Title: Making the World See Again
Authoress: MidnightRosePrincess
Summary: After 5 years of living with Mrs. A, Mitzi finds herself alone again after Susan's death. As if that wasn't hard enough, she's suddenly caught up in a horrible accident. While in limbo, she is given immortality and a mission of her own - one much different than the previous Cat Lady's. [Golden Ending AU]
Author's Note: I've worked on this story for a long while but always had second thoughts about ever uploading it. With characters this great (i.e., Susan and Mitzi), you want to do them justice in regards to your own story's plot, so it was a bit of a struggle. I had a lot of encouragement though, which is why you peeps are able to read this at all. This is an AU of the The Golden Ending, wherein Mitzi survives the cancer and lives. The Golden Ending isn't the canon ending according to Mr. Harvester Games (who is very nice, by the way), so I guess in some ways this is an AU of an AU. Weird. Also, one particular part of this chapter was the image I had in my brain during a dream that made me want to do this story, and I was actually teary-eyed writing it. The hardest thing though was coming up with a title, but thanks to a friend of mine *coughnotRobcough* I was able to get the perfect title (thanks for that!)
Warning: Will contain some dark themes later on, though not as much gory stuff as Susan had to put up with. Also has spoilers for Downfall.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Cat Lady or Downfall or their characters. They belong to Harvester Games. Oh, and small bit of song lyrics I used belong to the singer, Jeff Buckley, and any other copyright holders associated with the song.
Chapter 1: Girl in the Woods
All flowers in time bend towards the sun
I know you say that there's no-one for you
But here is one...
Maybe listening to Jeff Buckley sing that particular song wasn't the best way to fill up the silence of the flat, but somehow Mitzi couldn't bring herself to turn off the CD player. So she let the song fill up the flat, soon joined by the hum of her laptop as she turned it on. She tipped back in the desk chair as she waited for it to load up.
"Meow."
"Oh hey, long time no see, Teacup," she greeted.
The black cat jumped down inside from the window sill and trotted over to her feet to look up at her with his bright yellow eyes. She tipped forward to put the chair level again and patted her lap. Obediently, the little cat jumped up to her lap and allowed her to pet him.
"How've you been then, boy?" Mitzi asked, stroking her fingers through his dark fur. "Bet you've been coping in your own way too, then, eh? You probably miss her just as much as I do."
Teacup gave another low mew before curling up on her lap and shutting his eyes.
Mitzi giggled. "Taking a nap on me, then? Well, all right, have it your way." She turned her attention back to her laptop and opened up the internet. Instead of going to her profile on the social networking site as she would have a few months earlier, she logged onto the blogs she and Susan had started. There were a lot of unread messages that she slowly worked through, replying when she could to specific ones and saving the ones offering kind words and condolences.
By the time she finished going through the messages, the CD had stopped and started to replay itself from the beginning again. Mitzi sighed.
"I guess I should make a post thanking everyone and telling them what's up..." she muttered. She scratched Teacup's ear for a bit before her fingers moved back to the keyboard.
Hey everyone, it's Mitzi. Hijacking Mrs. A's blog again, as usual. Thank you for all the messages you left; they were very nice and I'm sure Mrs. A would have appreciated them. She always thought it funny that so many people took interest in the ramblings of a Cat Lady like her.
Things have changed here a bit since she passed away. Four months ago I lost the best friend I ever had. She was old enough to be my mother, but somehow we were more like sisters. But at least we had some warning of it, I guess. We had a bit of time to accept it, to get over the surprise and make the most of what time she had left. I still miss her, though. The flat seems so empty without her around. Teacup stops by occasionally, along with the other cats, but I think they miss Mrs. A's piano playing. She tried to teach me a bit, but I'm still rubbish at it. Maybe I should have had lessons of my own once I got back from work sometimes...
