No Safe Haven

The King and I

Mara seemed full of life as Will watched her stroll through the private garden of her father's estate. She smiled at the birds chirping in the cherry trees and stopped to hold out her hand, as if she were a fairytale princess waiting for them to let her join in their song. Will knew she could sing beautifully, just as she did everything else. The birds flew off - continuing to chirp their melody - and Mara continued on her walk.  

Will listened for when Mara's footsteps fell, and timed his to fall as hers did. Quickly and quietly, he approached her from behind. 

His gloved hand clamped over her mouth, which muffled her initial scream of surprise - as well as her much more emphatic scream of terror as she realized she was being attacked. Using his own weight, Will forcefully leaned against her, and they both fell to their knees. With his face directly next to hers, he was forced to take her in all at once.  

Her eyes widened from the fear, silently pleading for freedom, for mercy.  

Will could smell the sweet tang of citrus from the shampoo that she used to wash her ebony-black hair; the same shampoo he had used to wash his own hair earlier this morning. As he brought his blade up to her neck, Mara seemed to realize that she wouldn't escape. Quickly drawing the blade across her neck, Will caught sight of his reflection and the tears already welling up in his eyes... 

He threw the blade far out of reach as he stood and withdrew a small camera from a pouch on his belt. Over the phone last night, Will's employer had demanded photographic proof, and that was what he would get.  

Still alive, Mara grasped at her neck with one hand, blood pouring freely between her fingers only to fall on the cherry blossoms that dusted the ground like a light-pink snow. With the other hand, she reached out to Will, instinctually pleading for help from the one who had just betrayed her in the most extreme way possible. 

Steadying the camera, he hesitated in taking the picture. Everything Mara was, or could be, rushed through him, triggering emotions that he had repressed for years. 

She was someone's daughter. She was a sister. She was his girlfriend. Would they have someday married? Would they have had children? Perhaps they might have had a daughter of their own...  

All at once, he felt regret, sorrow, anger, feelings he would only expect from the death of a loved one.  

His head was beginning to hurt. What seemed at first to be a minor tension headache was snowballing quickly, and he found he was having trouble standing. Choking back his emotions, he depressed the button of the camera until he heard the affirmative beep of a picture taken. 

Will fell to his knees as a supernova went off behind his eyes... 

***** 

"What was that!?" Bishop screamed, his arms flailing about in an attempt to break contact with King. His arms never made contact, so he ceased the flailing. He opened his eyes and found King was once again seated at the table across the room. 

"What was what?" King asked, a crooked smile appearing on his face. 

"What did you do to me!?" 

"I didn't really do anything," King said while he examined the amber knob at the end of his cane. "Well, maybe I did, depending on how you look at it. All I did was unlock a memory. One that had been locked away so deep down, so completely, that it actually ceased being your memory." 

Bishop was entirely confused and had started sweating at some point during... whatever it was he had just experienced. The stench of sweat permeated the air around him and every breath brought in a new lung-full of caustic atmosphere. "What the f-"