Monica laid on the ground, staring into the cloudless, blue sky. Water trickled down the cobbled path and flowed gently around her. “A stream…” she said aloud, “Lucky me.” She was tired. The effect of the spray had not worn out yet. Her body ached and her mind was scrambled. To add to her miserable state, she was now soaking wet.

How far was she thrown? She wondered. Had it not been for her ‘air burst’ move, she would have died from impact instantly. Air compressed around her made a soft yet impenetrable shield. She had been able to hold on to it much longer before. She had gotten rusty.

It was coming for her. She knew this very well. She only hoped it decided not to make breakfast of him. Her compassionate feelings towards him had waned but didn’t disappear. The truth is, she simply didn’t like to see people die. But there wasn’t much she could do now.

She got on her feet, still swaying side to side. She knelt over and with her palm, collected some water that splashed over her face. She shook herself before becoming completely quiet. Her mind needed to focus and for a few brief seconds, she mediated without changing position. The wind began to rise as a strong breeze blew through the forest, appearing to follow the stream of water. The trees swayed in the direction of the wind and the leaves rustled. The chirping had disappeared, and the noises of the forest slowly faded. The sound of leaves rustling became louder, twigs breaking, branches creaking, feet thumping on the ground. It was coming.

She stood up straight and firmly planted her feet on the cobbled ground. She gritted her teeth, tightened her chest, loosened her arms, and looked into the dark shadows of the forest steely-eyed. The thumping got louder and louder. She was ready.

The beast leapt from the shadows, flying towards her. Just as it reached her, it trusted its left arm forward, intending to slash her in one powerful sweep. But Monica saw it coming, she leaned to her right, turning away from the beast. The beast missed and landed in the stream. Without slowing down, it turned to its left and proceeded to swing its right arm at her. Monica once again dodged the swing by ducking under it. She squeezed a fist and punched the beast in the stomach. The beast flew into the air and landed on its feet a few feet back. There was no way of knowing if she did any damage to it, but she had to keep going at it.

The beast in response let out yet another scream. Monica did not anticipate this. ‘Where was this last night?’ she thought. The scream was much more powerful and now concentrated towards her. It had enough force to throw Monica off her feet. As she stumbled backwards, the beast charged at her.

‘It is thinking strategically!’ Monica realized. It once again thrust its right arm in the direction she was falling. It knew she couldn’t dodge, but it was wrong. Monica stopped falling, instead spun in mid-air. The beast went past her and crashed into the stream as Monica gently floated away.

“You are learning, you are adapting… more importantly, you are thinking. There is a soul tucked away somewhere in there isn’t it?” she asked the beast. The beast quietly picked itself back up and looked at her with her hollow eyes.

‘What is the point?’ she thought, ‘even so. I have to at least try.’

The beast steadied its footing, preparing for the next blow. However, Monica had already moved it. It couldn’t even see her move and before it knew, Monica was in its face. She drove her fist into the beast’s stomach, lifting it into the air. The beast reacted by pushing itself back, gaining some distance, but that is what Monica wanted.

Monica stretched her arms out, crossing them. Her fingers were stretched out upon which blue aura began to illuminate. The beast suddenly felt as if she was encased in a vessel. It began to shrink and squeeze. It could not move. It began to resist, pushing out but to no avail.

“Listen to me!” Monica called out to it. “I know you were a human once. Try to remember who you are.” Monica wasn’t sure if this was going to work, but this was her only option. “Alekya. That is your name. Do you remember?”

The beast continued to struggle, showing no signs of any change. “Alekya!” she called out. “Remember who you are!”

This would have been a little easier if she only knew more than its human name. “That man. You know him, don’t you? You are his… wife! Remember! Remember your past!”

The beast broke free, perhaps Monica hesitated for a moment. Nevertheless, the beast was free and now even angrier. It charged up to her face in blinding speed. But Monica was ready. She cursed softly as she prepared for another slash. The beast, however, let out another scream, this time right into her face. Monica momentarily went deaf and lost her senses. She stood still, her nerves stunned, and her eyes widened from the unexpected move. The beast grabbed on her neck and drove her down into the stream.

