Palindrome
Can you go back to Paradise?

“I`ll take a look.” Benjamin said while scrunching his nose against the foul smell, and I watched as he rose to the sky.

What do you think it means? Is it more from the prophecy that has happened?

The forgotten body on the ground moaned, and it was first now I saw it was Mary. I gasped and sat down, feeling the wet grass seep through the thin dress. Natan was having a heated discussion with Belinda – I didn’t want to get between them, who knew what the day would bring? I searched for more help, and Bridget came to my rescue.

“We need to get her away, but I don’t think she can walk. Do you know what happened to her?” A shudder ran through Bridget`s body, “I didn’t mean to, but she would have killed anyone coming in her way.” I was confused, was Mary not to be trusted? Bridget told me the story, and even though I knew William held no warm feelings for his stepmother, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them.

“Wait, where is she now?”

“She is somewhere behind the shed, she stopped following us and now she is limping in a circle.”

“Dead?” I still couldn’t quite believe it. Bridget nodded, “Dead. But nod dead.”

Samuel came over, “It`s eerie with all the monsters just standing there. What are they waiting for? Shouldn’t they attack us, or find out what is going on?”

Samuel didn’t know they could talk amongst them without us hearing, most likely they had a plan. I slapped Mary gently in the face and she stirred ever so slightly. I got her up eventually, the smell getting more potent. It was a waste of time, Mary took one look at the gathering of demons and fell promptly to the ground again. Samuel picked her up and turned to Jafet, who was standing slightly in front of the others. I wondered where Noah was, I was sure it was George standing to the right behind his father. Samuel raised his voice, looking straight at Jafet. “I need to get her to someone who can help, or at least a place I can lay her down more comfortably.” I could tell by the look on Samuel`s face that he was experiencing the Beasts way of communication, he let his eyes glide over the 12 Beasts with a questioning look.

“Who?”

Two of the Beasts stepped aside, and I saw a streak of blonde surrounded by a silvery light. Doc Devon… With wings. Big, white feathery wings.

She smiled politely to everyone and held out her arms to Mary. Devon swiped her hands over her, and I could still recall the sensation of pain leaving my body when she`d done the same to me. Mary didn’t wake, but she seemed to sleep now instead of being unconscious. The angel gestured for Samuel to take Mary inside, but before she followed them, she beckoned for me. I felt William follow me, even though he had his eyes to the sky, watching Ben as he came circling down.

“You have read the Prophecy?” I gave a short nod in answer.

“Something has already happened. Magic has touched the Beast. The Flesh has risen from the soil.” She cast a quick glance towards the village. “You need to get the Holy Oil.” I felt the joint attention from all the Beasts turn to me, but I had to ignore them. “And how do I do that?”

I heard William in my head; You get the Holy Oil from the Tree of Mercy, and the tree is in Eden. Eden, which is long gone.

He clamped a heavy hand on my shoulder, regret evident in his face.

Devon shook her head, smiling softly. “Eden isn’t a place anymore. It`s a state of mind. It`s everywhere you are where you feel like you can be exactly who you were supposed to be. It is, however, true that a human can`t get to the tree. And neither can the Beasts. Not alone, anyway. It has to be someone magical.”

I shook my head tiredly, “I`m just a witch, anyone can do what I do.” Devon smiled again. “You, my dear, are made of pure magic. Have you been using spells lately?” I thought about it, the shield I had created earlier, the way I made wind by just using my hands… The doctor saw the realisation in my face. “That`s not all.” I laughed at her words, of course it isn’t. “The Holy oil… It`s called holy for a whole other reason than what the sons of Adam and Seth thinks it is.” I blinked, what did she mean? Devon winked at me, “You`ll figure it out. Just bring your Beast with you. And now I must go, I can`t interfere in this fight.” I panicked, “What fight?” Her hair waved gently when she turned away from me, “You have to beat the Undead. They are coming.”

I gaped at her words, the angel guided Samuel and Bridget inside and she didn’t turn.

Behind me, I heard Benjamin talking while struggling to catch his breath.

“They are all…dead. They are coming from the graves, from the funeral homes, from backyards. Rotten corpses, embalmed mummies, skeletons.”

Jafet took a step closer to me, I could see a victorious gleam in his eyes.

