"It's cancer..."
Her golden eyes widened, sweat slowly slid down her soft skin. A tear formed in the pinnacle of her eye like that last shining ray of hope as the word 'inoperable' came out of the doctor's mouth.
Kanade Tachibana staggered out of the hospital, still affected by the words as if she was shot by a bullet, her tears bled from her eyes as negativity filled her wound, reminding her of all that went wrong in her life; and all that could still go wrong...
Her life was bad from the beginning, her mother died when she was 5; she left her a rhodochrosite encrusted ring to remember her by. Her dad was never there for her, always drunk and abusive. He beat her if she so much as breathed wrong, verbally tortured her if she wasn't perfect and never rewarded things she did right. She resented the man, but he was her only family; he had a right to know, even with how little he did for her but put scraps of food on her plate and what specks of entertainment he gave her now and then. Even school was a tarnished time full of spite, hate and terrorism; the bullies would beat her, threaten to rape her, trash her schoolbag and once burned her coursework before it was due to be examined for a course.
She turned up at his house with an urge to run away and enjoy her life, or what little she had left, but she wanted to tell him first so she never needed to see him again. "And the prodigal bitch returns, sorry but it's your mommy you'd want to whimper too cause I can't be arsed with you." He said as he turned with a big grin on his face, he knew that was cutting. "I have cancer, now would you like me to spell it out for you or do you have enough understanding of it already?" She retorted, she knew that being volatile around him was the only way to spark a response. "I beg your pardon? So what, you expect pity? To be consoled? Fuck off and go whimper to your mom for that." He grinned again. "She's dead you narcissistic bastard!"
"Really? When'd that happen?" he responded, he twisted his words like a knife, sounding sarcastic and almost pleased. "So, lemme guess, your pretty much dead?" and with that he burst into laughter. Kanade ran into the kitchen, started sobbing into the sink. Her anger boiling her tears off her face, her hands trembling and her eyes now transfixed on the thing that raised her. "What? So it's this song and dance now, wow you really are as soft as your mother."
"You married her, so you must like it." She spat back. He ran across the kitchen and punched her in the face. Her resentment, rage and destructive desires built up passed her control as she stared him in the face; she stared at him with a stone cold look as she silently reached behind her for the cutlery drawer. "Never EVER talk to me like that, you know never to assault my ego, self esteem or personality!" He growled, sending a cold shiver down her spine. She reached into the cutlery drawer and picked up the carving knife, silently slipping it out of the drawer and behind her back. "Aw, but your ego is so big it's hard to miss, your self esteem is questionable and your personality is narcissistic, anti-social and needs severe work before you bec..." She stopped as he thrust his fist into her stomach, ploughing into the muscle to protect her intestines. She looked up at him as she bled through her mouth, "I had three months to live, now you may have reduced that!"
"Good, you were worthless anyways." She tightly gripped the knife as she quickly threw it up into his neck, she watched on in rage as she pulled it out sideward's and severed his jugular. He placed his hands on his throat in an attempt to stop the bleeding, she came close to his ear "you now have 20 seconds to live, and nobody gives a flying FUCK!" As she spat the last word, Kanade's father fell to the floor and released pressure on his neck, allowing a pool of blood to form. Kanade put the knife in the sink and filled it with bleach.
She left his house and locked the door behind her, she took the keys with her as she got in her car to drive to the airport. She called her insurance company to take out her life insurance, they gave her a large sum of money and said it would be in her account soon. The roads were bleak, dim and uneventful. She arrived at Las Vegas airport and booked a flight to Nagasaki, a nice and tranquil area of Japan; a place to relax and unwind in a gorgeous town that is so renovated and nice you'd hardly think it was bombed 68 years ago. Kanade received the ticket and boarded the plane.
Onboard entertainment was mildly entertaining at best. Kanade picked up her puzzle book and began to fill it in. She liked doing puzzles like Sudoku and word searches; they distracted her mind off of her father's abuse and other unsavoury things that was happening in her life. She was doing a crossword, she never tried them before because her dad never wanted her to watch TV or play games, instead to focus on subjects of his choosing. "8 down: elementary, and 4 across: adolescent." The voice reminded her of her father, she looked in the direction of the voice to see his smug face; she glanced at his neck to see the knife wound was still there, just not bleeding. "You, you, you're n-n-not real, you can't be real, you, you, you're..."
