WARNING: This story contains material that might be triggering to some viewers! Adult content! Proceed with caution!
Chapter Two - Prophetic Dreams
Her pruny fingers stiffened around the rusted metal chains of the swing.
Her red coat was two sizes too big for her, but times were rough, and how could she ever dare to ask for something as unnecessary as more clothes?
She wore whatever was available in the local church's donation room and consumed anything her mother could scavenge from her part-time job at a convenience store. The family's allowance was spent on bright crates of alcohol and lottery tickets.
Her blood rushed to her cheeks.
"Stupid… Stupid Kinon..." The words slipped between the braces on her teeth like a curse.
A ferocious battle cry came out of her body.
Her sudden outburst was followed by her short limbs hopping off the swing, her legs kicking at the snow like she was some martial arts master that was fighting a two-headed snake.
"That stupid, annoying- stupid, ugly Kinon!!!"
Joan tripped over her own boots as she served the final blow to her imaginary opponent, surely winning that battle.
The scent of damp leaves fumed off the ground as she lay on the muddied snow.
Her pants and huffs became quieter as she regained her composure- that is, as much of a composure as a nine-year-old child could have.
"I'm the prettiest boy you've ever seen!"
Her eyes immediately widened at that familiar voice.
The boy in question came into view as he landed on top of her, his plaid mittens planted on either side of her head.
His left eye was purple and bruised thanks to his hobby of picking on anyone older than him, which Joan liked to torment him with by telling him that a witch had cursed him for being such a delinquent.
"Joan, you're the stupid idiot! You ran off again! How am I supposed to play with you when you… when you…."
Tears formed, thin pink lips trembling as droplets stained her eyebrow and cheeks.
Joan felt pity until she caught sight of a thin trail of goo oozing out his nose.
She began to squeal in disgust and thrash underneath him. The frustration, the tears, her cold nose, his boogers- it all became too much, and Joan began crying below him.
"I hate you, Kinon! You're so stupid and annoying! You are the ugliest when you cry!"
In contradiction to her words of malice, the child wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him for a hug.
The pair held each other tightly as their helpless sniffles and hiccups entertained the local park squirrels and pigeons.
Although Kinon was upset that Joan refused to play with him because he teased her about her pigtails, he was incredibly relieved that he had someone to protect. And despite Kinon being an ugly idiot, Joan was glad she could befriend someone who didn't think her oversized clothes and the bruises on her body were ugly or weird. Even when the entire world turned its back on the two, they still had each other, and that was enough for them to continue.
Kinon lifted his head from her shoulders and began lightly brushing the snow and tears off her small face.
"Let's go, my mom made hot chocolate!"
His wide, toothy grin was sweet as he helped to pull her up, making sure to hold her hand firmly between the fabric of his clothes- afraid that if he let go, she would run off again.
Kinon did not mind looking for her, but sometimes he worried that she would slip between his fingertips and never return.
.....
The icy water poured over her caused goosebumps to rise on her skin.
Three days. It has been three days now.
She breathed in slowly before lifting her head to meet the assailant's gaze, her hands tucked between the thin fabric of her dress to try and stop them from twitching.
"Good morning."
A hysterical laugh followed, as if the woman was entertained by her own comment. After the shrieking ceased, calloused fingers carefully moved between the wet strands of her hair, tucking them behind pink ears.
"You're so pretty when you look at me like that... yes, with those frightened eyes. Yet look..." The woman feigned innocence as she grabbed the girl's thin wrists to draw attention to her fingers.
"Why are you clenching your hands so tight? Perhaps you want to hit me? Well... What did I expect, you are the daughter of a woman like her..." Her thick red tongue clicked against the roof of her teeth, causing the blue veins underneath to be visible.
"You know, child..."
She sat up with a grunt as she made her way to the table in the center of the room. Joan realized how difficult it was for this older woman to move around. Her body fell whenever she switched to her right foot. She looked like some penguin shuffling around, and that thought amused her before her expression turned grim.
"I loved your mother. She was a very stunning lady. Violet hair with a matching set of eyes. A tall frame, a regal composure. She was everything a duchess needed to be."
The machine screeched as she twisted and turned small screws, as if she were adjusting a microscope for inspection. She held her tongue for a moment, wondering if she should continue.
"She was my best friend. We were inseparable, the two of us. Yet, I had no idea what her true colors were... That witch, your mother."
