The Note (Part 3)

The ride to the police station seemed a blur. Buildings, cars, and streetlights all passed by in a flash. They turned into a gated back lot and the Constables got out of the car walked around to the side door and pulled it open with a horrid squeal. As Eden went to step out onto the graying pavement, she recoiled. The Officer's face was rotting away, maggots and mealworms squirmed in and out of the black orifices that sunk into his blue-tinted skin, which peeled away like some sort of smoke-stained wallpaper. He looked like a rotted corpse that was suscept to some horrible fate leaning against the side of a rusted-out husk of a patrol car.

The world was a drowned wreck around her, like back at the school when she had her breakdown. Splintered ships and sunken hulls lodged in a swampy mess. Her eyes went wide as she tripped forward over the otherworld rubble at her feet. Eden fell to her knees and hands, which made a sucking sound as she pressed against the swamp trying to stand back up.

As Eden scrambled to her feet, Otherworld vanished in a fading smoke-like mess. The Constable had his arm around hers with a concerned look across his chiseled face, as he tried to help her up.

“Miss, are you okay? You turned gray and stumbled forward. There really isn’t anything to worry about. You’re just here to put an official statement in to help Special Constable Kersey with his official paperwork.” The young Police Officer spoke in a soft tone, putting Eden at ease a bit.

“Thank you, Officer,” Eden said, brushing her water-soaked bangs from her eyes -no that's not right-.

They all walked towards the station, Eden clutching her books close to her chest. She walked fast, hoping that she could get in and out of this place without having a breakdown again. She didn’t know why she was seeing this Otherworld. Maybe she was going crazy, she hoped not, but this was the only logical explanation she could come up with. It had to have been a case of too much stress, right? She said this to herself as they led her down a couple of hallways lined with glass-box offices and people hustling back and forth, both uniformed and not.

They sat her down at a table under a yellow hanging cage light with a pad of paper in front of her. Eden looked around, not seeing Special Constable Kersey anywhere.

“So, do I just write what I saw and sign it? I thought I would be meeting him here,” Eden’s voice was small, but echoed in the cement interrogation room. The two Constables stood still against the wall by the door nodding. Behind her there was a huge mirror, she figured it was a two-way, like in “Due South”, but she didn’t mention it.

“Yes, that's all you need to do, Eden. You just have to write what happened, sign it, and then we will get you back to school,” the younger of the two officers finally spoke.

Eden hesitated a few moments, then picked up the pen and began to fidget with it, passing it between her fingers. Slow at first, then faster and faster as her breath shallowed and became raspy. She closed her eyes, feeling that warmth erupt into her brain again the faster she tapped and flipped the writing implement. The world shook, a high-pitched ring played a crescendo in her ears as the sides of her vision blurred. She pushed back from the table in a panic, the sound of the pen clattering to the floor like a dish that had just been dropped and shattered.

As the pen came to rest against the far wall, the room faded, shifting into a deep maroon colour. Eden saw the Police Officers moving to grab her before the world faded into darkness. Much time had passed in her unconscious—visions of monsters and tidal waves sweeping through great cities with it.

She woke up in a wispy canopy bed, dressed in a beautiful blue and gold dress a room. She saw a butterfly mask on the nightstand beside her, gilded in silver and studded in diamond. There was a note next to it. She shook her head, confused, she wasn’t sure if it all had been some horrible dream, wrought by stress. Had she passed out at the party? How did she get to the party? Nightmares and reality blended, giving her a strange sense of euphoria, it was like she was still dreaming but not.

She sat up, feeling a beautiful ocean breeze wander through the room, playing with the curtains that caressed the king-sized mattress she was snoozing on. She stood, and a pair of pearlescent slippers sat neatly beside her. She slipped her bare feet into the plush silk. They caressed them making her feel like she was walking on air.

Eden glided around the bed in a trance-like state, stepping out of the opened double doors that exited to a balcony which overlooked a massive harbour. Silent behemoths floated, bobbing up and down as they danced with the sparkling waves. The stars were beautiful, twinkling above the massive backyard garden. She smiled, fluttering back to the nightstand, the mask, and the note picking them up. The gold script read:

“My Darling Eden,

Your name does not do justice to your beauty, or your heart. Your choice to be here tonight has touched our souls and pleased the Righteous Protector.

