Tragedy ✔️

Chapter 14

"I don't know if this will work, Colin," says Ms. Pudge huffing. She caught up to me in the forest ten minutes later. She's sitting on the pine-needle-covered forest floor, taking deep breaths of dead air.

"I know it will," I say, standing up over her. I now know what I am supposed to do. I just needed a little push. "We have to at least try."

I stare into Ms. Pudge's eyes, and I see the same hurt in them as the day I first met her. The day I gained my magic. But this time, as I stare her down, there is something else there, trying to be noticed behind the pain. There is a gleam of hope in them.

"You're right, Colin," she says, "We do have to try and I stand, err... sit here to tell you that I am one hundred percent with you"

I can feel a wide grin forming on my face. This is exactly the kind of encouragement I needed to get me started on this blind journey we are about to embark on. The destination might be blurry, but the goal is set. Build an army. Destroy the king.

***

We walk to the edge of the woods that leads to a hill that overlooks the great city of the dead world. It never came to mind how big this world might be. When I arrived here, I was told that the only job you could have down here was working for the king, but I find that hard to believe. The king still gave to the people that didn't work. There were still some subjects who lived in the center of the city.

I stare into the distance and see the big buildings reaching the skyline, penthouses, and luxury hotels. If no one could work, except if you arrived before turning eighteen, then who utilizes all that luxury? Better yet, who can afford it?

There must be some kind of black market that the king lets slip so that his so-called 'economy' keeps turning in his favor. I doubt this place would run only by us busting our butts by doing his dirty work.

"Are you ready to go into town?" asks Ms. Pudge, staring into the distance.

"I think so," I say, giving a big sigh, "I still have no idea how I will get anyone to rally behind me. I'm no one."

"You're right," she turns to me and slaps me hard.

"Ouch!" I shout, "What was that for?"

"Wake up, Colin," she snaps, literally snapping her fingers in my face while I rub my cheek with the palm of my hand. "You are not 'no one'. You are Colin West."

She steps up to me, grabs me by the shoulders with her fat hands, and shakes me hard. I can feel my insides turning and twisting, making me sick.

"You have to be yourself and just do what you would do naturally. Listen to me, boy!"

I'm beginning to feel scared because I've never seen Ms. Pudge this intense. Her face is a brighter shade of red than it usually is. If she were anymore fired up, she would have steam coming out of her ears.

"I had a best friend" she starts out of nowhere, "Her name was Carol. Me and Carol were friends when we were alive. We were on our way to our college campus. First day of school. That is, until a drunk driver slammed head on into our car. I did make some bad decisions in my short life, but I was blessed with a daughter at the age of seventeen, that was left motherless at just eight months old. I never got to raise her, and now I am not there to help make sure she lives life to the fullest. She doesn't know who I am. Carol and I never lived our dream. It was all cut short."

I can sense this is a story she has never shared with anyone else. Tears start forming in her eyes and she quickly wipes them away, bites her lip, and gets the courage to keep on telling her story. I feel a weight fall on me. Ms. Pudge had her life planned ahead of her, eager to begin it, but destiny was cruel and ripped her away from her dreams and her daughter. I, on the other hand, was a lazy jerk who took life for granted, not bothering to take in all the wonders it offered. Maybe that's why I'm here. But that doesn't explain why someone like Ms. Pudge is here as well.

"Carol and I worked in the same Going position," she continues, "We were roommates, because none of us had a home since we didn't have any family down here. It's like we were living our dream of going to college, since we never got to go. Except, the only thing that was different was that we had to kill people. Our position was, like yours, Automobile Accident Going. Every day we had to relive our death."

I see that tears are streaming down her face now. I look down, ashamed of myself for being so selfish when I was alive.

"I once tried to challenge the king," her voice is a quiet whisper now, as if she is scared someone would hear her. "I was nineteen. I had just completed one year of working at 6x3 and was sick of all the blood spilled on my hands. I couldn't take it anymore and I knew there was only one person to blame. No, I wasn't mad with myself for all I had done. Did I regret it? Of course, I did, but I didn't blame myself."

Her face has now turned into a shape of rage, anger, and distress. Mixed emotions cross her face and she has to take a minute to catch her breath and calm down.

"One night," she begins, her voice still again, "I snuck into the king's castle. I thought it would be simple. Just do what I did with every other human and destroy him. It turns out it wasn't so simple. He was in his throne room, sitting in his throne, watching clips of the deaths performed by the workers of his company. This was my chance."

She clenches her jaw and keeps on telling her tale.

"He was distracted and I took the opportunity to lunge myself into the middle of the room in plain sight. I lifted my hands toward him, feeling all my hate and anger burst through the skin of my palms, heading straight toward him. This was it. I was going to end it. The blast exploded into a show of fireworks as it made contact with his body. I fell to the ground by the aftershock, and I was too weak to make a run for it. It had been the strongest blast of magic I had ever conjured. I could see flames engulfing his throne, as guards lifted me up from the ground and held me so I couldn't escape. I didn't care what they did to me. I had destroyed the one who inflicted misery upon everyone in this world. I jumped in the happy boat too early. The flames suddenly cut off like a TV being shut off. There he was, the king, an enormous grin plastered on his dumb face."

Her voice starts to shake again, making choking sounds while she starts to lose control. She slaps herself, startling me, and she gains control again.

"He stepped toward me, unharmed. 'You will suffer dearly,' he spat on me. I couldn't process what had happened, and didn't dare imagine what he was going to do to me. I prepared for the worse. 'Destroy me!' I had shouted. He laughed as he said, 'Why would I ever do that when I can do much worse.' Just then he had teleported Carol in front of us. In the wall in front us, a video image of three people in a car appeared, clearly from the living world. It was Carol's family. The king ordered me to kill them. I pleaded for mercy but the king wouldn't take it. He forced my hand and the car skid off the bridge and crashed in the streets below. Carol's screams rang in my ears as I turned around to see her get blasted by the king. The ashes of my best friend blowing away in front of me. That was the ultimate price I had to pay for taking on the king."

I stare at her with bloodshot eyes, and disbelief. How could Ms. Pudge tell me such a story that makes it seem there is no chance at taking on the king.

"So," I say, my throat dry from not speaking in a while, "What you're saying is that I can't destroy the king. That he is invincible."

"No!" she says, "Don't you get it? There was a big mistake I did when I decided to take on the king. I did it on my own. I didn't ask for help or rely on anyone. I stepped blindly into the ring. I know that the king can be destroyed and he has a weakness. I don't know what it is, but I do know that doing it on your own won't get you anywhere. So, no excuses. We are going into town and you will round up people to fight this war. You won't do this on your own."

With that, Ms. Pudge waves her hand and I feel heat rising down from my feet up to my head.  As the heat fills my body and we are being teleported, I think about everything Ms. Pudge just told me. She doesn't want me to make the same mistake she did. I am ready for the next step, but I just hope I don't end up paying a steep price as well.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

As you may know, I published this chapter of the story a day early on accident. This doesn't mean my update schedule has changed. I will still update the story next week on Friday or Saturday. I hope you enjoyed this early chapter. Vote, comment, and share!