Phantom Chained

Chapter 35. Reunion. Elm.

And it would've hit her square in the face, was it not for her inhumane reflexes. In a split second, she picked up the other girl and the bowl flew into her ear. Clara then whacked both of the girls' heads together and threw them to the wall, where they went limp, occasionally moaning.

"Is this the way you meet your beloved, Elm?" Clara took a step forward.

Stress expanded my perception of reality into a scope of remaining options. Now I saw Clara not only as her pitiful body but also as a tangle of energy fields stuck to her cadaver like snakes. But what shook me the most was a flaming vortex that enveloped her spine and protruded from her back like a scorpion's tail. The stinger hung above Clara's head and was pointed directly at me.

"Words cannot describe how happy I am to finally be reunited with you, despite how you betrayed me! I called you on my deathbed, your name was the last breath that left my lips, and you did not come!"

Clara took another step. A spark fell from the blazing stinger.

"Cara mia" I cried out, backing into the sofa. "What did you expect? I'm ethereal! What could I have possibly done to the retrogrades that decided to end your life? Which was your fault, mind you."

"But you never even apologised to me!" Clara shouted. "Bastard, you were probably excited to be free! But no, do not even dream about it... "

She stood extremely close now, her stinger's tip vibrating right in front of my swollen nose.

"And please do tell me what exactly you mean when you say it was my fault!"

"How was it not?" I replied, eyes darting from the stinger to the bloody axe. "You needed to be careful, my angry love, when you opened the flow of witch powers inside you. Instead of collecting, perfecting and quietly practicing them, you... got carried away. Started to curse and harm anyone who ever hurt you."

"They deserved it!"

"Truly, a bitter loser with power is akin to a mad monkey with a gun!"

I should not have said that.

A whistling sound passed my left ear, followed by a loud crackle. I turned and saw the axe now wedged deep into the sofa.

"So I am a monkey, then? I shall show you a mad monkey! I will rip out your vile tongue and..."

Clara raised the axe above her head and my blood ran cold.

Crack!

The axe plunged into the sofa's seat. Looking at its handle, which mockingly protruded from right between my legs, I screamed and curled up in a ball.

"Don't hurt me! Not my tongue! First of all, it's not even mine, and second, I... we will need it! Chill, Clara!"

"You called me a monkey!"

"It was a metaphor, sei belissima! Non ho mai incontrato una ragazza dolce come te!"

"I do not understand your bird language, how many times do I have to remind you?"

"I'm sorry, my sweetheart, it's the stress! I wanted to say that you're not a monkey, but the sweetest female I have ever encountered on this path full of temptation."

Clara froze, evidently thinking about her next act. I took a deep breath but it was too early to relax.

Here's a paradox: the sands of my life have completely spilled into Death in this hourglass, yet the instinct of self-preservation worked to the max and I was completely against this body being cut into pieces.

"Do you remember my words? We will belong together even after death, as we are connected by the red string of fate that cannot be severed nor forgotten."

The scorpion tail wrapped around my chest, turning into a chain; the stinger trembled, hectically poking at every part of my body in search of an energy breach. Just like a hungry stray sniffing a trash bag with a leftover piece of chicken inside.

"I remember." I repeated. "I do, how could I ever forget something like that, hehe."

The whole situation suddenly became very funny. Damn these human nerves and their tendency to giggle.

Especially when you can't giggle and have to remain serious.

But can't.

Even if there is a mad monkey with an axe right in front of you.

"I remem-mber," I could barely say the words. "We w-wont, hehe... die together... hah... soon, very soon. Clara, you stupid wench, hahaha, you're too late, ah, I can't, I cant, hahaha..."

But soon my laughter died down and silence fell on the room, interrupted only by the occasional sobbing from the other side of the room.

I was not dead.

I raised my watery eyes at Clara. The chain no longer enveloped me and now just lay at the feet of its master in the shape of a noose.

"I feel sorry for you." I said sarcastically.

"You are not deceiving me." Clara finally responded, "You never could. And what about your belief in immortality? Why are you dying?"

"Not like I want to..." I snapped. "It's all your fault, porca putana, but at least I have the pleasure of bringing you down with me..."

"Besides, I do not just feel your presence here; you are somewhere else, too. How is that possible?"

"Just like that." I sighed. "A series of unfortunate events brought me to my deathbed and I would love to tell you about them if it's somehow going to mask the sorrow of our last moments. Should I?"

"Go on, then." Clara sighed and sat down by my feet.