"Dead? Yes, you're hallucinating me though, so you could say, I'm haunting you...and it's kinda nice you haven't hallucinated your mommy; that bitch would have you think everything's all right when clearly it isn't. You're going to die. You're going to die soon." He laughed as he repeated that as if, even in hell he relished the fact she'll join him sooner or later. Kanade continued to become more frightened at the thought of her condition getting worse.
The plane landed at an airport near Nagasaki. Passengers evacuated the plane and collected their luggage if they brought any. Kanade exited and hailed a taxi, she was taken to her hotel and went to her room.
The room was number 11 on the 9th floor. The brass coated numbers stood proud as she inserted her key card into the slit under the doorknob. She was greeted with a soft beep as the knob rotated and granted her access to a bright red colour; streams of orange, lime and teal wove through the red, adding a lovely boost of colour and allowed separation to the peach that coated the wall with a window in it, it flowed seamlessly with the pattern. The grandeur of the room was only enhanced with the regal oak and mahogany furnishings, the only items that weren't these were all the electronic items and the sofa – which was a beautiful Tuscan sunset leather sofa that fit the design impressively. "You really know where to choose these places, filled with twats and overly expensive shit that is completely unnecessary." Spoke a voice from behind, she turned to the horror of seeing her father. "Oh and you'd know because your apartment was sublime, the scraps of paper and leftovers in boxes really added to the atmosphere." She antagonistically replied, she knew she was talking to ghosts but that didn't mean they weren't pissing her off. Her father looked at her in his usual 'I'm going to fucking kill you' look as he lunged at her; his fist passed straight through her. "You're not real asshole, so you can't hurt me...physically." She added, knowing he was perfectly capable of tearing her to pieces by the way he said things. He often did this if she'd stepped out of line, leaving her traumatized as a punishment.
Life went on the way it had been, but the excitement of being in a new country drove her like it did when she moved house, exploring the surrounding areas and familiarizing herself with the area. It was tranquil in Japan but something didn't feel right, she thought it was guilt from her killing her father and she moved on as if it was part of who she was. She decided to make herself feel good and went to the best restaurant nearby; it was very open planned, it had no windows in it, and no high walls. She walked in through the entrance and ordered her favourite dish; she ordered some wine to go with it as well.
As she waited she noticed her vision come in and out of focus and fought to keep it under control, she looked on at the chefs who cooked her meal with precision and dignity. Her eyes became blurry again to see a faded image of the waitress bringing her her food. She glanced at the meal as her vision came back, she attempted to eat it but felt uneasy as to what was happening. Halfway through her vision went again and she felt nauseous, taking away her ability to fight it any longer as she fell further into darkness. She collapsed onto her meal as the chair slid from underneath her, the waitress went to check her safety while a bystander called for an ambulance.
Kanade woke in hospital with several IV drips and tubes in her; the attending nurse removed one helping her to breathe as she woke. She gagged for a few seconds as she adjusted to breathing normally. The walls were whitewashed and the doorframes were painted a teal colour. She glanced over at the bleeping machines with a groggy attitude to look at the glaring lights that symbolized numbers and graphs. She looked at the nurse to ask what had happened. "I'm afraid to say but, we needed to give you new liver. The cancer spread to it and had killed it, I estimate you have about a fortnight left to live. Also, you had a seizure which was brought on through your brain tumour. There is nothing left we can do."
Kanade left the hospital later that week with about one week left to live. Distraught, she went into a travel shop and looked at all destinations available that left that day, and only one was available: South Africa. She walked over to an ATM to check her account balance and she could just afford to go and book a hotel there. She pondered her options but wanted to at least make her last days an adventure, she didn't care how but she'd do it.
The plane took off from the same airport she came in, and she almost reminisced in the same adventurous attitude that brought her here. The plane seemed less dull than before, she saw enjoyment in seeing clouds and looked for shapes in them to pass time. "7 days huh, wow. You'd have thought you'd have more time since they fixed something but no, oh no, life has to screw you over once more before you die. Seems like we'll meet soon, isn't that fucking delightful?" Her father mocked, he continued making her guilt trip all the way to South Africa.
