Miles vaulted over the ledge of the window he'd forced open only seconds before.
He landed on his heels. Soft. Silent. Purposeful.
The first thing that hit him was urine. Thick and disorienting. Miles coughed. The man continued snoring. Like he was safe. Whole. Complete.
Little did the man -Gideon Hayes- know that he was already on the blacklist.
To be killed by the the coming revenant.
His mouth turned sour. Miles peeked out of the window. He caught Bella's eyes from where she was on the ground.
Miles flicked his wrist. She nodded at the signal.
Hide. If I'm not out in an hour -run and find help.
The seeing eye chain pulsed against his collarbone. He crept forward. Like in the garden, it heightened all his senses.
He saw through the thick folds of darkness pressing on him from all sides. Could make out the whirring fan. The mud splotched floor. The rotting floorboards.
The man's snores pressed close -like he was right beside him and not at the other side of the room.
Miles only stopped when he reached the other end of the room where he hid behind the faded, cotton curtains. He inhaled again.
Revenants and phantoms operated within defined time limits.
Miles adjusted the thin rod at his belt and felt for the throwing pins poking out of the holster belt strapped to his chest.
His heart jilted. His hands trembled. The curtain suddenly felt scratchy against his skin. The cotton shirt felt too tight. His rubber soles squeaked too loud.
Even his heartbeat was enunciated. Like drums out of sync. Pounding.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
You can do this-
Why risk your life for a man that will care nothing about you? Why fight against someone that shares your pain -that has gone through the same thing
Bella's face came to mind. Her complaints through the last three days. To talk him out of this. Weigh the options. The consequences.
He clenched his jaw tighter. Death is the easy way out - they need to know what they've done. The mess they've made.
The people they've left -broken. Detached. Devastated.
A shudder sunk into his back. His father's face flashed back. His razored words. The whip. The old first aid box.
Pins pricked his back. He gritted his teeth. In the urine, he could suddenly smell the alcohol. Taste the bitterness. The anger. The rage.
The inhumanity.
Yet, it had been uncaged. Untamed. Unatoned for.
Never again.
Seth's voice pulsed from the seeing eye chain. It tickled his ear like he was beside him. Meanwhile he was in the cave, watching Miles movements through the crystal ball.
"Remember, act fast. She'll be distracted with Gideon. Evade and drain her energy. Don't worry about the room -her flames only work on humans. On my signal, then, you can contain her."
Miles nodded. He glanced at his watch.
11: 50pm.
10 minutes.
Despite his earlier resolve, the fear slithered in again. He counted each second under his breath. Like that would keep him in charge.
After each count, the room grew colder. A second passed -a degree dropped. The fabric of the curtain lost all warmth against him. Dry. Crisp -like chilled paper.
Maybe this wasn't a good id-
The clock struck 12.
A loud chime shook the heavy silence. Piercing. Loud. It reverberated like a note strung too long.
Like a regret voiced too late.
Claire appeared.
His breath caught in his throat. She looked exactly the way she looked in the Reliving sequence.
12 years old. Aged, pale, leathery skin that stretched from joint to joint -bone to bone. Black veins bulged against it. Her black, soulless eyes locked on the man.
The killer. Her target. Her sleeping victim.
A matchbox appeared on her outstretched palm.
Miles' grip tightened.
"Now!"
Miles ripped out a throwing pin and hurled it at the revenant.
She glitched. Her body faded like a failing hologram before gaining her form back.
Her head whipped to the curtain. To where Miles was.
Miles dove out before flattening himself against the wardrobe next to it. The coarse edges of the wood pricked his face. He winced.
The revenant floated to where he had been.
"Now."
Another pin. Her form glitched. She shrieked. Her hand flung out in front of her.
Flames surged towards the wardrobe. Miles scrambled out of his hiding spot. The scent of ash tickled the back of his neck. His throat tightened.
The revenant flew towards him. Miles yanked out the thin rod. It expanded. The thin disc elongated -meeting another fireball just in time.
It heated up. His knees buckled. Sweat peaked his brow as the shield sizzled above him.
"Throw another."
With a huff, he threw another pin. It hit her square in the shoulder. Another screech.
Taking advantage of her disorientation, he cleared the bed. His sneakers almost got caught in the sheets. The man still slept.
