Listen closely people of the future, for you are about to hear a tale. This is a tale of mystery and wonder, a tale that will tell you how to unfold all the power in the universe.
You are more than what you are made out to be. You are capable of powers beyond your imagination, a world that is yours for the taking. I speak of a Goddess, one so powerful as to cross over from the world where there are no rules and boundaries and into ours, and can leave a piece of her world for us to use.
Jasmine paused, her hand finally catching a small break from it’s forced scribbling on the parchment. Grateful for Tom’s momentary release on her psyche, she glanced to her right, and saw to her wonder that Caly was breathing. He still remained on the ground, unmoving, but he was alive. Did Tom know? She quickly looked away, averting her eyes from Caly. Her own life was of little importance now, but Caly’s was. He was a good person, and despite her realizations about people and the world, she still believed that Caly rose above all of that.
Jasmine winced, an invisible force guiding her hand back to the parchment, and she continued to write. She is referred to as Shiniqua. If you have found this scroll, you are meant to unfold her powers and she will come to you. Be open and observant to what is around you, and you shall be rewarded.
Yours for the taking: Jasmine of Issaquah.
Jasmine’s hand released the cartridge pen, and a deadly calm wiped over her insides. Finding she could again move without invisible restraint, she glanced back towards Tom with a sad expression. She never knew the depth of his rage before. Where had the man she had fallen in love with gone? It couldn’t all have been a lie. He was in there somewhere. Or was she just being foolish, desperate to believe that she wasn’t just gullible? Desperate to believe that he really did love her, that it all hadn’t been just a lie.
“You know what’s next, don’t you.” Tom spoke a statement rather than a question. Jasmine did know. She had seen the noose hanging, and she was perfectly aware that it was the instrument of her death.
“I’ll die for you Tom, if I have to.” She responded her eyes full of remorse and empty sadness. Tom sneered.
“You talk as if you have a choice. You don’t have a choice. You’re under my control. And don’t think you can talk me out of this by pretending to care about me. All you wanted was someone who took enough pity on you to take care of you.”
Jasmine cringed inside. Was that what Tom really thought? That he wasn’t worthy of anyone’s love? Jasmine had felt that way for as many years as she could remember, but oddly seeing someone else feeling that way made it seem ridiculous. Everyone deserved love and happiness, despite things in the past that they couldn’t help.
It was sad that both Jasmine and Tom were so lonely, so desperate for a place to belong, but their connection had to end in death and hate. She would never understand why people so desperate for love found themselves incapable of it.
Maybe Tom had been right. Maybe she had tricked herself into believing she was in love with him simply because he actually paid attention to her. Or maybe she was in love with him, but the simple fact that he noticed her was the only reason. Love was so complicated. And she would never have a chance to fully understand it, because her lover needed her to die.
“Reflection time is up, Jas.” Tom told her, and sighing, she felt her legs begin to move forward towards the loft, her eyes frozen to the noose hanging above. Suddenly, death didn’t seem like such an easy option. Life was painful, unfair, and cold. What was death, then? For the first time, she truly wondered what was waiting for her on the other side. Would she be punished for unknowingly helping Tom bring more destruction to this planet? She had no reason to believe that fate would be fair or kind to her. What if there really was a God, and he was waiting to cast a judgmental finger at her when she arrived at the gates, casting her down to into the pits of hell?
“You’re afraid. I can feel it.” Jasmine said nothing, and her body continued moving towards the ladder, her stiff digits gripping the rungs as she began her final climb. “You weren’t afraid before. Have you finally accepted who I am?”
“I don’t know what’s waiting for me.” Jasmine found herself admitting.
“A dead end.” Tom replied as if he had been there and remembered it. “Darkness. No different than here really except it’s steady and constant, and there’s no way to fool yourself into believing you can escape it.”
Jasmine continued to climb. “You’re not dead, Tom.” She tried to reason.
“Oh yes, I am. I’ve been dead for years. Why do you think I’m doing this? I shouldn’t be the only one on earth to suffer eternal damnation. Now everyone will know what it’s like to be breathing, but dead inside. What is death after all, but the absence of all hope?”
“But there is hope, Tom.” Jasmine said as she reached the loft, rising her left foot off the last rung of the ladder. She wasn’t even sure where these words and thoughts were coming from, but suddenly they began pouring out of her. “If this goddess can bring hell to earth, why is it that people before have somehow failed? The last scroll, what happened? Why didn’t she triumph then?”
“Simple. The awakener didn’t search for the correct sacrifice. Only with that can she truly remain here for eternity instead of temporarily before being bound again.”
“How do you know I’m the correct sacrifice?” She challenged, her feet carrying her towards the noose.
