Girl Meets Evil

Chapter Twenty Seven

A/N: Happy Halloween everyone! We are almost at the end of the story, hope you can bear with me lol

"I cannot."

I heard the soft exclamation as if from far away and I jerked away from it, alarmed when my body would not listen to the command of my mind. There was a deeper whisper, to faraway or garbled for my still ringing ears to understand but it was cold and full of hatred. It had fear crawling up my spine and settling into my heart but I really couldn't remember why. 

"You cannot kill me, Shinwoo, just as I can't kill you. She is immune to manipulation. I do not know why." The musical voice said carefully, her tone calm and measured. The darkness answered again and I heard it growl before a door slammed and heavy footfalls stomped away, making the ground shake. 

I heard the rustling of cloth and soft footsteps across what sounded like carpet before a presence settled into the space in front of me. I flinched and pulled away when something warm and wet touched my cheek.

"Be still, Yoojin." The musical voice said, the tinkling of bells making her words echo in my mind. The warmth came back and I sat calmly, the projected serenity she had settled over me and stopped the fidgeting of my muscles. 

Slowly and surely she wiped my face and some of the tightness and pain washed away with it until I was able to open and focus my eyes. This close she was even more gorgeous than before, her hair was pulled away from her face and she looked so perfect I wasn't sure I was staring at a real person and not a computer generated image. 

"Let me die." I said after a while when her magic released me enough that some of my fear and memories came back. 

She frowned and stopped washing my face, setting the bloody cloth in the stained and dirty looking water. Her face wasn't only beautiful but her eyes were kind and compassion lingered in the corner of her mouth. I couldn't make it out, I couldn't understand how she could be working for that monster and still look like that. Her beauty went deeper than her appearance, she literally radiated in warmth and goodness. 

"I can't, baby." She said, her voice full of regret as she tenderly tucked strands of my dirty hair behind my ear. 

"Why?" I demanded as pain and fear and longing crushed me into a ball of convulsing tears. The Witch held me close as I cried, her warm fingers running down my back and through my hair. "Don't make me better so I must face him again, please!" I wept pathetically. 

"Let me help you." She said in her soft voice after I'd cried myself out with exhaustion and helplessness. She sat me up and it was only then I realized I'd been lying on a soft couch in a comfortable looking room. 

In the corner was a copper tub filled with water that was steaming and smelled like lavender and lilac. She carefully peeled my soiled clothes away from my body and gently led me to the water. She held my arm as I stumbled over the edge and slowly sank into the milky white liquid. 

"Don't speak." She said in a clear voice as her gaze darted once to the door. 

I said nothing as she used a soft cloth and delicately washed the blood and sweat and fear from my body. I felt her calm permeate the air and the water and my heart. I knew I should be freaking out and screaming and fighting for everything I was worth but I was so tired and there didn't seem a point. 

I didn't fight as she laid me back in the water and gently washed my hair and face again. My skin and spirit felt renewed as I sat up, my heart registering its dismal appreciation of this feat in the back of my mind. I couldn't even remember why I didn't want this in the first place. In here, with her, I was in a bubble of safety and nothing could harm me again.