The Wish

The next day, I just slept. I didn't have the courage to face reality yet. I dreamed of the outside, of how I would escape, of what Tată would think of me… anything and everything that would tear me away from the village.

The day after, I willed myself to stand. Heisenberg was nowhere to be found, but I did find Daria out in her usual place. She ran to me, and I embraced her.

"Thanks for looking out for me, girl," I said, stroking her snout. She shook her head and sniffed my forehead. I giggled. "At least I still have you."

I didn't want anything to get away from me again. If I was going to leave the village, I would need a plan. Heisenberg would know a way, if there was any. He'd already approved of my sentiment, so surely he would be willing to help. Maybe I'd even be able to convince him to come with me. I spent several hours drafting what I would say to him. I must've rehearsed it a thousand times in my head even though it was just a few sentences. Every time I thought I'd worked up the courage to talk to him, my chest got tight, and my body froze. I gave myself a day. After that, I forced myself to take action.

"Heisenberg?"

I called out in every place I was allowed: nothing. Looks like I'll have to do this the hard way, I thought. As if having the conversation wasn't hard enough, I had to break a Rule. But I wasn't going to wait for him; there was no telling when he would emerge from his secret cave. So, I ventured through one of the forbidden doors.

The hallways were suffocatingly tight. I'd hoped Heisenberg wasn't far, but the facility proved to be a labyrinth. Door after door, I eventually reached a stairwell. I hesitantly climbed. In yet another room, there was nothing but junk. I sighed and turned around. If I kept this up, I would just get lost. Waiting seemed like the only viable option.

Until I saw… an elevator? It was massive enough to carry a crowd of people. It was probably meant for hauling machines up and down. Wait… the only other floor in the building was up. But there was a down button. What kind of man would hide something underground when he had the status to do whatever he wanted?

This must be where he spends all his time, I thought. Did I really want to go underground when I was already unsure how to get back to the entrance? No, but I wanted to find Heisenberg sooner rather than later.

I took a deep breath and called the elevator. The gates gave a grating screech when the lift arrived as the metal scraped against the floor. I winced and proceeded forward. Then I just had to… Wait… Why were there so many buttons? There couldn't be more than one floor underground… could there? Maybe only one level was occupied, and the rest had been abandoned. Maybe…

Indecision prevented my fingers from pressing anything. It was a nightmare to guess where he could've possibly been. While I found Heisenberg's Rules quite pretentious, I could see why he made them; the last thing he probably wanted was to have to go looking for me every time I got lost.

Maybe I shouldn't be doing this, I thought. My resolve almost vanished. Was it really worth getting trapped underground? Yes, yes it was. It was my life; I had to be proactive about it.

I hesitantly hit the button that took me down furthest so I could work my way up. I gulped as the elevator started to move. I gripped the sides, scared it would suddenly fail and send me plummeting. Before I knew it, I arrived.

It was… eerily similar to the cave my mother had taken me to. Everything was so dark and cramped. My breathing shortened immediately as I was brought back to that horrible memory. I knocked the side of my head with the heel of my hand. I couldn't go back there… not if I wanted to make progress.

I slowly stepped forward. Noise filled my ears: a rhythmic, steady sound. But from where?

"Heisenberg?"

There was no way he would've heard me. It might've worked above ground, but down there, where the clangs of machinery were enough to ring your ears, even a car horn would've gone unnoticed.

There was a map just outside the gates. When I scanned the layout, dread took over. This place can't be that big, I doubted. I turned around to face what I failed to notice on my way down.

For as far as I could see, there were conveyor belts stacked intermittently. Smoke spewed from the machinations as they churned. It was beautiful and terrifying, a masterpiece and an abomination. I don't think anything in this world could ever compare to that sight.

What are you doing?! This place is a death trap! My instincts screamed. Run! Get back to where it's safe!

…Why had I gone down there? My goal… the thing I'd spent so long preparing for. I couldn't let it go to waste.

If it becomes too much, I'll leave, I promised myself. So, on I went.

