Shards of darkness (watty awards 2012)

Bubble in a hurricane

The Bubble in a Hurricane

Days passed, nights passed with nothing to break them up but for food, water, sanitation, sleep and his occasional visits. Ana had feared them at first. Terror clutched at her breast and pounded her flat against the walls of her prison, shaking. Not any more, for she knew he would not harm her; he could have done so many times before. Eventually, she began to almost relish his company for it served to numb the mind blowing boredom that chewed her up from the inside. He said nothing when he came after dissolving through the cave roof. He just stood still, and stared. His mind had inhabited the form of the broken man that Ana had run from so very long ago, instead now the body was fully clothed in a white dove collared shirt and simple brown trousers. His hair had been groomed and his beard shaved. The madness had left his expression leaving him in a face of blank unreadable calm. He was handsome, shockingly so with a kind of suave darkness that Ana found both enigmatic and petrifying as she studied his face every time he came. On a human, the array of beauty would be impossible, unthinkable but on the face of a demon, it seemed very fitting that something so perfect could cloak something so evil.

She had lost track of the days, weeks since she had been plucked out of her old life to live one in a new body, on a new world. It was pointless to even think of escape. She had tried of course, only to feel her legs buckle underneath her and to fall, paralysed to a sandy bed where she would lie until all thoughts of rebellion drained from her mind. She was helpless. It was as if all her years as a saiac were in vain, not that all the psychic powers in the world could have helped her.

 Where ever she was she was used. She was a freak of nature, just like all saiacs, with their mind probes and psychic abilities. She had thought she would be an equal in part of a clan of her own kind. That was not to be. Instead, they treated her badly, twisting her under their command until she was no more than an object to be moulded and manipulated as a weapon, for she was stronger than any of them and they hated her for it. However they needed her. And use her they did. Usually to break into buildings by rendering the guards unconscious with just a thought, but some times however, she had a more sinister use. The saiacs had many enemies, rival gangs or leaders of state, it didn’t matter who, sometimes it was just a game, a brutal, bloodthirsty contest, and she was the key to winning. She would be sneaked near the hated person’s accommodation, and she would wait, wait until she felt them come near. She would then go fishing, casting her mental line upon them, tempting the wretched person with delicious thoughts, lusty promises, make them think that there was a beautiful woman just out side. She would alter their ears to hear footsteps, girlish laughter, a woman calling. They would take the bait and be hooked, unable to let go, walking with tranced footsteps to follow the spectre of their imagination. Follow it to where the saiacs would be waiting with as many weapons they could carry… It was a job Ana had loathed with every fibre of her being because, still attached to the minds of the people, she would hear their mental screams, feel the weapons as they crushed every tiny speck of life from their bodies, die. And suddenly, she would be back in her own body, weeping and weeping.

She felt she could never leave the saiacs. It was not because they had warned her many a time to bring her to the guards of state if she chose to disobey. If the authorities had known of her gift, she would have been accused of a witch and destroyed. They knew her kind and feared them, feared that they would give away the true reasons for the great collapse and know that it was the entire fault of the state. She knew the truth. She knew from reading their minds. Also destroying the enemies of state, even destroying anyone would help to combat over population… or at least that was what Ana suspected. Yet if the saiacs brought her in, they too would be prosecuted so she never feared she would be caught. No. What made her stay was the feeling that this was the only family she would ever have. She might be there still had her sister never taken her away, freed her at last… Ana still remembered the day she came…