Let A Life Be Forgiven // Bailey's Last

Tainted tendrils trap themselves within lakes of scarlet sin slipping from the scars of their source. Dying flames flicked within fading irises while singular breaths just barely keep the coals burning. A fire's final light flashes while embers fill a cavernous darkness. Steel drives its icy point through the fire's heated heart and at once frost reaches out devouring the flames. Smoke bellows from a beaten body as a surreal sound of scream and screech break through teeth of shining white. In a single instant, Bailey Truus crumples to the ground and her fire is extinguished. 

Triumph fleets Bailey's mind along with all partial hopes of survival. A wicked wretch has brought down his mallet as the hollowed word guilty slithered from his lips. Sins slice more viciously than the steel now removed from its dive into Bailey's heart. Shadows fill the walls spinning in countless circles beckoning a canon's blast. Once lakes, now the scarlet sea's warm waves stretch across slowly freezing skin. At once time is eradicated and the connections to the living severed. Organs begin to cease function and night creeps closer over a predestined corpse. The trial was over and the verdict declared, all that remained was Bailey's death itself.  

Convulsions control Bailey's muscles now as they futilely attempt to outrun the demon ripping out their necks. A sorrowful sinners blood now stained the halls of hell while the wrath of whatever awaits lurks within the shadows of death. Past phrases join the fray of the falling as Bailey recalls the words which once plagued her mind. You are going to die. You are destined to die. At least now Bailey could confirm her morbid memories rang with the glory of truth. Even before her departure to a land baked with the burdens of suffering Bailey knew she was a sinner. A sinner stained with blood of innocence and tears of betrayal. Even before her departure Bailey knew Death would deem her downfall. 

Waves of pain pulsate through Bailey's skull as her finger's weakly obey her final commands. Snaking across the stained scarlet sea she felt them remove a single object from her pocket. With eyes barely able to avoid the creeping darkness around their edges she wills the object to be held before her. Colors convulse within the bloodied crystal's heart as a sole image of Esme shimmered before her. Breathing is all but impossible as the blood continues to drain from Bailey's skin yet one phrase is able to float into the wind. "I killed you, and in doing so I killed myself too." 

And suddenly the crystal shatters across the stone floor as a canon ends the final ember's flickering.

---

Ticking, that is the only sound. Not a single gust of wind, or drop of a pin. No cries or screams. Only ticking, and it keeps tolling onward through the darkness. Bailey is conscious, yet she has no body or shape. She's just, there. Floating. Endlessly through the dark. Is this death? The final destination? These thoughts toy with what Bailey can only comprehend is her mind. *Bailey had imagined death so much that it feels more like a memory,  a memory dark, yet filled to brim with all the sins she had scarred the world with. However, even as she slipped further into the shadows only one thing mattered to her. Is this the place Esme has been trapped the last five years? 

Bailey's answer comes shortly after she conjures the question, No. 

Light filters in from the unknown as an unknown place emerges from the shadowy mist. A field. Golden grain stretches as fair as the eye can see while a distant sky hangs somewhere far above. Just as before time appears to be irrelevant as Bailey, now fully bodied and clothed in the simplest white dress, stands alone... until she isn't. 

A wavering breath escapes Bailey's lips as her body trudges sluggishly forward. Five years of emotions build up in every crunching step she takes through the grain. Hatred. Doubt. Blame. Grief. Sorrow. Love. They all build and build until finally Bailey's arms wrap around a frail blonde body much smaller than her own. "Do you hate me?" Bailey asks as the tiny girl within her arms answers all too easily. "Never."

After so many years of wondering and years of hating herself Bailey holds the one girl at the center of it all. Esme Truus was a girl stolen far too early, a girl Bailey condemned to death with her silence at the Reaping. And now both Esme Truus and Bailey Truus were dead, yet some how they weren't. Every ounce of Bailey wants the moment to carry on forever but Esme breaks their embrace only after mere moments.

"We can't stay here long Bailey." Curiosity spikes within Bailey's brain as her words convey it. "Why? Where do we have to go?" Once again though Bailey's question is answered without hesitation. "On." This time though before a single question escapes Bailey's lips Esme continues to speak. "On to tomorrow. Right now we are standing in a place outside of time. A place made just for you. However, your place along with my own is in the sky. But in order to get there you have to let go of everything. All your hate, all your love, all your emotions and tethers to the world. Only then are we light enough to rise into the sky."

It all happens too fast as Bailey is left contemplating what to even contemplate. Sooner than later Bailey speaks once again with worry actually arriving in her tone. "What's up there, in the sky?" Silence rings for several seconds before Esme answers. "Rest. Eventually when we reach the top of the sky we are put to peace. We no longer exist but we aren't fully gone either. Whenever, whoever made us needs one of us they awaken us and send us down to a specific place out of time. Its bizarre really, I know everything that has happened the past five years in the living world but this is the first time I have been awoken. However, when we are awoken its for one reason, to help someone else rise to rest. So shall we?" 

Dryness etches across Bailey's mouth as her throat tightens from the information. How was a mortal suppose to handle this all? Yet it was then she put it all together. She wasn't a mortal anymore, but even with this knowledge she knew that there is still a few others she has to ask about. A few more questions she needed answered. "What happened to them? My friends. Kizzy, Iona, and Weaver. Are they up there too?" For the briefest moment Esme thought silently, then she let her voice reply as calmly as she could. "Time is different here, in a way that it doesn't exist. For all we know it could be the year of the 90th Hunger Games. A second could be a century. I honestly can't tell you if each of them has ascended, my only concern is you. They have their own guides, but I promise you. One day, they will."

As Esme's words hung still within the space between them Bailey gently closed her eyes. Then as she let her memories overwhelm her she also set them adrift. Until finally, there isn't even a single memory remaining. However, as Bailey let her eyes glide open shock engulfed her. Clouds of mist dance and swirl around her limbs as Esme smiles the same smile she did all those years earlier. A feeling of ease begins to creep over Bailey's body as she listens to Esme's voice through the clouds. "Be at peace Bailey, all sins are forgiven in the end." 

And at once Bailey is at peace.