The Voodoo Doll

Chapter LI: Another World

My eyes spring open.

I am in the middle of nothingness.

Surrounded by white, no floor is below me, no sky is above my head, I can barely see my limbs, my chest, touch my face, pinch my nose, for the mere sake of staying sane.

Hello? Anyone is here?

My own voice echoes inside my head. I wonder if I am truly dead or imprisoned in another dimension. I quickly lost consciousness after being dragged by Cassiel in here.

That cursed white door at the far wall of Honoka's room was either a prison, or something even worse, something I don't even want to imagine.

I try to swim, but there is nothing around me that could affirm my own movement. I could as well be a fish stuck in a boal and bound by invisible shackles.

Or I could be dreaming, this empty world being a thing of my wild imagination.

What to do in this tasteless world?

Think. The only moving entities I am sure of are my thoughts.

They said they were going to turn me into an angel. Has the process already begun? They haven't even bothered to ask me my opinion, what my plans to save Noah are.

I have already realized the inevitable.

Ever since I met Noah, we have been doing exactly what they expected us to do, exactly the way they wanted, and whenever we decided to rebel, they intervened, bringing us back into their planned course of action. We are like puppets in their hands. Michael's arrival on Earth and our split-up wasn't a coincidence. The Queen Lailah meeting us in the form of a highschool girl called Honoka was nothing but a way for them to monitor us.

Cassiel-obaa-chan was one of them, an Oracle. She knew who I was ever since I came into this world. Michael surprisingly didn't. The look on his face when he saw Cassiel for the first time reflected his honest thoughts. If Lailah knew, why didn't she tell Michael? Was he supposed to be kept uninformed on purpose?

What was Michael's role in the fate the Oracles have decided for us?

Questions, nothing but questions.

Lailah appeared before us the very first time to make my encounter with Noah possible, to let me know of his powers, and vice versa. It seems like they only inform us when they need to, when it has a certain consequence on our fate.

Will I also discover some truths I never knew about, in this transformation?

I never wanted to be one of them, but if it's to save Noah and help me find the Truth about my past, I will gladly do it.

The words I said were like a switch to a light that never existed.

The world around me shifts, and I watch as the whiteness is slowly filled with colors.

Blue paint splatters far to my right. I see it from the corner of my eye, but when I look sideways, there is nothing at first.

Then, like someone applying a wet brush on a new canvas, blue fills my vision, the streaks of paint getting thicker by the second, spreading everywhere, until a sky is formed, with clouds and black floating shapes. They hang in the sky, almost out of place, then, bit by bit, they start to move, one after the other, they get closer to my field of view, and I realize they are migrating birds. They fly in a V shape, letting out the cries I have always waited for, the first sound to be heard in this newborn world.

I scream with as much force as my throat allows, taking in as much air as my lungs want, and I finally hear my voice outside of my head.

" HELLO BIRDS!" , because that was the obvious thing to say to one solitary confined self.

Grass comes next. A soft sensation under my feet. The tips of the fallen autumn leaves tickle my skin, as if I was barefoot. I could feel every drop of leftover rain on the forgotten leaves. The familiar smell of petrichor reaches my nostrils as the first trees show up before me. Everything seems amplified in my body. Every living thing, from bird to plant, is feeling my presence as I feel theirs, their breathing, their movement along with the coming and going wind, the freshness of the soil embracing their roots, the memories of a quiet world with no humans in it, right when the trees and the flowers were the only thing that existed.

I walk on the grass, I touch the trunks one by one, caressing my new friends, acknowledging their presence, their constant thoughts. Trees hate humans so much, flowers despise the smell of their feet, birds are afraid of them, always messing up their nests, always destroying their families, hunting them for the sake of what they call fun.

Nature wants humans to disappear from Earth. Nature never wanted to live with selfish creatures who thought they were better than everyone just because they could utter speeches in front of each other then make weapons to destroy one another for power.

I am devastated. Ashamed of myself. I never want to be a human again. I want to turn into an angel, the only creature that gets along with all the species, the only creature that wants the best for everyone.

You have to save Noah , I remind myself. I must not be led astray from my path.

But where is my path?

I stop and look around me. No human being seems to live in this place. I call for the trees, for the birds and for the small insects that live in the forest. Show me the way.

A trail of light materializes on the grass. The sun above seems to have heard my prayers, she sends her rays of sunshine towards me, guiding me to a place I have yet to discover.

I follow the light. The walk stretches for minutes, hours, I cannot tell. It felt like an eternity before I glimpsed a black silhouette from the distance. As I got closer, the light stopped at the boy's feet, his face buried in his knees, he wrapped his arms around his legs and refused to look up when I called him.

"Noah" , I start. He doesn't seem to hear me. "Noah!" I pat his head, move my hand up and down his silky midnight hair.

"It's okay, it's okay, It's me, it's Hitori. I'm here for you now."

I don't know if this is the real Noah. I don't know whether it's an illusion or a test by the Oracles, whether they somehow found him and brought him here or summoned his mind to communicate with me.

I only know one thing: if it's Noah, I must not leave him alone. Never again.

He finally lifts his head shyly to look at me, once he hears my name being spoken. I don't hesitate. I hug him, putting a hand on the back of his head, caressing his locks, over and over again. As my left arm wraps around his waist protectively, I whisper in his ear, trying to reassure him, trying to drive his fear away.

What did they do to you? What scares you, Noah?

"It's okay, we're together now. They can't touch either of us when we're together." I don't know if it's true, but I say it anyway.

"H-Hitori?" , he says, his voice hesitant, afraid to say my name, afraid someone out there might overhear him. "I thought--I thought you only lived in my dreams, they made me...they made me forget you--"

And I realize it. The truth hits me like a punch in the gut. This isn't Noah, this is only the remains. This is what is left of him after the demons have meddled with his mind.

The Oracles are trying to tell me something, and it isn't something to take lightly.

Noah is in great danger of losing himself. They're messing up his thoughts, his humanity. Just as the angels want me to become one of them, the demons are trying to turn Noah into a monster, just like them.

I'm the only one who can save him.

I let go of Noah. I stand up, stretch my hand to him, fix him in the eyes, my honey-dipped irises a mirror of the fire lit inside my soul.

"Come. The truth isn't always what they show you. The truth lies elsewhere.

"Come see it with me, so you can never again doubt your own reality."