The maid looked saddened for a moment, her shoulders slumped with the weight of her unpleasant memories.
Joan's eyes were glued to the machine, her throat dry as her thighs pressed tightly together.
Again, it was going to happen. Just how much longer could she endure this?
"Come here, Emoria."
Emoria. Emoria. Emoria.
The name of this body, the child she was possessing. Emoria Vaughan. Heiress to the Vaughan family. Twin sister of Elaine Vaughan.
An irrelevant character in a novel she read in high school.
A character that was supposed to have died three days ago.
"Please... must we do this again...? Please, I'll listen to you from now on- so please please-" Her voice felt foreign; it was soft. Even as she begged, the words fell uselessly on both their ears.
The maid scowled in annoyance before she pulled the child closer, shoving her left hand inside the iron fixture and tightening the leather strap around her wrist.
"Vaughan's do not beg. You are so uneducated. How could a creature like you be the heiress when your sister is so much more capable than you? If only she had been born a few minutes earlier... if only..."
The older lady sighed and adjusted the sizing down to the length of her fingertips.
Joan began hysterically screaming and coughing as she called out for help from anyone.
Her right hand clawed at the leather strap as she whimpered.
No, she did not want to feel it again. It was so painful last time, so please please please- dear god please-. Joan caught herself begging for something out there to help her.
Why was she here?
Why was she taking the torture when the owner of this body should have been here?
Joan bit her tongue in disgust at that thought.
Why did anyone have to live through this? Just what did this child do?
The clanking sound finalized her sentence as the machine fell.
Not a sound came out of her lungs as she held her mouth wide open, her rasping voice shaking as she fell to her knees, her left hand still secured tight into the machine.
Joan refused to look at her hand as she lay there silent. The machine had now taken three of her fingernails; it was building up quite the collection. In the distance, she could hear the maid cursing and cleaning up the blood.
'I don't want to die... I don't want to die...' Her lips shook as she curled up into a ball.
She didn't want to die? When has that ever been the case in her previous life? Back then, she was surprised to find enjoyment in life if he wasn't there next to her.
Was it this child's inner emotions? Is this feeling... this desire to live and this fear of death?...
Did the real Emoria not want to die?
The maid slid out the door like a worm and bolted it shut.
There was no doubt about it, Joan had somehow-someway- by some strange and random reason, reincarnated into that book.
The Lotus Saves Villareal.
Reincarnated as Emoria Vaughan.
In the original novel, the child's passing was disguised as an accident. She had apparently fallen into the lake behind the family's summer manor.
Did Emoria really die the moment Joan woke up in her body?
When her father kicked her in the chest instead of the prophetic drowning?
Joan's fingers were throbbing.
This poor child was abused like this, only to die a useless death, conveniently for the story to continue. For her twin sister, Elaine Vaughan, to become heiress, Emoria endured pointless suffering.
"Hah.." Joan laughed and pressed her cheek closer to her knees.
"Me and you... We have lived the same misfortune. Your family too... Your fate too, we are nothing but inconveniences for something more beautiful than us."
Tears clogged up her eye ducts before she covered her face in frustration.
"But how? How could they do this to you? How could they... Emoria."
Joan could feel the innermost thoughts of the body she possessed.
'Please... please, I don't want to die... but I don't want to be here anymore... I miss mommy... Why did mommy leave? I want to be with mommy... It hurts so much..."
The weeping child was tucked away in the corner of this cold room.
How long was she in here for?
Joan watched as the ghost girl turned her head up to meet her gaze.
She was otherworldly. Celestial.
Catlike amethyst eyes, slick black hair that fell elegantly down her shoulders. Red and bruised lips, rosy cheeks. She looked like starlight shining.
The ghost-like girl stumbled closer to her before kneeling. Her right hand gently reached out to pet Joan's head in a loving and comforting manner.
"I am sorry... but I am going to go now, okay? Mommy is waiting for me and I miss her so so much..."
The child smiled in relief at the words coming out of her own mouth as she bent down to lay a kiss on Joan's forehead.
"Please take care of this body for me... I really need to go now... Mommy is waiting for me. Please take care of that body."
Emoria's ghost stood up and began walking off. Joan watched a woman pick her up and kiss her. They looked so alike, their cold, regal beauty.
The ghost tucked its face between the woman's purple hair and mouthed a sentence that made Joan's eyes widen in shock.
"What?!"
A shock washed over her as she screamed and sat up from the dream.
Author's Note:
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