Her senses returned but Monica now found herself underwater, held by a steel fist. The stream was shallow but deep enough for the beast to drown her. Monica used all her strength to push herself back up, but the beast combined its strength with its weight to pin her underwater. She was losing consciousness quickly. She felt the water forcing its way down her throat. She was drowning and had to do something about it.

Suddenly a powerful burst of energy came out of Monica. The force was powerful enough to throw the beast into the air and onto the bank of the stream where it crashed. Monica stood back up, coughing out all the water.

“Why do I even bother?” she said out loud as she looked at the beast with a cold glare. The beast was visibly shaken by her gaze.

***

He ran in the direction he last saw her being thrown at. There was no way for him to know for sure that he was heading in the right direction. The forest was still quiet and there was no sound of any struggle. This meant one of two things, she has either died or she was thrown pretty far.

The cuts on his hand hurt like a thousand devils. Though he managed to wrap them with a spare piece of cloth, the bleeding has not stopped, soaking the cloth bright red.

As he pushed his way through the thicket, he came upon the thin path. Suddenly, he found himself in the same position Monica did last night. He remembered the story. He knew about the path. The question was, should he follow it? Instinct told him to follow it and this time he decided to listen to it.

***

She placed her fingers on her neck and felt the deep marks left behind by the beast as it had dug its sharp nails into her skin. Her throat still hurt like the beast was still choking her, but she had dealt with much worse. “I guess putting a bullet into your skull didn’t help,” she told herself.

The beast hesitated. It wasn’t charging at her blindly anymore. Instead, it bent over, touching its hand onto the ground. Monica felt a coldness as she looked into its hollow eyes. It looked at her like a predator which was ready to pounce on its prey. But Monica was no prey. She steadied her footing and prepared to act.

The two exchanged gaze before charging towards one another. The beast suddenly changed tactics, stopping midway and letting out a loud cry. Monica was caught off yet again, her body shut down momentarily, shocked by the ear-piercing cry. She cursed as she watched the beast leap towards her. It was aiming for the kill.

Her body recovered just in time as the beast thrust its claws full force towards her. She replied by grabbing onto its arm at the very last second and dragging it down into the water. The beast slammed into the stream but picked itself up immediately, twisting her arm in the process. Monica let its arm go and prepared to deliver a blow, but the beast beat her to the punch by swinging its arm into her. Monica dropped her fist and immediately blocked the swing. However, the beast didn’t let her breathe, it lifted its left leg and kicked her square in the chest.

Monica flew back a few paces. ‘A kick!’ Monica thought, ‘it is learning quicker than I anticipated. Feral instincts?’ She didn’t have the time to think anymore for the beast was already up in her face. It began to deliver a flurry of swings, aiming at her head. Monica was forced to block the repeated blows. For a very long time, she found herself on the back foot. She waited. The blows, though powerful, were nowhere strong enough to leave any damage.

Just as she anticipated, the beast began to slow down. Even it was a prisoner to the rules of nature. Its latest swing was slow, slow enough for her to duck underneath it and roll forward and behind the beast. The beast missed its swing and fell forward, but it stopped itself by driving its right foot into the gravel. It turned around to see Monica ready to deliver a blow. She drove her right fist into the beast’s side, in the same spot as last time, but now it seemed to have no effect. Nevertheless, she didn’t stop. “My turn,” she told herself as she began to deliver a flurry of punches. The beast could not block even one.

One, three, five, seven, ten… with each punch, the power and speed only seem to increase, breaking the beast’s rotting body little by little. Monica delivered one final blow right into its stomach, stunning for a moment. Using this opening, she grabbed onto the beast’s face. Her eye glowed blue as the beast suddenly felt a splitting headache.