Your Mother and Father await your presence in the ballroom, proud of your courage in this sudden turn of the tide. Please, join us when you’re ready my darling Eden. Don’t forget your mask.

With boundless love and affection,

The Watchers.”

Eden pulled the beautifully worded message to her chest, closing her eyes and smiling. She pulled the mask over her face, straightening her hair which lay beautifully around her shoulders like a scarf. She leaned into the mirror that hung over the nightstand touching up her flawlessly painted face. She hadn’t ever looked that beautiful in her life.

The young lady crossed the threshold and exited into the grand hallway, which was lined with paintings of a family she didn’t recognize. Some were old, others, the ones that depicted the most recent of the line were reproductions of the original family portraits, but looked beautiful all the same. Music filled her ears, it was The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss. Eden swayed and spun with the beats and peaks, moving down the hallway toward where the sound was coming from.

She made it to a grand staircase that crawled the length of the mansion, yawning down both sides of a very grand entryway. There, at the base, stood two smartly dressed servants in masks. Both looked up at her nodding, clapping, and smiling as she swept along the ornate bannister and onto the landing. Straight ahead there were huge open portholes, the doors were mahogany and looked as though they were big enough for giants to pass through.

A room full of dancers shifted back and forth like waves. Eden smiled and hurried into the ocean of sweet-smelling scents and soft, masked faces that smiled her way as she went. The group continued to dance around her, splitting and stealing a glance now and again as she passed through to the opposite side of the long hallway-like room. Wafts of cherry and burnt wood flowed around her as dancers reached to touch her as they swam past. She felt like a Princess walking the halls of Versailles. There was a hand that reached out for her, taking her up into an embrace, pulling her around the room in quick time.

Her partner hid behind the face of a doll or statute. The mask was fashioned into the visage of a human, but its eyes were his. The man was tall and lean, his robe flowed around them in ethereal beauty as they waltzed around the space. He led her away from the main group and spun her into a dip, quickly taking off his mask, it was Special Constable Kersey,

“Young darling, you are in extreme danger here. You have to leave, not only for your sake but for the world. You have to let me get you out of here. Please,” there was a look of distress in him as his eyes darted around.

Something changed inside her, she felt this was wrong now, a feeling of panic rising in her as they came about and he pulled the mask back across his face and they waltzed back into the swamp of onlookers.

“Detective Kersey! What's happening? I’m scared. How did I get here?” Eden began to sweat, looking about the room, anxiety building with every pass she and the Special Constable made around the parlour.

The song went on and on, with unending crescendos and beats.

“Just follow my lead. Trust me. These people are not safe to be with, I believe they want to harm you.” he said as they began to move back across the massive room, towards the open doors into the grand entryway.

“Please help me…” Eden squeaked,

Just as they were about to cross the entryway, Eden felt her arm grabbed by another person, also in blue robes. As she felt herself pulled back into the sway, the new partner snapped his fingers. The group of dancers shifted and swarmed Kersey in ¾ time. He was swept away, fighting and punching. The giant doors slammed shut, and most of the patrons were out on the other side. Eden thought she heard a scream, but the music was loud enough to drown everything else out.

The endless waltz ceased. Eden was now standing against a far wall, surrounded by a group of people in ocean-blue robes, their faces obscured by fancy masquerade masks they all wore. They closed in with smiles, and she felt a gloved hand on her shoulder usher her to the centre of the forming circle of onlookers, then down to her knees.

She looked up at the group as they closed the ring, starting to chant something about sea gods and beautiful rebirth to be wrought upon the world. She had never felt so at ease in her life. It was like everything melted from her shoulders, and she was again in her world of euphoric beauty. The group continued to chant and sing songs of beautiful obliteration. One of the cultists kneeled in front of her, pulling his hood and mask from his head, handing her a twisted-looking blade made of some sort of sea corral. A second joined them, pulling off their mask as well. It was Eden’s parents.

They put their hands on her cheeks smiling, her father nestled the blade into her trembling hands. A warmth filled her, a drive that she couldn’t explain. In an instant, and without thought or emotion, like a person possessed by some other world power end slashed across each of their throats with the holy blade. Her parents fell to the floor, convulsing as the life drained from them. There was a great rumble as the harbour rose in an ungodly swell. The water crashed heavily into the shoreline, devouring the town under it.

Then there was silence.