made of stardust // Hypatia Anning's End

made of stardust // Hypatia Anning's End Jul 7, 2016 12:00:33 GMT -5

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Post by ali on Jul 7, 2016 12:00:33 GMT -5

Hypatia Anning

And it echoes when I breathe
Until all you'll see
Is my ghost

Hypatia Anning’s heart skipped a beat as she watched Kizzy Turren turned towards her and her mind determined that the probability of her survival had dropped to almost 23/2 and as the boys knife plunged towards her as he struggled to keep upright as blood continued to bubble from the wound on his neck, she watched that 23 slowly ticker towards the 24; there was 1 more minute until midnight and the minute hand was teetering on its edge, waiting impatiently for the pendulum to swing, drawing the hand to the final marking on the clock and for her canon to sound. She closed her eyes tightly, scrunching them shut as she shook, waiting for the impact.

As she stood there, waiting almost impatiently to feel the hard edge of Kizzy Turren’s knife against her skin, Hypatia began to pray. She did not believe in Ripred, he was merely a figment of one’s imagination, a character in a story told long ago that had somehow been moulded and influenced by others to become an all seeing, all caring God who didn’t really exist and so didn’t really answer anyone’s prayers; Hypatia was a woman of science and so the lack of evidence that Ripred existed had held her back from believing in such trivial nonsense at all. Except, now, she found herself in Hell, a place described in the book which talked about Ripred. A place where sinners go to die and so Hypatia had come to three conclusions in the short time between her attack on Kizzy Turren and this moment.

One- Ripred existed, hence so did Hell,
Two- She was here for her sins,
Three- And she was going to die.

Please, Ripred, God, don’t do this.

Except, the second passed and the hand on the clock remained still, hovering over the 23 indefinitely. The young woman opened her eyes to see Kizzy Turren scowling, annoyed and frustrated at the fact that his knife had failed to make contact with Hypatia; Kizzy Turren had missed. Hypatia let out a sharp sigh, in shock that it had boiled down to this, it almost did not seem right. Time should have moved forward, that hand should have ticked onwards and she should be dead and yet, here she was with blood soaking her clothes and her hand tightly grasped around the barrel of the sharpened horn. She should have felt hopeful, but still, something was a-miss. She could feel her hairs standing on edge, as if she were cat who had sensed something not quite right.

Time moved like liquid gold around her, slow, steady, horribly enticing and hypnotic; with each passing second she could hear her heart beating inside her chest as she watched Natalie’s flail rise above her head and fall towards the head of Turren. Hypatia could feel a scream bubbling inside her chest as she watched the weapon fall, stuttering through the air as time slowed, towards the boys head but when the weapon made contact with the boys skull, splitting it in two with a horrifying ease, Hypatia’s gaze was drawn to the monstrous shadow that began to loom towards her.

She turned, twisting her body round to face the monster she had seen out the corner of her eye, and suddenly felt the smooth edge of a blade plunge deep into her stomach. A long, heavy, exhale escaped her barely parted lips as her eyes widened at the shock that pulsed through her system as the knife buried itself deep inside her gut; her doe eyed gaze fixated on a gaze which belonged to, not a monsters who lurked beneath beds or hid in the closet or brandished the hold of a scythe, but that of a girl who’s eyes were cold and harsh and just as frightening. Humans were the real monsters here, not the mutts which lurked in the shadows.

As the knife slid from her stomach smoothly, the world span forward in time and reality turned to normality. No longer was gravity bending the fabric of space time around her, slowing time down to the most painful of speeds as death closed in, allowing her to make her final pounce. The young woman’s hands desperately clutched at the gash on her stomach, her fingers clawing at the blood drenched fabric which clung to her stomach in an attempt to stop the bleeding which had already drained her of so much energy but like stardust, she could feel the life slipping from between her fingers, her legs giving way beneath her and sending her crashing to her knees, falling into chaos.

When stars die, from earth, many only seem to perish in a whimper. A flash of light, a star appears brighter from earth when it dies for a few days before fading from existence completely, even with a telescope, the death of a star seems insignificant to the eye but out in space, in the cosmos where a star makes its home. When a star dies, it screams, erupting suddenly in a flurry of light and unimaginable heat, sending tendrils of star dust hurtling out into the void; the only thing left in its place would be a ribcage of nebulonic clouds, glittering in the shallow light of the tiny star that is left behind.