I mentioned that we started these blogs because of Mrs. A, right? She was just surfing around the net and found a few blogs that looked pretty cool and she came and asked me to help her get one. I don't have any idea why she though designing a theme was easier than setting up a profile for a social site, but that's Mrs. A for you. Some of you don't need to worry though. I will leave this blog of her's active, of course. How could I close it? Talking to you all helped her when I couldn't, and she helped a lot of you out, too. And I keep thinking, what if someone else needs to see those words of understanding to help them through hard times? So Mrs. A's blog isn't going anywhere.
I'll admit, though. Yesterday was kind of bad. It's one of those days where all the bad things seem like they outweighed the good things that have happened to you. Like... instead of remembering how happy Mrs. A and I were when we got this new flat a few years ago, all I could remember was what happened to the last one we lived in. I didn't take Mrs. A's 'premonition' too seriously, but it turns out she was right. Again. At least the people here don't mind the cats.
Anyway, I know it'll get better. I'll probably always miss her, but y'know, she made me promise something when she was in the hospital. "Don't turn into a pessimist like me. And keep smiling, all right?" So I will. Just for our favorite Cat Lady. :)
Not too long after she posted it, she got a few messages from Susan's followers and online friends, all of whom were very sweet. One or two of them suggested maybe going to visit Susan's grave, mentioning it could maybe help her feel better.
She hadn't been there since the funeral. Susan's grave was right next to her daughter's. Apparently Eric was buried elsewhere due to the wishes of his side of the family, who hadn't liked Susan that much. It was a pretty area, though. Just really nice green grass by an old tree, though the grass turned yellow in autumn. Mitzi logged out of the site and shutdown her laptop.
"Hey Teacup, looks like I'm about to go visit Mrs. A. Wanna come?"
Teacup only stretched before leaping off her lap and heading back to the window.
"All right. See you later, then!" Teacup never did come for food like the other cats. It seemed Teacup had just liked Susan and came for her company. Maybe he still drops by just to check on me, Mitzi thought.
Shaking her head, she stopped the CD player and turned it off, too. She was on her way out the door with her jacket in hand before she stopped in her tracks.
You're supposed to take things to a grave when you visit though, right? For most people it's flowers, but... that's a no-go for Mrs. A. Well... I don't think she'd mind if I didn't have anything. She'd get it.
She locked the door to the apartment behind her and started to make her way downstairs. At least until someone bumped into her.
"Oh sorry, Mitzi!"
"Oh, Travis! No worries," she replied to the young man. Travis lived in Flat 8, just across from her. He was in his late twenties, brown hair and gray eyes. When Susan and Mitzi had moved in, he'd greeted them and mentioned he was an instructor at something or other. At the moment, he looked a bit frantic. "You all right, Travis?" she asked.
"Yeah. Yeah, actually. I'm great!" he grinned. "One of my students, they had a scout today, and well, long story short he may get a chance to show what he's made of. I'm about to go make some calls for him and everything!"
Well, that explained how excited he was. She didn't know exactly what he taught, but any student getting a big break at anything was something to feel great about.
"What about you, Mitzi?"
"Oh, I'm just... going to visit Susan's grave, that's all." Way to ruin someone's mood, Mitzi, she thought to herself.
"Oh. Um... well... that'll be good for you, I guess," he said. There was a bit of a silence that could only be called awkward. "Sorry," he said, like an afterthought.
Mitzi smiled. "It's fine. I think it will do me good, so it's worth a shot. Congrats on your student! Sounds like it'll go great!"
Travis smiled back. "Thanks. Hope your visit goes well and all. See you."
"See ya," Mitzi replied. As Travis bounded back up the stairs, Mitzi travelled further down, all the way to the first floor.
"Hey, Miss Hunt!"
Mitzi looked to her left to see a college student collecting her mail from the mailboxes behind the counter. Her brown hair had bright red highlights that framed her face and hazel eyes, and, like Mitzi, she possessed an affinity for the color black when it came to clothes.
"Hi Lydia, and please, I've told you to call me Mitzi. I'm not much older than you, you know!"
Lydia giggled as she shut her mailbox and walked around to Mitzi. "Sorry, Miss Hunt. How are you? I haven't seen you much since... Miss Ashworth passed away. Are you all right?"
