Fear Can Break ↠ Liam Dunbar [Book 2]

✧Genevieve's Gift✧

Chapter Twenty-Eight ✧Genevieve's Gift✧

Everything around me was so incredibly bleak. 

There was nothing for as far as I could see in any direction I turned to. There were no walls to show an end to the bright whiteness that made up my new surroundings. On top of that, I couldn't even tell where the ground was other then the fact that I seemed to be standing on it. 

Needless to say, it was taking my mind a little while to grasp what was going on. This was the after life, or so I was told. This bleak vast nothingness was the indicator that I had died. Well, that and the woman standing in front of me that was patiently waiting for me to come to terms with my own untimely demise. While I appreciated her waiting so silently after she dropped the bombshell that I was dead, I needed a few moments to really understand what that meant. 

When I was finally able to make eye contact with Genevieve Carodine again, I took a moment to actually look at her as she was no longer possessing the body of Allison Argent. I remembered the picture I'd found of her on the computer in the library and although the picture had been gritty and old, it was definitely of the woman standing in front of me now. 

There were a lot of things striking about Genevieve's appearance. She had high, sharp cheekbones that would be easy to draw, and her face was framed by long straight brown hair. Her eyes, which bore the same shade of dark espresso as her hair, seemed to somehow be both weary and electric, all at once. Those would not have been as easy for me to draw (but perhaps it would've been a fun challenge for me to attempt, if I wasn't currently super duper dead).Her skin was so pale, it almost could have blended in with the long, high neck white dress that she was wearing. 

Almost everything about her seemed to be what I expected, but their was one thing I couldn't pin. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't figure out her age. She wasn't young, but she also definitely wasn't old. She just seemed to be... timeless. 

"The afterlife," I finally let out in a shaky breathe. Now that I'd looked into Genevieve's eyes, it seemed impossible to look away. 

"Your afterlife," Genevieve corrected. Then, as she raised her arms, she added. "Our afterlife." 

Suddenly, I was surrounded by other women. But they weren't actually there. They seemed to flash all around me in images, moments in time broadcasted across the emptiness of the after life. I knew by the way they moved that I was seeing them not now, but in specific moments of their life. Some of them were close enough that I swear I could've touched them, but I knew if I reached out they wouldn't really be there. They were as real as I was dead. 

"Who are they?" I whispered. Something told me it didn't matter how quietly I spoke, Genevieve would still know exactly what I was saying. 

"These are all of my children," Genevieve clarified. She no longer was looking at me, but at the glimpses of women flickering around me. I followed her gaze to all the different women and girls. "There are your sisters who served before you." 

It was mesmerizing to look at them. There seemed to be about a dozen other girls, all of whom seemed to all be a different age, wearing vastly different clothes, and altogether looking very different from each other. However, despite all of these differences, each girl had the unmistakable look of determination in her eyes. Something about them felt familiar. Something about seeing them, unmistakably broken and unfailing brave, that made me feel an odd but safe sensation.

"I'm confused," I admitted, finally prying my eyes away from the flickering images so I could look back at Genevieve.

"That's okay." A ghost of a smile flickered across Geneveive's face. "I'm hear to tell you my story and answer any questions you have."