The Graveyard

Mother Knows Best

He can barely hear his own footsteps, the low growling of Luna beside him, the sound of Victoria's sickle dragging behind her over the thick snow, he hardly hears anything save the strong pounding of his heart, his heavy breaths coming out and turning into opaque shapes hanging in the air around them, and his own voice - ten years younger - screaming in his head incoherently.

Dawn is only minutes from breaking, streaks of pink, orange and purple are sneaking from beneath the horizon, slowly giving color to the dusky skyline. The air frosty, stinging at the exposed parts of his body, raw trees around them bent with age seemingly closing in on him, consuming whatever air surrounds him, making it harder for him to breathe.

The closer they are to the great oak, the harder it is for his brain to function duly. He can't think properly, he can't breathe properly, he's even surprised he can walk on his own.

Victoria is quiet, she says no word from the moment she teleports them into the woods, expressionless, rigid, strained. Had Eli's mind not been swirling with thoughts of what he is going to be witnessing before long, he'd be much more concerned for her than he currently is, for whatever emotions she hides are revealed by Luna's troubled moves and constant rumbles and whines.

Thoughts course through his mind.

Trepidation. Doubt. Disbelief.

Victoria would never lie to him, this has to be true, it is happening, he's going to see his mother. But how come it feels so surreal and dreamlike? Making all sorts of bizarre feelings run through him? What should he expect when he finally sees her? Is she still the same? Is the demon gone now? What have they done to bring her back?

"How?" He asks, slowing down his pace, wanting to be well informed before he was face to face with the mother he thought he'd lost years ago. Victoria doesn't need more than a one-word question to understand what it is he wants to know. He wants to know everything.

"She never died, she'd always been there." She tells him quietly after a short silence. "The demon's presence shadowed her own, that's why we couldn't sense her."

"Then how did you know she was there? Alive?"

"The demon isn't in control anymore." She stops, and looks back at him. "Laufeia gave up her hold when it became too dangerous, she's retreated back within, allowing your mother to regain her body, she knew we wouldn't hurt Elaina, and that keeps her unharmed as well."

He frowns. "But she's still possessed, then? It's still there."

She nods. "Unfortunately, yes."

He walks closer until he's standing right in front of her, his intense golden-greens boring into her dark ones questioningly. Confusion. "Then why are you keeping it? Get it out of her."

"We can't." She admits, her flat tone matching her expression. He furrows, not sure if he understands. They can't?

"You can't?" She shakes her head. "What do you mean you can't? Just perform an exorcism, it shouldn't be that hard."

"It's not that simple."

"How come?"

She looks around, everywhere but his way, as if avoiding his eyes. "Ten years was too much of a time, Eli, their spirits have conjoined to the bone, it's not just your mother's body anymore, it's the demon's as well."

A sinking feeling overcomes Eli's senses, one horrid dawning at his senses as his eyes grow wide and his chest tightens. Victoria looks back at him, a truthful, regretful glimmer in her black irises, he shakes his head disbelievingly. "It can't be... they can't be bound, Vicky." His voice is low, just above a whisper, a silent plea, but there is no other answer she can give him, there's only that one truth. "There has to be a way."