They were coming…her voice told her. She could feel her pulse quickening. She had to hurry. She had to get out of here. She had to take Sophie’s corpse with her. She didn’t want to leave Sophie at their mercy.
She gathered the dead remains of her child in her shivering arms. She took one look around the empty room. She knew she would never be coming back. Never! She stumbled and hurt herself as she made haste. Her eyes weren’t ready to come out of their delirium yet. Memories were working like opium, slowing her down, numbing her mind, making her want the easy pain…pain of submission and defeat.
Aurora had to snap out of it. Submission is not what she wanted. She had to fight. Fight to get her baby to her final resting place. She had to tuck Sophie in for a long night ahead.
Aurora hurried to get out of the dark and twisted room, not bothering to cover up the evidence of her heinous crime. She didn’t have to bother about that. The moment she had held Sophie’s delicate neck in her icy cold fingers, they must have found out about it.
She left the house with Sophie’s limp body on her shoulder. It was raining when she stepped out. Pouring rather. She dexterously made her way through the maze of puddles and slippery rocks in her path. The darkness of the night failed to aid her.
Rainwater lashed at her face. Her face, white as a ghost was devoid all emotion except a sense of deep urgency. Her urgency to get out of the village took precedence over the bothersome rain that poured from the heavens.
Heavens! She smiled at the thought. A smile of resignation and irony. Heaven was not where she was headed. She didn’t even merit going to hell. Her crimes were far too grave for that. Grave – now that is something she was in search of. She had to reach the river before they caught up with her.
As she hurried through the streets, she did not have the time to stop and stare at her feet which were being brutally assaulted by jagged stones on the street. They bled, the blood mixing beautifully with the black-brown earth. She owed that to the earth. Her blood! She couldn’t giver her body. But her blood she could. Maybe if she bled enough to drain the last drop of blood from her body, maybe then she could die.
But Aurora knew that was not possible. Silly thoughts of a silly girl! The thought brought the image of her mother’s visage to her troubled mind. No, not this memory. Not now. She had had enough for one night. Not tonight. Not again. She didn’t want to scream. She didn’t want to feel more pain. She craved for the numbness that Jonathan’s memory always brought. It was easier to deal with.
With a stern warning to herself, she struggled hard to banish her mother’s thought that seemed to be creeping into her mind. She didn’t have to struggle to hard though, for precisely at that moment she could hear their pulse thumping inside her. She knew they were close. Close enough to be able to pounce on her soon. She could feel a burning sensation rising at the back of her neck…even in that pouring rain that chilled her to the bone!
She dared not turn around. The urge to look over her shoulder was immense but the fear of finding what she didn’t want to was beyond comparison.
She kept pushing forward, almost menacingly now. She was hopeful because the river wasn’t far now. She would be there in no time. She had to be there in no time.
She could hear them now. They were there…seven of them! She had never thought Sceadusa would send seven of them after her! Seven voltors! Dealing with one was equal to battling a certain death. And seven of them?
Aurora was almost tempted to give up. What could she do? How could she keep Sophie’s body from the voltors? She could possibly not reach the river without being met by the menacing lot. She had to find another way. She had to get away from where they could feel her. She had to vanish into thin air…somehow!
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