"It hurts, it hurts so much" Qaya winced

Her vision was blurry, but she saw the sad, regretful eyes of her murderer.

"was she being sympathetic" Qaya mused as she felt life leaving her.

In her mind, she screamed "how pathetic! at least own up to your actions, goody too shoes". She spat blood and waited for death to take her.

As she looked at the ceiling, she thought about how she had spent her life.

"This is my wake up call" she joked in her mind

Everything seemed so slow.

*BEFORE THIS*

"You can't keep doing this" Melinda fumed.

"who are you to tell me what I can and can't do? I am not harming anyone"

Qaya stood up from her typewriter and gave her friend the stink eye.

"you don't think anyone is being harmed? you defame people in your articles"

"and?" this was Qaya

"You really think you're not doing anything wrong."

Qaya sighed and chugged a small bottle of rum, making a stank face.

"when did I say anything like that? I'm aware that I'm not righteous but what exactly do you think you can say to make me change"

"This will eventually backfire"

"I'm tired, I just finished tomorrow's story. I want to sleep early so I can send it to the press." she yawned and slumped into her bed.

Melinda stared at her snoring friend and looked at the story her friend wrote.

"you really aren't redeemable, are you?"

Qaya broke out of her reminiscing and looked around, it was pitch black.

"is this death? disappointing, really"

But it was peaceful, the cold wind titillated her eyes, she drifted to sleep, could someone die after dying?

"Qaya!!! for this evil you've done..." the woman could not complete her sentence, she was dragged away by the prison guards. Qaya picked her ears nonchalantly and turned to the king.

"leave us" his baritone voice prevailed through the court, and while there was visible disapproval of his conduct, the court officials started leaving one by one.

"when I told you to get rid of dame Marie, I did not envision that you would dig up such heinous things on her"

"of course because I didn't"

the king feigned a frown and shook his head disapprovingly "No, you mustn't say that, it was clear that Dame Marie obviously was involved in the arms trafficking case"

Qaya smirked understanding the King's words, the lies she had fabricated had become truth, after all, the King's word is law.

"seeing as I proved to be responsible, I trust you will deem me fit for more responsibilities"

"of course, the office of minister of information has been vacant for too long"

"I had no idea that Sir Milton had resigned"

"not yet, but soon" he gave her a malicious grin

"your efficiency proves that you are worthy to be king"

the king giggled "I am glad you think so."

Qaya left the court feeling giddy but she made sure to maintain her composure. her countenance became bitter as she saw Melinda.

"sadist..." Melinda mumbled but when she noticed that Qaya did not care to confront her, she spoke louder.

"Guilt must be an unfamiliar feeling to you. You destroyed a woman's life, destabilized her household but your eyes sparkle"

"it would be stupid of me to do those things and feel sad, after all I meant to do it."

"so you admit to setting Marie up, how? with what resources?"

"what exactly are you expecting? that I give you a long monologue about the execution?"

"you're doing this for what?"

Qaya sighed "Melinda, I respect you, you manage to make money without killing people and all but no one cares about the good or tame news...people feed on gossip, I provide that for them. I'm content with that alone."

"it's...the king...you know you aren't indispensable to him, right?"

Qaya rolled her eyes "see you at home"

In Easteford, survival was based on either or both of these things: Family or Status.

Qaya was an orphan, at least that was the better thing to say against being a child bought out of slavery by the king.

she did not have family to rely on, so she had to build her status.

"I guess it's bad that I decided to take the easy route" she mused

Qaya, even though she was far from the goal she had in mind, was known by everyone in Easteford, especially the capital as "the Harbinger"

This alias was actually a standalone news agency, solely managed by Qaya.

Despite being a commoner-owned-newspaper, it was immensely popular for exposing corruption among the nobles, this was the reason why commoners loved it.

the nobles also loved the paper but for different reasons; the paper was a front for saboteur. Nobles with grudges came to the Harbinger with requests to 'dig up dirt' on their foes.

One would think with such patronage that Qaya was well off, she was but "it could be better if that King did not monopolize my services. What do you mean, I can only work for your people?" Qaya grumbled.

"it's alright once I get a place in the ministers' council, I'll be a noble"

***

"what's this? why do I keeping thinking about my lifetime, is this what death is like? is this a way to punish me for my misdeeds? am I supposed to feel regret or guilt?"

"why am I..." her voice trailed off as she closed her eyes again.

"I promise this is the last time, this isn't for me but for you...this is the only obstacle keeping you from being the information minister" The king pleaded

Qaya shook her head "this is hard, must I do it?"

"Sir Milton gave Melinda the power of attorney and resigned. I may be king but there's nothing I can do to put you there, you just have to dig up dirt on her"

"you mean plant dirt"

he gave her a stern look "will you do it?"

"of course" she responded dryly.

"can I sabotage Melinda?" she thought to herself as she left the King's office and her inner voice replied "do you need to actually make up stuff"

"of course there's always the possibility that overly-righteous-Melinda has a dark secret but I can't bring myself to actually do that. I'm so pathetic"

Later

"DOES THIS STILL COUNT AS NEPOTISM? THE MILTON-MELINDA AFFAIR"

This was harbinger's top headline, everyone was talking about the woman in an affair with a man old enough to be her father.

"it's one issue to fornicate and an even more serious one, to do so with your father's peer."

"to think she did all this for a measly information minister post, utterly disgusting"

"she was probably hoping to climb higher once she got into the council"

Melinda grimaced as she heard all the slanderous statements against her. But these people were not her enemies after all.

She stormed into the house and met Qaya lounging.

"Really? Qaya! really?"

"what is the problem?"

Melinda scoffed and slumped into the chair, her head in her hands.

"I thought this would be better than actually uncovering a deep secret of yours"

"My real secret is tame compared to this. I wouldn't mind one bit because it's not Harbinger-worthy"

Qaya scratched the back of her ear "so why exactly did Milton give you power of attorney?"

"what right do you have to ask that?"

"did you not come here to change the news, give a new insight and clear your name?"

"what?! this is my house, I will eventually come here"

"oh..." Qaya looked on absentmindedly.

"Did you really think you'll get the information minister post by doing this?" Melinda asked scornfully but did not get a reply.

"you make me sick"

Qaya's eyes were closed, she shrugged at her roommate's comment, she didn't really care after all.

in Qaya's mind, she knew that Melinda was above her own despicable standards, she was the kind of person that always thought Good will prevail over evil...but, now, as she lay in a pool of her own blood, the knife in her heart taunted her for believing in Melinda's piety.

"I get that what i did was mean but even I could have been spared a gruesome death" Even after being stabbed, because Melinda was a novice in handling a knife, her wound was not fatal. So for a long time, even though she lay motionless, Qaya was breathing, she was alive.

she could hear her heartbeat fainting, fighting against the sharp metal pushed into it, she could feel blood leaving her.

"who put you up to this Melinda?" That was the last thought in Qaya's mind when she died.

***

"Do I also get to be in heaven?" Qaya muttered, her mouth was bitter. she looked up at the most splendid ceiling in the world, her eyes scanned her surroundings. she was in a luxurious bed with comfortable bedding.

she heard a woman shriek "the young mistress is awake"

"that hurt my ears" Qaya paused and turned around so fast. someone said the same thing as her, at the same time? she was certain that wasn't her voice, surely...

"what in..."