Mitzi shifted a bit on her feet but nodded. "I'm a little down, obviously, but I'm doing all right. How are you? Weren't you waiting for a few acceptance letters last I heard?"
Lydia nodded. "Yep, and I got some." She held up the handful of envelopes for proof. "I miss Miss Ashworth's piano lessons on my free days, but I've kept at it, actually."
"Really?"
"There's some money I put aside for myself for when I feel like splurging and getting myself something, and I keep that money separate from my college savings. I used the splurge money to get myself one of those electric pianos. It doesn't exactly have all 80 keys, but I can tune it like I need to and it's good practice."
"That's great!" Mitzi exclaimed. "Mrs. A would be proud of that. She always told me when I got back from work that you were an awesome student."
"I bet she didn't exactly word it like that," Lydia smirked.
"Ok yeah, not exactly," Mitzi admitted, "but you could tell that's what she meant."
"Are you going to visit her?" Lydia asked.
Mitzi blinked in surprise. "Yeah. How could you tell?"
Lydia shrugged. "Just a hunch, I guess."
"A hunch, huh? Well, it's right. I am going to visit her grave, though I don't really have anything to take to her."
"She didn't like flowers, did she?"
Mitzi shook her head.
"Mm... Miss Hunt, do you have to take the bus to get there?"
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"Well, next to one of the bus stops is a little vender who sells little key chains and stuff. Some of the girls from the college get some to put on their phones. They have a few of some cats. Why not take that to Miss Ashworth?"
"That's a really good idea, Lydia, thanks!" Mitzi glanced at the clock. "I've gotta run if I'm going to make it to the bus stop and the vendor in time, though. See you!" Mitzi heard Lydia bid her goodbye as well as she dashed out of 13 Hesper Avenue and headed for the bus stop a few blocks away.
Using a bit of change, Mitzi bought a little black cat key chain from the old vendor. It had bright yellow eyes like Teacup, which made it the perfect choice. While she sat on the bus bench and waited, she chatted to the old vendor. He kind of reminded her of Robbie, the way he joked, though of course it didn't seem like he'd ever tolerate rats.
Eventually, the bus arrived. Mitzi paid the driver and took her seat. The bus wasn't full, but there were more people on it than usual. Judging by the amount of shopping bags, Mitzi guess they were stocking up for when the weather got bad. Bored, she stared out the window.
Back in the old neighborhood, only two busses came by, and that was if one was a lucky. Moving in closer to the city center was a good decision, and not just for the better transportation, but for the better neighbors as well.
Mitzi didn't really think Joe Davis was much of a threat. A little weird and unpredictable with his mood swings, maybe, but an okay guy once he had been calmed down. Susan, on the other hand, seemed to have seen a lot more of Joe's bad side than she did, and was always on edge when he was nearby. After he came in once and almost threatened Teacup, that had been the last straw for Susan. Susan had started to pour through the newspapers to find an affordable new flat.
"Mrs. A, this is silly!" she said, watching as Susan circled another probable place in the newspapers. "Mr. Davis doesn't seem that bad. You said that weird Queen or whatever only said you had to get 5 parasites, right? All of them are gone, yeah? So you don't have to worry about Mr. Davis."
"Just because he isn't one of those parasites doesn't mean he's not a threat, Mitzi. He gives me a bad feeling, and if I've learned anything from being a Cat Lady, it's that you must have your weapons on hand for emergencies and you have to trust your instincts. And right now my instincts say we need to get out." She turned another page of the newspaper, determined.
"But he's practically harmless, Mrs. A! All it took was my little magic trick and he calmed right down."
"Yeah, but how long are your magic tricks going to work, Mitzi?" Susan sighed and looked up at her. "Look, I can't explain it but... something feels... off about Joe. More than normal. Like this tension's building up. Eventually, all that tension snaps. I don't know if he ever went back to that psychiatrist or whoever we read about in his letters... and I haven't seen Ivy around at all. Doesn't that strike you as a bit odd?"
"I thought her name was Sophie? I heard him muttering about it..."
