Whispers and Silence (Oakley)

[Yvette Marie]

Yvette woke at the falling of the sun. The windowless bedroom had no way of telling, instead showing a forest mural facing her bed. The forest haunted her always, even to the point that she'd begun to paint in her sleep. Each of the other three walls had evidence of this, the marks of started trees and undergrowth glistening in even the dim light to her sensitive eyes. The pupils had fully developed-changed to the Dragomir’s legacy, as it were- a few days ago. Or at least, that was when Yvette had finally caught a chance to notice.

The pale blonde sat up, brushing her hair from her face and bare shoulders, as her spectre twin brother hovered near her, speaking to her in hushed tones. She knew what he was saying, trying to guilt her into eating animals again, but she wasn't having it. “Mackinsey, you know it leaves me weak. As long as I don't kill them, it's fine. And if I become that hungry, I find the ones thinking terrible things.”

She shuddered at the thoughts of the last one, her mind screaming as much as his victims likely had. She had forced her way into his mind as she swallowed his life, and saw their crying faces, each pleading face. She saw where he had dumped them, and though she was no longer human, she mourned the loss of each human life by his hand. And though it was terrible for her to admit, she enjoyed watching the terror in his eyes, as he realized there really were worse things in the night than he.

She remembered his “dump site” and was determined this night to find it, to make sure the spirits of the girls knew they could come near her and no longer worry about adding to their ranks. These thoughts in mind, she swung her feet over the edge of the bed, where they dangled, the tips of her toes inches from the ground. Wiggling, she scooted from the bed, and looked at her costume for the next day. Her dear brother was holding a soiree of sorts, and she'd finally found a dress to wear. “It only took me and you three hours to find what would be appropriate, didn't it, Mackinsey?”

Her brother bobbed his head in agreement, and Yvette smiled, before slipping her Howl’s Moving Castle shirt from her skin. Folding it, she laid it at the end of the bed, after she made it. Simple things, she'd found, helped her keep her sanity, her humanity. After days like yesterday, it was all she could do to keep from slipping. Everyday I sink farther and farther into the depths, she thought sadly, enjoying her momentary lucidity.

The rest of her clothes were stripped from her skin and folded, left on the end of the bed in the same way. Now nude, she moved from her bedroom to the bathroom on the other side of the apartment. Though she’d invited several of her “family” to visit, they were Dragons in the end, and often did their own thing- made their own way. Yvette should have felt some longing in this, and from time to time she did, but tonight she pushed aside her remnants of humanity and simply enjoyed the time alone.

The shower washed the remaining lethargy from her skin and soon she was clean, wrapped in a towel as she quietly made her way back to her room. Black jeans and a soft cotton shirt of the same colour soon draped across her skin, as well as black trainers on her feet. She couldn’t afford the stares that her going barefoot would accomplish. Not tonight. Braiding her hair, she blew a kiss at Mackinsey, who always hovered nearby, before whispering to him in a soft lilting voice, “Tonight, keep our home safe. Don’t break anything, but don’t let anyone we do not know enter." With a soft smile, she was out the door, down the elevator, and onto the streets, on the way to bury the girls properly, and with it, her rising guilt at the things she had to do to survive.