Monica peered into it. Even she wasn’t sure what exactly she was looking into. She always believed her powers allowed her to look into a person’s soul, but that was just her guess. She hoped to see the beast’s past. Who it was and what had become of it? But instead, she saw emptiness. A sudden coldness gripped her heart, stunning her for a moment. The beast used this moment to break free and run. Monica, meanwhile, broke out in a cold sweat as she was left trying to make sense of what she saw.

‘There is nothing left of her,’ she thought, ‘only wrath… I need to end this fast!’

The beast let out yet another bloodcurdling cry. This time the whole of the forest felt it, sending countless creatures of forest scurrying away in fear. However, Monica didn’t flinch. It leaped onto her, ready to unleash its full fury but suddenly hit a wall just as she was about to reach her. There was nothing between them, yet she felt an impenetrable wall that stopped it from reaching her.

Monica squeezed her fist and drove straight into the beast’s jaw, breaking it. It fell back into the stream, struggling to get back up again. Monica stood before it, quietly watching it pick itself up. Its cheeks had been cut through completely and its jaw hung loose. The fire in its eyes had died and now was filled with dread. It let out another scream but this time it didn’t have any power left in it. Monica stood still, taking the scream head-on. She felt nothing, just a light ring in her ears. Nevertheless, she didn’t move, baiting the beast into thinking it got her. It thrust its arm right into her face, but she dodged it. Ducking below, she proceeded to grab onto the beast’s leg, pulling it off its feet. She spun around with the beast in her hand. “Let’s see how you like it!” she said and let the beast go. It flew into the forest, crashing into a tall tree with a fairly thick trunk. The tree snapped by the force of the crash, it fell over and onto Monica, but she knocked it aside just it was about to reach her.

The beast could barely stand yet it used all its might to get back up on its feet. It looked at Monica in horror. She watched it, patiently waiting for it to make a move. The beast, instead, spun around and began to run. Suddenly, it felt something wrap around it. It looked at itself but saw nothing. Yet its body began to squeeze and could not feel itself move forward anymore. It felt the air rush around it as the forest moved away from it and as it got closer and closer to its prey… no its predator.

She spun the beast around in the air as it closed in. Just as it reached her, she grabbed its head with both her palms. “Time for you to leave,” she said. Blue light illuminated from her palms as the beast screamed out. Soon the scream and the light in the beast’s eyes died. The body fell into the water below, motionless. Monica was finally able to breathe easy.

Just then, the sound of a gunshot suddenly rocked the forest.

***

She was there. The witch was there. She was hiding in the cottage for she knew he was coming. She was afraid of him, more than he was afraid of her. He stood far from the cottage, in the shadow of the forest and tried to peer through the window. She was not visible. He had to enter the cottage and prepare to face anything.

He looked at the ground around the house. It was clear of any plantation, but small patches of grass scattered the ground. Much of it must have been cleared recently. He scanned for any sort of trap but couldn’t spot any. ‘She isn’t that clever to set up traps,’ he thought. Slowly and carefully, watching his every step, he made his way to the door. The ground was clear of any sort of contraptions, so he focused his attention on the house, making sure no surprises came from the inside.

On reaching the front door, he pushed the door gently, but it didn’t budge. There was only a handle and an old bolt on the door, nothing too fancy. This meant that it was locked on the inside by a bolt. He had no other choice but to pear through the window. But she could ambush him, put a pin through his eye. He was well aware of her powers. But… what other choice did he have?

***

He was here. He had found her and was here to make sure she stayed dead. Tears rolled down her cheek. ‘Haven’t I suffered enough?’, she asked. She sat quietly beside the door and waited, hoping that he would leave on his own. She felt his presence. She always could. The moment he stepped into the forest; she knew he was coming. She panicked, knowing that he wasn’t here to take her back home, rather here to bury her in the woods.

As time passed on, she wasn’t sure what to do. What could she do? No matter how much he tortured her, she didn’t have the will to kill him, or anyone as a matter of fact. She did the only the thing she could think of and let her mother deal with him. It wasn’t a humanly thing to do, yet he had to pay the price for his actions.

