Chapter 11

Years of Dust

Rita felt the sharp fingers slowly ease up, retreat from the burning wounds in her back. She wanted to take a breath, but her lungs refused. Would this be her end? Had the trap slammed shut? Because no matter how hard she tried, there was no escape. The only way out was to die. Blood was soaking her sweater, pooling in the deep cuts this…thing had carved into her body. She couldn’t help feeling utterly stupid and naive, on top of feeling physically battered. They had both run into this creature’s arms like a fly into a spider’s web. 

Stupid. Stupid!!

Kaisa! Rita turned to look at her, even though she really didn’t want to see. Crushed… Her neck…broken. Rita couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes. As much as she ordered them to, they just wouldn’t. 

Please don’t be dead, please, please. I can’t do this alone, I can’t do this without you. Please don’t leave me here. 

She was so scared. Scared to look at the monster, scared to look at the limp corpse of her best friend, wishing she could have died first. Was she alone now?

You fucking coward! You baby! Look! Look at her!

Rita heard the sobs before she realized they came from her. With a trembling lip she forced her eyes open, and when she saw, her heart stopped.
Kaisa wasn’t dead. She didn’t even seem to be hurt. Rita watched as she pulled her arms free. Like it was nothing. Like absolutely nothing. Kaisa clasped the creature’s head, and Orla’s face disappeared. It happened so quickly, Rita briefly wondered whether she’d just imagined it. What stood over her now didn’t look like her mother anymore, didn’t look like a human at all. It must have been ancient. Shrunken gray skin stretching over sharp, bare bones. Its arms and fingers were long and crooked, like twigs of an old tree, blackening at their tips like they were infested with rot. Its mouth spread from one ear to the other, so wide, it almost split the face in half. A white fog clouded its eyes, almost as if it was blind. Rita didn’t want to look too long, didn’t mean to stare, like this thing would punish her for it if she did. Wounds covered its head, some exposing bare bone, as if patches of hair had been ripped from it. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this…whatever it was, might have been human once. This creature had known violence. 

“Leave.”

It was all Kaisa said, looking directly into its sunken white eyes. No fear. No fear… Rita was still gasping for air, not daring to let her best friend out of sight.
Then, at once, the creature released them both from its grip, pulling its fingers from Rita’s back. Her own scream rang in her ears before her knees became weak and she slapped her hand onto her mouth to not throw up. Her head was spinning, but by some miracle she remained standing on her feet.

“Release me! Stop staring you cursed child, you unwritten pest!”

It flailed its long arms, trying to pull itself free, and clawed into Kaisa’s shoulder. She didn’t move, like she hadn’t even felt it, but the force of the attack had almost ripped her arm clean off. Rita stared with eyes wide open as the blood started streaming and the warm smell of iron hit her nostrils. She pressed her lips together and swallowed hard. How did Kaisa just stand there? Didn’t she see? Didn’t she feel? And with a stern face, drenched in her own blood that was now pooling at their feet, she said:

“Goodbye.”

And it was gone. Just…gone. Kaisa’s hands clapped together as the withered face between them disappeared. She stood there for a while, her hands folded. Almost as if she was praying. Only when their eyes finally met could Rita see. The whites of Kaisa’s eyes were black, pitch black, and from them stared two shining spheres. One green…the other hazel.

“What…what happened. What was that? Who…who are you?” Rita stuttered, out of breath.

“We’re alright. It’s gone. I’m me, don’t worry,” Kaisa simply replied, her voice so steady and calm as if nothing had happened. As if she wasn’t still bleeding. Rita wiped her eyes and struggled to open them again. Her head was so light, her knees still soft like jelly. All she wanted was to break down, vomit, cry. Not be part of this any longer. When she took another look at Kaisa, she had gone back to the way she’d always been. The black of her eyes had faded, but she could still see the last traces as it disappeared like smoke.

“What was it, what do you me-ean by it-…”

The pain in her back had gotten louder and louder and it took more and more of her breath away.

“You’re bleeding, you need to sit down. Don’t pass out, okay? I might be able to-”

But when Kaisa reached out her hand, Rita quickly slapped it away, though she really didn’t mean to.

“Please don’t-. Don’t touch me…”

Kaisa nodded, but Rita could tell this had hurt her, and that she hadn’t meant for either. Perhaps this was just her friend after all? Rita’s thoughts started racing, and just when she wanted to sink to her knees and try to catch her breath, she noticed the blood again. It was pooled around Kaisa’s feet and had inched towards Rita, who could see a small, blurry glimpse of her own reflection in the deep red puddle that was slowly spreading out towards her.

