The Daughters of Heaven and Hell

Ch. 25- Just Another Story to Tell

Kalila

I woke up to the slow trickle of water coming from the old rusty pipes. Rats scurried around me in the dark, dank basement. From everywhere around me, I could hear the distant sound of terrified screams from tortured souls. Everything was dark.

I sat up in the ancient, creaky bed and stretched out my aching muscles. My eyes quickly adjusted to the dark room, and I began making my way around the room, careful not to step on the rotting corpses of the dead mice others that had slept here were forced to eat. I, on the other hand, was lucky. I was one of the few not being held captive here. I was here out of my own free will.

Dev had asked me if I wanted to move out of the basement and upstairs with him after I proved myself by hitting Mitch. I declined. I was being trained to be a cold blooded killing machine. Why should I get the luxury of a soft bed and a working toilet?

I walked around the room a couple of times, stretching out my muscles after laying on the stone hard mattress. Without anything to do before the guards let me out for the day, I started humming to myself. Quietly at first, just a few bars of some of my old song. Then, the humming began to grow louder and switched to singing. I danced around the room as I sang the familiar tune.

The door opened behind me. I quickly spun around to see Dev standing there, giving me a fierce gaze with his arms tightly crossed. I immediately stood up straight and at attention. I waited. Dev swiftly lifted his hand and quickly brought it across my face. His hand left a burning, stinging sensation across my cheek. I looked up at him, shocked.

"No singing," Dev said sternly. "Come on. We have work to do."

We quickly walked down the hallway as I forced back the pain of my stinging face. Dev led me to the elevator at the end of the hallway, and we stood in silent as the car slowly rose. As we continued to rise higher and higher in the building, the shrieks I had heard before continued to grow louder and louder. I looked at Dev, trying to figure out what was going on in his head.

We reached floor number 333 and the doors opened. The screams were now deafening. We stepped out of the elevator. The smell of death greeted me as I stepped in the room. The room was similar to my basement cavern, except this room was worse if that was possible. Feces covered the walls and yellowish puddles drowned the floor.

I instantly gagged. “Where are we?”

As I spoke, I noticed two people crouched in the corner. They were small and frail and looked as if they had been in here for centuries. There was a man and a women. Although, it was hard to distinguish the two as the women’s hair had all been chopped off, and she was so thin that her chest had diminished into nothing.

At the sight of Dev and I, the women once again broke out into ear splitting screams. The man pointed at Dev and started shaking and screaming something in a different language I couldn’t understand. In response to their screams, Dev silently walked over to the both of them and kicked them both in the ribs. The two of them crumbled.

“Dev,” I said, silently. “Who are these people?”

“You don’t recognize them?” Dev asked.

I looked back at the couple. They did seem extremely old and familiar. But I could not place where I had seen them before. They had clearly been starved, tortured, and left in this room to die. What could they have possibly done to be stuck in this torture chamber?

“Kalila, I would like to introduce you to Mary and Joseph.”

“Mary and Joseph? As in Jay’s parents?”

“The very same.”

“What are they doing here?”
“They are here as a reminder.”

“Huh?”

“This is how I have kept Jesus and God under control all these years. There has still been war, destruction, hunger, and poverty in this world because they are here. Neither Jesus nor God are willing to pull anything too risky in fear that I will harm them.”

“But why would they care? Shouldn’t these two have been dead centuries ago. Why would they care if you kill them now?”

“Because dear Kalila. Mary and Joseph stand as a symbol. You know those silly humans. They go to church and learn about these two. Every year in December they talk nonstop about Mary and Joseph. They even make plays, books, and movies about the story of Mary and Joseph. The story of Mary and Joseph keeps spirit in the hearts of the humans. Killing them would kill the memory of them. Mary and Joseph would be wiped from the humans memories and there would be an uprising.”

“So, why haven’t you killed them?”

“It hasn’t been the time.”

“Then, why are you showing them to me now?”

Dev turned to me slowly. “Because, Kalila, when the timing is right, you will be the one to kill them.”

I turned and looked at the ancient couple still crumpled in the corner. I could still remember living on Earth many years ago and being taught about Mary and Joseph. I used to have dreams about being so lucky to birth the child of God. Now, I was suppose to kill the people I once looked up to?

Dev turned to me with a serious look on his face. “So, can I count on you?”

I thought. Jesus, God, everyone in Heaven screwed me over. They knew exactly that Mitch was going to hurt me. And they just let it happen. The humans too. For weeks now, their little magazines had been covered with the story of Mitch and I breaking up. They didn’t actually care about me. They thought of me as just another story to tell. I had joined Dev to get back at everyone who had hurt me. Yes, I had looked up to Mary and Joseph. But if I had to kill them to get back at the people who had tried to hurt me...

I turned to Dev. “....I’ll do it.”

The couple in the corner once again burst into terrified screams.