Lacrima: Chapter Twenty Seven
Curtain Call
“You’re out of line.” Lucille grimaced at Konrad. Bae wiped underneath her eyes and blinked out as much as she could. Job supported himself with the back of his chair. A ringing wouldn’t escape his ears.
“Says the person who essentially tortured us,” Konrad barked, losing his composure as quickly as he gained it. “What? You have this mansion’s power and you brainwash people?! What haven’t you been telling us?!”
“Everything unnecessary for you,” Lucille said. She flared his nose. “God, why can’t any of you be happy?” Her breaths landed on the ground heavier and heavier. A bloody flush reddened her features. “I had you! I had you!” Her fingers pinched together and she held her strangled hands up. “We could’ve had it good! I picked you! I chose you because I knew you’d all be perfect!” Her jaw clamped down in clench.
“Yeah, except Argus!” Konrad yelled. His thumb smeared away the blood that accrued on his upper lip. “He had to be removed. He didn’t fit! And so did Catherine!” He said her name with great relish, as if it was a spell. For Job, Bae, and Konrad, it might as well have been. Catherine’s name broke the curse.
Lucille caged up. Balled her fists. “Argus wasn’t invited! I never wanted him here! As for Catherine…” She looked away. “...I had hopes for her. I really did. But she removed herself. I knew she would be a bugbear for all of you. Better to forget than forgive, in that case.”
“You screwed with our heads!” Konrad gripped the sides of his skull, as if protecting it. He wouldn’t take having his own mind for granted for the rest of his life. Konrad turned to the other two. Both gasped heavily. “Guys! We’re free!”
Job didn’t respond. The tinnitus poured over him. His eyelids fluttered.
As for Bae, the whites of her eyes stained red, she looked at Lucille.
“Why…” It came out weak, but the effect was immediate.
Lucille lost her tension and bent her neck down.
“I wanted the best for you,” she cooed.
“Could you see my memories?” Bae asked. “I heard your voice in the…”
“Dream-scripting,” Lucille named it.
“That.” Profound pain marred Bae’s face. “So, could you?”
“Yes,” Lucille answered. “My privileges can give me root access to a person’s mental world. I can’t hear them all the time - unfortunately - but I can work with your memories through my Servants.”
“Yeah, that’s how she forced her own ideas into our heads,” Konrad said, jabbing his temple with his thumb. “This whole mansion can function as an afterlife by blurring the lines between the mental and physical worlds. Death isn’t the end. The systems of the mansion can keep your mind going. That’s how we have the Servants. Like what remains of Argus…” Konrad grunted, clearing his throat. The metallic tang still stung the back of his tongue. “But in order to do that, it would have to get access to a person’s thoughts. I don’t know how it works. Nor do I think Lucille does. But it does. Thoughts and cognition can be measured in watts here.”
“I hate how you put it like that,” Lucille protested. “It really degrades this place when you define it as nothing but a thought-capturer. As if humans be relegated to mere pulses of neurons”
“I literally hunt ghosts and put my videos on YouTube,” Konrad replied. “If anyone wants ghosts to be real, it would be someone like me! If you want to know someone who really thought humans were nothing but meat and memories, go ask Esau. Better yet, read his journal!”
“I should’ve stolen it,” she gulped. “Rip it up. Burn it! I knew Esau. His words were not him! I already read that damn journal. Marked it up too. I should’ve- Ugh! He was…” Lucille rubbed her throat. “... troubled by the end. That journal could only be bad news. I was so stupid to let Job read it.”
“But it seems like what he wrote had some truth to it.” Konrad extended his arms. “Exhibit A-Z: everything that has happened to us.” He sneered at her. “So, what? You wanted to keep your idea of Esau scared, so you brainwashed us?”
“I told you!” She smacked her hand into her palm. “I want you - all of you - to be happy! That’s what this place is for! This place can give you anything you want! Just ask! Why do you want to leave so badly?!”
Bae came to the other side of the table. “Back to what I asked. So, you knew my memories? My past?”
Lucille felt each word pound into her. She said, meekly, “Yes.”