"Either way, I haven't seen her around. Something's just... not right, Mitzi. Call it a Cat Lady's intuition, if you like. We're leaving." She started to scan the newspaper again, but looked back up and gave Mitzi a small smile. "Besides, all the people online say that a bad environment aggravates a person's depression, right? This flat doesn't have a lot of good memories for me from before you lockpicked your way into it, and this isn't a good neighborhood. A change of scenery could be nice."
"Nice, huh?" Mitzi grinned, taking the seat across from Susan at the table. "I guess that's all well and good, but what about the cats, Mrs. A?"
Susan chuckled, and as if on cue, Teacup jumped from the floor onto Susan's lap. "They'll hear my piano and come straight there. Besides, they all follow Teacup here, and Teacup always managed to find me no matter where I am." She gave Teacup a scratch under his chin. "If he can help me escape some twisted cannibals, then following a moving van should be no trouble for him."
Mitzi sighed. "There's no way I'm talking you out of this, am I?"
"Afraid not."
"Oh well. At least let me help, though!"she laughed, snatching the paper out from under Susan's hands.
"Hey! Don't yank the newspaper like that, you'll tear it!"
As it turned out, a Cat Lady's intuition rarely fails. About 6 months after they moved out from 12 Hellen Road and moved into 13 Hesper Avenue, the news hit all the papers and television that Joe Davis had snapped, just like Susan had predicted.
Apparently the sweet guy who thought of cucumbers for her trick lost it one day and killed his psychiatrist, Dr. Frank Zelmann. Not to mention stole his brain. Then, if that wasn't bad enough, apparently he went crazy and killed just about everyone in 12 Hellen Road. Some detective tried to confront Joe, and apparently Ivy, who were down in the basement. By the time the rest of the police moved in, all they found was some old electric equipment and a dead detective. There were one or two survivors, but because the police thought they could be targeted, their identities were hidden as well as their current location.
Mitzi had been shocked, and even though Susan had predicted something would go wrong, even she was stunned by the madness of it. It didn't hit Mitzi until later that maybe Susan worried that Pauline and Alyssa might have been among the victims. Mitzi liked to think they survived, since Pauline had found a new job before they moved out and she'd mentioned firing the sitter and letting a daycare look after Alyssa during the day. So they tried to tell themselves that Pauline and Alyssa wouldn't have been home when it happened. It still haunted them, though. Joe and Ivy were still missing, and Susan and Mitzi had only gotten out just in time.
SCREECH.
Mitzi was shaken out of her thoughts by the sudden shouts of the other passengers and the sound of screeching rubber on pavement. She reached out and grabbed the metal pole in the aisle by reflex and suddenly a loud boom seemed to come from somewhere behind her.
There was a weird feeling of weightlessness, and for a second she had no idea what was going on. It was when she saw the other passengers' shopping hit the other side of the bus wall and a cacophony of car horns that she realized what was going on―she was in the middle of a vehicle crash, and the bus was starting to roll.
She dug her shoes to the small space between her seat and the one in front of her for support, and gripped the metal pole until her knuckles burned. Other passengers weren't as quick and flew out of their seats in terror, trying to reach out to each other. When the roll ended, they thought they were fine... until another horn sounded, followed by another boom. This time what was left of the bus windows shattered and sent shards of glass flying everywhere, making Mitzi wince as she felt one cut across her cheek.
The impact made the bus roll again, and this time Mitzi's grip gave out as well. Before she knew it she was propelled against the bus roof and back down again. Watching purses and other belongings of the passengers fly above her, she could hear that somewhere, another vehicle was swerving to avoid hitting the bus head on. It succeeded that, only to hit the bus broadside somewhere behind her.
Her head hit something and a massive ache filled through her. The bus finally skidded to a halt after it landed sideways one last time. She could hear sirens, but they sounded far away, like their sounds were being muffled by water. Darkness creeped into her vision, and before Mitzi knew it, she was blacking out.
From the back of her mind, she vaguely thought she could hear an echo of something Susan had once said to her.
"You'll go to heaven, you muppet."