She barred the door with a rotting wooden table. All she had to do now was stay out of sight and wait. For she knew now that help was coming. Just as she felt the ray of hope shine through, she felt the wood crack and something sharp cut through her chest. The loud crack of a gunshot echoed the forest. She looked down at her chest with a horrid expression to see blood flow down her left breast. Blood gushed up her throat in an instant and she quickly began to lose her breath. She fell forward in a blind panic and began to crawl away.

He heard a dull thump and a scratching sound. He knew he got her. He stood up quickly and looked through the window to see her scurrying away. He quickly made his way back to the door where he put another bullet through the top edge. He tried to push through the door, but it didn’t budge. He cursed loudly before making his way back to the window whereupon he used the butt of the rifle to break through the window glass. He knew he didn’t have to worry about her if she was dead. He placed the muzzle on the frame of the window and prepared to fire.

He felt a soft body strike him in the chest. At first, he felt something light as cloth but the weight of it carried him through the air and threw him meters away from where we was. The body that was thrown at him bounced off him and onto the ground before coming to rest behind him. The force was strong enough to have broken a rib or two. He looked before him to see Monica slowly walk up towards him. A shiver travelled up his spine. He immediately got on all his fours and made his way to the rifle that was just out of his reach.

Monica sprinted towards him, but he had already made to his weapon. He picked it up and swung it in her direction, but she caught its barrel with her left hand. She gave him a cold stare which made him shuddered for a second. He used all his strength to pull back the rifle, but it was of no use. She had the grip of a vice.

Strengthening her right arm, she swung it into the rifle, right in the middle of the forestock. The rifle snapped like a twig and the barrel bent to the force of the swing. He let it go and looked in shock as she threw it away. He didn’t say anything, just watched in horrid silence as she delivered a blow right into his face.

Blood gushed out of her chest as she began to lose focus. Her head spun as she crawled away from the door to try and hide behind the small cabinet that lay in the middle of the room. The glass of the window shattered, forcing her to stop and look around. She watched in horror as Amar placed the gun on the frame, ready to fire, only for him to suddenly vanish. Sounds of a scuffle were heard outside but she couldn’t care less. She pressed the wound on her chest but could not stop the bleeding. She soon found herself drowning in her own blood. ‘It’s over,’ she thought. She was as good as dead. She prayed to the gods she knew to give her the strength to hold on. Hold on just long enough to make sure he was safe.

Just as the sounds of fighting faded, the door opened with a loud bang. The bolt was ripped from the frame and the table that blocked the door crashed into the wall beside the door. Before her, at the door, stood a woman. She stood tall and sturdy. Her eyes glowed blue but looked at her softly. The moment the woman saw her, she rushed to her aide.

Monica put her hand on the woman’s chest, applying pressure to stop the bleed. “It’s okay. Don’t worry. I am here,” she told the woman. The woman smiled softly. With great difficulty, she pointed to a box on her left. Monica glanced at it but returned to her immediately, “We will first save you and get back to it.”

The woman quietly shut her eyes and her breath faded. Monica quickly proceeded to give her chest compression in a vain attempt to revive her. Eventually, she stopped and looked at the woman’s peaceful face. The smile had not faded away. Monica fell back and let out a sigh. She silently looked up, holding back her tears. Inside, she cursed vehemently. In the end, she saved no one.

The woman seemed to have been in her mid-twenties, no older than Monica herself. Yet her body had run dry. It was thin and pale while her skin was dry, cracked in places. Her face had sunk in as though its soul had slowly been worn out. Black rings circled her eyes, and her hair was tied into a messy bunch. Monica could only imagine what she had been through. However, she didn’t need to leave such details to her imagination.

When she discovered her powers, she learnt something that would prove useful. Every human always leaves behind a fragment of their memory just after death. The memories in this fragment can be of any nature, not restricted to what they last remembered. She shut her eyes, touched her withered hand and felt a stream of energy pass into her. Flashes of a life filled her mind, much of it didn’t look as she imagined. However, they were nothing more than that, pieces of someone’s memories. She felt a cocktail of emotions, happiness, pain, fear, and an overwhelming feeling of sadness. She finally let her hand go and calmly opened her eyes. They turned misty, though the reason why wasn’t clear.

