So many ghosts lodged inside the intricate corridors of her mind, wandering restless and with rotting hands reaching for her. Like beloved Mina, in thrall to her dark master. Like poor lost Peter, smiling against a dark sky. She sat down each night to write Mina another letter she would never read, full of empty promises and truthful confessions.
Murray would not be strong enough to put Mina down if need be. But she was strong, a fragile skin hiding steel resolve. Ah Mina, if only she hadn't betrayed her with her fiancé that night. Then she might be safely enjoying married life, and not be forced to obey her dark master's every command. Her soul was lost, perhaps it could be rescued. Hope was the cruelest torment yet, giving a glimpse of a happier life only to pull it away. The paths she'd already traveled had made her bitter and cruel. That's what she needed to be to have a hope of stopping the darkness from devouring her from within. And by giving it free reign perhaps she had already doomed herself? She exhaled a little smoke and marveled at how beautiful the night sky seemed. Like no restless souls wandered beneath it.