“Because I saw inside of you, and how similar it was to me with the exception of your foolish hopes. Despite your pain, you still carry a degree of innocence within you, and that’s the key ingredient to her transition. Pain and innocence, all in one.”
“If you’re so sure it will work this time, why did I have to write another scroll?” Tom hesitated.
“It is simple ceremony.” He finally told her. “It is the way it is always done.” Jasmine couldn’t stop her arms from lifting the noose gently over her head, but her mind was now racing. Tom wasn’t as sure of himself as he pretended to be. There was still a small piece of him left in there, buried under all the hatred and rage that questioned if this was what he really wanted. Maybe he just testing his own anger, seeing how far he could take it but not truly bent on world destruction. If he truly were, he would be 100% sure before he performed the ceremony.
“Tom, please. Maybe you don’t love me. I know you don’t love yourself. But I know you don’t wish your pain upon the world. I’ll help you. Please let me help you.” She pleaded, her voice cracking, hope and desperation she didn’t know she had reawakening inside of her.
“Foolish girl. You still think you can talk your way out of this. You willingly walked into it when you came to my door. You didn’t care if you lived or died.”
Tom was right. Jasmine hadn’t cared. She figured at the time that she had nothing in her life worth holding on to, so she’d either gain love or be axe-murdered, and whatever happened was meant to be. But she cared now, now she wanted to live, she wanted to show Tom that this wasn’t the way. She wanted to save him, and she wanted to save herself.
“I care now, Tom. And I do love you, despite what you think. Please let me love you.” Love was now her only defense, and her only hope.
“We’re done talking. And believe me Jasmine, you are helping me. You’re dying for me.” Tom took a step backwards, and Jasmine could feel her weight involuntarily shifting towards the balls of her feet. He was going to make her jump, and she only had a few more seconds to live.
“Jasmine, DON’T!” A voice suddenly screamed. Tom whirled around, and Jasmine instantly felt the pressure his mind had been applying to her body lift. Scrambling backwards away from the ledge, her hands quickly rose to her neck and flung off the noose. Her first instinct was to crawl to the far end of the loft, but her ears suddenly recognized the owner of the voice. It was Caly.
Creeping back towards the ledge, Jasmine forced herself to be brave, and glanced downwards.
Caly was now on his feet. Tom’s back was facing Jasmine, but she could almost feel the shocked expression that must be on his face.
“You’re supposed to be dead.” Tom said calmly.
“Not everything always goes the way you want it.”
“Doesn’t matter. You’ll be dead in a minute.” Tom began to reach in his pocket, but before he got the chance to pull anything out, Caly reached under his coat and pulled out a book, holding it in front of him like a shield. Jasmine gasped. It was the book her friend Kara had given her before she left Minnesota.
Tom paused. “Where did you get that?” Caly smiled.
“It belongs to your perfect sacrifice.” Tom hesitated, shifting his weight.
“It’s Jasmine’s?”
“Quick one, aren’t you. I guess you didn’t think of everything.”
“When did you find out?”
“When you killed Jim and Beth. You’ve never been a very good liar, Tom. And you want to know something? Weather you realize it or not, you really do love Jasmine.”
“You also think you can screw with my head. That book won’t save your life, or hers. Neither will your pathetic words.”
“You’d like to think that. Jesus, you’re so desperate to pretend like you’re this big bad evil guy. You’re not. You’re just a scared little boy trying to validate your existence.”
Jasmine continued to watch, frozen with fear that any moment, Tom would strike at Caly. Tom so far hadn’t glanced back at Jasmine, and an idea began to manifest itself inside of her head.
Slowly, Jasmine crawled over the floorboards of the loft, preying that they wouldn’t make any noise. Her eyes were focused on the ladder.
“You’re wrong. I know you, Caly. I’ve always known you and there’s no way you act out the way you feel. Your girlfriend’s dead, and I killed her in cold blood. Even before that, she never loved you. No one ever loved you because you live a lie, all calm and rational when no one can ever pull off that act.”
“It’s not an act. This is life, Tom. There’s pain, but there’s also happiness and you’re the one that’s lied to yourself for years. You’re the one that deluded yourself into thinking that badness is all there is to life.
“I’m not going to let you kill Jasmine. You’re not going to win this one, Tom. Your mother wouldn’t want this from you. You say you loved her? Prove it. Prove it by showing some compassion and letting us go, and then get yourself some help.”
Jasmine’s fingers gripped the sides of the ladder, her foot slowly and carefully searching for a secure rung. Tom still hadn’t noticed her. Carefully, slowly and quietly, she began her downward decent. Suddenly, one of the rungs she stepped on squeaked.