“Your…your arm.” 

Kaisa looked down at her feet, then at her arm. The arm that was barely hanging onto her body. Rita quickly looked away, feeling her stomach contract.

“I think it’ll be fine, I’m more worried about you,” Kaisa said, calmly.

“Fine? How will it be-”

Rita shook her head. No more. No more or she would faint and she was scared of what would happen to her then.

“I think you should go downstairs. I want to look for your parents, Rita, but you can’t. You have to sit down at least. Please. Just…just trust me okay?”

Trust…Rita scoffed, then flinched in pain.

“You know these things. You know I’m…different.”

“Different…”

There was no use. This had to wait, whether she liked it or not. Rita’s breaths had become so shallow, it was almost impossible to keep herself steady.

“Look, I-”

But Rita just held up her hand, shook her head again, and slowly dragged herself out of the bedroom and towards the stairs, leaving Kaisa behind, staring after her. It didn’t matter what Rita wanted, what she thought. There was nothing left inside her to keep her going. She had no choice but to trust, although with everything that she’d just seen, it was the last thing she wanted to do.

---

Kaisa sighed as she watched Rita disappear down the stairs. She had a feeling that this would become a very difficult awakening for the both of them. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes for a second before she turned around and looked into the dark master bedroom. It was bigger than she remembered. The double bed sat against the far wall and was almost completely swallowed by darkness. Part of her found it rather unlikely to be surprised by yet another creature looming around, but she also didn’t want to be caught off guard like that ever again. She took a deep breath, felt her shoulder throbbing and the sharp burn of the open wound now that it had stopped bleeding, but she didn’t bother to check the state of it.

“Alright Orla…,” she said and let herself get swallowed by the darkness as she slowly walked further into the room. The bed was neatly made, but covered with a slight gray blur. She touched the surface and looked back at her fingers. Dust. Dust? 

“It’s been so long…,” she mumbled.

The room was quiet, almost to the point where she lost faith in Orla even being there. She could feel her, though. Ever so slightly, hoping it wasn’t just the last trace of a memory. When she looked down, she could faintly see what must be her footprints in the gray layer on the ground. There was the clearing at the door from the struggle earlier. There were the impostor’s prints leading to the door, waiting for them. She bent down to look more closely. Its footprints led her across the room and back to the bed, almost exactly where Kaisa stood.

“I suspect this is going to absolutely suck,” Kaisa whispered to herself. She dropped onto her knees and lifted the bedcovers to take a look underneath. 

“Nothing.”

But she kept looking, nibbling on her lower lip as she fought the urge to make this a little too easy on herself.

“Oh, for fuck's sake,” she cussed, rolled her eyes, lay down onto her stomach and pushed herself into the small, dark gap that slowly swallowed her whole. To her luck, Orla’s and Thorinn’s bed was rather tall, so she had at least about a hand’s width of empty space between her head and the bottom of the bed frame. Even though she knew it wouldn’t make a difference, the thought of getting all that dust into her open wound disgusted her. Kaisa peeked briefly down to her shoulder and, to her relief, found that it had almost taken care of itself. The blood had mostly dried and crumbled off the new layer of skin that had grown over the rather severe wound. A little smirk stole across her lips as she saw her body intact.

“Not too shabby.”

Kaisa took a look around, and tried her hardest not to inhale too deeply. A couple of hair pins and ties, a sock and what looked like an old greeting card lay scattered around her head. She picked it up and looked at the picture. It was a painting of Reykjavík, Iceland’s capital. For a moment all she did was stare at the small card and even though it was dark she thought she could make out each house, even the Harpa, the opera house at the harbor. One day, she thought. One day, I swear. I swear. Kaisa ran her fingers across the card one more time, but then dropped it back onto the floor.

“Not now…now we have to find Orla.” 

And as if on cue, she felt something. Something had brushed up against the top of her head, sending a tingle down her spine. A shudder vibrated her body, made the hairs on her arms stand on edge.

“Oh god, please don’t be gross.”

She couldn’t turn her head far enough to see what it was. Kaisa swallowed, cursed, and finally rolled over onto her back. At first she saw nothing, only a black void. She waited. And with time more small details emerged from the big nothing that stared back at her.
And finally, she saw.
A flash of hot, electric terror shot through her entire body and twisted her stomach. She let out a short gasp and half swallowed the scream that wanted to follow right after. About a fist's length from her nose, right above her head, was a human face. Eyes closed, skin pale and gray. The face was half submerged in a cloud of thick curly black hair that fell down and hovered right above Kaisa’s own face.

