Escaping...

It was the one word that stayed on Rhea's mind ever since she realised her place in the household. She was practically a guinea pig but they preferred to call her their hope.

 

Since when? Oh she knew that.

She regretted ever being ambitious, because that ambition earned her a place that she had never dared to dream of. And that was the moment her family realised the potential value of her existence. Once invisible, she became visible— and with visibility came the weight of expectations, pressure and unpleasant truth.

She was needed, ofcourse, as a stepping stone for her brothers, as a dutiful daughter of her parents demanded and as the bearer of debts that they shoved onto her. She would have paid off gratefully if those were the debts that helped her to rise to the position she stood in now. 

But no. 

Those where her father's gambling debts.

It had been a couple of months since she started working at Peak Venture Inc., the investment firm, that felt like a euphoric dream in a city of lights. It's all unicorns and rainbows from the outside— pristine, untouchable and shimmering with pride and wealth.

On the inside? 

Pure torture. 

Just like any other working firms that took pride in breaking people before shaping them into something useful, exploitable.

Rhea told herself how she was actually grateful of the life she has now— if her family was out of the equation. 

But then again was it really worth it? That question returned to her everytime she found herself in the office on yet another long night, bent over deadlines that never seemed to stop multiplying.

Three consecutive days without sleep. A deadline tomorrow and the work? Nowhere near done.

11:03 PM 

Rhea exhaled in a tried — but terribly failed attempt to feel a bit relaxed. Her dark circles were carved under her eyes, her shoulders slouched forward and her hands trembling over the keys due to lack of sleep.

Maria, in the cabin next to hers, was packing up for the night. The soft rustle of her bag sounded like a divine message from above: 

Go home, escape. Freedome awaits. If only.

"Rhea?" Maria peered over the divider, eyebrows lifting "You are still not done?"

The moment she got a proper look at Rhea, Maria's expression shifted— exhaustion mirroring exhaustion, like the fatigue transferred through mere eye contact.

 "Honey, You look pretty tired..."

Her voice was laced with concern and she knows how much of a workaholic Rhea has become recently or rather, how much work she kept buried under thanks to their team leader, who mistook her diligence for unlimited availability. 

"This will take a few more minutes it seems." Rhea muttered, rubbing her temples. "Agh I just want to go home, sis" 

She stretched and her body protested immediately— sharp aches running through muscles that had been overworked for days.

"I might drop dead now at this rate"

The words slipped out barely as a whisper but Maria caught them anyway.

"Shhhh don't say that!" Maria scolded gently. 

"I will slap your mouth if you say it lightly like–" 

*ring* *ring*

Maria's phone vibrated sharply. She answered in a rush, whispering a quick apology before dashing out— leaving Rhea alone in the humming silence of the office.

"Great." Rhea muttered to herself.

 "I guess a dose of coffee might help"

But the moment Rhea stood up, her knees wobbled and suddenly — she couldn't feel the ground beneath her. It was as if the floor was swept away and she was floating while nausea curled up her spine. 

She swayed, vision blurring at the edges, the room melting into a fuzzy, unsteady mess just like her. 

Instinctively she tried to grab onto the desk, to steady herself but it was a complete failure. Her hands knocked over the clock on the edge of the table.

It toppled, crashing to the floor at the same moment her own body gave up.

"No– not like this...." She murmured.

*Thud* 

11:11 PM

The world went blank.

Pitch black.

Then—

Tick.

Tick..

Tick...

Snap.

"Rhea" 

Rhea's eyes snapped open when her name echoed through the void— uttered by an unfamiliar voice. It was calm, almost too calm that only made Rhea panic in desperation.

"Is this the afterlife? Heaven?" She whispered . Her face was turning pale— if it can be said like that— because she looked like a floating translucent version of herself.

She looked around but there was nothing —no horizon, no ground and no sky. Just a void that stretched endlessly in every direction. The emptiness made it ten times more scarier. Rhea had no idea where she had ended up and whose voice she heard.

Suddenly a blinding light tore through the darkness, ripping the space open and then again she heard the voice.

"Rhea, do you have regrets?"

Rhea froze, dumbfounded. 

'What kind of question is that? What is this voice enquiring me about? Ofcourse I have regrets! I am a human who literally fainted(?) from overworking myself to death.It's exactly a glamourous way to go, you know'

"Pfft" 

Rhea's eyes widened in disbelief.

'Did.... did that thing just laugh at me? Can that thing hear my thoughts? What–'

"Stop calling me 'that thing' I have a name and you may call me Cyrus"

An awkward silence stretched. Rhea was waiting for the voice to continue.

Just as she was gonna open her mouth, the voice spoke, clear and collected but with a certain authority.

"Listen well Rhea" it intoned, it's tone now sounded dead serious. "I offer you not an ending, but a turning. A thread severed but can be woven anew— yet not in the form you once carried."

Rhea was sure this sounded ridiculous but fear gripped her right after. She didn't want to wake up if this was a dream, atleast she is alive in here. 

 "You shall live again."

Rhea's eyes widened once again but this time she was feeling something rushing in her body, a golden glow and a thread that connected her heart to the blinding light.

"To walk you must wear another's shell... And bend the path she was doomed to follow."

The tingling feeling was overwhelming her, tears stinging her eyes. She knew this was no dream as the sensation felt too real to be a dream.

"When her fate is rewritten, a wish shall awaken— yours and yours alone. This is my covenant, unbroken since the dawn"

A pause.

Then, a faint hum of amusement, almost affectionate yet too distant–

"What say you,Rhea? Would you bind your soul to this contract of mine?"

Before she could even comprehend, the golden thread gazed over her heart, making her cry out in pain. It was turning red, like her blood.

She was certain now. It's not a choice.

This was no negotiation where she was given the luxury of saying No.

It was an offering. She had to accept.

Her whole being trembled like a leaf out in the storm, trying not to wither away.

She nodded, gasping. The pain was evident in her facial expression.

"In Words, my dear." The voice murmured, now cold and but still distant. "I require affirmation.... in words" 

The voice now terrified her but she can't protest nor reject.

"Y–yes! Please....yes. it's.... it's hurting me!"

All the golden glimmers now became a crimson red, the shine made it hard to keep her eyes opened.

Slowly the pain faded.

"Good. Then our pact is sealed."  

And then the voice itself faded, as if the whole conversation was just in her head.

Rhea dropped down, hard. Her hands clutching over her chest, trying to ease the pain which was long gone now. She felt like her whole existence is cursed. How else could She even explain the situation she is in. She was trembling but not as violently as before. 

Fate is playing a cruel game with her life. Ofcourse it had to be her. To be butchered.

Her never-ending train of thought paused for a moment of rest.

Her eyes lifted

....and froze.

"Uh?"

A mirror stood before her.

A mirror that hadn't been there a moment ago. 

The reflection it casted, wasn't her's....

but .... It mirrored her perfectly.

Her expressions

her hand movements 

and her blinking 

...it was mimicking everything she does. It was as if— she was possessing someone else's body.

'wait. Possessing? No it can't be for real right?'

Realisation hit her harder than any truck could hit.

"This..this is what it meant..." She whispered "Another's shell"

The whole situation felt absurd, surreal— terrifying.

She stared at the reflection for good few minutes before collapsing.

'atleast she is pretty to look at....'

Darkness engulfed her once more.

Looks like loosing consciousness had become a new skill.

A note fluttered down beside the unconscious Rhea. it read:

 'Fragments of me lies scattered and they will guide you, Aysel de Valyne....if you are wise enough to see them'

                                 ——————

©Aelune_writes