For a while, Mitzi couldn't feel anything... and then, she felt herself resting on the ground. Not pavement or... the bus floorboards... but... earthy, dirt-and-grass-ground. Groaning, she slowly opened her eyes and looked up. There was tall grass around her. No... not grass, it's―barley?
She slowly pushed herself up to a sitting position and looked herself over. She looked just like she had when she set out from the flat earlier. Nothing about her hinted that she'd just been in a bus crash. "That... really happened, right?" she thought aloud in confusion.
She shook her head a bit, finding that it didn't hurt at all, and stood up. After taking a few moments to get her bearings, she took a deep breath and looked around. Above her were empty blue skies with only a few clouds in the distance. All around her was a huge field of barley that seemed to go on for nearly forever, except for some trees of a forest behind her and a shadowy area ahead of her. Cutting through the odd horizon was a small shed.
Wait... I've seen this before, haven't I? It seems familiar, somehow... Mitzi gasped as her brain started to kick back into gear and send her answers through her cloud of confusion. This is... the Afterworld that Mrs. A told me about. The field of barley... and the shed, which has the weird machine that hurt her harm. Does... that mean I'm in limbo?
"All right, Mitzi, think," she told herself. If she remembered right, when Susan retold her the story from start to finish after they'd defeated the Eye of Adam, she'd had to go get a key from the dark area to open the shed... then headed to the woods. "Okay, let's try that."
Mitzi walked through the talk stalks of barley, and checked the shed's door. The padlock was locked, and unfortunately, Mitzi didn't have her lockpicks with her this time. Inspecting her pockets, all she found was the key chain she'd got for Susan.
Moving on, she headed to the shadowy area, which seemed like it was the underground of a closed off intersection, with lots of wrecked cars and vehicles. It was creepy, to say the least. Whereas in the barley field, the wind blew the stalks enough to make the area have a whispering sound to it, this dark place seemed eerily silent. Even her own footsteps were muted, as if there was velvet under her shoes.
She kept moving despite this until she saw over half the corridor blocked by a wrecked bus. The windows were blown out and shattered, the metal on the sides dented in three places and the headlights busted. Mitzi swallowed a lump in her throat, and edged her way past it through a small gap between the rear of the bus and the wall. There she could see an ambulance, lights on but not flashing, absent of the sounds of the siren.
She went up to the back of the ambulance and tugged on the door, which stayed shut. She turned around to look back at the bus nervously, only to jump back when she heard a bam and a gunnery rolled out of the back of the ambulance behind her.
"Shit!" she cursed, putting a hand over her heart. She looked back over and saw a sheet over the body. She cautiously reached out and brought down the sheet to see herself on the gunnery. She had a cut on her left cheek, and her head had a nasty bruise with some dried blood in her hair. Compared to some of the other passengers, Mitzi was sure she didn't look too bad. Thinking back to Susan's recounts of the Afterworld, she gently pried open her body double's mouth. There was a key, just like Susan had said there'd be.
Mitzi took the key. No sooner had she taken it did the ceiling start to rumble. Mitzi dashed through the gap by the bus and ran out as fast as her legs could carry her, hearing falling rubble and crushed metal behind her.
She slowed down back in the field, but got confused when the key didn't open the shed. She tried the key again and the padlock still wouldn't open. Then, from inside it, she heard the echoes of a few screams. She backed away from the door as something fell from above her. Looking down, it was a small wooden plaque with the number 12 on it.
At first she didn't really make the connection to the number 12. She was too distracted by a flash of fire she saw lick between the cracked wood of the shed, which she took as a sign to walk back into the field of barley and figure out what to do.
"Okay Mitzi... don't panic. Maybe you just have to find another key. Mrs. A said the other was in the woods somewhere, so best to start there next." Nodding to herself, she made her way into the woods.
There wasn't a single animal around, much less the deer she'd been told about. However, Mitzi pressed forward, climbing over fallen logs and slipping around tall trees. Then, instead of hearing the crunch of leaves underneath her shoes, she head the soft thud of her shoes against pavement. Looking down, she saw dark asphalt cracked among the grass. She looked up and saw it led past a huge row of bushes. She pulled her jacket closer in case the bushes had a lot of thorns, and made her way through.