“Orla??”

She looked like she was frozen in a sea of black ink. At first, it didn’t make any sense to Kaisa, but she figured Orla must somehow be merged with the wooden bottom of her own bed. For a second Kaisa couldn’t do anything but lay there and stare up at Orla’s gray face. She looked…dead.

“ORLA!!” Kaisa heard herself shout and reached up to touch her face with both of her hands. 

“Wake up! HEY! Don’t you dare be fucking dead!” 

At that exact moment, Kaisa heard a sigh so quiet, she almost thought it was just in her head. 

“Kai-sa?”

Orla’s lips had barely moved, but it was all Kaisa needed.

“Y-YES! Wait!”

She shuffled out from under the bed and quickly got up. With a widened stance she grabbed the frame and exhaled through pursed lips. 

“From the legs, Kaisa,” she said and with one strong pull she…had barely moved it an inch. 

“This damn woman and her expensive high-end shit, why is this so GOD DAMN HEAVY!” Kaisa shouted and pulled once more, harder. 

“No use, NO USE! Orla, how am I gonna get you out of there? HOW?” 

Kaisa let out a loud grunt and let her eyes dart across the dark room, over the bed, down at herself. She had no idea what to do, and it was like being suspended in midair, just inches above the ground. How in god’s name was she…melted into the bottom boards of the bed? Who did this? How? Kaisa wrapped her arms around her head and pressed them against her eyes for a moment until she finally had an idea. She pulled the dusty sheets from the bed and flung them onto the floor, feeling the cloud of dust rising from the pile tickle her nose. On all fours she then crawled on top, shuffling forward until she stood where she believed Orla to be. 

“Okay…okay. Focus, focus. What do I want? What do I want? Grab her…pull…no…wait…wait! Pull her through!” 

She closed her eyes and then the world went still, just for a single breath. Then, everything happened quickly. Kaisa’s hands sank into the bed, through the mattress, sank down until her nose touched the sheets. She pulled back and tight to her chest she held Orla’s motionless body. They fell backwards onto the foot of the bed, both their heads dangling upside down from the edge. Just as Kaisa wanted to push Orla off herself, she froze. In the far corner of the room, right next to the dresser, stood a small creature, wrapped in darkness, eyes glinting. Kaisa’s heart started to pound in her chest while she lay wedged between the bed and a still lifeless looking Orla. She tried to push Orla off her without letting her tumble off the bed, but as she quickly stared back into the dark corner, there was nothing. Had she just imagined it? With squinted eyes she stared for a while longer, and when Orla suddenly shifted Kaisa felt her heart jump.

“Orla?” 

Orla didn’t speak, didn’t particularly look more alive than she’d looked just a second ago, and Kaisa knew she had to do something. They couldn’t stay here.

“I gotta get you out of here, momma.” 

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Kaisa pulled one of Orla’s limp arms over her shoulder, then the other. She leaned forward and felt Orla’s head resting lifelessly on her neck. 

“One. Two. Thre-” Kaisa pushed herself up and immediately felt Orla’s weight sag onto her. 

“I can do this, I can do this. I just have to not fall downstairs and accidentally smash your head into the handrail. Easy. Peasy. Something-Something. Squeezy.” 

She slowly walked towards the door, feeling Orla’s body sway her back and forth, straining her knees with each step. Once she’d reached the stairwell, feeling her neck and forehead getting damp and hot, she saw Rita staring up at them from the bottom of the stairs. She, too, was pale, but despite her wounded back looked alright.

“MOM!” she yelled, but immediately flinched. Perhaps in pain, perhaps from Orla’s pitiful sight.

“What happened to her?”

“Don’t know, we need to get her to my house. Fast!”

“What about my dad?”

“He’s not here, Rita. It’s just her.”

“But…”

“Maybe she knows where he is. He’s alive! He’s alive. I know he is. Trust me okay?” Kaisa said, trying to reassure her best friend, trying to get them to stop arguing and start acting. She wouldn’t be able to carry Orla much longer.

“Okay…okay. Let’s go, okay? Let’s leave,” Rita gasped, still sounding strained. 

“It’s fine, Rita. It’s all gonna be fine. I know it.”