Hypatia Anning could feel her tendrils of star dust leeching away into the cosmos as her eyes flutter shut, her hands falling limp in her lap allowing the blood which had cupped in her hands to flow away into the hot earth as she exhaled. She could feel tears welling in her eyes, hot against her cooling cheeks, but she barely had the energy to sob and so she simply whimpered as the waves of her supernova rocked through her. I have failed, she thought to herself as she inhaled sharply, her body falling to the side as she lost the strength to sit upright on her knees. I am so sorry I have failed.

Her cheek pressed against the boiling earth beneath her, she stared ahead of her, her mind swirling in thought of what lay before her. Life was a fleeting moment in the universe, her life, and soon it would plummet into the darkness where nothing would rule the void and light would fade from existence, followed shortly by matter itself. That is what she was facing now, what lay beyond the desert which had lain beyond the graveyard of ships who had been cast against the shores by the sea of time; however Hypatia Anning was not afraid.

The fear left her slowly, ebbing away into complete calm because though her starlight would die, wither away into the void, her legacy would remain she hoped and while they would not write books about her great achievements like Plato or Marie Curie, she would be forever preserved as a swirling cloud of glittering stardust with a twinkling star at its heart; she hoped that she would be the light in the dark for her friends, for her baby brother at home, she hoped that despite the darkness that would wash over Atticus Manor, he would find the light in the dark too. Hypatia Anning wasn’t afraid because she would be remembered by the select few and she would not have it any other way.

Hypatia’s eyes fluttered shut and she inhaled slowly.

Empty vessel, crooked teeth
Wish you could see
And they call me under

It is always a terrible waste when someone with potential dies. I have seen it happen many times over the years and it is perhaps the only time I do actually dislike my job however, I do not have the choice. When I wander the living world, on the rare occasion I leave my throne, it is those who show potential that I find myself drawn too next to those whose lights are withering. Something about that small percentile of humans who are geniuses intrigues me and actually makes me wish I was mundane; then I laugh and return to my throne. I often visited Hypatia Anning, she was a true beauty of creation; I did not marvel in my brothers work often but for Anning, I always made an exception, her ability to play music as soft as silk was truly beautiful.

And so when I watched the knife plunge into her stomach at the hands of someone worth nothing in comparison, another shadow on earth, I felt angry as I watched her life began to slip away. The hands on her pocket watch had stopped, but unlike many she still had time before her, years and years of it left untouched by the hands; the minute and big hand remained unmoving at quarter to the 4th hour. Hypatia Anning was one who was supposed to go in her sleep, but even I do not have control over what the cosmos has planned. Rising from my throne, I visited Hypatia one last time, between two heart beats and I took her soul in my hands. I watched it slither in my palms as I carried her away from the hell my brothers so called children had created to entrap children eternally.

I carried her away from the forest beneath which the Hell had been built, through the trees which towered and blocked out the stars. I carried her to the top of a hill, where the heavens erupted into golden silver splendour above the world, purple clouds swirling around the twinkling stars and, I let her go into the heavens and watched as she disappeared into the void, beyond where the sky met the world; I watched as Hypatia Anning flew to the stars.

Because in the end, that is where she truly belonged.

And I'm shaking like a leaf
And they call me under
And I wither underneath
In this storm

Hypatia Anning woke, her eyes flittering open as the sound of a whispering ocean breeze filled her ears, with the soft golden sunrise light washing over her skin. Her brow furrowed softly as she watched the golden slithers of clouds dance over head in the breeze, her mind trying to fixate where she was. She could feel the roughness of sand beneath the palms of her hand and in the distance she could hear the very sigh of the ocean as waves gently crashed against the shoreline; beyond that she heard a tune she had heard only once before, in an arena where silver companions had accompanied the tributes.

Sitting up, Hypatia’s gaze scanned the world around her, desperate to lavish herself in the freshly golden sunlight which erupted over the horizon. There was something very peculiar about this place, but Hypatia couldn’t put her finger on it; even for her, that genius brain of hers couldn’t figure this mystery out. She could feel no time here, she could sense that it had no power over this place as she watched the sky shift from early daylight into a sky where the milky way glistened in all her glory. Hypatia watched, mouth a gape, at the beautiful dance the sky made to transform into the gentle glow of the night.

