Fever dream - Masterminds #1, Chapter 7 (part 2)
After an unexpected turn of events and being cornered on the brink of death, Heila wakes up at last, safe and sound. But the nightmare has only started...
When Heila opened her eyes, she was back home, lying down on the couch. She winced as the sun shone right on her face. Her body felt heavy and she could barely move. Her hands and arms were stiff.
She looked down… Both of her wrists were wrapped in bandages.
But she was alive. She had escaped. What had she just witnessed back in the underground tunnels? An illusion? A dream?
A memory?
“Heila, you’re awake!”
Judy hurried over to her side and sat by the end of the couch. Heila wanted to say something but her throat was dry. Judy was already holding a glass of water which she handed over to her.
Her mentor helped her sit up so she could drink. The water felt cold and refreshing as it slid down her throat.
“What…”
“Shh, it’s okay you don’t have to talk now. You’re safe now.”
“How long…”
“You’ve been out the whole night and the following morning too. It’s almost sunset now. But don’t worry about anything. Just lie down and rest.” She paused, before continuing in a softer voice. “You almost died.”
Heila gave her the empty glass of water back. As she moved her wrists, she noticed a sharp pain coming from them. It brought back the image of the razor blades piercing through her skin…
There, at that moment, she knew she had convinced herself that she wanted to die.
“I thought I died.”
Judy shook her head. “Someone seemed to have saved you, just in time. Nya and Dany were already home when… you appeared out of nowhere and fell on the floor right by the front door. I got a call from them almost immediately… and when I arrived, there was blood everywhere… but they somehow managed to stop the bleeding and clean your wounds.”
“You’re saying that… I was… teleported home?”
“Yes. Was someone with you?”
“No.”
Little Heila’s image flashed in her mind. She shuddered.
“Strange. When I arrived and inspected the exact spot where you fell, I could feel… something dark. Like the kind of ethereal residue that Nya leaves behind when she teleports.”
She placed the back of her hand on Heila’s forehead. Like a mother’s touch. “How do you feel? If you want we can talk about what happened… or it can wait for tomorrow.”
“I think I’d rather dump everything in the open now while it’s still… vivid.”
It gave her goosebumps to even think about what she had experienced… but the sooner she gave her report to Judy, the sooner she could rest undisturbed. Her arms were heavy by her sides and all she wanted to do was to fall asleep and forget everything.
“Then shoot.”
“I was able to get close to where the suspected Rogue Writer was hiding in the underground tunnels. But they found me before I could even spot them. And then, something… strange happened. I got trapped in some kind of… illusion. Like a dream. Like I was stuck inside my own mind...”
She recounted the memory as accurately as she could. There was nothing to hide from Judy; the latter had been her mentor since she was a teen and knew everything about her.
She couldn’t tell whether the illusion she had been trapped in was a real memory. It felt real, for sure. And her parents did die in a fire.
But it surely couldn’t have been her fault…
Could it…?
When she was done telling her side of the story, Judy was frowning.
“Heila, let me ask you something. Do you really feel guilty about your parents’ death? In fact… do you remember that time you told me that you wished you weren’t who you were because that was what led them to their deaths?”
Her eyes started to sting. She looked away from her, staring instead at the bright blinding sunlight. “Yes. And I always think about it.”
Judy rested her chin between her fingers. “Okay, so would you say that what you saw in that illusion… felt more like a nightmare? Did it feel like… you were facing a representation of your darkest fear?”
“Now that you mention it, yes, that’s how it felt. But it also felt so real. What if it’s the truth? Would you even be surprised if I had actually killed my parents? Killing… feels so… natural sometimes…”
Killing…
To kill or be killed… Wasn’t that the motto that had driven her to where she was now? If she hadn’t done her absolute best back then at the Academy, would They have spared her?
She blinked several times to fight back her tears.
“Heila, look at me. Look at me!”
A single tear escaped her restraint and rolled down her cheek. She reluctantly looked up and stared back at her. Into her calming brown eyes…
She held her gaze.
“Trust me, you wouldn’t have been capable of killing your parents. It’s not in your nature to kill innocent people. It’s not. Do you understand?”
She nodded, slowly.
Judy then took a deep breath, which she always did in a slightly exaggerated way every time she was about to announce something.
“Okay, now I’m going to tell you my take on this. I think… it’s a Hybrid. Heila, we’re facing a Hybrid. Half Writer and… half Mastermind of some sort. I think I know which Mastermind they are, but I’ll have to check in the database to confirm.”
A Hybrid.
One who was born with twice as much power as your ordinary Mastermind, Writer or Witch.
No, wait, how come? It couldn’t be…
But yes, it made total sense.
The realisation came crashing down.
In their world, if you were born a Hybrid, you were immediately labelled as an outcast. Unwanted… and feared. In The Oracles’ logic, if Hybrids were allowed to exist as freely as anyone else, the inequality in power would rise and a community of all-too-powerful beings would surface. And that was a high potential threat to the ideals of world order and harmony They strove for.
So what happened when a Hybrid was born? They would be taken away… and most likely be executed.
A sacrifice for the greater good. As They called it.
Judy stood up. “I’ll have to report this to The Oracles now.”
Heila nodded. “Go ahead. At least we know I’ll live. Although I have a feeling that I won’t be of any much help for a while.”
“I’m sure everyone will understand. Take a well-deserved break to recover fully. And I mean it. Don’t force yourself to do anything. You have an entire army of people here to help you in any way they can.”
Heila smiled only to reassure her. “Alright, I will.”
“Although, before I go… You should go back to your bedroom and rest. We didn’t want to move you from the couch because of the bleeding.” She crouched towards her. “Come, lean on my shoulder.”
She agreed and lifted herself onto Judy’s back, gritting her teeth as the pain came throbbing back. It hurt to do anything with her wrists. Slowly, they walked up the stairs.
When Heila’s head finally hit her all-too-familiar pillow, she felt a wave of exhaustion overcome her. Her body gave in and she closed her eyes.
At last, she fell into a dreamless slumber.
D. K. Waye