The Monocle's Eye

Chapter 23

 The flesh popped and ripped in strings as it fell apart, the metal grasp tearing it off the shattered bits of powdery bone, cream white and textured like wood. I stared as they ripped her apart, as the scalp slipped from the bloody texture of the white skull as she screamed, wailed at me, but I sat still. "Don't you think you could do in a cleaner way?" I asked, "Just pummel her if you really want all that pain, but a clean cut is good enough to kill her." My voice felt foreign, but I could hear it came from my lips.

"You're next, my Queen." They sneered, snickering as their metal hands ripped off a chunk of her torso, it came off like a chunk of bread. She cried and reached out to grip back at the world even as her head fell back, neck limp as her jaw ripped itself under it's own weight, the mouth tearing at the seams, the pink tongue limp. One man reached forward and slit open her chest, cracking her ribcage in two down the back to rip out the heart. The bone cracked and popped even as he held up the blood drenched, still beating organ, it's purple veins and still half attached tubes stringing out as he stepped forward, causing the body to fall limply off it's chain, slumping on the floor like a putrid pile of waste.

"No, I'de rather stay hungry than eat that. Even I've got standards. You'll rip me to shreds, and smile as I scream, because even the strongest are reduced to gasping lashes in the face of death. But while I still can, I'll remind you that you're not the one's making me cry, that's death's job alone. I've not shed tears since I watched millions die in the war, I'll not cry again until death comes for me, or my own blood. Have fun boys, you're getting the experience millions have craved for millennium." I replied as they approached. They were like a limping metal army, but they vengeance.

I felt the cold metal hand around my neck, still wet with my daughter's blood. My jaw fell open in a shriek.

* * *

"Mine, Mine, Mine," The words rolling off her tongue felt like candy to a child. I let my eyes slip open, blinking at the dim light of the candle beside the bed. She knew not to turn on the lights, she remembered where I kept the candles, even how to wake me up, her warm hands around mine softly.

"I'm awake." I grumbled, but made no effort to get up. This was a day when the air was much to heavy for that. I wasn't going to get up today, even if it made me feel like nothing had happened between the night before it all turned upside-down and this moment.

"I'll get you a hot cloth, you alright with that." She asked?

"Let me see, the ex who cheated on me and has a child to prove it is tended to me while I'm sick, yeah, I'm totally desperate for you to stay right here." I said sarcastically, but when she pulled away without a laugh, I almost latched onto her warm hands before they faded from me. It seemed like an hour before she was back with the cloth, letting it's white fabric rest on my forehead, the warm engulfing my sore head. "Why does everyone treat me like I'm a crazy old woman?" I asked, "Actually, never mind. I must be insane, I just asked you that." At this, she did laugh, gripping my hands tightly now. I hated how much she knew me.

"They don't think that Mine."

"Yeah, and I'm actually only ten years old, haven't you noticed?" I said sarcastically. "They think I"m crazy, and so do you. Here you sit at the edge of my bed nursing me back to health like a sick woman, and the things you expect I'll believe, ridiculous. You should of seen how they looked at me yesterday Rosetta. Was it yesterday?"

"It was yesterday, but this is already three in the morning. I've taken care of you like this for decades Mine, I'd do it if you were crazy, but because I'm doing it, doesn't mean you are. Now which dream was this? From the suddenness I'de guess mommy murders, the ripping one or the racing army."