An Outsider's Call

51

She's here? Why is she here? She's dead!

She has her palms placed on her thighs, her eyes closed, looking completely in her own world. She sweats all over, looking pale. I crouch down in front of her, placing my hands on her shoulders, shouting, "Mom! Mom can you hear me? Mom!"

She doesn't respond, like she doesn't even hear me.

I think this is another memory.

I listen closely to what she's whispering.

"I will protect you..." she whispers. What? "I will rejoice with you. I will fight with you... I bow down to Amnata. To live in her. Find her. Fight with her. We will live as one."

Who's Amnata? What?

"Mom, what are you saying?" I ask, even though she won't respond. She opens her eyes, hanging her jaw open as she exhales. She places the back of her hands on her tights, putting her palms up. Her exhale echoes through the whole space, as a tear falls from her eyes.

"I'm ready..." she mumbles.

Ready for what?

I see in the palm of her hand... a white pill is placed in it. What? What's happening? I don't get it, what?

She looks down at the pill, another tear falling from her eyes.

"Mom, what are you doing?" I say, alarmed. She slowly brings the pill up to her mouth. "No!" I try to snatch it away, but my hand suddenly bounces off of it. "Mom, don't! Mom!"

Don't tell me this was the time. Don't tell me this is when she did it. Why are they showing me this memory? What does my mother have to do with this?

"Mom! Mom, look at me! Don't do this!" I shout, placing my hands on her face.

The pill enters her mouth, and she slowly brings her hand down.

"MOM!" I scream with a growl.

She lets out another exhale.

"Praise the spirits." she pants out. What is that supposed to mean? What is she doing?

She starts tipping forward. I try to catch her, but my hand is aggressively forced off... and my mother disappears into light...

"No!" I shout. I look around frantically to see if she'd be anywhere near in sight. "Mom! Mom where are you?"

I stop, breathing heavily. I start thinking... Who was she with? I just saw my own mother take her own life... she clearly wasn't alone.

I look all over my body, to see if my veins are still glowing white. Someone must be controlling this... I need to see that memory again.

"Show me that memory again..." I tell them. "But show me the setting."

And just like that, everything rewinds. My mother appears again, her body goes back to the way it was... and she's mumbling the words again.

But like spilling ink, I see the setting dissolve into the Space. The walls appear, the ceiling appears, and in an instant... everything has become a room.

But I know this room... I know it, I know it...

"Harper's lair?" I shudder to myself. The chandelier on the ceiling is here, the bookshelves are too, the fancy crockery is too... and the Pool of Revelations.

I stand above the Pool of Revelations, walking over the water. I move out of the water, and my mother finishes the words she was chanting.

"I'm ready..." she mumbles once again. Then, a person comes up from behind me, and up to my mother. A person I know, and a person I trust.

Harper.

Angered confusion strikes me, once a thought crosses my mind.

She's wearing the same clothing the last time I saw her. Her ripped up dress, her chestnut hair parted to the side with colorful beads in it, and barefoot.

She holds a pill in her hands, and places it into my mothers.

No. She didn't. Harper did not help my mom kill herself!

My mother places the pill in her mouth, and puts her hands down, saying, "Praise the spirits."

Seconds later, my mother's body tips forward... splashing into the Pool of Revelations, making me watch in horror. Water splashes everywhere... and Harper is completely blank faced. She looks sad, but is keeping herself together.

Harper helped my mom kill herself... and she's been keeping it from me this whole time.

I trusted Harper.

I trusted her!! I saw her days after this, and she acted like nothing happened! She knew my mother was dead this whole time and kept it from me! How could she do this?

Everything fades away... leaving me alone... in a pure white, endless room.

"No..." I croak. "NO! That can't be real!"

I start breathing in and out frantically, hugging my hands to my chest. My breathing gets faster, as I get more overwhelmed, more devastated, more angry.

"I trusted you, Harper!" I shout. I drop to my knees, slamming my palms onto the ground in anguish. I choke on my sobs, sinking to the floor. "I trusted you..."

I start weeping, cowering on the floor. I fall to my side, and to my back, choking even harder.

I breathe even harder and harder in horrid, horrid anger... and let out a screeching, gut wrenching scream... echoing for miles.

I trusted her.

I did.

She took my mother away from me. I have to do something. I know about it now. I know her full story.

I'm gonna find Harper, and I'm gonna kill her. I will. I swear I will. My mom is gone. She will be too.