Chapter Text
First, it was white.
A blinding light, one that filled the void showcasing the depths of its emptiness. The only sensory stimulation being the slight ringing in my ears.
Then, it vanished.
A rumbling shook beneath me, getting louder and more violent by the second, the white landscape becoming cracked and shattered, landing into the endless abyss.
Until it all stopped.
—
I gasped. The air in my lungs immediately caused me to choke.
“Excusez-moi, pouvez-vous vous taire?” A voice grimmed.
“Huh?” I replied.
“I said,” the voice sighed, “if you are done with your coughing fit, some of us are trying to be sneaky.”
“Sneaky?” I turned around; a man was standing underneath a tree a couple feet away. He was fully dressed in black and wore a cap with a hood on top for safe measure. I took a few steps closer to him, standing behind and slightly to the side of his position.
He was slender and clearly tall, but fully hunched over, leaning against the hedges next to the tree, cupping his hands in the shape of binoculars, looking down at the plaza below us.
“Ahh get with the program,” he squished my face bringing it towards the bush and pointed, “this right here… is our target.”
In the distance, a girl sat down on one of the benches, she looked to be my age. Her blonde hair was perfectly coiled into loops, not even the wind could knot or frizz it. She was wearing a baby blue floral dress with a white cardigan on top. I squinted slightly to try to make out more of her details, but that was the most I could from this distance.
“Our… target?” Nothing about her had seemed threatening, surely this was a mistake, or the man next to me was crazy. Maybe both. Probably both.
The man began dramatically gesturing in the girl’s direction, “Mon amie, this is the Lady in White!” I turned to look again at ‘the Lady in White’ and then back at his concerned expression. Clearly, I was missing a key detail or two.
Over his shoulder I noticed something leaning against the tree that was hidden by his body before. I peeked over slightly, my eyes widened.
I pointed at him with accusation, “Woah is that a gun? Are you crazy?” He moved over slightly to the side bringing the object fully in view. I took a couple steps back.
Next to the hooded figure was a sniper rifle, scoped and everything. Just plopped against the tree. Was he really planning on assassinating that girl?
“Listen…” he paused, waiting for a name.
“Lenore?” The name seeming natural on my tongue but entirely foreign to my mind. It had to be mine though.
“Lenore.” He continued, “she may look innocent. Her charming disguise makes sure of that. But that is the devil, le diable!” He turned around, grabbing the rifle and lining it up, using the hedge as support.
Okay this man was definitely crazy. I need to get out of here as discreetly and calmly as possible. I turned around to view my surroundings, there was no one around, the entire plaza was empty. Except for her.
I looked back at the man, awaiting a response. “Umm sure… I’m just going to” I pointed my thumb towards the Lady in White, adding an awkward chuckle to seal the deal. Smooth Lenore. Smooth.
He waved his hand dismissively, annoyance spread across his face, “Fine. Be my guest. I tried to warn you.” He then went back to adjusting the rifle, trying to find the perfect position.
“Thank you…” I grimaced. I turned around, stepping away from the man’s shadowy corner. I faced the staircase down to the plaza. A couple of streetlamps lined the staircase while wall lights were spread across the sides near the fountains of water that bordered the place.
The plaza itself was fairly tiny, engraved with a simple brick pattern, all it had was flower beds with benches in front of them. The most noteworthy part was the extravagantly long staircase leading down.
I took the first couple of steps down, extremely conscious of the taps my feet made among this solitary place.
—
I had made it the full way down, admittedly slightly out of breath. I approached the girl, pausing a couple of feet away from her.
She seemed lost in thought. Despite my walk breaking the silent atmosphere, she didn’t seem to notice. Her eyes were fixated to the ground, while her hands mindlessly twirled a pink peony in her hand.
I began, “Good evening.”
Her eyes widened as she looked upwards, and her posture raised. She dropped the flower in her hand, and it rolled slightly next to my foot. Her face painting a mixture of frustration and shock.
She did not respond, instead looking at me in anticipation for whatever I was going to say next.
Well, this could not have started worse. I rubbed the back of my neck, “Sorry to bother you,” I looked at her expression again, nothing. “Well, this man,” I gestured behind me, “hooded, all black attire, oh and,” I flung my hands dramatically, “very tall. He has a sniper rifle pointed over here.”
She seemed to have more of a reaction to me being here rather than the fact that a gun was pointed in her direction, or more accurately, aimed at her.
“I feel like you should hide and-” my knees buckled slightly, “Huh?”
A jab was felt in my side, something sharp. My legs began to feel like twigs, and I clenched the Lady in White’s arms for support, for something. Did that bastard hit me?
No.
She did.
Under her sleeve a tiny syringe was slightly visible. She injected me with something.
I looked up at her with all the strength I could muster, she seemed to open her mouth slightly, but then closed it, creating an unreadable expression.
I winced, my vision was becoming clouded by tiny white blobs, her pink eyes growing blurry the more I stared.
The blobs grew even more in size, I found it hard to keep my head up, hard to continue to hold on to my apparent murderer.
Before I could fully let go, she grabbed my wrists hoisting me upwards, just enough so that I wouldn’t fall completely on the floor. She leaned in slightly, in what looks to be to observe me.
—
Soon everything faded to white just as it had been in the beginning.
A soothing whisper broke the never-ending silence, “Don’t worry pet. You were already dead.”