Tom whirled around. “Freeze!” Jasmine felt her body tense up, her mind screaming at her muscles to continue moving but they refused. “You think you can get away from me? You’re both idiots. It’s too late. I already have-“ His speech was interrupted as Caly rushed at him, shoving him roughly to the side. The hold on Jasmine was once more released, and as fast as she could she scrambled to the ground.
Tom scrambled to his feet, his eyes narrowed in a blind rage. He rushed towards Caly with his right shoulder out, seemingly intending to tackle him like a football player but Caly quickly darted to the side and Tom zoomed right past him. Using the few precious moments, Caly opened the book and began reading.
“An object of emotion is the only thing that can break the hold once it’s created.” Closing the book, he quickly darted once again as Tom came barreling towards him, but this time he was too late. Tom ran headfirst into Caly, and Jasmine cringed as she heard a sickening crunch. Caly fell to the ground, groaning and holding his ribcage. Tom began to reach into his pocket again.
An object of emotion is the only thing that can break the hold once it’s created. Jasmine repeated in her mind, racing to find it’s meaning. Object of emotion. There was only one thing she could think of.
Tom removed his hand from his pocket, holding the scalpel he had used to slash Sarah’s throat.
“WAIT!” Jasmine cried in desperation. Tom didn’t even look towards her, and began to bring the knife towards Caly’s throat. Desperate, Jasmine’s eyes darted towards Tom’s pocket, and noticed another small bulge she had failed to consider before. She had no time to think. If she was going to save Caly, it had to be now.
Jasmine rushed Tom; aware that he could easily have moved the scalpel straight at her with merely a shift of his hand but it was a chance she would have to take. Fortunately, he didn’t, and she crashed right into his side. Tom and Jasmine both went crashing to the floor, and besides the sound of bodies hitting wooden boards, a sound of shattering glass rang in Jasmine’s ears. She grinned, quickly leaping up to her feet, still very much on guard as she quickly leapt away from Tom’s area of reach.
Tom remained on the ground for a minute, his facial expression shocked before he slowly began to gather himself and struggled to rise. His hand went towards his pocket, and slowly he pulled out the broken head of his crystal glass horse. His eyes darted towards Jasmine in rage.
“NO! YOU BITCH! THAT WAS MY MOTHER’S! FREEZE!” But no longer did Jasmine’s muscles tense under Tom’s command. She had broken his hold.
“I know.” Jasmine said calmly, her eyes filling with sadness for Tom despite what he was doing.
Tom suddenly rushed Jasmine, the scalpel outstretched, aiming straight for her heart. Shrieking in fear, she stuck her foot out and Tom tripped over it, the scalpel only grazing her arm as he fell towards the ground. Paying no attention to her minor wound, she stomped on his arm with her foot and reached down quickly, prying the scalpel from his hand before he had a chance to recover from his fall. She held the point to the back of his neck.
“You’re not going to kill me or Caly. I’m sorry I had to break your mother’s horse. I’m sorry that you’re so filled with hatred that you can’t see love.” She paused, reflecting on her own words for a moment. She wasn’t very much different that Tom. She too had refused to see any love in her life because she was too focused on the pain and jealousy of what she felt she should have had. As much as she wanted to hate Tom, if she did she would be no better than him. She wasn’t capable of that kind of hatred. She didn’t want to destroy the only thing she had ever truly allowed herself to love, despite what he had done to her.
Jasmine remained stationary, the point of the scalpel still pressed lightly against the back of Tom’s neck. “I’m sorry that you couldn’t have faith that love could save you.” A single tear fell down Jasmine’s cheek, slowly sliding towards her chin, dangling off and then falling on Tom’s skin. He shuddered.
“Jas?” Caly struggled to say, one hand still holding his ribs as he crawled over to her and Tom. “Don’t kill him.” Jasmine let a small sigh out of her mouth. She wasn’t capable of killing him, but she was surprised that Caly was telling her not to. Caly didn’t love Tom the way she did. Tom had killed so many people that meant the world to Caly, yet his compassion was still more powerful than his pain.
“I won’t.” Jasmine assured him, and averted her eyes back towards Tom.
“It’s over, Tom. No goddess is coming to help you get vengeance on the world. It’s up to you now, to make peace with yourself.”
It was up to her too, Jasmine realized. She needed to make peace, too. She needed to make peace with her past and her present in order to head into the future.
Caly smiled at Jasmine, and slowly took her other hand in his. “We’ll do it together.” He told her, as if he read her thoughts. Caly was someone she could truly have faith in. He had proven that when it mattered the most, he would always be there for her as a trusted friend. That meant the world to her.