Chapter Seven, Another Mind
While Clive and Catherine slept, Kaitlyn dreamed.
They were dreams of unease and indecision, the little girl finding herself strandedon an alien landscape. She was fully aware that her real body was sleeping quietly upon a small bed in her parents' inn room, but her other real body, the one she was using right now, was far, far away from that.
But she was not alone. Jet was there beside her, holding her hand. She could not turn her head to see him, but just by his particular grip she could tell he was there. The landscape around them was windy and barren, like a wasteland freezing in the cold absence of warmth. Kaitlyn's little arms went rigid and she shivered from the extreme drop in temperature, sharp gusts of air stinging against her cheek. Jet's hand did not tremble against hers, he must have not felt the cold at all.
Come here! Come HERE!
"Where are we, Jet?" Kaitlyn asked somewhat calmly. "I haven't been here before." She looked up and her eyes widened. "What's that?"
A building lay within the center of the cold sandstorm, the same desolate greyish-brown as the rocks and cliffs around it. It looked like an isolated castle in the middle of nowhere, a castle with no kingdom to command, except for the cold winds and the blowing grains of sand. It seemed like a toy from the distance Kaitlyn and Jet were standing at, but she could see the clear empty windows still, like the dark empty eye sockets from the skull of a rotted demonic creature. A bad feeling came from those distant windows, one that Kaitlyn definitely did not like. She could almost hear cries coming from there, the voice hauntingly familiar.
Come out, you little bitch! I'll find you! I'll find you!
That's Heaven. Jet said, talking from far away. Be careful there, kid. Be careful. I can't follow you there, just like it can't get you here, outside of its home. It won't let me.
Kaitlyn didn't like what Jet was saying. "Why? How come?" She demanded. "You've been with me forever and ever now, Jet. Please don't go away." Kaitlyn managed to turn her head and look up at her imaginary friend. He had light purple eyes and pretty silver hair. He smiled ruefully.
I can't go to heaven, not just yet. Not until it is finished. Beware of the clock when it strikes midnight, they devote themselves when their numbers are full and the chimera comes out to birth another head. Beware of the women who died most foul and beware of the creatures that live and die in misery. And-
Jet's volume dropped dramatically, he suddenly became mute, though his lips still moved as he continued to speak. Jet didn't seem to notice the change. Kaitlyn blinked a few times, perplexed, then turned away to look back at the distant castle. As she did this, Jet's hand slipped away from hers and was lost. When she turned back he was gone. Kaitlyn was kind of expecting this, it was what Jet did at times.
You bitch! You fucking bitch! Disrespect me, will you!
Who keeps on yelling? Its scary… Kaitlyn wondered, wrapping her small arms around herself to protect herself from the cold.
A monster roared.
From the castle, came the cheer of a hundred people.
Then a scream, resonant, comprised of all voices.
Then silence.
But in that silence, Kaitlyn could have sworn that she heard quiet, unnerving laugher. It had been day when the dream had begun, but now, without any noticeable kind of transition, it was night. She immediately became fearful of the Thing she had seen in her last vision, the thing that had smelt sour and spoke of poison and
(redrum)
evil things and chased her with a weapon that would surely kill her with no difficulty. This castle was its home, it lived here and it was waiting for her, waiting for her…
In Heaven.
xxx
Kaitlyn awoke in a bath of her own sweat, panting and gasping, trying vainly to get her heartbeat down to a minimum pulse. Tears stung her eyes and she started to cry, wanting her daddy to wake up and make her feel better again (But mommy had said that daddy needed his sleep and wasn't to be disturbed), and if not that, she wanted Jet to come back and offer a friendly smile or two. The darkness was scary to her, as it was closing all around her. The nightmare was scary to her too, as it had left her all alone, but she was frightened the most because of all the things that had happened to her, the things that terrified her, there was nobody left to make her feel better.
She started to cry a little harder now, but self-consciousness caused her tears to peter off almost as quickly as they had begun. Crying would get her nowhere while her parents slept and Kaitlyn knew this. Rubbing her eyes with her balled fists, she sniffed harshly and trembled once again from the cold, momentarily reminded of the coldness of her dreams. Bitterly, she kicked off her blankets to feel the sensation again. Jet was smart, and Jet always knew what was best for her, for he knew all about Kaitlyn's secrets and wants. If he was afraid of the Gunner's Heaven, where daddy was to be going, then should Kaitlyn not be afraid as well? Truthfully, she was, but more than half of her mindtrusted her daddy more than it trusted Jet.
For if she could not trust daddy, then who else could she trust?
Sliding off the two chairs that made up her small bed, Kaitlyn forsook the warm blankets that had been given to her and walked upon bare feet towards her parent's bed, standing on tip-toes to look above it inquisitively. She knew she was not allowed to wake her daddy, but would it really be so wrong to sleep next to him this night, just this once? While things were still semi-okay?
She picked up a fragment of Clive's dreams. They were dark and repulsive to her mind, filled with things she did not understand. Unperturbed, she dragged her large blanket over to the bed and took the time to spread it over both her parents, struggling with the difficulty of the task with only one proper hand to work with. Now, she crawled in beside her father, close to the edge of the bed. It was much warmer than she could have hoped, while from her vantage point, she could see the windows and the moving gnarled branches of trees outside them. They seemed to be scratching at the glass, as if out to get her, just like the Thing of her dreams.
Now Kaitlyn knew one thing for certain, cemented firmly into her mind. Tomorrow they would leave Little Twister and head towards the Gunner's Heaven, the place where Jet was afraid to tread. And Redrum was there. She knew not what it was, but the Thing was its Prophet, and the Redrum its God.
So wherever the Heaven may be, Redrum was there too.
