After three hours of phone calls, Raiyne called me back downstairs. She said that a vehicle was coming to pick us up soon and told me to prepare for a lengthy ride. I thanked her for her continued help before returning to my bedroom, where I dug through my box of clothes for something a bit more formal than the pajamas I was wearing.
I picked out yet another boring and simple outfit that I had to fight with Peatrice in order to get, a turquoise sweater and some khakis. I could have tried on one of my many skirts or dresses. But since I would be traveling with Raiyne, I did not want to give her the wrong idea that I was in any way happy with my new body. I also could have pulled out one of my other outfits in the laundry hamper, but I was opposed to the idea for sanitary reasons… That admittedly no longer affected me.
After a few minutes of waiting, Raiyne and I walked out of the house together and made our way through the still unshoveled sidewalk to a black van that ominously waited for us outside of my home. Its front windows were tinted black, hiding the driver, and its back windows were nonexistent.
It looked like it was from a PSA about never getting into a stranger’s car more than a professional government vehicle. But with all of the hubbub that surely filled the town after its public high school was bombed, and over a hundred people died, I’m guessing this was better than sending out a more conspicuous vehicle.
After quickly showing the driver her ID, Raiyne escorted me to the back of the van, which opened with a click from the driver. The back contained eight seats, four on each side of the vehicle. Both Raiyne and I took opposite sides of the car, and after we buckled our seatbelts, the back of the van closed.
The vehicle then started to move, and a form of silence began to develop between us. Recognizing the tension, I chose to break the ice developing in the back of the van by posing a question to Raiyne.
“So, Raiyne, where exactly are we going?” I asked, avoiding eye contact with her.
“A military base, Jad. Located a few hours away from here.” Raiyne very directly answered.
“Wait, why am I going with the military?” I asked, almost jumping out of my seat.
“For security reasons, Jad. You are… very dangerous, and despite my pleading, this was not something I could negotiate.” Raiyne responded, a bitterness lurking within her voice.
“I get that I’m immortal and really strong, but it’s not like I could break through metal bars,” I said with a hint of sarcasm
“You… Nevermind, it’s better if you don’t know.” Raiyne backpedaled with a slight look of embarrassment on her face.
“Raiyne, you obviously know that such a reaction will only pique my curiosity. I know you’re hiding something from me, something about my body.”
“Jad, I swore to protect this country, many years ago, and even if I disagree with the methods, I am not going to go against a direct order. I hope you can understand where I’m coming from.”
“I do, but I need to know a couple of things. How do you know about Abigale Quinlan? When the hell were you involved in the military? I’ve never heard about any of this, and you’re my mother’s best friend.”
“That is because it is a personal secret of mine, one part of a tangled web of classified information. …Information that, thankfully, I have been permitted to tell you.” Raiyne replied with a sly smirk.
“It all began in October 1999, about a month away from my nineteenth birthday. It had been a little over a year since I left my hometown of Rainy Woods, which is right against the Washington-Canadian border, to live with my 49-year-old uncle, Lou, in a Seattle suburb. Partially so I could finally leave my rural hometown, but mostly so I could more easily attend college. Lou had a lot of military experience— most of which he couldn’t even tell me about, but due to the role he played during his tenure, he developed a habit of ‘patrolling’ the neighborhood. Every day, sun, rain, or snow, he would walk a few kilometers and make sure everything was as it should be.”
“During one of these walks, a longer and more sprawling one, Lou encountered something strange. A home that he had never seen before, hidden behind forestry, without so much as a walkway connecting it to the outside world. It looked pristine— immaculate— like it had just been constructed weeks ago. This struck Lou as perplexing for obvious reasons. He entered the front door after his knocks drew no response, and began looking through the home, finding it to be largely barren and bereft of furniture, in addition to life. He called for the home’s owner, yet was met with naught but silence.”
“Lou ventured into the basement after every other room turned up with nothing, but as he turned on the light to see what was there, he lost consciousness. It was around the same time, a few minutes after, that I too lost consciousness, while at my own home, studying for a test. I woke up beside Lou, both of our hands bound by chains attached to a cold stone wall behind us. We then were greeted by the tall and elegantly dressed Abigale Quinlan, whose crimson eyes glittered even in the darkness.”
“She began speaking to Lou, explaining how she usually likes to toy with those who enter her ‘traps’ and use them as playthings for her own sense of amusement. But Lou, in particular, was a special case. Quinlan believed that Lou was still involved with the government when he retired over a decade ago. She chose not to kill him because of this and instead captured him to confirm her suspicions that he was searching for her. Lou denied this and was punished for it. He was tortured for information he didn’t have, unable to answer any questions Quinlan had.”
“After having her fill, Quinlan left us alone. Lou was beaten and hurting, but not in any true danger of dying, while I was mortified by what I had witnessed, my voice hoarse and my face stained in tears. We stayed there for what could not have been more than a few hours before Quinlan returned… with my parents, bound and gagged. Quinlan threatened to harm them, and Lou offered her everything he knew, every secret he held, in order to satiate her. But it wasn’t what she wanted. With a groan, she sunk her nails into my parents’ necks, tearing them open and letting their blood spray on Lou and I. I was powerless as I saw the life drain from my mother and father’s face, incapable of doing anything but scream and shout in rage. In response, Quinlan laughed and laughed…”
“As my anger resided, it morphed into a feeling of sorrow that encompassed me and made me ignorant of my surroundings, drawing me away from Lou, Quinlan, or my parents. I could not accept this reality, and tears were the only way I could cope. However, things got worse. Once my cognizance returned, I was met with a sight more grotesque than anything I have ever seen.”