Unfazed -obviously affected by the revenant's sleeping fumes.
"Duck!"
With the shield raised above him, he crashed to the floor. The flames pressed against the shield. His muscles locked. Blood pounded in his ears. The heated metal pressed too close to his shirt, smoldering it.
His teeth gritted. The heat worsened. Fabric came away. Threads frayed. The gloves began to rip.
Miles spotted a bat lying on its side.
He swiped for the bat before throwing it as far as his aching arms could muster.
The attack stopped.
Miles hopped to his feet. The revenant's black eyes widened. Another screech. Her hair lifted off her shoulders like seaweed swept about in the oceans current.
She blasted through the air. Another pin. Duck. Swerve. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. He raised his shield to deflect another wall of flames.
He was doing it!
The black veins shrivelled. Her form glitched again. Then he threw another pin.
She disappeared before it made contact.
His stomach churned.
What the-
"Miles! Get out of the way!"
Miles scrambled away. A jet of hot air breezed past his cheek. His skin sizzled. Pain blossomed in his ear.
Before he could think, a fiery spear zipped by his side. A groan tumbled from his lips. Fabric and skin tore open. Blood splattered against the floor. The smell of ash thickened in his nose.
Miles staggered back. He held a hand to his side. Blood spilled. Sticky, thick blood.
An image of him coughing out blood scalded his mind.
Another ball of flames skittered through the air. He raised the shield up. The sheer force knocked him back. His knees buckled. His rubber soles squeaked against the wood.
His eye twitched. Dots formed in his vision.
Still holding the shield, he reached for another pin. He threw it. She glitched. The attack ceased.
Then they continued. Back and forth, Miles watched the black veins shrivel. One pin after another. One heave after another. One throw after another.
The revenant became more disoriented. Disorganized. Desperate. Miles tilted away-
He slipped on mud.
His knees gave way. He crashed head first into the floor.
"Roll to the left!"
Miles rolled to the left. His side throbbed. He only missed it by another ball of fire by a fraction.
His hair tingled. Ash kissed his cheek.
He swiped the sweat off his forehead. He heaved. His lungs constricted. He leaned against the wall to catch his breath. He could still feel the trickle of blood at his side.
Blood splatters flickered in different spheres of his vision.
The silence was loud. Deafening. The revenant was still -almost curious. With his will. His fight. His drive.
The revenant gazed at him. A deep penetrating stare that sunk deep. Through every wall. Every barrier.
Through all the protection he'd built all these years.
Miles tensed. She could see him. Him in her. Her in him.
"Don't be distracted. She's trying too-"
The air rippled around him. Then, he was caught up in a memory. Reality bled away as the vision stirred to being.
Claire fell on her butt. The men cackled. Her sister cried in their arms. She struggled before one slapped her across the cheek.
"Leave her alone!" She cried. They smelt like her father. Alcoholic. Drunk. Intoxicated.
Her heart seized. One brought out the matchbox they'd forcefully taken from her.
Claire bolted to them. Panic pumped in her blood. Raging. Burning. Prodding her on. She hooked on the man that held her sister by the throat.
"Get off me you, rat!"
She bit him. She didn't let go until he grabbed her by the scruff and slammed her on the ground. Stars exploded in her eyes. Her vision wobbled.
The world hung too far. Someone slugged her in the gut. She doubled over. A loud cry escaped her lips. Tears bled out of her eyes. Her lips trembled.
Her vision came in short spasms. The men threw her sister down. Another kicked her. One lit a match.
She screamed. But it was too late. Too far. Unheard.
Then her sister caught in flames.
A deep rage rose like the flames that engulfed her sister. Through her fogging vision, she watched her sister writhe. Flames eat flesh. Bones boil over.
Watched and was too weak to do nothing.
A witness to her death yet too small to save her.
More tears filed down her cheeks.
The men laughed like they were in a show. Like the suffering of others was pure glee.
Just like her father. Like the rich folks down the street. Like the children who thought themselves too high and mighty.
She screamed. For her sister. For her dead mother who'd been good by the very same people she'd been good to. For the children who'd been robbed of their light. Of their ecstasy. Of their joy.
Of their life.
Then the men turned to her. And set her ablaze.
Miles jerked back. His head hammered. His heart beat faster than it had ever been.
Was that her memory?