She froze.
It was a very familiar-looking parking lot. With one yellow car in the middle. A car with sheets of paper taped onto the windows.
"N-no... not here... why?" she whimpered, clutching herself. I... I don't want to be here again. Wh-what's the point of this? She closed her eyes and tried to think. Wait... first the ambulance after the bus crash, then a place with 12... Hellen Road... now here... Are these... all the places I could have died at?
Mitzi took a deep breath and gathered her courage. She slowly made her way over to the car. The windows were blacked out, and there wasn't another body double waiting for her. Instead of the posters the Eye of Adam had made, there was simply one word on each poster.
"Key. In. Trunk?" Mitzi read, confused. She went around to the trunk and found the key in the trunk's lock. She took it and stared at it, then looked back at the car. "That... can't be all." She put the key back in the trunk's lock and unlocked it. Inside the trunk was a knife. "What do I do with this?" she asked.
CAW!
Mitzi jerked around and saw a crow fly overhead and back towards the trees.
"I had to follow some crow for a while. If I didn't then I'd just get more lost and go around in circles. I had to do lots of weird stuff, like with that deer, on the way. He led me to a gate, though, and from there on it was that creepy old Queen's cottage."
Remembering Susan's advice, Mitzi stepped a bit closer to the crow. "So... you're gonna lead me to the gate, right?" she asked it.
It stared at her for a moment and then flew off, with Mitzi following close behind with the knife in her hand. Through trees and down paths that seemed to appear out of nowhere, the crow did eventually lead her to a gate. The gate doors were tied together with some computer cables, and Mitzi wasted no time in cutting them away. She didn't look back at the woods as she pushed the gate open and walked inside, hearing the gate doors shut behind her.
There she was, in front of the cottage. The rocking chair outside it was empty. The Queen of Maggots was not there to greet her. No life seemed to come from the cabin at all, and everything was too quiet.
"Hello?" Mitzi called, "Is anyone here?!"
She received no answer.
Mitzi groaned. Just my luck. Now what do I do, Mrs. A? she thought. Kicking her foot at the grass in frustration, she recalled her last thought before she blacked out in the crash. She sighed and hugged her arms. This... this isn't heaven, though. Mrs. A isn't here... and neither is Jack. Mitzi felt her eyes burn as tears welled up in them.
Wiping her eyes with her sleeve, she stepped forward and climbed the steps up onto the porch of the cabin. She went up to the door and knocked, but still received no answer, and the door wouldn't budge when she tried to open it. "Not even that Queen of Maggots is here," she muttered.
"Well, she wouldn't be, silly!" came a voice to her right. "You already beat her!"
Mitzi turned around and saw a little girl sitting on the wooden rail around the porch, her legs swinging back and forth.
"Wha-Who... who're you?" Mitzi asked, surprised.
The girl laughed a bit. "Hehe, come on, Mitzi, you already know who I am!"
"I'm pretty sure if I remembered knowing a cheerful little girl like you," Mitzi replied, still uncertain.
"Oh, come on, Mitzi! We never met before but you know who I am! Take a closer look and see!"
Mitzi studied the girl a bit more closely with her eyes. The girl looked like she was in her pre-teen years, and was wearing a pink dress that went to her knees. Her feet were bare and covered in a thin layer of dirt, though the girl herself didn't seem to mind that. The girl had brunette hair that was so dark it almost looked black, and it fell past her shoulders. Her eyes were a bright, shining emerald-green that seemed to sparkle with mischief, and the sun reflected from a hairclip in her hair that was in the shape of a star.
The girl had waited unembarrassed as Mitzi studied her, but giggled when Mitzi still looked a bit confused.
"How can I know you if we never met?" Mitzi asked.
"Because Mummy told you all about me, silly!" she said, twirling a strand of her hair.
