Calista Kosko (_possessed) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2010-07-28 23:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | #flashback, #group scene, imogen |
The lights in the sky are waving goodbye
Who: Calista, Emily, and briefly Imogen
Where: The playground
When: 1987
It was a ridiculous place to be. What sort of a name was Scarlet Oak even supposed to be? It made no sense to her, none at all. Imogen thought that it was pretty but her sister did have a habit of liking the oddest things. In so many ways the two were opposites and sometimes it was still shocking to realize that the blonde ghost had not moved on. Emily was very nearly certain now, after around three centuries or so, that her sister likely only continued to cling to the world of the living for one reason - her love for her. Seemed a silly thing to her. The last thing that Emily had done in life was out of love for her sister and since then everything she did as for a different reason altogether. Hate was a better reason to carry on than love. So much better.
Today though she had a purpose in mind, and perhaps a reason why she had found herself in this small place. During her travels she had found herself drawn to a small girl who could not be more than ten years old. Emily could remembr when she was that young. There were whole decades of her death forgotten but for some reason she possesed a startling clarity for remembering her life. But this girl, she drew Emily's attention and that was never a good thing for the living. She had every belief that this girl had descended from Blanche. That damned baby sister that Imogen had never allowed her to kill. Let one little person slip through the cracks and before you knew it there were hundreds of them. Like this one. Playing on the swingset like it was a normal day. And it would not be, not today. Emily was going to say hello. Or try to. If words did not work because she was invisible to the child then she would find another way. Children were easy to convince of everything.
Walking up to the swingset instead of floating just in case she was visible, Emily tilted her head and smiled before motioning to the swing. There was no harm in starting these games out politely. Made it that much easier to get them to go along with what she wanted later. Befriend them and every hurtful thing would dig that much deeper. These things Emily knew well. "Would you mind if I joined you?"
With summer peaking around the corner, that meant one thing for Calista - dresses! She had been so sick and tired of wearing jeans and long sleeves to keep herself warm and finally her parents took her out shopping to fill her summer wardrobe with all sorts of cute new outfits. The tiny girl was completely in love with her new blue one and insisted on wearing it every day for about a week now. Granted, her mother had to wash it every day just to make Calista happy, but it brought all sorts of smiles to the little girl. Just like how she was beaming on the swingset all by herself. Her father was off on some bench talking with a friend while Calista sang a random melody to herself, holding her favorite doll in her lap while she let herself drift off into some magical world. It wasn't just a swing set to her, but some sort of mystical kitty that could fly, because kitties could do that in imaginary worlds, didn't you know? Five-year-olds had vast imaginations.
And then someone was speaking to her, which caught the little girl off guard. She turned her head and stopped her playful song, though kept kicking her legs to propel herself further on the swing set. Calista knew her daddy told her not to talk to strangers and all, but with a glance on over to her father, Leandros simply flashed a smile at his daughter and waved, to which Calista frantically waved back. Well, if her dad didn't seem to mind, then all was well. Looking back on up to the woman, Calista smiled and shook her head. "Nope! You can swing with me. But mine isn't a swing. It's a big, flying kitty and there's no other flying kitties in the whoooole world, so you can't copycat, ok?" And with that, she kicked her legs out some more and made some whooshing noises, rather content in her little world she made up.
Children these days were so very odd. So this little girl, this little remnant that did not deserve to be drawing a single breath, could see and hear her. Well well, that was an unexpected little pleasantry. Would make everything so much more fun in the long run. It would be kind of like having a living, breathing toy that she could actually play with. Until Imogen found out. That girl was forever getting in the way when it came to all of the fun parts of life. Or the after life, whatever. Hopefully Imogen was too busy fawning over some mortal man and would not notice that Emily had found herself a little distraction. A new goal. One that talked about swings being flying kitties.
"Of course not," Emily agreed smoothly. "Mine will just be... a broom, how about that? Flying brooms are so much fun." She had always thought that they would be. It was completely unfair that she had been burned for a witch and never once able to find a spell that allowed her to fly on a broom like the stories claimed she should be able to. Now she could fly, in a way, but all the fun was taken out of it because hardly anyone could see her doing it. Not that she could even make her swing go since she was remarkably calm, so while the little girl was moving, Emily was still. "Is that your dad over there? The one who waved at you? And what's your name?" Important little details for her to make note of because everything helped.
