" Lissete" Another voice drags me out of my commiserations. I don't dare to take my eyes off the crazy, because, gotta watch the crazy ones.
" Oh, if I would've known I'd be having so many guests, I would have prepared food," She beams again, but I know from the undertone of her voice that there is something dangerous that I'm missing. My brain might be short-circuited from the lack of sleep, and dread but sense the threat all the way into my bones.
" Lily," The woman behind me calls, but I can't move. I'm rooted to the spot. I feel, no, I know if I move the spell is broken, and I'll raise hell on earth.
" Oh, Emmy you're such a party pooper," Lissete whines, crossing her arms over her chest, clutching the two blades strapped to her upper arms.
" Lissete, I don't want to fight you. Let the girl be, and we will be on our way. Your beef is with Masson," Emmy says, and I feel her a few steps behind me. Lissete mockingly pouts, making ducky lips like small children when they pretend to be upset but they really aren't. And my mind is focused entirely on his name. She knows Mason. She knows where he is. So, he is still alive. Relief washes over me, and it feels so much like a cool breeze after a scorching summer's day.
" Where is he?" I tentatively ask and I realise that my voice has lost its strength and none of them heard me.
Tapping her index finger on her chin, clutching the blade that she probably slid out of the sheaths while was I trying to come to my senses, Lissete pretends to be thinking.
" Tell you what, you give me the girl. I'm feeling rather clement today, and I'll tell you how to find Mason," she purses her lips and locks eyes with me.
" You're crazier than I thought, " Emmy scoffs behind me, but somehow she feels closer than before.
" Emmy, Emmy, Emmy...," Lisette tutts, rolls her eyes so hard, that her head tilts back to look at the damn ceiling.
" Always the hero. Always fair and just and ugh," Lissete gags mockingly and waves dismissively with a flourish.
" It makes me queasy, each time I see you, you know," She carries on, and I feel a hand wrap around my elbow. I don't move and prepare myself to bolt out the door.
I'm well aware of my cowardice. You're probably thinking that I should fight with dying breath. No matter how puny my self-preservation is, it's still there and it says to run. I'm not afraid of dying but it doesn't mean I'm looking forward to it.
" It makes you queasy because you are yet to win a fight against me," Emmy laughs lightly behind me," Last time we fought you ran with your tail between your legs, if memory serves me right," I can hear the laugh in Emmy's voice. This is a long-standing feud. And somehow, I ended up being the prize.
" Oh, please," Lissete scoffs," We haven't stood against each other in over five years. A lot has changed. Wanna' try again?" Lissete grin is savage, straight out of a nightmare.
" By the way, where have you been?" She carries on without waiting for a response to the challenge she has thrown at Emmy's feet.
" Wouldn't you like to know," Emmy, squeezes my elbow, and somehow I know that's my cue to leave.
I don't know if she is the enemy or not, but she feels the safer choice out of the two. I have a feeling that the crazy brunette would skin me alive just for laughs.
My senses have all but shut down, my sole focus is to make it out of the door. I send a quick thank you to my body, for gathering enough strength to actually run.
The front door is just within reach when a loud thump and grunting snaps me out of adrenaline-induced haze. I stop on the threshold steady myself against the door, and turn to look at the two women struggling on the floor not far behind me.
" Run," Emmy says with a grunt, elbows Lissete in her chin, and kicks her in the stomach when Lissete recoils. And that's all I get to see before someone yanks me by the arm and drags me outside.
I wanted to kick and scream, but I didn't have it me, anymore. Whatever energy I had left it had been already exhausted. My knees went weak and all the strength drained out of me, in one single breath, I collapsed very much like a sack of potatoes.
I didn't who was friend or foe. I didn't know any of the people that I stumbled upon in my short-lived quest for answers.
I didn't fear death. What I feared was what came before it. For there is no escape from death. Whether we are ready or not, it will come for us. And when it does, there is nothing that you can do. All that matters is what you do in the now.