So bold. So visual. It felt like he was there.
But he had been there. Witnessed it. Lived it.
In his father's house. In the child his father had killed. In every suffering child he'd come across. In every adult that had to rebuild on the foundation of hurt, distrust.
Violence.
In the silence, he could hear her whispers.
Why?
Why fight against me? We are one. We were born of suffering. Brought up by the cruel. Robbed off the joy of our childhood.
They should die. They deserved to die. For what they've done. For what they will do.
Miles swallowed. He trembled. Not from fear of her. Nor from terror. But the familiarity of her words. The softness in the broken, aged whispers floated into his ears. Through his mind -where he'd just witnessed her eventual death.
They were human. She was human.
Not a revenant. Or a vengeful ghost. But a lost soul caught in the gruesomeness of life. Left to stew in the wreckage of her death.
She stretched her hand.
You and I are one. We are the same. We are the same-
No! Miles jolted out of it.
"We are not the sam-e!" He whispered. Raw. Broken. Unfiltered.
The revenant's eyes widened.
Miles beat his chest."I am not-hing like you. Will ne-ver be like you. Killing them nev-er solves what they've done. It can never change it. It only makes you just as b-ad as they are!"
Claire snarled. The air grew colder.
Ice pricked his skin. His breath came in husks of mist. It dissolved as soon as it had formed.
The revenant raised her hand. The air stirred. Sparks thundered. Orange flecks stirred in different directions.
Miles took a step back.
Little matchboxes appeared. Not in their tens.
But their hundreds.
All were aimed at him.
Claire's matted hair tossed about her shoulders. Another chilly draft of air glided in from the window.
Cold. Lifeless.
Dead.
She screeched. All hell broke loose.
Miles held up his shield.
The fireballs deflected off it. His hands shook. His muscles tensed under the growing pressure. The warm shield suddenly turned jarring.
His gloves tore -ripping apart. His world spiralled.
Then, he felt the familiar heart burn. He suddenly felt weak. His muscles seized. The shield toppled out of his grasp.
The air got knocked out of his lungs. He suddenly forgot how to breathe.
To function.
He needed the coffee. Of all the times that his withdrawal symptoms would kick in.
He threw another pin. It missed her. The matchboxes readied again. The countdown began.
1.
Miles lifted the shield again.
2.
3.
It was too heavy. His joints ached. His palms throbbed. He had a splitting headache. The shield shook in his hands.
The world came in flashes. He tried to focus but his mind tapered. Nerves frayed. Bowels churned.
You can do this.
You're so weak.
The rain began again. Heavier. Like she was pouring all of her energy. Her rage. Her bitterness.
His body failed him.
He fell to the floor.
The world slowed. Cloves of fire surged towards him. He gripped the jar. He wasn't sure whether it was the right time but he didn't care.
He flung it out with what little might he had left.
Then he shouted,
"Contain!"
The glyphs on the jar glowed silver. Hot air blasted through the room. The revenant screeched. Her form thrashed. Hands clawed. Teeth bared. Eyes blazed.
She spun around and around like a noodle being turned around a fork. Then the jar sucked her in. And the light disappeared.
The ashy air was quiet. Without a sound. Without the screech.
Yet, it was filled with life.
He was alive.
A chuckle tumbled out of his lips. He had done it.
They both survived. He brought out his phone. He dialled the police hotline.
Now to get this man arrested-
The jar exploded. A wave of hot air slammed into him. The dialing phone was lost in the procession of chaos that erupted around him.
Shards of ceramic bounded off the walls. Some scratched his skin. Some embedded into the walls. Smoke swirled like a whirlwind.
Pungent.
Miles coughed. His lungs seized with pressure. His eyes watered. He struggled to breathe.
Then everything receded.
The revenant rose above it all. A chilling scream bled through the air.
His throat tightened.
Through his flickering vision, he watched her stretch out the hand with the matchbox.
1.
2.
3.
Flames swallowed the man on the bed. An inhuman scream curled through the air. Like hell on earth. Tormented. Bruised. Tortured.
Miles moved his arm. Pain radiated up his sides. He winced. His muscles seized -unwilling. The loud migraine dulled his senses, pinning him to the ground further.
He could only watch the revenant advance.
She stretched out her hand. The matchbox ticked.
1.
2.
3.