Amity and Enmity

Chapter 60

Day: 1359

Days Left: 4121

Lives Saved: 7

Henry jolted awake, reaching for his side where he would keep a weapon, but of course, it was empty.

"Look who survived... out of everyone, it's little Henry who survived..."

A purple mist rolled over the wasteland, billowing and cascading down into the ditch.

Henry stumbled to his feet as the purple mist surrounded and encircled him, snuffing out the light as he was contained in a confined purple gas. "Karina..." he mumbled, flinching as mist in the shape of a hand reached out to him, then phased through him completely, followed by a high-pitched cackle that reverberated, seeming to come from everywhere.

More hands of mist reached out, and though Henry knew that they could not physically touch him, his mind continued to survive on his fight or flight instincts, flinching and avoiding them like a cowering animal trapped in a cage.

"Oh, Henry, Henry, Henry..." laughed Karina's voice, a vague image of her face swirled around the encircling mist. "It had to be you, didn't it!" She hissed. "I knew you could never be trusted, but O'Sullivan believed in you so much! Believed that you would eventually join us! But no! All you ever thought about was your precious little cousin! Cousin Corinna!"

Henry shrunk away as another mist hand swiped at him.

"We could all be free by now! Freedom, Henry! Is that not what you want? Would you not want that for your cousin too?"

"You can never escape the Eternal Abyss," mumbled Henry, unable to breathe.

"We could have escaped with your help! If you actually stopped thinking about your darling Corinna! Corinna this! Corinna that!" Karina's twisted smile appeared amongst the mist. "Just imagine, if after all this time... I was actually your cousin, your Corinna that you had been searching for all this time!" She paused. "Or maybe you've already met her? You don't know what she looks like, only her name..."

Parts of the purple mist split off and formed the silhouette of a woman, and it walked past Henry.

"The Corinna Warren you are searching... who knows who it could be? Since she's a second cousin, how much will she actually look like you?"

Then another woman appeared and another until Henry was surrounded by women walking past him, all of them different in appearance.

"Or maybe you've killed her, Henry?"

All of the women froze and screamed, and Henry put his hands to cover his ears, but it was not enough, the harrowing sound prevailing as all of the women dropped to the ground motionless.

"But what if you do find her..."

The women stood up again, surrounding Henry.

"She won't remember you, nor do you remember her. What if she doesn't want anything to do with you? Why would anyone want anything to do with you?"

The women started yelling at Henry, screaming at him;

"You monster!"

"I hate you!"

"Leave me alone!"

"How could I ever love you!"

"Pathetic!"

"Worthless!"

Henry cowered on the ground, his hands covering his ears, his head bowed, eyes tightly shut, but the screaming became only louder and louder, the women's voices turning to sound like his own.