The Devil's Bride (Book 1)

Chapter 25- Mad About You

THIRD PERSON

The things she thought she'd never see are now her constant reminder. The bleak walls surrounding her look nothing like the deep purples and the dark blues she's used to. These walls that cave in on her, grey and dusty, remind her of what she's become. Lifeless and distant from the colourful world that lies outside, the seeping colour drained from her life. To say that this cruel world took its toll on Elise is an understatement. The world's lifeless shell continues to flash in front of her eyes to this moment, as she sat waiting for the saviour. The world thinks she's the Devil's Bride.

"You have a visitor." The guard spoke, unlocking the gate door and pressing his fingers on the rise of her back. The cruel cages of reality trapped her between two alternate realities, one where her life is perfect without interference and the other where her life had been perfect until she murdered a man. The realities flicker and merge every now and then, and she has dreams where the real thing crumbles into the dreamscape she conjured up with her mind. Nothing is innocent in her life anymore. The guard's gauntly physique crept taller above her as she felt like she was collapsing further to the full grey concrete, the lifeless halls sucking mercilessly at her skin. She's living the perfect nightmare.

That is until the fine white doors broke apart outwards into the seemingly empty visitor centre, and there she is, alone, perched at the very end of the row of plastic dark grey chairs, waiting for Elise. "Thank you for coming." She spoke, laughing quietly under her breath as she held the maroon red phone to her ear. She tapped her silver heels against the base of the partition wall as she stared towards the inmate. Elise shifted in her seat after sitting down, running her rough fingers through her blonde hair.

"Are you my lawyer now?" She spoke, turning only slightly in her chair to stare back at the guard. The guard shifted slightly in his tough position by the steel door to the prison, not breaking his emotionless gaze.

"You don't have to be coy. You called me, remember?" Marie spoke, tapping her heels against the bare concrete ground. A few days ago, before Elise's arrest, the two spoke on the phone, which led to a conversation in the spitting rain. The two of them knew that this case was coming, or at least they knew once Elise confessed to the murder. She wanted the best she could find, and Marie wanted to test out her wasted degree on a new client. It was perfect. Now, in the heart of the silence, the two women played pretend, they played the guard the fool.

Marie outstretched her hand towards the thick glass wall between them. Midnight black ink lined her palm, spelling out a short sentence the guard couldn't read. A smile flashed across Elise's pale face as she read the words in her head.

You won't be blamed for the killings.

-----

"He's lying to me, Brady lied to me," She spoke as she pulled on the silver handle to enter the white hospital building. The receptionist smiles empathetically as Reyna, her hands clasped around her phone, strides into the lobby. "Brady had to be lying about that story, none of it lines up. So, I'm back at the hospital." She waited as the lift lulled in it's decent back to the base floor, before stepping inside. This time, visiting Faith felt surreal because this time it wasn't visiting her best friend or her ex-friend, she's visiting a liar.

When Reyna and Faith were children, their favourite game together was pretend. To dress up and act around like they were someone else, it made the world a tiny speck in comparison to what they were becoming. They'd pretend to be princesses and pirates, animals and archers, anything they'd imagine would become true. The world was their oyster until high school knocked them back and swung homework like a baseball bat. Imagination land dissipated into laughing and gossiping about the real world, about lung diseases. The two graduated and life worsened, as they drifted apart and moved on with new friends, new boyfriends and new lies. More lies. It wasn't until they graduated from college that it all slowed down, and their friendship blossomed once more. Reyna never expected those biggest lies.