Calista gasped a little when the woman mentioned her swing being a broom. "You can be like a witch!" She declared with a smile, strands of her hair flying behind her as she continued to swing. Actually, she liked the sound of that. "I can be one, too. We can be witches together!" Ok, so five minutes ago she deemed herself a princess, but a princess could do whatever they wanted to do, so now she was a witch. Ha! "Mmhmm," she turned her head to look back at her father, then to the woman. "I'm Calista!" She giggled some more on her swing, amused at the fact she was going faster than this stranger. "Do you come to the playground a lot, Miss....?" She trailed off while realizing she didn't know the lady's name. That and she was perplexed at the fact she had never seen her before. The playground was usually filled with kids that she played with, but today her peers were sparse. At least she had someone to play with now.
Emily's face contorted for a brief moment at the mention of being a witch, but it went away quickly enough. The spasm of anger that accompanied it though, was enough for her swing to shift ever so slightly, as though it had been stirred by a strong breeze that was not there. She was not a witch anymore, oh no, she was a ghost who could not even think of using all the magic that she had spent years learning. And then Calista said that she could be a witch too. While maybe it was just a childish fancy, flight of the imagination, Emily seized on it and added it to the list of reasons why this child should be subject to her games. Not only was she descended from Blanche - Emily just knew it was so - but she could possess the ability to be a witch. And she would not be burned at the stake for it as Emily and Imogen had been so, so long ago. Therefore, she deserved to die. It all made perfect sense. "Of course we can be witches together, because everyone loves a little bit of magic," Emily replied. "And Calista is a very, very pretty name. My name's Emily, you don't have to call me Miss anything, I'm really not old enough for that." A light laugh and a shake of her head. "What's your dad's name?"
The little girl smiled some more upon being told her name was pretty. "My mommy said it's a Greek name and it means the most beautiful one ever!" She seemed to take a lot of pride in that name, but who wouldn't when it meant something like that? Kids her age seemed to have a knack for bragging, so that was her little bragging right. Why not show it off? "My daddy's name is Daddy." Seriously, what five-year-old actually remembered the name of their parents? As far as Calista was concerned, they were Mommy and Daddy, like those were their given names or something. Maybe in a couple more years it would finally sink in that they had other names. "I like your name. It's pretty - Memily!" She tried to pronounce the woman's name properly, but she only managed to mess up her letters and made a new name out of it. It sounded right to Calista, so she saw no issue in it. "Why aren't you swinging on your broom, Memily?" Did she not want to play with Calista? The tiny girl would have been terribly sad if this woman was just leading her on. It was like having a friend over who didn't play with her dolls. What fun was there in that?
Greek. That messed a little with the idea that she was descended from Blanche, but then it had been quite a long time and the family had gone all over the place. Spreading out to try and escape the curse that was really nothing more than Emily herself. So young and innocent... what a perfect target. Who better to use as proof that she was back, that the family had not escaped after all? Emily could not keep a delighted smile from curving her lips, one that could probably be misconstrued as amusement at how Calista said her name. Except for the small, tiny part where it flashed across Emily's memory that Blanche had said her name like that, only just being able to speak before it had happened. "Oh, I'm just not a very big fan of swinging too high," the ghost assured the child. "But don't worry, I'm having fun just like this!" If only she could stir up a little more anger and resentment then she would be able to send the swing soaring higher than the child could ever get it. "I like things like slides more... or the water. Do you like the water, Calista?"
Good to hear that Emily was still having fun, even if her broom wasn't going as fast as her magical, flying kitty. She was too busy having fun on her swing to even dwell too long on the topic. It wasn't until the water was brought up that Calista perked up with a massive smile. "Oh, I love the water! We have a tiny swimming pool at my house and I get to play in it during the summer and-" She trailed off with wide eyes as she realized something. "There's a lake nearby! We can go play by the water there if you want to, Memily! I just have to be careful, because mommy told me I can't go in the water unless I have my swimsuit and floaties on and I don't have either, but we can just be by the side and play, right?" She gave the woman some massive puppy dog eyes, hoping she was ok with this idea.
This was either going far too well or far too easily, and Emily was not sure which. Ah well, she felt a little flicker of glee at hearing about the nearby lake. And that little Calista liked to play in it. Drowning was one of those ways that children could die all of the time and, well, it would not be that suspicious if another one turned up dead in the lake. Oh there would be tears and the typical 'she was too young!' but Emily cared naught for those. Because in truth she had been too young to die as well and there had been no tears shed over that. Because who would cry over a witch being burned at the stake for just trying to defend her sister's honor? (All of the other things, the little hexes and such had been conveniently forgotten over the centuries.) Also - what was a floatie? "Oh yes, we can just stay by the side and maybe splash a little in the shallows." Blanche had enjoyed playing in their mother's scrying bowl, burbling that little baby's giggle whenever she was allowed. Just the simple memory was enough to create a hot flash of anger that manifested in Emily's swing going far too fast for a moment before the ghost 'stepped' off. "I've never been to the lake, so how about you show me where it is, Calista, and we can play a little?"
