Deprivation- The Feast and the Famine

Chapter 11- A Guest

Eudora's arm slammed into Claudia's stomach.  It startled her but had its desired effect.  Claudia stopped.  She gaped, and if Eudora's finger hadn't crossed her lips for silence, Claudia would have called out.

For there in front of them strode another woman. Unlike the two that hung back, she was not young, nor in the least attractive.  Her back hunched, and her eyes glazed with age and suffering.  A red welt spread across her jaw, and her arm burned dreadfully. She shuffled across the dining hall, her blue tinged feet making no sound on the bone littered floor.  

Strange stirrings moved in Claudia.  The urge to weep welled up inside her alongside urges harder to contain.  She wanted to go to the old woman and aid her; she wanted to go to the old woman and wring her neck.  For here was a remnant, a reminder of the world above.

Claudia had almost stopped believing in the sky and the grass. She had nearly managed to forget the touch of the sun and clean starched sheets.  Those seemed things from an ancient delusion.  Faded were memories of moonlight on her naked shoulders. Now, she remembered because this poor old drudge carried the vestiges of that world on her tired drooped shoulders.

Claudia hated her because the old woman was not that much worse off down here than she had been up there.  She had lived her whole life in gutters, struggling for each bite she ate.  That somehow she'd attained old age only showed some perversity in her temperament.  Under pressures that would have killed Claudia, this woman lived out a lifetime. How dare someone, who'd never known joy, lay claim to Claudia's suffering.  She had renounced life, but suddenly vitality came back with a fierce jealousy.

All she had left was her hell, and now she must share it. Claudia stood in the shelter of Eudora's shadow and hated this stranger with all the fiber of her being.  

Eudora's hand held her back, and for a moment, Claudia pushed against it.  Her claws extended—defending her territory. The old woman's foot trod across the carcass of a rat they'd finished devouring only moments before.

Then, the hatred broke inside of her, and Claudia found pity.  This astounded her.  Never before had a pathetic creature been real enough for her to commiserate with them.  The priest would tell stories, but they always dwelt in a realm Claudia need not consider.  She had seen deformed children begging, but they were only eyesores. To be pitied yes, but only in church and only by giving a few coins to proper charities or the church depository.  They hadn't been real. This woman was real.  She shared Claudia's suffering.

Her vague eyes stared about in terror.  Her dry lips parted.  She was tired, thirsty, hungry and afraid.  Claudia had walked in her place not so long ago and now was not so very far removed from that desperation.  Had they been in equally desperate straits Claudia would have fought tooth and nail to survive.  She might have destroyed this woman.  Now, she wanted to help her. She wanted to guide this woman to water and food.

From this urge, too, Eudora's arm held her back.

Slowly, the old woman passed from the room.  Claudia and Eudora watched her retreating back.  Claudia opened her mouth to call the woman but then Eudora's hand silenced her.  

Claudia had only been alive for a few moments, she didn't have the life yet to fight.  So she allowed Eudora to silence her with no struggle.  

She stood silently and watched the old woman, a piece of the real world, disappear from her sight.  All that remained was the spiderwebs, still rocking with the wind of her passing. Eudora lowered her arm.

"There is only so much to go around, Claudia," Eudora said. She took a few steps until she stood by the table. She slid a finger into an empty bowl, lifted it to her lips and licked nothing from her flesh.  "The same amount of food comes down no matter how many are eating it.  How many do you think can live on what is brought down?"

Claudia turned her eyes to her beautiful companion and realized that Eudora was not a demon.  She was a survivor. She was a bit mad, but she was only human.  "I'm still hungry."

With a nod, Eudora began to walk.  "And there are only two of us eating."

Eudora headed in the opposite direction of the old woman.  Claudia followed Eudora out of the room without a moment's hesitation.  The old woman had been real, but she was gone.  Claudia had a lifetime's experience telling her she could make no difference in the world and that (other than God) nothing she could not see could affect her.  Therefore, the old woman did not matter.  

Eudora mattered.  She cared for Claudia.  Claudia was not about to desert a provider.  Eudora was a friend.

They passed silently through the hallway, moving slowly.  Claudia imitated the steps that Eudora made.  Who knew where something might pop out to mangle her?  Claudia, being only recently alive was in no mood to lose her life.  

The ghost who abided followed behind the demon who was human.  Something about both of them had changed.  Claudia had awoken and in her waking she had found humanity where an absence used to live.

Claudia wanted to ask Eudora all about herself but feared the answer.  She knew that once Eudora had loved and been loved by him.  Other than that, Eudora was an unknown.  This absence of knowledge did not frighten her as much as the thought of having it filled.  If she did not know, it could not hurt her.  Something had allowed Eudora to survive down here when no one else had.  Something brought her the knowledge she had of this place.  Still more importantly, something condemned Eudora to this place and made him long for her death.  A person wasn't damned to hell for nothing.  If she knew the answers to Eudora, she might have to be frightened by the beautiful blonde woman.  Now, with no knowledge of anything but now, Claudia had every reason to trust Eudora.

After they had gone a little ways, Eudora turned to look Claudia in the face.  The illumination of a torch covered Eudora's face in light.  Her hair fell in a golden mesh of knots and curls around her pale face.  Under her wide blue eyes were dark circles.  Her lips seemed a tad gray.  She looked like a beautiful corpse—wan and gray and lovely as only a dead thing could be.  Only she was very much alive.  Her warm breath touched Claudia's cold cheeks.

"Is the pretty awake?"  Eudora asked.  Her breath came out in a puff of white.

Claudia smiled softly.  "I would like a new dress."

"You have been wearing that one since you came down."

Claudia looked down at the dress. It was torn, dirty and worn.  "It was my wedding dress."

Eudora said nothing but her eyes snapped like a fire.  

They began to walk together, side by side.  Somewhere a cold draft flowed down into the hall around them.  The trickles of water, which once Claudia had lapped up from the floor, froze solid.

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