As she watched the sky swirl around above her head, watching stars dancing across the heavens, she noticed something catch her attention on the headland. A light chased itself in circles, extending out to the horizon in all directions in and endless dance; a light house. Hypatia had only seen drawings in books and read descriptions of them, but she immediately knew what the white building was, built on the crest of the cliff, overlooking the wide ocean. She frowned again, hesitantly taking a step in the direction of the cliff, only to suddenly find herself at the door of the little house that was built at the foot of the tower.

She swallowed hard, blinking in surprise as she glanced over her shoulder at the beach she had only been stood on moments before. Had her mind wandered so far that she had forgotten the walk up to the lighthouse? Hypatia couldn’t be sure but she did not feel afraid in the lapse of memory, in fact she quickly forgot about her sudden appearance at the lighthouse door when she heard the gentle sound of a violin being played beyond the threshold of the door.

Hypatia paused, hesitantly reaching out to push open the old wooden door. “…hello?” she asked, her voice tender as she spoke, the sound ringing in her ears as almost foreign. The door gently swung open into a fire lit living room, reminiscent of a little seaside cottage Hypatia had once seen, except that this one was occupied. The young woman froze the moment she realized that 8 pairs of wide, and curious eyes were watching her closely and out of the corner of her eye, she saw one girl holding a violin, pressed against the crook of her neck with care.

There was a moment of silence before Hypatia cleared her throat and spoke tentatively “…Hi?”

“Sorry!” Perked up one of the girls, short, pixie haired and blue eyed- Daria Staite- who uncurled herself from Rodrick Benstaloe’s side, pushing herself from the couch “We weren’t expecting you…”

Daria’s eyes darted around the room as the other familiar faces- Jequirty Eckhart, Trisha Staite, Heather Tenley, Tyler Westbrook, Sol Shim, Nell Locke and Astrid Shaw- smiled warmly at her appearance. The young woman was not so used to such an audience and so she hesitantly waved, glancing between the group before her gaze fell back on the petite brunette. “Where…am I?” she asked, still confused of her whereabouts and how she could have gone from hell to here.

“you’re in the light house silly!” giggled Astrid, who wiggled out from her seat at Sol Shim’s feet “Is Atticus with you???”

Hypatia shook her head, frowning more “No…sorry I don’t actually know where….where am I?” she asked again, her confusion growing into frustration as she stood in the doorway to the little cottage. Her mind was failing to make the connection between how she had gotten here, she could barely remember those moments in the burning heat, the pain that had seared through her body; then it came to her. “oh…” she said, blinking as the realisation hit her. I’m she thought to herself, blinking again as she felt Daria’s hand on her arm.

“There’s someone waiting for you…” the girl whispered in Hypatia’s ear, pointing to the door at the far end of the living room. Hypatia eyed the girl hesitantly, but ensured by her smile, she turned to the doorway, ignoring the eyes which followed her as she crossed the short space. Unlike before, the journey was in real time and so there was no jump between her being on one side of the room to the other.

Slowly, Hypatia opened the door to reveal a set of spiralling stairs which led up and up; glancing back, she somewhat smiled the best she could before she began her assent. Reaching the top took little time at all but she still felt that niggling in her chest. She wanted to pause at the top, waiting until she figured out who exactly was waiting for her on the other side of the door but curiosity killed the cat and Hypatia immediately stepped out into the lavish twilight.

“You took your time…” the silken voice cause Hypatia smirk even before her gaze fell on the District 1 female lounging in the chair before a chess board. Renee’s curly brown hair flicked in the wind as she returned the smirk, hers was sultry and alluring as she gestured to the seat opposite her “I saved the first move for you”

Hypatia simply nodded, slipping eagerly into the seat opposite Renee. “Let’s play…” she said, her eyes quickly glancing over the board once before returning to the girls as she picked up her first piece, a pawn, and placing it back down one space away. “Shall we?”

I feel it
And they call me under
And I'm shaking like a leaf
And they call me underneath
To this storm

And she exhaled and so she was gone.