It is finally happening; FATE is catching up. We will fight the Flesh, and we will get the Oil, the potion, at last.

They were so quiet, one second it was just the pale light of dawn and the next, dead things appeared from every direction. I couldn’t call it people; most were long beyond being recognisable as anything that had been alive. How could this be a fight? They looked like you could just flick them down to the ground. That`s when I saw one of them – when she`d been alive she had probably been in her late sixties, the remnants of her hair in a long silvery braid down her back, clad in a once white night gown. The skin had dried and retracted – baring her teeth, which she now was using to gnaw into an arm. A bloody, torn off arm. Dead people don’t bleed, it had to have been from someone recently alive.

Benjamin smiled grimly to William and Belinda, Natan stood in the background not believing his eyes.

“You heard the Messenger, you gotta take your Witch away somewhere, we will deal with…” He looked at a man whose left eyeball dangled down his face, and raised an eyebrow, “the zombies.”

Zombies. In hundreds. Where did all of them come from? And what about the people in town? I couldn’t just abandon them; they were my responsibility. I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder and turned to see Natan`s face, dreary but determined. “You have to leave and do whatever it is you need to do to stop this.” I bit my lip, trying to stop the tears from falling, I was so scared, but I couldn’t admit it. “No, I need to be here, I need to protect my people. It`s my job.” Natan shook his head, “You forget that I`m a Reeveer as well, you`re not the only Palindrome. I`ll protect them.”

William kept quiet the whole time, but I suddenly saw him flinch. I followed the direction of his glare, and it ended on Henrietta. He then looked at his Father, but George just blinked one time and that was that. She was a dreadful sight, she looked like someone had put a Barbie-doll together all wrong.

Natan cracked his knuckles, “I`ll start with this bitch, she`s the one who killed mum and dad.”

That did get George`s attention. I didn’t hear what he said to Natan, but Natan looked coldly at George and held his chin up high.

“It wasn’t a natural car-crash, she said she wanted our Mother dead, since you obviously had feelings for her.”

My hair whipped around my face, the feelings in me turning into a storm of emotions. Natan looked at me with wide eyes, just as William folded out his wings.

“Hannah, you`re glowing. You need to calm down.”

My hands were trembling from anger and fury. This bitch killed my parents? She was the reason Natan had been in a dungeon for years?

The tremble changed into a steady move, my hands lifted themselves to the sky and I could see the light coming from me, but it didn’t scare me. It empowered me. I focused all my energy on the walking corpse, one death wasn’t enough for her. I let my arms fall down fast, and the ground shivered under us, creating a crack in the lawn heading for Henrietta. Her head flipped up, the eyes finally giving away some emotions – pure hatred. And it was locked on me. She growled and spurted into a run, but the broken legs hindered her speed. The crack widened and right before she reached the driveway, the ground swallowed her. It all had happened so fast, nobody had moved.

“Hannah, what is happening to you?” Belinda looked scared at first, but she swallowed and gave me a high five. William had his purple eyes on me, but it wasn’t hatred that was showing there.

You are glowing. You look magnificent.

I felt magnificent. And scared. What was happening to me? The words of the angel popped into my head, pure magic… Where was the Goddess when I needed her?

Benjamin shifted direction and folded out his wings as well.

You have to leave and do whatever you need to do. They are too many.

He was right, the numbers had multiplied while I had showed off my new skills. Where were they all coming from? I saw one carrying something, he was wearing an old uniform. It was then I remembered the old army cemetery, how many had been buried there?

Benjamin gave a mighty growl, which echoed in the dawn, alerting all the zombies. They turned in our direction in unison, making Belinda swear.

That was the last thing I heard before I was airborne. William`s strong hands had a tight grip around me, lifting us high in the sky, away from the hell that exploded back on the ground. It was like a renaissance-painting. Where one corpse fell, two new one took its place. I couldn’t leave them?

HANNAH! Stay still. We need to do our part. Where are your Eden, love?

The screams reached my ears, making it difficult to think about Eden. Where was my Eden? Was it a place I could call Eden? A place I could call Paradise?

Or was it a person? Where had I felt one with myself and with someone else? A tranquil lake appeared for my inner eye, with trees overhanging the surface. Where I had been Hannah, and William had been just William. A lifetime ago. Was it possible to re-create my Eden knowing what I did now? Can you go back to Paradise?

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