She looked at the box the woman was pointing to before and walked over to it. It was a small wooden crate with a blanket covering its top. She had no idea what to expect inside. She knelt over and slowly removed the blanket only to find a small boy hiding inside it. All the negative feelings that had festered inside her vanished, as she looked at his innocent face with bright misty eyes. He was awake, wriggling his limbs while looking at Monica. “Who are you?” she asked. Her lips contoured into a soft smile.

“He wasn’t always like this,” a voice spoke.

Monica's heart was in her throat on hearing those words. She looked back to see the woman standing at the door looking at Amar, yet she was still on the floor before them. Monica got back up on her feet and asked, “What was he like?”

“Kind, gentle,” she replied, “it was why I married him.”

“Who are you?” Monica asked.

She turned back to Monica and said with a soft smile, “My name is Harshini.”

“I am Monica and…” she hesitated to say those words.

“You are her. Aren’t you?” Harshini asked, interrupting her.

Monica knew who she was asking about yet remained silent as looked at her expressionless.

“You know who I am talking about. I felt it the moment I saw you last night. I just wished I had acted upon it.”

She wanted to lie, for it was past she wanted to forget, but saw no point in it. She looked down at the floor before answering her question, “That was in the past. A lifetime ago.”

“I wished you came to my rescue. I know it was a dream, even though I believed you didn’t really die,” she smiled softly and continued, “I still remember watching you on TV with mom. We used to be so proud like a sibling we never had. Mother especially. Too bad you had to fight her instead.”

Monica’s heart sunk as she felt a dull pain in her chest. Her lip quivered at the thought of letting yet another person down. “I am sorry…”

“No need to be,” she interrupted, “It wasn’t your burden. You were just passing by and came to my aid.” She looked back at her husband, lying on the ground unconscious. She saw his poor state of health but couldn’t help but feel pity for him.

“Even so…”

“It is okay,” Harshini interrupted. Sadness enveloped her as her smile disappeared.

Monica saw what she looked like before. A healthy woman in her mid-twenties. She looked fit, her skin was clear, well-kept hair, and eyes that didn’t look like they were awake for days. Yet the same eyes showed sadness. Sadness for having lost life to fate’s cruel tricks.

“So, what am I now?” Harshini asked as looked at her own palm. She looked normal, but could clearly see her own withered corpse on the floor.

“You may not want to hear this, but you are... you are sadness.”

She fell quiet for a moment as she tried to understand what it really meant. “Sadness? I don’t even know what to make of it.”

“You called me your sister? We have this ability to leave behind something when we die. A mirage of what our final moments turned us into,” Monica explained. She knelt down and closed the eyes of Harshini.

“How do you know all this?”

“I have seen a lot more of us perish than I wish I did.”

“There are more of us? Who are we?”

“I hoped you knew...”

Harshini fell silent as she felt a sudden surge of frustration on not getting an answer. “Then why didn’t mother come back? She is also like me, isn’t she?”

“From what I could tell, she felt nothing but anger and shock at her last moments. It turned her into that. There wasn’t an ounce of your mother’s memories in there.”

“She became a monster…” Harshini turned around and looked at her husband one more time, “just like him…”

“So, what happened to him?” Monica interrupted. She stood back up, walked to the door and looked at what remained of a normal human.

“I wish I knew. Ever since I told him about my secret, he was never the same. At first, he seemed completely fine with it. But night after night, his paranoia increased. Until one night he just put a bullet in my mother. I was already nine months in. I guess he was afraid of what kind of monster I would give birth to. That night still haunts me to this day.”

“How the hell did you manage to escape?”

“I am special, right? Still… I was too late to save my mother. We fled the city. I had put mom’s body in the backseat. It was here, at midnight when she woke up all of a sudden and attacked me. I crashed the car, but we survived all three of us. She was trapped in the car and I used that moment to escape.”

