There's an Invisible Man Sleeping in My Bed

Chapter 16

            Thalia slid one glass of milk across the table before shifting the plate of cookies so it was closer to the middle. Then she stared across the wooden expanse at what she hoped were Colt’s eyes. “So I’ve been talking to Anna-”

            Colt’s chair jerked as he jumped to his feet. “Anna? Not Annaliese!”

            She leaned back, eyes wide before shaking her head. “No, no. I don’t know any Annalieses. Anna is Ruth’s sister. Her real name’s Joanna. Who’s Annaliese?”

            The chair straightened and Thalia guessed that Colt had sat back down. “A creature from my past. If I’d never entangled myself with her, I’d never have lost my body.”

            “Is this is the same one I sound like?”

            “Yes.”

            “Who is she?”

            For a moment, the only sound that was heard was the ticking of the hallway’s grandfather clock. Then Thalia heard Colt sigh. “Liese…Liese and I were a pairing for a time. She was... passion. That’s the first thing you learned about Annaliese. The second thing you learned was that most of that passion was directed towards her god. She was one of his favourites, and the only true follower of his in the area. Because of that, he gave her enough magic that she was easily the most powerful mage in the region.

            Despite what many said, it wasn’t because of her magic that I pursued her. It was the way her eyes lit up when she was happy and the frequent upwards curve of her lips. She laughed easily and often and was an adventurous spirit. She was clear from the beginning that her god came first, always and no matter what. I was so smitten with her that I didn’t care and in the early days, we were together often enough that I never felt like I was second in her heart.

            But things changed. So slowly that I didn’t notice what was happening until the very end. Liese became withdrawn and spent more and more of her time in rituals, bringing power to her god and to herself. While I didn’t, and still don’t, understand the appeal of serving a god, I respected her calling and the work she put into it.

            I never pretended to be anything like a priest and I only had the vaguest of ideas as to what went on during rituals. So when she told me they were long and involved and told me to stay away while she performed them, I thought nothing of it. Until I heard the rumours.

            At first I ignored them. There was no reason to give the empty words of others the slightest bit of credence. But the stories didn’t go away. The opposite in fact. Every week there seemed to be more of them and the accounts of Liese’s behaviour remained relatively similar in all of them.

            It took an entire season of those vicious whispers to break through my infatuation. And even then, I didn’t confront her. I wanted to know the truth first, and part of me hoped that the stories were the result of nothing more than jealousy. Which is why I followed her to the glade in which she performed her rituals and hid in the trees.

            It wasn’t long before I had seen more truth than I ever wanted to. The rumours had in fact been far kinder than what I saw before me. Liese’s ‘ritual’ was nothing more than her and a strange man joining themselves together in ways that I had never even imagined. Watching them writhe together as their contorted bodies glistened with the sweat of their exertion, I felt a burning, stinging pain like acid wash its way into my veins.

            It froze me where I was, my mind going pure white as the love I’d had for Liese melted away under the fire of her betrayal. It was only after they had finished and the man had left that I regained my ability to move. I remember feeling like my whole body was alight, like I imagine a phoenix must feel.

            Her eyes went wide, the green of them going brighter as she looked at me. If what I felt was any indication, I am surprised she didn’t run from me then. But of course, she knew me better than any. And she knew I’d never raise my hand against a woman, no matter how enraged I might be.

            That didn’t stop my tongue from working. I demanded to know she had been doing, whether she had thought about me at all while in the embrace of another. She told me that her rituals were none of my business, that she had been clear that her god and his business would always be her first priority. She told me if I couldn’t accept that then she had no use for me.

            I’m afraid her answer spurred me to new heights of anger and my response to her reflected that. I called her every name for loose woman I knew, concluding that she and her god were perfect for each other since she was nothing more than a bitch in heat and he was a greedy despot whose only thoughts were with the lower half of his body. And that I could do better than a moronic god’s useless whore.”

            Thalia winced, both for the strong language she’d never heard from Colt before and for what she guessed was coming.

            “Yes, but unlike what I’ve said now, I spoke the god’s name. I can only guess his attention was already nearby due to Liese’s ritual because it was only moments later that I felt him rip my body away from me. It…it wasn’t pleasant, and I drifted for a brief time, overwhelmed with the sensation.

            The god brought me back soon enough, to tell me what he had done, saying it was my rightful punishment for speaking so. I might have argued but my situation had left me barely able to form words. He released me shortly after and ever since then, I’ve been stuck as a floating, invisible consciousness.

            If I had not hid myself away for fear of further reprisal, things might have turned out differently. But I didn’t, and by the time I went looking for one of the god’s priestesses, they were all gone. Or hidden away. It was a difficult time for all religions, but especially for those ground in the forests and fields, the one’s whose deities were more localized.

            And so I’m still searching for one of the god’s creatures, or any other way of getting my body back. But with the way religions seem to have gone, I’m not sure if that will even be possible.”

            Thalia reached across the table until her fingers brushed against something she guessed was Colt’s arm. She looked up at where she thought his eyes were and said “What can I do to help?”