"To the lake! Yay!" Calista waited for her swing to slow down before she jumped on off, stumbling on her little feet as she landed on the ground. The tiny girl was all sorts excited about showing her new friend the lake that was nearby, enough that she didn't even bother to let her daddy know where she was going. Leandros was too busy chatting away with his friend to even notice his daughter was wandering off. They were only going to the lakeside, anyways, so there was nothing wrong with that in her eyes. Smoothing out her dress, Calista skipped with her dollie in hand, singing a nonsensical melody to herself. With a few hops, she turned on her heels and eyed Emily while bouncing up and down. "Come on, Memily, the lake is this way!" A smile remained glued to the girl's face, completely overjoyed that moment and completely oblivious to the fact that they had different concepts on the word 'play.'
Good, the father had not noticed them leaving. Emily had wondered for a moment if he could see ghosts as well, but seeing as how he had made no indication that he noticed her perhaps he could not. Maybe his family is the wrong side. All the better. It did not matter much to her which way had Calista tied to Blanche, only that one did. "I'm coming, Calista, don't you worry." Emily even took careful care to make it look as though she were walking instead of floating along like she really was. Now the question was, what were they going to play when they reached the lake? This child could not have all that strong of a will yet so perhaps Emily could tell her what to do. Maybe it would not even come to possession, but if it did then the ghost had little doubt she would be able to. As she had already noted, Calista was but a child and this was a personal strength of hers. "Do you like making sand castles?"
Once Emily had caught up, Calista kept bouncing along towards the lake, keeping her doll close to her as she played a game with herself that involved only jumping on leaves. It made her lag behind for a few seconds when she had to do a leaping jump to the next leaf, but it amused the child greatly and that was all that mattered in her mind. That and she made a new friend! And they were going to play by the water and have fun and maybe she could invite her back home for even more fun! Calista was liking this idea a lot and was quite grateful for it. "Sand castles? Of course! I'm not all that good at them, but I still like them! Most of the boys usually come over and knock them down, though..." Oh, someone had a frowny face now. "But.. but... I like making other things, too! My mommy lets me push the buttons on the mixer when we make brownies! And everyone likes those!" Seriously, who didn't like brownies? Not to mention she got to lick the mixers after.
Buttons on the mixer when they made brownies. What on earth were brownies? They did not sound appetizing in any way and only through a great amount of effort did Emily manage to keep a confused look off her face. She doubted that someone who was not dead would not know what the treat was. So she just smiled and nodded. "That sounds like it'd be a lot of fun, you must be so much help to your mother." I wonder if she's the one who came from Blanche. I may have to find out and take care of her too, after she's mourned. Then she can be just like my mother, what a delight. It sounded like the perfect plan. Reaching the lake Emily was pleased to discover that it was quite empty. No one else seemed to have the same idea as Calista and that worked so well with what she wanted to do. "I think we should make a sand castle," Emily offered as she appeared to kneel down on the sand, brushing her hands over the top of the sand she could not feel. "Know what looks really pretty on them? Seashells, like you can get out of the lake."
Of course baking was lots of fun. Granted, her mom had yet to let her crack the eggs or butter up the pans, but she would when she got older. Mommy said it was a big girl job and she would be a big girl one day. Until then, she would remain cute and little and blissful. As they reached the lake, Calista stopped her game of leaf jumping and hurried her way on over to the edge. It was such a beautiful day outside and she wished she really did have her swimsuit and floaties so she could go swimming. At least she could stay by the side and enjoy the rippling water lapping at the edges. Plopping on down, she let the gentle breeze comb through her hair as she craned her head back to look up at Emily. "Oooo, I love seashells! But... I'm not suppose to go in the water without my swimsuit and I can't swim yet and I don't want to ruin my dress, because mommy will be mad." And then she clung onto her precious doll and pouted. "And dollie will get wet, too!" Not the doll! Seriously, the kid had her priorities straightened out. "But... we can use sticks and leaves to make them pretty! We can even pretend their seashells, right?" They managed to make believe their swings were something different, so why not do the same with sticks?
