On a String

Chapter 17

Death.

(Chained chained chained)

Death was here...

"Cole... did you hear that?" Kai asked hoarsely while frantically scanning the trees. The pistol in his hand began to tremble.

Cole nodded slowly. "Yes," he replied slowly.

Thinking.

Calculating.

"Oh, Kai... you haven't forgotten me, have you?" the feminine voice rang again, and this time its tone was lilted in amusement.

Kai felt his muscles freeze.

"Hahaha, silly me! Of course you didn't! You came back for me, didn't you?"

No, no no!

Kai felt the forest sway and spin around him. He hadn't heard that voice...

The voice since...

Clarissa.

"Kai? Answer me, dear!"

She was... she was killed..."You're dead!" the answer was ripped from his lips so harshly that it felt as if someone else had forced it from him. Kai voice rose a notch in pitch. "I saw you die!" he denied rapidly. "They hung you... on a string! Like a puppet! No one could survive that! You are... you must be dead!"

"Nothing truly dies..." a bell like laugh accompanied the words.

(Nothing truly dies, nothing truly dies...) Kai shuddered. "You did die! This isn't you, Clarissa! You sound nothing like yourself!"

"Do you not believe in resurrection?" now the voice was prim, laced with scorn and disbelief.

"This is not resurrection!" Kai clenched his eyes shut. "No!"

(Death!)

"Look at me, Kai. Look at me!" the voice commanded, suddenly ringing with authority. Cole found it rather disorientating how the tone changed with every sentence. It sounded like a person simply running through different emotions, but never really feeling anything.

Dead... but not dead.

Feeling powerless yet again, Kai's eyes opened and he scanned the darkness warily. He saw nothing at first, but a second sweep of the area revealed a figure slightly to his right.

He gasped.

It was like looking at a person's eyes in a black and white image. Stark, contrasting, haunting... if you look any closer, you'll find something you wish you never saw.

The dead were better off dead.

There, several meters away, Clarissa stood, wearing the same clothes she had worn on the day she died, with a broken rope around her neck.

Kai fought back a scream.

Next to Kai, Cole forced himself to remain calm. Panicking was going to get him nowhere in this situation. Looking at the bigger picture was critical. He doubted that this could be an actual supernatural event- so there had to be something they were missing.

While Kai continued to gasp and panic, Cole continued to think.

Logic told him that this was a trap set up by the same people who had entered her house. So, The Puppeteers were responsible for 'her' sudden 'appearance'. But, despite all their talk of 'resurrection', The Puppeteers were a group founded on fear, power and control- emotional weapons used to manipulate others.

Somehow, messing with the supernatural just didn't fit in with their work. They sought to cause fear, because that led to internal conflict and repression- both of which made a person unstable and easy to manipulate.