Chasing the Past--A Carmen Sandiego Story

5---Demons Await

(A/N: I recommend listening to the clip above while you read.

Some people have asked me what the letters next to the time are. They are the abbreviations for what Time Zone Carmen is currently in.)

Feb 9

19:21, P.D.F (Ex. P.D.F. represents Pacific Daylight Time.)

San Diego, USA

Ribbons of warm light stretched from an infinite orange-purple canvas that was the sky, wrapping Carmen in unwavering warmth. There wasn't a single wisp of a cloud in her view, clearly revealing the gradient between night and day. The final snippet of the sun slipped under the horizon like a blazing iron core dropping into a metal mold that was the Peninsular Mountain range. An orange light filtered from the horizon line, as if it was resisting being pulled down with the sun. 

The first and brightest stars of the night sky began to appear one by one, slowly filling the endless space. The midnight black above her was relentless, descending down upon the daylight like a landslide, wrenching control of the sky.

Carmen waited until there was but a thin line of pink outlining the mountains before plugging in her earphones.

The sound of a classical piano filled her right ear, her left still wrapped under a gauze and bandage. She closed her eyes, letting the tenors and bellows of the instrument take her to another world. 

She sighed, imagining the pianist's fingers flying across the black and white keys, dancing gracefully and timing each tap perfectly. 

Ever since Carmen began to speak, she had always wanted to learn the instrument. As a kid, she was first exposed to a grand piano before any other form of music. Carmen had adored the way it sounded and had always nagged her favorite nanny, Amelie' Le Benoit to play it before she went to sleep. She'd beg to touch the musical apparatus, aching to run her fingers along it's smooth crystalline teeth, to tamper with the pedals her feet could never quite reach, to peer inside the opening at the back, to twang the strings within.

Amelie' cherished her grand piano. She would never let Carmen enter within a ten foot radius of the instrument. She always kept her promise, however, and played Clair De Lune in the evening after their French lessons.

She still wouldn't let her touch it, though. And when Amelie disappeared from the isle of VILE, her piano went with her. Sometimes at night, Carmen would long for the song played by her old tutor's deft fingers. No one could hit the notes quite like her.

She remembered the immeasurable sadness that crossed Amelie's face when she played the piece, as if it ushered memories she'd tried her best to bury. Carmen never understood why her demeanor changed during their evening "recitals" when she was usually very jubilant. Now, listening to the notes of Clair De Lune, miniature streams began to cascade down her bruised cheeks, entering and burning the tiny scratches that seemed to cover every inch of her face.

Her inner turmoil boiled to the surface. 

She hadn't slept properly in days. She hadn't allowed herself to, not even when her eyes begged to close. Her demons awaited her in sleep, and there, she could no longer run from them.

Her old classmates, her former friends, sending her off to have her mind-wiped to become VILE's lackey. 

Her meeting Gray for coffee, finding a trail of blood in his apartment the next day and a video of him bound to the chair, the VILE faculty providing her with an ultimatum for her life or his.

Coach Brunt uncovering their headquarters, killing the few people in the world Carmen thought she might have loved, delivering on her promise of pain, beating her to a pulp, and leaving her alive to endure a life devoid of any meaning.