"Your mum? Bu-" Mitzi stopped mid-sentence as her eyes went back to the star-shaped hairclip holding the hair out of the girl's eyes... very familiar green eyes. "Wait! You... you're... Zoe?!"
The girl cheered and jumped up to stand on the rail with perfect balance. "Haha YAY! You got it! Mummy said you were really smart! It was the hairclip, right?" She moved her had up to tap a finger against it. "Mummy always calls me her 'little star,' so I always wear this."
"You're Zoe. Wow... you're Zoe," Mitzi said, stunned. Zoe did resemble Susan, her eyes most of all, though now Mitzi could really see a lot more of Susan's features in her face. She guessed the touch of brown in Zoe's hair must have come from Eric. Although, given what happened, Mitzi thought that, like with Susan, she shouldn't bring up Zoe's father with her. At least, not now.
"That's my name, don't wear it out!" the girl laughed. "Nice to finally meet you, Mitzi. Mummy told me a lot about you. Oh, she also told me to tell you she's fine, now, and happy."
Mitzi smiled. "Well, if she's with you, I can imagine she is. Oh! By the way, here, give this to her." She dug in her pocket for the cat key chain and handed it to Zoe, who looked at it with glee.
"Wow! This is so cute! Mummy'll love it!"
"I was going to visit her but, well, things got a little crazy."
Zoe put the key chain in the dress pocket and looked back up to Mitzi, still giving off a nice vibe but her face suddenly looking much wiser than her years. "I know. That's why I'm here. Mummy misses you sometimes, but you're not supposed to be here so soon, Mitzi."
"What's gonna happen, then? Is the Queen of Maggots going to give me a job to do like Mrs. A―I mean, your mum?"
Zoe smirked. "I already told you she's gone, Mitzi. You already beat her."
"Her? You mean the Queen of Maggots? But I just got here! I haven't even seen her!"
"You beat her a long time ago, Mitzi. Don't you see? The Queen of Maggots isn't Death, ya know. Actually, for all the scythe and stuff, Death's actually very sweet once you get to know him. Well, as long as you were good. Anyway, I'm getting off track." Zoe jumped back down to sit on the rail and patted it for Mitzi to sit on, too.
Mitzi felt a little confused, but went over and sat next to Zoe and waited for her to continue.
"The Queen just embodies whatever's eating a person up inside. For Mummy, it was her depression and self-hatred. For you, it was that all-consuming revenge you wanted against the Eye of Adam."
"You... you sound a lot older than you look, Zoe."
Zoe smiled. "If I hadn't died back then, in the world of the living I'd be 16 or 17 by now, give or take a few months. I only choose to look like this because it's old enough for me to play as much as I want but young enough to make Mummy feel more at ease with me. We're making up for lost time, you could say."
"Oh." Mitzi could understand that, she supposed. Susan lost Zoe when she was so young, but many kids love to play. Looking around 11 years old would make the awkwardness for both easier to overcome. Then there's what she said about the Queen of Maggots. When she gave up revenge that day... she'd beaten her. "You know, Zoe... I don't think I would have been able to beat the Queen and let go of revenge... if your mum hadn't been there for me."
Zoe grinned. "You helped Mummy, so Mummy helped you. It's what friends are for. And now, you get to go back and help someone, too!"
"What? What do you mean?"
"Just because that mean old Queen is gone doesn't mean there's not a reason you're here instead of there. There's something you need to go back and do."
"What could I possibly do? Do I... have to kill 5 parasites, like Mrs. A? Because... I don't know if I'm strong enough to do that." Mitzi could still remember not being able to bear watching the cats devour the 4th parasite, and the 5th... "I'm... not a Cat Lady like Mrs. A. I can't do all that."
"Mummy is Mummy and you are you. Mummy had to punish those bad people because they preyed on people like her. What you have to do is way different, because of what Mummy did for you."
Mitzi looked at Zoe. "Well... what is it? What do I have to do?"
Zoe reached out and held Mitzi's hand. "There are others back there, in the living world, you know... who are struggling with revenge the same way you did. Revenge is... a horrible thing. It gobbles you up and turns you into something scary. It blinds people, and in the end, no one's really any happier for it even if they get vengeance. You had Mummy there to help you. A lot of people don't have good friends like that."