I grabbed the map from the wall. If Heisenberg needed it, he could replace it when I found him. The last thing I wanted was to get stuck down there. With the map in my hands, I took a deep breath and walked down the first hall.

"Heisenberg?" I shouted, but only the machines answered.

Corner after corner, room after room, I came up short. There was even more scrap down there than on the surface. I had a better chance of finding a needle than Heisenberg. Turn after turn, my mind became frantic. Despite my promise, I just couldn't give up; my curiosity and determination forbade it. At least I could start to understand why Heisenberg spent all his time down there.

There was only one place left to check. If Heisenberg's not here, I swore, I'm checking the next floor.

I walked into what I thought was an abandoned room. As I stepped in, I caught a glimpse of a shadow.

"Heisenberg?" I ventured.

Nothing… then, movement. The shadow shifted. I walked forward and let out a sigh of relief.

But I stopped short when the shadow's owner hit the light. Its movements were stoic, yet its body was…mostly human. It grunted when it saw me, turning its metal covered eyes in my direction. Its whole arm was replaced with a drill. The device on its chest… mimicked the one on Daria's heart.

It started to march forward. I stumbled back. It lifted its drill as if to charge. I screamed and ducked under it as I ran to the direction it came from. My foot caught on a gear lying on the ground. The air left my lungs as I hit the floor. I scrambled to get up, but when I turned, the monster was almost on me again. There wasn't time… I screamed and braced my arms.

"Stop!"

The monster stopped cold. I slowly lowered my arms. Heisenberg walked in from behind me. He examined the monstrosity for a moment as it stood upright. Then his gaze shifted down to me.

"Lost?" he asked.

My mind raced to figure out if he was mad or not. Before it could decide, he reached his hand out. I shakily took it and let him pull me to my feet. I kept holding onto him as I glanced at the thing.

"What… What is that?"

Heisenberg grinned. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

If it wasn't abundantly clear that Heisenberg was insane up to that point, that question proved it. I just stared at him.

"Took some trial and error, but I think I've got it just right. And this is just one version. There's plenty more where this came from."

"…But why? What's it for?"

"My army."

I looked at the thing again. Of course; why had I not put it together? This thing… was the answer. To my arm, to Daria, to…

"The bodies… you were having Mamă bring them to you… so you could make this?"

Heisenberg walked over to the thing, his arm out. "This is how Miranda falls. She may not look like it, but she's one tough bitch. Without this, without all of this," he gestured to the factory, "it would be next to impossible. Whether it's fate or just dumb fucking luck, I'm the one who gets to use it all. I wasn't about to let it go to waste. Those… peons who serve Miranda make for excellent subjects. With them, I can finally get my revenge." He turned to me. "And now, you have a choice. You say you hate her, right? You say you wanna shake the dirt of this village from your boots? This is how! We can crush Miranda and then we'll finally be free! No one will ever get to tell us what to do again!"

I've never met anyone with more willpower than that man. All that time, he'd kept his intentions close to his chest, yet his passion never dwindled. He wasn't willing to let himself slip even once. That was why he didn't tell me until that moment. He was right; the day had finally come, and he hadn't disappointed.

"So… are you in or out?"

If there is such a thing as fate, then it gave me far more than I deserve. In exchange for the sorrows I'd seen and done, it was giving me a chance to kill the woman who caused it all.

That woman… that miserable, power whore of a woman who called herself a prophet had turned my mother mad. She had tricked Mamă into believing that sacrificing her own daughter was the way to be saved, that she could be freed from a curse that didn't exist. She had ripped Mamă away from me, ripped my dream away from me. She made me kill the only family I had left just so I could live to see the other side of the mountains. I wanted to watch her cry in agony, begging for mercy. I wanted her deepest desire to be wrenched from her fingers. I wanted her to live an eternity in wrath knowing that her achievements were all for nothing.

I wanted to laugh. I wanted to laugh and scream with madness. What a brilliant, glorious plan. Fuck the pathetic excuse for a proposition I had. This was it… this was really it…

I'll get justice for you yet, Tată.

Once Heisenberg's words soaked in, I looked him dead in the eyes. "When do I start?"