Not supposed to go into the water. How was she supposed to drown if she was not in the water?? Emily swallowed back a sharp retort, ghostly fingers clenching at her sides as she tried to overcome this little obstacle. Literally little because this thing was not half the size that she had been at the time of her death. If she were still alive then surely she could just strangle her and be done with it. But no, death had taken that from her and all she had left was... yes. Smiling warmly, Emily leaned down as though she had placed her hands on her knees and leaned in towards Calista. "Sticks and leaves aren't the same as seashells... you know that Calista. We need seashells and you need to go get them because I can't." She reached out and her hand went right through the child's forehead, her smile not changing even a little. "See? Ghosts can't pick things up so if you don't do it how are we going to get them?"
Well, of course she knew they weren't the same thing, but... they could always pretend and that was better than nothing. Though the thought of seashells and doing anything remotely nice faded away as Emily's hand went right through her. It was a sensation that shot right through the tiny girl's body, like she had been electrocuted or something. So cold and so... dead, for a lack of better words. It made the girl squirm, yet at the same time she found herself too petrified to do anything about the situation. There was a delayed reaction when it came to figuring out that Emily was a ghost. Just like the ghosts in the bedtime stories her mother would tell her about. But... why could she see them? It was like she was alive in Calista's eyes. Had her father seen Emily? Was she the only one who could? Blinking her beady eyes, she slowly shook her head no in response to the ghost. "...but... I don't want to." She clung onto her doll tighter, hiding part of her face behind it as a scared expression washed over her face. "I don't want to play anymore, Memily..."
There it was. The girl finally realized that she was not a human and Emily delighted in the look that spread over the girl's face. That was always the absolute best part so far as she was concerned. Especially since the girl still seemed to think that they were playing. Well we are, in a manner of speaking. My sort of playing. Which was quite a bit more sinister than what Calista had no doubt in mind. "Oh sweetie, but I want to keep playing. We're not done yet." She pretended to stroke Calista's hair for a moment, imagining that it would have been just as soft as hers was in life. Just as black too. Maybe I looked like that. "Just take a really deep breath because you're not going to get another for a long, long, long time." Ever. Concentrating in on the girl, Emily felt herself shifting into her, awarenesses merging and all that hers wanted was for Calista to start into that water so that they could get onto the drowning.
Calista sat there, fear filling her hazel eyes as Emily struck horror into her. This wasn't a nice spirit that was like a guardian angel or anything. This was one that provoked nightmares and monsters. No, she was a monster. She flinched at the chilling sensation of Emily's hand pretending to stroke her, like it was suppose to be a calming action. Calista wanted none of this and just when she thought she had the energy to stand up and run away, she felt her entire body lock up, like she had no control over it anymore. The only thing she was able to do before Emily fully possessed her was let out a sharp, abrupt cry in hopes someone would hear her. And after that, it was done. Her body, her mind, her thoughts, all of it was no longer hers. Even her vision was immensely blurred, like she was having a translucent dream. Everything melted away from her, blending into new sounds and sensation. In that very moment, she felt dead. She was now that tiny voice in the back of her mind that screamed and kicked and cried for all of this to stop, except no one heard her.
The physical Calista remained quiet, sitting there like a blank doll before she slowly rose to her feet and walked to the edge of the water. She didn't hear her father calling out in the distance. She didn't feel the water lap at her legs. It was all too surreal to Calista. She didn't realize that within seconds she was submerged in the cool water and began sinking. Not once did she panic or flail or attempt to swim up for air. Instead, she was slowly drawn deeper in the watery depths, only able to see the light dancing on the surface from up above, and even those were beginning to fade away. ... I'm going to die, was all the little girl could think as her body was possessed. I don't want to die! I want to live! Stop it! Let me go! Please! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!
This was the sort of feeling that Emily reveled in. Allowed herself to become part of Calista, the dominating part, making the girls limbs move as though she were a puppet on her strings. And then came the childish thoughts about what was happening. Ugh, Emily hated when they screamed inside of their own heads, such a pointless thing. Like those noises and those silly little pleads about wanting to live were going to affect her. I wanted to live too, Emily thought, her own words echoing inside of Calista's head as she kept the girl on the bottom of the lake, turning her face up so she could see the beams of light dancing down from the surface. Drowning was really a better thing than burning. No suffocation and no fierce burning pain... and Calista was lucky, she was not even fully aware or in control. Did that stop them? No it didn't. And yet my littlest sister was allowed to live and because of that you list and because of me, you'll die. Such poetic justice. Calista's little face curved into a smile that reflected Emily's delight in the situation, even as the last air bubbles began to trail out.