Bae Yuri unlaced the heels Lucille put onto her feet. She threw them off over her shoulders. “You knew about Daniel, then.”
Not a question, Lucille heard. “Yes,” she answered. She didn’t fully grasp the implication.
“So, you knew the moment that made me swear off drinking.” Bae cracked her knuckles and advanced towards her. “You saw the evening when I last wore a dress.” She gripped a clawful of the silk fabric forced onto her. “Voluntarily.”
“Yes,” Lucille said, taking a step back.
“And you still pushed me to drink.” Her footfalls fell down ponderously. “Still dressed me like a doll. Looked at me like he did that night.”
“Hey, I thought I was helping you!” Lucille kept stepping back. “Drinking helps me calm down! Plus, I thought you looked amazing in that dress!”
Bae reached forward and closed Lucille’s neckline. Her forearm became an unbreakable plank of muscle cords. Lucille went limp in her grip.
“You wanted to make us happy?” Bae searched Lucille’s face for remorse. She couldn’t find any. Only genuine confusion. “That’s just another lie. You knew what haunted me.” Lucille’s light-blue eyes looked sickly as they widened. Bae stiffened her legs. “You just didn’t care!”
Bae threw Lucille to the ground in a whipcord rip. The back of Lucille’s head knocked against the floorboards. She yelped before dissolving into whimpers. Bae wheeled her leg. Years of repression. Years of being perfect. Years of being a doll for everyone. All of those embodied in a single, pathetic creature. She launched a kick, but Lucille rolled out of the way.
Blinking the stars from her vision, Lucille cocked back her wrist and jabbed it at Bae. The board next to her opened and a Servant crawled from it. As a bolt, it nearly collided with Bae. She dodged, feeling the hair burn off her arm. Bae erratically jumped back in a retreat. The Servant harried her, dissolving into particles and reforming with each attack. Bae grabbed a chair, gripped with both hands, and spun around to disperse the Servant. It slipped through the gaps and appeared on the other side of her. She pushed back, throwing the chair away to keep her speed up.
Her attention flicked to the window. The glass peered outside, raining heavily as it always did on Lacrima.
Bae slid over the table to grab another chair. Job stepped back. He struggled the most of the three guests to reorient himself. At this point, his hearing returned as his back slumped against the wall. He stabilized himself with deep breaths, even as the dining hall broke apart into bedlam.
The Servant slipped under the table. Bae grabbed a chair, spun around in a hammer toss, and loosed it from her grip. It collided with the window. A webbing of fracture spread out as the chair collapsed down back to the floor. Jumping atop the table, Bae evaded the Servant by a thread. She ran off to purchase more distance.
Konrad, taking Bae’s lead, lifted the ouija board up and flung it against the pre-broken glass. It made a modest dent as the corner cut into the glass.
Lucille collected herself, catching the wind knocked out of her. She stumbled up to her and held her throbbing head. Her voice didn’t return, but her gestures spoke for her. She snapped and pointed several times at Bae - the most obvious threat.
Boards retracted back and Servants pulled themselves up into the dining hall. Long, distended limbs reached out. Bae found herself closer to the broken, but not fully shattered window. She pulled up the chair she had thrown and bashed into the glass. More lines spread out with the absorbed thump. Adrenaline saw her to the end with one last fling. The chair broke through the glass, tasting the rain from the storm. She pulled down the chair and dragged it against the frame. Shards spilled below her. Bae tried not to step around too much, but she couldn’t fuss with a cut here and there.
Five Servants closed in on her. Without any more time, Bae vaulted herself through the gaps. Her body caught against some of the glass, but her weight carried through the fragile remains. She landed in the slick grass. Raindrops pounded down on her. Within seconds, she was drenched. But she ran. Running against slick grass, half-sliding through mud, and evaded obstacles through low-hanging fog, Bae climbed up the hill and into the forest.
Konrad froze. The shower of glass rang in his ear, echoing as a terrible refrain. Tears welled up in his eyes. His old imagined scene played vividly before him.
