That hell, finally, exhaustively, ended. But the world I woke up to was neither beautiful, or peaceful.
I was covered in the smell of fresh blood. My head was lying on a wooden floor, and I was in an unlit Church. A dark, miserable Church.
But, I, Oliver Wolfe, was alive.
I looked around myself, nothing had changed since I died. I could make out the shapes of the girl who I died for, and the guy who (unintentionally) assisted in my death. And there was also the God, Erebus. It had moved away from me.
Did that eternal hell, only last seconds?
Rosemary was screaming my name while crying, that bastard Marrs didn't even flinch.
I slowly stood up, in an unexplainable zombie way, as if I had dug myself out of a grave, like Lisbeth Salander, the famous story by… I forgot his name… Stieg Larsson?
My body seemed to not follow my orders, and neither did my mouth.
"You bloody stupid son of a god." My voice roared. I could see its face, I looked at it in the eye. Its face was the only truly material and stable thing about it, its eyes were a dark Grey, that could be separated from the rest of its black face. It's robes moved around rapidly, as if it just saw a dead man come alive, ironic.
You god of shadows, I bet you don't like being looked in the eye, do you?
That's right, as Marrs had told me before, they are everywhere and nowhere at the same time, and a God of shadows always has his true face hidden in the background, the same thing it did to Rosemary.
Do you realise that a measly human like myself can see through you?
I, again without control of my body, jumped at the God, and threw myself on top of it. I grabbed it by its neck, and looked at it, eye to eye.
My right eye was shining, I really did have the eye of a god, huh? I could see the shininess through Erebus' reflection.
"You… you will give Rosemary her weight back, and you will leave her alone." My voice sounded horrible, like chalk on a whiteboard. "I'll forgive you for killing me, so begone Erebus."
And before I knew it, I dropped on the floor, without a God below me. It had vanished into… everywhere…?
The candle that had turned off before the ritual also turned on, somehow. And they both saw me.
Marrs didn't look surprised or shocked, or even worried. But Rosemary was on the ground, she looked at me scared, as if I was going to take her life.
"You have a nice eye, don't ya Oliver?" He looked smug. "I'm surprised, you did well kid."
Well no, you don't look surprised at all.
I decided to not talk to him, and instead went to Rosemary.
"Hey, you okay?"
"…"
"Oi, I'm talking to you."
"I saw you die…"
Then she pointed at my stomach. "What the hell happened?"
She didn't ask about my eye, but maybe that's for the better. I looked down at myself, to the entire suit covered in blood. There was a massive hole in the middle too, like I cut off the front and back of the suit, perfectly… perfectly bad.
Sorry dad.
Huh that rhymed…
…but who cares, I'm sad.
"Who knows, lets go home. Tomorrow we'll find out if you're visible or not."
She then jumped at me, and…
…she hugged me.
"Please don't die. Oliver Wolfe."
The hug felt so surprising, I found my heart warm. It was just like when Metis, the God of wisdom, embraced me in that place.
She pulled away, and then her face changed, and she looked like the normal monotonous Rosemary I knew.
"Fine, I don't care too much anyways… but… but."
"Hey, Oliver fella. Could you actually stay back a lil. I need to have a chat with ya." The Bishop suddenly called out, interrupting us at, probably, a good time.
Rosemary looked a little disappointed. "Okay. And Bishop Marrs, thank you for everything."
She bowed at him, before turning around.
"Hold on hold on missy, don't you wonna finish that story? It was pretty heart-warming."
I expected her to give him a sneer, but I wanted to know as well. What the hell happened to her?
She turned around and I saw her eyes were still red of tears.
"I went mute for several years. When mother left, I couldn't be the loving child that my father wanted, and he wasn't the loving father I got. I quit school for several years, and when I returned, I no longer belonged. I was an outsider."
She looked down at the floor.
"My father then arranged me to marry a rich student in our school. I didn't go against his decision, but when I saw him… When I saw him kill another boy, it was too much…"
Jesus, what the fuck.
She looked at me, looking for disapproval.
"…I asked God to make me disappear, to make them forget I saw it. Then I asked God to make me disappear forever. Then no one could see me…apart from you."
Her eyes were loving, they were gentle. How could I have never seen it?
"You saw me, and you saved me. Thank you for being my friend, Oliver."
We were friends? This is the kindest she had ever been to me.
"From the moment I disappeared, I regretted my decision. When you first saw me, I was afraid of you. You ran after me like you were chasing a prey. But you helped me, you saved me. Thank you."
I was stunned, and wordless. I didn't deserve any of this. I was mostly useless. If anything, my existence had stopped the ritual from going as planned, and I had to show you a horrible sight.
But how much pain have you endured, Mrs Rosemary? To witness a ruined family, your ruined family. To witness murder, and to be sold off…
How much pain can you endure?
Is your world worse than mine? If so, what the fuck?
The other part of what she said, didn't surprise me. Two students killed murdered a third one. The fiancé, a rich student, managed to get away, to transfer, and to run off. And the accomplice killed himself before he could be charged for murder. It made a lot of sense. But it made me feel empty.
"Rosemary…"
She looked at me, a little afraid of what I had to say.
22:58
"…good night."
"You too." She mumbled.