Finding Maggie

Chapter Sixty - Choler

Chapter Sixty - Choler

Maggie cautiously picked herself up, noticing her suddenly flat stomach as she watched the reflections of black which drifted all around her. Visions of those past dead walked everywhere, all seeming lost and bewildered as they roamed free, ignoring her as though she weren't even there. As Maggie began walking she noticed the ghosts of the souls sometimes fighting, although their scuffles appeared short and completely random. Two or three would begin an argument, throw a few blows at each other, and then simply walk away, only to have another one start up several yards away. It only seemed sad to Maggie as she began to realize that their brief battles were not only useless, but unavoidable as well. The souls were clinging to the only thing they knew; war, hate, spite, blood, menace. These poor, forgotten creatures had nothing left. Much like the sea in the Fields, these souls crashed and broke, creating the tides she could see from above. But now she was inside the sea and the picture they had created was far more torturous than what she had first imagined. So she continued walking, having no idea where to go or really what to do.

A harrowed soul bumped into her rather accidentally, brushing his shoulder against hers. Maggie froze and turned, ready to apologize, but the look on the man's face brought her to silence. Lust looked back as his weathered hands came out to grab at her. His wicked grin revealed his toothless gums. Maggie jumped out of the man's reach, shivering when she thought of all that could go wrong. He reached for her again but quickly his smile disappeared. A flash of metal drew Maggie's eyes down and she gasped when she saw the tip of a knife sticking out from his bloated belly. Her attacker looked down as well, seeing his own demise. Another man stood behind him, drawing his knife out from where he had just stuck it in. The two grimaced at each other and then simply walked away as if nothing had happened between them at all.

Maggie's heart raced as it dropped down to her feet. She watched in disbelief as the two found their way through the seemingly never-ending throng of the dead until they disappeared from sight. She'd have to be more careful if she had any chance of getting through this and finding Mikhail. Her next few steps were cautious as she made her way deeper into the masses. Some moved quickly while others just seemed to inch their way around aimlessly. But, despite how careful she tried to be, it was impossible not to bump into them at some point or another. The next happened to be a woman, maybe only a few inches taller than Maggie, and when their hips knocked together, the woman turned with a sneer. Before Maggie could stop her, the woman lit upon her, her hands delving into places they didn't belong. The ghostly woman patted Maggie down once and then again before leering her unhappiness and turning away.

Again and again, Maggie suffered their short bursts of anger and confusion until she thought she couldn't take it any longer. Hour after hour it went on. Murderers and thieves, rapists and on and on it went and she began to cry quietly, so lost within the never-ending bustle of souls that she no longer knew which way she had come from and which way she thought she should go. The thought of Mikhail lost within this wretched state only made her cry harder. This was no place for him at all. This must have been the same feeling Mikhail had when he was searching for her in Purgatory. When surely she thought she couldn't take such a torturous voyage any longer, a cry bled out from the overbearing silence, slicing through the air like a knife. Maggie spun on her heels and listened. The cry was no more than a whimper, a soulful plea of help, but she knew she had to follow it. Her heart demanded it, her own soul ached from the need to join.

“Maaaaaaagieeeeeeee!” Her name was sobbed out. A pitched wail coming from far away. And Maggie began to run, not caring anymore who she ran into as she tried desperately to move against the tide and gain some ground between her and the one calling to her. “Maaaaaaagieeeeeeee!”

“I'm coming!” She shouted, knocking down several as she raced past. Those that she touched snarled and snapped at her but by the time they turned to exact their revenge, she was long gone and out of their reach. “Hold on! I'm coming!” A sudden tug on Maggie's soul had left her head spinning, bringing with it the urge to faint. But she was so focused on finding who was calling to her that she fought against it. It wasn't a particularly scary feeling considering she had felt it before. She could remember the hundreds of times, while lost in Purgatory, when Mikhail would take his walks and look for her, unknowingly pulling her soul around and around until finally he'd give up and try again the next day. It was a warming, familiar sense of longing which lifted Maggie's spirit upon hearing that cry in the distance. And while it didn't quite sound like Mikhail, she hoped that somehow it would lead her to him.