To Face or To Fear

I felt the sunshine on my face before my eyes ever opened. I smiled and hummed happily before inhaling the aroma of citrus fruits from underneath the silk sheets. It had been a long time since I felt the warmth of summer like this. All my senses felt a long-lost connection when I stretched blissfully, yawning, before realization hit me in the face. Where was I? I started looking around frantically for some hint as to where I had ended up. In my search, I came face to face with a dusty mirror. I sneezed when I wiped the particles from the glass and revealed myself. "I have ears and a tail?" I thought aloud to myself. I was still in my clothes from yesterday, or however long I had been here. Suddenly, my body covered in goosebumps. In the middle of my personal recollection, I heard footsteps approach the room, and a jingling of keys in the door.

My hands reached for the closest object while my eyes stayed glued to the door. A vase wasn't exactly a weapon of choice, but for now it would have to do. I spilled the vase's contents on the floor and positioned to bat. The door must have been stuck, either that or my mental clock was ticking fast. Eventually though, the door opened as a shield to its holder, but it wouldn't protect them once they made their way inside. I sneakily crept closer to my escape.

Grumbling to himself, a man with hair like a lion's mane walked through the threshold. I began to make my advance towards him, who after a close inspection, looked more like a fox than a lion. The man didn't flinch or attempt to stop me as I charged him with my weapon. I raised the vase in pursuit of escape and gave a battle cry. "Uh... Vivian?" chuckled the man nervously. I froze to the instant sweat that came over me at the sound of his voice. The vase slipped from my hands to the floor and shattered. I watched his face fill with concern as he rushed to me in frenzy. Glass was splayed all over the floor in macro to microscopical pieces. The unidentified man reached to hold me, but I quickly snapped myself back to reality. "Do you know me?" I asked while stepping back from his domaining presence. The man's hair bounced back with his head when he laughed, "What in Heaven's Hell are you talking about?" I laughed along with him in a nervous fit of chills and confusion. This man was not my friend, and I knew that for a fact. Every piece of glass added to the radiance around him. It was unnatural.

On the other side of the door was another being. I sniffed the air, and in doing so, I made the lion-haired man smirk at me. "Ah, Shande, are you back so soon?" said the fox face. I braced myself for the figure beyond the door. "Is she awake?" Shande questioned whilst he entered the room. "Hello, my pet," he waved towards me. Shande had raven hair and grey skin; his eyes were dark, and he was fairly human aside from the dull point of his every white tooth. "I don't know what you are, but you smell like rotting flesh," I spewed out while scrunching my nose. My comment caused the blonde man to chuckle before his departure of the room. "Perhaps you can help Shande with a bath then," he joked before locking us in.

Now, it was just me and Shande, whoever he was. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?" I shouted when he pushed me onto the bed. I pressed my hands into his chest as he continuously pushed me into the soft comforter. "Don't get all shy on me now. Would you really prefer to do such a thing in the bathtub?" Shande licked his lips. I pushed him off of myself wishing I was armed with one of the glass shards at least. "I will not be taken advantage of! Who do you think you are?" I screamed. The being of a man began to turn completely black and his eyes white, "What do you mean you don't know who I am?" spoke the being in anger. I gasped aloud in an unexplainable understanding of the situation.

"You're quite the vengeful spirit, aren't you?" I huffed quick breaths of adrenaline before attempting to stare into its white eyes. "Whoever hurt you, it isn't me, Shande!" I reasoned. The being came closer, but I stayed as still as possible while he closely analyzed my body. I knew better than to disturb his search for any distinctive features or marks. My heart pounded relentlessly while Shande roughly moved my head to the side for a further analysis. While vengeful spirits were a great danger to be victim of, they were a most pitiful creature to anyone else and quite the perfectionists. These poor beings always hunted after the ones who hurt them most as a last meal before inexistence. Sometimes, the spirit would become desperate and lose their pickiness; they'd mistake their prey for another or use someone else entirely if their victim had already passed on. I always felt that death for one who hurt you was justice, but those lost to familiarity were a sorrowful case indeed. "You want to take my body and soul just like she did to you, am I right?" I questioned as I tried to hide my burning fears.

Shande eyed me with the saddest expression and gave his most sincere apology to me. My heart sank, because I knew the apology was a last part of his humanity escaping while he approached death. "I loved her, truly. Please, will you kill her for me. I want not to suffer anymore. I want to keep others from her suffering also. The taste of blood in bitter in my mouth and has stained my hands," cried the spirit. "I'm sorry, I don't know of who you speak, and I know it's not possible for you to tell me," I sympathized. "She looks like you... except you're missing the... never mind it," he spoke hoarsely. Tears of blood came from his reverted human eyes as he slowly slipped away on the bed. Gently, I placed him under the silk sheets as if he were in peaceful slumber and slipped out the door. "Beware the Father," Shande smiled faintly. "And thank you."