Spawn (Brand X Music)


Sunday, March 9th

Tero didn't let the Doctor nor the Nurse to lay their hands on me again. She ordered to feed me for the first time in weeks, groom me, give me something to wear (a pale blue dress with a lot of fullness which made me look like a doll), and took me where they had her. It seemed like she had a whole house for herself. Everything in there was for her. A princess bedroom, with an enormous bed with a canopy for her alone, a dressing table with make up, in case she wanted to put it on, more toys than a child could dream of, a little table to drink imaginary tea. In the living room there was a box full of dolls and near the television there were DVDs of cartoons and her favorite movies. They only cooked what she wanted. There, she was the queen.

And I had to act like her big-sized doll.

"Do you want more cake?"

I nodded. She loved playing princesses and princesses drank tea. She put a crown on and pretended she served me a cup of delicious tea. I had to drink the air and pretend it was very good.

She took my hand and looked and felt it consciously.

"You've healed already. It looks like nothing has happened to you."

"It something...that happens to us all the time. You will see...I mean..."

No. The movement wouldn't allow anything bad happen to her. There was always someone at the house looking after us. In that occasion it was the Nurse, who stared at us from the door of the bedroom with her arms crossed.

"That's fine. That way you won't have scabs or lumps. You'll be pretty forever."

She sipped her plastic cup and cleaned the imaginary liquid from her mouth with her sleeve.

"I'm glad I found you. I wanted a friend. Playing alone is no fun, and they are not funny."

"Of course, I'll be your friend."

"Forever?"

I couldn't help pausing.

"Forever."

Luckily, she didn't notice it, or give it importance. She extended her little finger and I hooked mine with it. Tero smiled satisfied.

"Do you know any child?" she asked me.

"Any child?"

"Any child who never grows old and never dies."

"I know...well...I used to know one, but...I mean, yes, I know some."

"You could bring them in, so I can see them. And decide who stays with me. I don't want to be alone when my people ends with nations. It would be very boring!"

She cut a plastic tart with plastic knives and pretended she swallowed it. I didn't even move. I breathed deeply and dared to speak, even with Nurse present.

"Tero...You know, what you are saying...that thing your people wants...it is wrong, you know? If you knew the nations you would see they are not evil. They are all very nice. I am sure you would love them if I introduced them to you...They are hurting a lot of innocent people. They have killed my brother, who was very good to me. Listen, you can decide...You can ask them to stop..."

Tero gazed at me and smiled.

"Mimi."

Nurse stood up.

"I want a chocolate milkshake" Tero commanded.

"Right away, sweetie" she said, and left the room quickly.

Tero saw her leave and when she closed the door she looked at me, still with that placid smile.

And yellow eyes like a tigress.

"My favorite animal is the bee" she said then.

She paused and acted as if she was eating again and cleaned her mouth with a handkerchief.

"I have lots of books about bees. I like the queen, mostly. She's the biggest. And do you know why I like her? Because she is the queen. Everyone does what she says. She's the mommy of all the bees and that's why all of them take care of her."

'Bzz, bzzzzz', she playfully buzzed as she served herself more make-believe tea.

"The queen produces a perfume which makes all of them obey, do what she wants. If she says they have to go into another beehive, which is the house of the bees, they will do it. The worker bees will die for their queen if she asked them to."

She served me a bit more of tea.

"I don't like being here. The cold isn't always fun. I want to go to all places, being in summer one day and playing with the snow the next day. If the world was mine, I could simply switch places whenever I wanted."

"But you can do it, nobody will stop you...You don't have to hurt anybody..."

"I want to be the queen. The world is full of big and strong people and I want to be stronger than them."

"But Tero..."

"The bee queen loves to fly."

"Tero, listen to me. It doesn't have to be this way."

"Your friends, the people you talk about, are being very bad to me. They won't let me do what I want. Martina and Igor already told me, and I gave them orders. I'm going to send my little bees to prick them and kill all of them, and I will go live in their houses."

"You can't be serious..."

"I will leave you because you are pretty and play with me."

Until she gets tired, I thought. Until she gets tired of me and sends me back to the operating table or something worse.

"Tero...Think of what you're saying."

"There are so many languages it's going to be a mess. When I become the queen of the world, everybody will speak mine. Esperanto. Ĉu vi scias esperanto? I will teach you. It's prettier than German."

"Tero, you will cause a war! Innocent people will die! Your friends! You're going to get them killed! Didn't you think of them?"

Tero laughed as if I had said something funny.

"So what? The queen does not care about the workers. She can make a lot more eggs. They are here to do as I tell them. If I tell them to fight, they will fight. If I tell them to bring me friends, they will bring them to me. If I tell them to jump off the window, they will jump. Martina explained it all fine to me. There are people who don't want me to be the queen of the world. They want me to be locked up where it's cold and there is no one around. But I am the boss and I've told them we are going to rule the world."

"Oh, my God..." I whispered.

"I don't know what God is, but I don't like it, so don't speak about it anymore" Tero frowned.

"They didn't want a war, Tero..."

"Only the bad guys. Those who don't really love me. The cowards."

Nurse came in with a chocolate cup she gave Tero immediately.

"Mimi. I want to show Liechtenstein the coward."

The woman shivered, I noticed, but nodded and left the room again.

When Spain found the New World and told everyone what he had seen, he told them about a terrible nation. So terrible he justified its destruction and embraced the natives to convert them to Catholicism, in an attempt to save their souls. He said the savages believed it sustained itself thanks to the blood of its own children, of its enemies, whose hearts they ripped out, dismembered and devoured in rituals under the sun. He said other tribes from South America helped him stop its advance, fearful of its power. For a long time he was considered a liar and a ruthless murderer.

To this day, I still don't know if the legend of that bloody nation is true. But Tero...Tero was real like life itself.

The Nurse came back with a grocery bag. She took something out of it and put it on the table without looking at it.

I stood up with a jump and drew back screaming until my back hit the wall.

It was the head of the black woman I had seen by Tero's side the day I tried to escape.

She touched the curly hairs of the head then raised her plastic teapot to me.

"More tea?"