“My mother and father’s bodies were gone, replaced by a pile of ash that mixed with the blood-stained on the floor to form a maroon slurry. A wad of disgusting looking and vile-smelling gunk that served as the only remnants of my parents. I turned my head away from such a repulsive sight and was met with the sight of Lou, somehow having escaped his chained shackles. I attacked Quinlan, trying to pin her down and tear away at her face with his hands. But it was futile. Quinlan overpowered Lou and shoved him onto the floor, where she began pounding him with her boots.”
“Quinlan continued bringing her foot down on Lou’s head. Over. And over. And over again. She continued as his face became coated in his own blood. She only stopped once the skull was shattered, and she was stomping directly on Lou’s brain. She snickered at the result of her actions, the bloody corpse before her, unphased by the fact that she had killed someone with such brutality. Everything went dark once again, and my billowing fury erupted.”
“I don’t recall how I escaped my chains. If it was through sheer force of will or by Quinlan’s hand. Everything was hazy until I found myself up against Abigale Quinlan, my teeth embedded in her neck, her blood seeping from her innards, and down my throat. Blood that tasted like cinnamon and went down smoothly. I continued to bite her, gnawing her flesh in an attempt to bring harm to the monster before me. ..Yet, she did not howl in pain at my actions. Instead, she let out a giggle, one that morphed into a sinister cackle. She then began to speak to me, and I still recall her words.”
Raiyne paused her story before adopting a voice slightly more in line with Abigale’s. A voice reminiscent of my own.
“‘Oh, you want some of me inside you, eh Sapphire? Well, no need to use teeth. If you wished to become intimate with me, all you needed to do was ask. I would have happily delivered… but you didn’t. So I won’t offer you pleasure beyond that which can be offered by a mere human. Oh, but you just saw your parents die horrific deaths, same with your uncle, so I take it that you’re not feeling horny right now. Then again, maybe you are into that sort of thing. Sapphire the sycophantic sociopath.’”
“‘Heh. I have no qualms with you. If anything, I’ve taken a liking to you. To your passion. To your hatred. I look forward to meeting you again, but until the time comes, look into my face. Remember its beauty. Let every perfect facet be ingrained into your mind. And most of all, remember this, my name, a name that shall go down in history. Abigale Quinlan. But for now, you’re free to go, Sapphire. Tell the police, tell the children, tell the government about me. They already know, but… they could stand to know a bit more.’”
“Abigale Quinlan took my family from me,” Raiyne croaked, her voice creaky and dry. “I escaped from her and found others who had met her, who had been hurt by her. I joined them, underwent training, and I spent the next five years trying to find her. Half a decade where nearly every day was dedicated to Abigale Quinlan. I obsessed over her, over capturing her, over killing her. But I never encountered her, I never found her, and I never made any real progress. Half a decade and I achieved nothing.”
“I eventually realized that I wouldn’t gain anything if I were to somehow capture or kill her. My family was dead and I spent some of my best years working up over that. As I realized this, the trail on Abigale Quinlan had gone cold, and I wanted to live my own life. So I resumed college after a lengthy hiatus and became an English teacher.”
“…I have to ask, why did you become a teacher?” I asked, almost forgetting what my voice sounded like.
“I felt I lost connection to the sort of world I lived in before I met Abigale Quinlan. As such, I chose a profession wherein I would do some good in the world, gain knowledge, and focus on something we could get immersed in. From there, I was lucky enough to get a job at Oransen High.” Raiyne explained somberly.
“…Oh… okay,” I said, unsure of what to say from here on out.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have started this trip off with such a heavy topic.” Raiyne mused, looking away from me.
“Well, I certainly understand you a lot better. …Along with Abigale Quinlan.” I nervously told Raiyne.
“It’s… nice to get some resolution after all this time, even if I would have never guessed it would end up like this,” Raiyne said, looking at me with a level of disbelief.
“I sure wasn’t expecting any of this to happen either. But here I am, my fate forever warped by the actions of a malicious psychopath.”
“That… that’s true. You know, I truly have no idea where Quinlan came from, or where she got her powers and abilities. After my initial encounter with her, I thought she simply existed. I never thought that she could be anything else, she just seemed so… inhuman in her actions. Yet, it is entirely possible that the power, her elongated life, that corrupted her into the person she was up until a few days ago.” Raiyne pondered as she rubbed her chin.
From there, the ensuing two hours were rather dull. We tried to hold conversations about various topics that came to mind, but they proved to either be conversational dead ends or brief tangents that lasted five minutes at most. I could still feel an awkwardness, a deeply seated discomfort, in her eyes as she looked at me.
She was trying to see me as Jad Novus, her student, and the son of her dear friend. But i still saw her blue eyes flush with fear as they gazed into my crimson-colored irises.
I could not blame her for such a reaction, especially after everything she’d been subjected to, but it still stung to have somebody you care about look like that.
