Chapter 74: Swan Song

Perfect girl don’t get hurt, she told herself.

Dinner had been postponed but not cancelled. Cancelling dinner would have been the equivalent of admitting defeat. Ted never lost, so dinner wasn’t cancelled.

Eva got cleaned up. Eli too. They arrived in the dinning room at the same time.

She was numb. She couldn’t feel anything. When will I learn? She wondered. She pushed the thought away, pushed it down until it was out of her mind.

I’m the one for a good fight, she told herself as she took her seat next to the Chancellor.

“I guess the wedding is off,” he said to the distressed girl.

Eva didn’t answer.

The first course was placed on the table.

Spinach salad with strawberries and goat cheese.

Mrs. Weatherspoon was dotting on Eli.

Eli wasn’t smiling. No one was smiling except Ted.

“Don’t worry my dear, the best doctors are taking care of your brother. Elijah will be just fine…” the dumb woman said.

But the teenage girl was stuck in a frenzy of thoughts: buildings blowing up, freezing rain, guns, friends, freedom. I felt the love, felt the love…

Eva poured herself a drink and downed it.

She didn’t touch her salad.

She took another drink. She threw them back, until she lost count.

The second course arrived.

Steak with potato.

Eva closed her eyes.

The liquor had liberated her mind.

“Is that steak or is that Hardi?” She asked with no inhibition.

“Hardi,” Ted answered stoically as he lifted a piece to his watering mouth.

Mrs. Weatherspoon kept on dotting.

Eva leaned back on her chair and looked up. We are cannibals, she thought. Over the table hung the golden chandelier. It was ugly. She always hated it. If I could hang from the chandelier, she thought, then tomorrow wouldn’t exist.

She didn’t touch her Hardi.

Everyone else did.

She kept on drinking to pass the time.

“I will be issuing an arrest warrant for your son,” Ted told the Chancellor. “He’s a criminal and will have to be brought to justice.”

The Chancellor didn’t answer. He filled his own glass and joined Eva.

Ted kept on talking… about the future of mankind.

Eva wanted to stop him. She wanted him to stop talking. She wanted him to shut the fuck up. She wanted to tell the Chancellor that his son was a hero, that his son had done the right thing. She wanted to… but she didn’t.

She was done. She was already dead.

Dessert was placed on the table. Sumptuous ice cream in a porcelain mug.

She had loved ice cream.

Ted smiled at her. A threatening smile.

Eva pushed the ice cream and excused herself from the table.

She walked herself back to her room.

She sat down, she got back up. She relentlessly walked around. She was suffocating. She couldn’t think straight anymore. Tears were running down her cheeks. She stopped and looked at herself in the mirror.

She wanted to be free. She wanted to fly like a bird through the night but all she could do was feel her tears as they dried.

She neatly brushed her hair back. She changed into clean cloth. Black sweater, black pants, black shoes, and black belt. Mrs. Weatherspoon always hated when she dressed all in black.

Once more, she looked at her reflection. She ran her hands down her cheeks. “I’m going to swing from that chandelier,” she murmured to herself.

It was dark. The house was quiet. She made her way to the dinning room. She climbed on the dinning table. She picked up a chair and put it on top of the table. She undid her belt. She climbed unto the chair. She wrapped the belt around the metal bar of the chandelier. She slipped the belt around her neck.

***

Eli was sitting in her room. Alone. She was starring at her reflection in the mirror. She was tired, sad and defeated. The events of today had created a whirlwind of emotions she wasn’t ready to deal with.

She grabbed her hairbrush. Her hand was shaking.

She proceeded to brush her hair.

And I’m holding on for dear life…

She had a job to do…

***

In the kitchen, Eva was precariously standing a top a chair.

Don’t look down, don’t open my eyes, she kept telling herself.

***

Eli put the brush back down.

What did I get myself into?

Tears were flowing down her face. Her whole body trembling.

She had a bad feeling. She got up and grabbed a glass of water wishing the morning lights would finally chase the darkness away.

I just need to hold on for tonight, she told herself as she collapses to her knees.

Help…

***

Eva kicked the chair.

Her body, still swinging from the chandelier, was found the next morning by Mrs. Weatherspoon.

No one cried for her. She had been dead for a while.

***

The morning finally came. Slowly, Eli got up the floor, she pulled the picturebook from under her mattress. One page had already been torn. She ran her fingers over the rip.

“C,” she read before tearing up that page.

Eva, why did you? She wondered as she crumbled the golden chandelier.

There was a knock on her door.

She threw the ball of paper in the garbage and fixed her blouse in the mirror.

It will have to do.

She smiled.

“I’ll be right there,” she said cheerfully.

I just need to hold on for…