"So... you're saying I need to go and... stop people from getting revenge? But... who am I to deny them that?"
"You could be their friend, like Mummy was for you. If Mummy hadn't been there and you had gotten revenge, how do you think you would've felt?"
Mitzi looked down to her knees and squeezed her eyes shut. She hated remembering anything about the Eye of Adam. If Mrs. A hadn't been there, I would have shot him and got us both blown up... feeding the troll with a helping of stupidity at its finest. Mrs. A was right to leave him.. whether he died there in that flat or did rot away in some nursing home... it's nothing less than he deserved. That was equal retribution. Even if I had made it out of the explosion alive... I told myself back then I could live with it because I wouldn't have had to do that for very long, but... Would I have been the same person?
Mitzi swallowed. "I... I would have felt... empty. I wouldn't have anything left to do because I was so focused on it that... If I hadn't had Mrs. A... I would've been... empty and alone."
Zoe nodded and squeezed Mitzi's hand. "That's right, and right now there are others who are going down that same dark path you did. You know what it's like, both to experience it and overcome it. So you're the best person to help these people... these hosts. Revenge is a type of parasite, after all, and it eats up its host. Unless someone steps up to help them, of course."
Mitzi nodded and squeezed Zoe's hand back. "I'll do it," she said, the conviction in her voice unmistakable.
"Mummy was right― you're really awesome!" Zoe said with a touch of awe.
"Surely she didn't actually say that," Mitzi laughed.
Zoe smirked. "Oh yes she did. 'Awesome' was the exact word she used."
Mitzi blinked and had nothing to reply to that except smile a bit bigger.
"There's 5 hosts you have to help, and you'll meet them soon enough. You'll be given immortality like Mummy was until you save them all. Not all of them will be easy to convince, ya know? So we gotta take some precautions."
"Of course. Um... how do I get back there, though? Your mum said something about the Queen saying the rule was... soul and blood?"
Zoe giggled and jumped off the rail to the rocking chair. She stood perched on the chair's arms and stayed perfectly balanced when it didn't rock. "Normally, yeah, but Queenie's not here, is she? All you have to do is answer a riddle correctly, Mitzi! I'll be the Sphinx and you'll be the guesser!"
Mitzi stood up. "A riddle, huh? All right, I'm up for it. What's the riddle, Zoe?"
Zoe tapped her hairclip again. "What vegetable is Mummy thinking of right now?"
Mitzi blinked at hearing her own riddle directed back at her. She wasn't as sure as she would normally be about the answer, since Susan wasn't there in person with her. Though, even then she usually got Susan's guess wrong anyways. This time, however, she think she knew what was on Mrs. A's mind.
"Tomato," Mitzi answered. "Even though it's actually a fruit, you mum was thinking of a tomato."
Zoe grinned. "You got it! See you later, Mitzi!"
Mitzi saw the leaves from the surround trees fall and rush in huge waves to surround her. They swirled around her so fast, it was only a few seconds before she couldn't see much of Zoe in front her anymore. Before everything went dark again, the last thing she saw was a quick flash of Zoe's green eyes before the leaves covered it up.
Mitzi closed her eyes and waited. Mrs. A... thought of a tomato... just like she did back then. I get it, Mrs. A. Got you loud and clear. She felt weightless again, and with a great rush of momentum felt herself flying to back into the waking world.
Midnight: And there's the first chapter. Let me know what you peeps think of it so far. I tried to get Mitzi into character, but despite her awesomeness I think she's a bit more unnerved than Susan by the crazy things that happened to her. But, like Susan, she has real strength inside her, and though it's a show of how strong someone is to let revenge go, it's even harder to help others do the same. So... that's how this story was born. And I loved writing Zoe. I imagine her as being very lively and energetic. Oh, and as for what Zoe mentions about Death, check out a video series by Katy Towell on youtube called "Death and Elsie." That little short story is one of my favorites, and I really like that version of Death.