Monica felt extreme dread just thinking about it. She felt her chest grow cold as she grew anxious. “And you gave birth after all that?”

“I wandered into the woods knowing well that mother was coming after me. I still remember the dread and fear I felt that night. Not knowing where I was going and what I was supposed to be doing. Every creek I heard, made my heart weaker.”

She eventually caught up to me, just when I came across this house. She couldn’t make it inside and I was safe for the moment,” she turned around walked over to the crate and looked at her son. Watching her innocent child lightened her soul. “I felt like I should have died that day, but only survived to make sure he lived. In the end, I guess I was right.”

Monica didn’t say anything. She looked down at the body and felt nothing but sadness.

“What will become of my child?”

“Is he his child?” Monica asked.

“Yes.”

“I will take him somewhere safe. You can count on medoing at least this much,” Monica assured.

She smiled once again and said, “Thank you… But I want to ask you something. Did you have a name?”

Monica understood what she meant. “I did, though I never got to use it.”

“What is it?”

“Arora.”

“That is a beautiful name. Please make sure everyone remembers it…”

Her spirit faded away leaving Monica alone once again.

“What shall we name you?” Monica asked the baby as she cuddled him in her arms. She walked out of the door and back into the forest. “I always wanted to name a boy as Mahesh. Do you like that?” He quietly looked at her with a smile on his face. “You do like that don’t you!”

“He is my child!” Amar shouted. Once again he found himself tied up, only this time he wasn’t given any means of escaping.

“Don’t waste your energy. The police will be here soon. Pray your influence is enough to get you out of a death sentence.”

He laughed out loud, “Don’t worry. I will. And I will come for him. He is going to help me end people like you. Mark my word.”

Anger flared in her eyes as she looked at his disgusted face. “You disgust me. Putting her through such torture. Sending the cops on her. Forcing her out of the city and to hide in the forest.”

Harshini wouldn’t speak an ill word about her husband, but she didn’t have to. It was something she pieced together from her memories. The night of the murder of her mother, she fled to the police only to have them chase after her. It was all planned before hand. She now had, not just her husband, but also the police chasing after her.

He chuckled and said, “It would have been easier if she just took the bullet then and there.”

His grin nearly broke her, but she had to ask, “Why? Why such hatred against her? And me?”

His grin disappeared, turning into a deep frown. His eyes flared with hate and anger. He said, “Because it is what you deserve. Witches, the thought of what you are capable of makes my stomach curl in fear.”

Monica remained silent. She did not know how to respond to such accusations.

“Don’t worry. It will all be over soon. I am going to make it my personal mission to come after you. You better watch your back,” he said making a clear statement.

The overwhelming rage was kept at bay only by her own sense of morality, which in all honesty was not something she always followed. So was the case this time.

She walked over to him and knelt down before him. She held the child before him and said, “take a good look at your son.” There was a coldness in her voice.

Something within him sparked happiness upon seeing the boy. He tried to break free, hold on to him, but to no avail.

“Because,” she continued, “you will never remember him again.”

He looked at her clueless for he didn’t understand what she meant. She gripped his head with her palm and a blue aura filled the air around them.

Everything went black for a second before he found himself floating in the void. At first, he felt nothing, but soon a flaring pain erupted from his head. Flashes of the past reflected before his eyes. Moments that filled him with peace, joy, sorrow, pain, and fear, all of them flooding at once. He felt overwhelmed, he felt he was drowning in a sea. Unable to breathe, he quickly lost consciousness.

She let him go and stood back up. Looking at him slumping unconsciously, she said, “I promised myself never to do this to anyone. But it is on me now. Live on knowing you managed to satisfy your vengeance.”

He would wake up eventually, remembering everything. How he killed his mother-in-law, how he chased his wife, and how he finally took her life. Yet, he would have no memories of ever seeing a son or meeting a woman named Monica.

She walked away knowing well that this act would eat away at her heart slowly.

The child joyfully toyed with her finger, unaware of the world around him as the two disappeared into the shadows of the forest.