The plane landed and she ran off to get away from it, to get away from her dead father; but still he followed and tormented. She walked around like the murderer she was reminded she was, like a person with serious secrets and got stares from people. Her father knew when enough was enough and she stopped being hallucinated while she walked to a small shanty hotel. The walls made of hardened mud supported by some timber scraps foraged by the owners. There were no glass windows and there was hardly even a net over the gaps allowing you to see over the rest of the shanty village; yet in this squalor the locals were rather nice and kind to her as she walked to the front desk to receive her room number. "Ah, and what would you like angel?" Queried the man at the front desk, as he looked at Kanade with a smile. She looked back and smiled, informing him that she would like her room key.
Her room was small yet homely, there was wallpaper spread over the mud to make it look nicer. Kanade smiled to see that there was somewhere in the world where people still cared. She looked out over the village from her room and saw a mine in the distance, and a thought sparked. She wanted to help there for her last few days, but her nagging need to know the layout made her put it off. She left the hotel after making her bed and took a look in the nearby village.
The village was small and simple, people owned businesses and supported each other, Kanade was welcomed by people as she walked around intrigued by their way of life. She walked past stalls selling fresh fruits, vegetables and grains, the market was teeming with life. She stopped next to a museum to think back at what life was like back in Britain, the streets covered in peoples waste and cigarette stubs, people looking like they'd turn on you to save their own skin and worst of all, advertisement; you couldn't walk past anywhere without seeing posters or billboards advertising products you didn't care about. But here it was nice, the stall owners didn't even shout to get attention, they just stood there with a smile on their face and waited.
She walked into the museum, she didn't know why but she thought she'd learn a bit about this place and its folklore. She passed lots of interesting items placed in glass containers, and on little plaques next to them it explained their significance in African and English while the item stood there, proud. She noticed that several tourists were there, laughing at some things and behaving inappropriately around others.
She passed a folklore area and something caught her eye, it was a lovely pink and red dragon pictured like she was caring for a human – who looked rather ill. She read the plaque to see what it was about:
"Orchid:
Orchid is a mother to all those who fall sick through no fault of their own, often she will guide dying people to her so she can offer them a peaceful death. She is coated in gemstones, it is generally thought they are ruby and rhodochrosite as these gems are found here in South Africa. She cares for those who find her, and allows them to die however they please; she does so painlessly as a final sign of affection."
The next day Kanade volunteered at the local mine, the people there gave her a strange look and a pickaxe. They asked her to follow someone to her working area so he could give her some guidance and instructions. The tunnels grew dark and damp the further in she trekked, the walls were rough and dark. Every so often she passed a pit stop to support the roof. The guide stopped and lit a lamp, then they continued until they reached a T-junction with light coming out from around the corner. Kanade was a little tired after carrying the pickaxe all this way but kept focus and looked at the guide. He taught her how to use a pickaxe in beginners speak and told her what she was looking for.
The guide left and headed out of the mine, leaving her with the miners there. She got to work chipping away at the wall where indicated. "My god, you're actually doing something. My little girl has finally grown up." Came a rather feigned happy voice from behind. Kanade looked at the others who had moved over a little and were out of earshot. "So why do you come to torment me? Haven't you had enough fun already? I will die here, isn't that enough?"
"Nope, there is never enough. Although I will applaud, you've managed to scratch a rock, what did it ever do to you?" Kanade struck the wall harder than she had been and chipped a large piece of it flying in her dad's direction. She sniggered at this before she lost focus of her father's face for a moment. She stood there stiff, "Is this it, are you actually dying? Hehe, come to papa!" Kanade thought that distraction might help and continued to chip away at the wall, but she missed every time she swung. She had lost her depth perception and her vision was blurry, slowly, tunnel vision crept in and she collapsed to the ground. The last thing she heard before she blacked out was her dad's laughter as he pissed himself at her trauma.
She woke up in a green lit chamber somewhere. She looked up to see she was still underground, but there was no entrance to this chamber and she was completely alone. She picked herself up and surveyed the area, emeralds of varying shapes and sized were illuminating the room a nice green tone while everything kept its colour. The walls were polished and smooth, there had obviously been a lot of work spent on this room, but its sheer size baffled her, who needs a room this big? A noise came from the wall next to her as a hole formed in it to allow in a beast of unprecedented beauty.