Calista was too young to comprehend the emotions emitting from the booming voice in her head. And now she couldn't even spend the years ahead of her figuring it out, for now she was going to die. There was no finding seashells at the bottom of the lake or building sand castles or flying on magical flying cats. She couldn't even hear the cries from above the surface that screamed out her name, hoping she'd respond. Her grip on her doll loosened slowly and her frozen eyes watched it float away into the murky depths. Not even her favorite toy could comfort her in her last moment living. She remained quiet in the back of her mind, mentally shaking and weeping at the fact this was how she was going to die. It wasn't like some fairytale her mother would read to her, where the prince came in at the last moment to save her. No one was here to save her. She was helpless and dying. Apparently the world was a cruel dark place and she was destined to drown at the bottom of the lake. The light flickering across the surface became nothing but a tiny glare in her vision, only to be blurred as her eyes rolled to the back of her head, leaving her body suspended in the water, lifeless.
Imogen feared she would be too late. To find her sister's ghost, Imogen simply had to float along and something guided her in the right direction to find Emily. This time, however, it was a push. A pull. Whatever in the cosmos helped her find Emily was rushing her, making her hurry. And Imogen knew that meant only one thing. When she reached the lake, she felt that dread in her soul of souls. What have you done? she screamed internally. Reaching down for the child, she tried her best to pull her head out of the water. Yet, she was no poltergeist, not even fit for possession. She was a gentle spirit and even the strong, frightened emotion she felt was not enough to truly help the child. "Emily! Emily! You let her go now!" she demanded of her sister, trying to touch the little girl and help her out but failing. "Blow the wind, blow~ Soft and low~ Emily...let her go," Imogen sang softly, reaching out to her sister.
This was better than anything Emily could remember doing in life. Oh, maybe cursing that infernal man who had done those things to Imogen counted as this good. Only right now she was liking this moment more because maybe if she killed Calista then the family would have no way to carry on and she could just focus on getting rid of all the witches. Family and then all the witches and then, should that day ever come, she would have a soul at rest. As much as someone like her could be at rest and if her sister was right then she would end in hell. Don't cry little one, it'll all be over- Emily's thoughts cut off just as it seemed like the little girl would give up her last grasp on life. Because she heard a familiar voice and felt a familiar, unwelcome right then presence. Imogen's demand went unignored like always but the song, oh the song, it only took a few verses and Emily felt her grip loosening. She submitted to the soothing melody from their childhood, from their life when things were still fair, and suddenly Emily found herself expelled from Calista, looking at the little girl with her dark hair fanning out in the water. She looked like death. "No fair to use that," she complained half-heartedly, sighing wistfully. And she had been so very, very close.
She barely heard someone else's voice come into earshot. It was faint and blurry, like a distant memory, but all she remembered was the sweet, innocent voice that sang, as if soothing Calista. She felt that same voice reaching out to her, as if trying to help her in the endless struggle to regain her body. And she did regain control. That horrible ghost was now gone. What exactly happened was beyond Calista, but now she was left in the water, surrounded by that cold, prickly sensation that she could only associate with death. She suffocated, desperately wanting nothing more than to be out of the water and surface to breathe in fresh air. And that angelic voice managed to have some tug on her, for now she was floating on up to the surface slowly. Eventually the little girl emerged from the water and panicked cries from her father came into earshot. Leandros frantically made his way on out to his daughter, scooping her up and bringing her to shore. He was surrounded by several other passerbys, all of them standing with fear in their eyes as they watched him try to bring his little girl back to consciousness. Someone had ran off to call 911 as Leandros stayed with Calista.
After a moment, her hazel eyes flickered opened and she slowly came back to reality, choking hard on water as she tried hard to breathe. "Calista! Sweetie, stay with me! Are you alright?" She couldn't answer her father even if she wanted to. She was still haunted by that sinister ghost who seduced her to the lake. She could still hear her voice lingering in her head. She could still feel her ghostly presence overwhelming her body. She could still vividly remember being all alone in the water with nothing but death hovering over her. Laughing at her. When she was finally able to respond, all she was able to voice was a ear-splitting cry that vocalized her sheer horror. Even when Leandros held her in his arms, she buried her face in his chest and begged him to take her away from the water. She didn't want to look at it, didn't want to hear the waves crashing into each other. Nothing. Never again.
The little Calista was now scarred for life.