft)

Chapter 59 - The Crown of Negativity

When she opened her eyes, Netta discovered that she was laying down in a wood.

It was sunny, beautiful. Without realizing it, Netta stretched her arms out, enjoying the feel of the grass on her back.

I never thought that I would feel this again.

The bright, life-affirming heat of the sun. The cool brush of the grass against her bare upper arms, her calves.

Netta shut her eyes, shuddered in a heavy breath. She felt like the smell of the wood around her, that earthy smell, was rejuvenating her. She felt as though she was worthy of this purity, this warmth.

It's like I never left home, after the -

Netta's eyes snapped open, an unwanted, dark memory feeling as though it had punctured her thoughts. It infected her relief, her cozy happiness as she laid in the grass.

Netta groaned, held her hands to her head. She struggled, part of her loathe to summon the memory in question forward, to allow it to destroy the sweet comfort of the summer day. After a moment of struggle, she forced the memory forward in her mind.

It burst through her mind like a Trojan horse, in its wake it brought utter destruction.

A woman, with her transformed face hidden behind a kerchief, a skull's face on the design. Anger has turned her movements slowly, increasingly, like a snake's deliberate, smooth pace. She doesn't want her own kind to gaze openly on her, because she has taken on the features of the Monster she has taken a contract with. She takes Its power, contorts it into a bludgeoning force, brings it down onto the head of a woman she once regarded as kin.

That woman, when she brings down the magic, takes on more than the facial features of the Monster-

Gasping, Netta shuddered, had trouble with deciding if she was living in that memory, or the one before it. The girl, shamed, tied to a tree to suffer for the sin of her weakness. Her lack of extraordinary ability.

When she looked down at herself, Netta was relieved to discover that she was not tied and nor was she covered in vomit. She sighed.

The sound of the woman's voice, distorted, seemed to come through the clouds.

"AESTHETICS. NEITH, DO YOU EVEN THINK THAT YOU COULD BEGIN TO COMPREHEND THE AMOUNT OF WORK, THE SACRIFICE, THAT I HAVE TO PUT INTO EVERYTHING I MAKE? DO YOU EVER CONSIDER THE AMOUNT OF BLOOD THAT I HAVE TO PUT INTO MY FOOD TO BE A SUCCESS IN THIS HUMAN'S WORLD? OH, NETTLES, SACRIFICES ARE EVER NECESSARY. IT ONLY SEEMS NATURAL THAT THE WEAK WILL NOT ONLY SUFFICE, BUT THEIR WEAKNESS MAKES THEM THE BEST TARGETS."

Netta looked up at the sky in astonishment as the understanding that, in spite of the difference in cadence, the ragged quality of it, that she was listening to Millicent's voice in the sky.

Netta felt fear, and instinctively reached for Ash. When she did not feel him, she looked up in the sky, hoping, somehow, that the answers would be written up there.

Instead, all she heard was Millicent's ringing voice.

"CALLING FOR HELP AGAIN, WEAKLING? DID I POISON YOU TOO WELL THIS TIME, CAN I ACTUALLY KILL YOU NOW? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, JUST KIDDING. I'M LEAVING THAT UP TO YOUR "HUSBAND", THE GROTESQUERIE."

In the distance, Netta heard the sound of trees all falling at once.

Turning, Netta first saw the shape in the distance, a shape taller that the trees.