Kanade looked up at it in awe as it looked down at her; her irises were a beautiful and perfect ruby colour, her underbelly was made of rubies of the same colour and lay perfectly; never overlapping but not leaving any flesh uncovered until they seamlessly merge with the gemstone that made up the rest of her scale coat. Her main scale coat was a pink that made everything feel warm inside, it was rhodochrosite. "Greetings Kanade, I've been hoping I could meet with you. It seems you're afraid of something, I'm sorry if I appear intimidating." Said the dragon with a voice Kanade recognised, it sounded like her mothers. She calmed down further as the dragon lay down, she looked relaxed and her calmness calmed Kanade down. "Now that you seem more calm why don't you come here and relax, and I apologise, I seem to have forgotten to introduce myself, I'm Orchid." Kanade didn't question Orchid and came to rest leaning against her front left paw. "I understand you have cancer, how unfortunate for a young person like you, it shouldn't have happened to you of all people having to cope with your father, the bullying, the guilt." Orchid didn't speak of these acts like she was judging her, she spoke sympathetically which made Kanade feel more like she was talking with her mother than a dragon. "I see that the cancer has been getting serious of late, fear not, I have prevented it from worsening any further. Unfortunately I cannot remove it for you, however, I can make your passage into death painless and however you want it to be. But understand I can't keep you here and alive forever, I can't prevent it from killing you, and I can only prevent it from being uncomfortable for you and care for you while you die."
Kanade listened to Orchid talk about what was going to happen, and now she was here she knew her life was nearing its end, and she wanted to do one last useful thing before she died. "Erm, Orchid? C, can you do one last thing for me? C, could you please...eat me?"
"Why? I can but why?"
"Well, all my life I've wanted to do something for someone else. B, but I've never been able to until recently a, at the mines. I could have come here earlier b, but then I wouldn't have had my liver transplant. I just thought that if I could do one last thing with my life it's feed you for one meal." Kanade spoke with a little fright in her voice, but she knew what she was consenting to. Orchid looked at her and smiled at her, she just wanted a reason to accept her offer and after listening to this heart filled and heartless story she knew what she had to do. "Ok, and thank you." She smiled as she opened her maw to pick Kanade up.
Kanade looked up into the mouth and accepted what was coming, the jaws clasped around her with enough force to pick her up, but not enough to harm her. As she was raised into the air she was starting to lie on the tongue; the tongue was soft and comforting, the saliva was at the temperature Kanade used for baths. Kanade didn't flinch as the tongue drew her into the mouth, but relaxed, as she was fully entered into the mouth. Orchid allowed her to stay there for a while as the saliva pooled around her; Kanade didn't mind as it was so very relaxing, almost sending her to sleep.
Orchid slowly tilted her head back to start Kanade sliding into the throat. Kanade jerked a little to the movement but was so relaxed she couldn't move her muscles fast enough to react, but the throats peristaltic waves slowed her descent and massaged her, removing all her aches and pains acquired through her mining and other strains she had. The throat was dark, but the reassuring warmth of Orchid was enough to keep her calm. Kanade started feeling relaxed and feeling heavy, time sped up as she completed her descent into the stomach.
Inside the stomach was magical, the acids were lit up with the same emerald green that lit up the room Kanade met Orchid in. The stomach wasn't big, but it was large enough to let Kanade sit up in. The acids were also at bath temperature and Kanade lay in them as she fell asleep. Slowly the acids started peeling away at her skin, dissolving it evenly; Kanade couldn't feel it as nerves were slowly digested, trying to send pain signals that would never reach the brain. Kanade lay there and dreamt, dreamt of a life she should have lived, where everything went well for her. Time seemed irrelevant to her as she drifted from life into death. Orchid continued to digest Kanade and used every last bit of her to good use as she guided more people into a painless death.
Kanade woke to the sound of a light breeze and birds chirping in the distance. She picked herself up and looked around. It appeared as if she was in a high school somewhere, though she didn't care because she felt something she hadn't felt in a long time, a sense of serenity and peace at heart.