Car crash…
Right on the bridge…
Just went for food…
All four passengers were killed…
He grunted, blinking, not registering the Servants that pulled away from the window. Lucille raised her hand, ready to signal them to hound Konrad. But just as her thumb and middle finger pressed together, Job pushed against her shoulders. She wheeled around to find him baring over her. Doubtful fear dripped through her. Then, he leaned over and kissed her. The irrational whirlwind rush overtook her. With betrayal so close, Lucille fell into him. She wrapped her hands, clutched his thick back. Holding the back of head, Job held her deeply. As continued the kiss, he looked up to Konrad - mere feet away.
Konrad sensed the still in the action and looked behind him. He saw Job kissing Lucille, nearly consuming her. His intelligent eyes were fixated on Konrad. The young paranormal investigator read them clearly: ‘Go! Run!’
He thanked his newfound friend by mouthing the words. Konrad’s long legs allowed him to run the distance and jump through the window. He fell into the slippery turf.
“KONRAD!” Bae called from the top of the hill. He could just make out her shape through the fog and the rain that beat against his face. Cresting his face downward, he ambled up the hill. Clumsily, he managed to get enough friction between his shoes and the softened earth. The lingering shock of the crash of glass still addled him. Konrad still wasn’t fully there yet mentally.
They told me it would be quick, he thought. I said I wanted to take a nap. I had a long day. I forget what happened. One of my friends said something ignorant or stupid, but I forgot what was said. I laid on the couch and heard them talk…
Konrad tumbled over himself. The angle of the incline proved too much. He dug his fingernails against the sheer face of grass.
Mom and Dad planned on getting pizza. Uncle Zeek got a new car from the dealership, used. He wanted to pick up the pizza. Save on delivery.
Konrad slowed. The cascade of rain soaked him to the bone in frigid cold. He wanted to let go and let the cold-wet take him.
Delilah always went with Mom and Dad. Me-Ma could stay, so I had an adult with me.
“KONRAD!” Bae screamed over the viscous volleys of rain. Konrad’s arms moved of their own accord, acting out of instinct than thought. He jammed his feet into the mud and dragged himself up the incline.
Bae grabbed his arm to pull him into the treeline. The storm broke against the canopy above. Rain still fell on the two as Konrad caught his breath. Bae guided him through the gloomy forest. She found a rock outcropping. Enough of the stone leaned over that it gave moderate coverage from the rain. She cleared away discarded sticks and rocks. Tiny beetles scurried away, undisturbed for years. Bae collapsed, needing a moment to herself. When she took a few seconds, she noticed Konrad still stood stiff before you.
“Hey,” she breathed out. “You okay?”
Konrad looked at her. His face was bone and skin with no expression. She stared at him for a moment. As Konrad saw a receptive face, the mask broke. His cheeks perked up and pinched with his temples. He sobbed, not comfortable with crying just yet.
“They died in that car.”
“Who?” Bae picked herself up and sat straight up. “What car?”
“They went without me. I could’ve been with them. I could’ve died with them.” Konrad trudged next to Bae and sat down next to her. He curled into himself and moaned with the tears breaking free. “If I didn’t take that nap - didn’t have that bad day, I could’ve been gone like them.”
Bae opened her mouth, then closed it. She reconsidered. “How do you feel about that?”
“I don’t know,” Konrad creaked out. “Am I glad to be alive without most of my family? Or would I be better off having gone with them? No, I should’ve been in that car.”
Bae’s lips formed an “O.” She scooted in closer. “I’m glad you weren’t in that car.”
Lifting his face from the crook of his arms, Konrad regarded Bae. She smiled at him without reservation. It was a tired smile, yes, but after all they went through and the fact she smiled for his sake…
Unburdened, Konrad weeped. He balled. More tears flowed down him. They bared down uncontrollably - without a hint of inhibition.
Bae gently grabbed him and pushed him to his shoulder. He could lean on her. He already did and Konrad couldn’t express how thankful he was for her. Konrad allowed himself to feel.
Bae, being her real authentic self, let him rest of her. There was no performance. Just the two of them and the storm all around them.