Chapter 6
As Clotho was still going through with her elaborate hand gestures and subtle manipulation of the various shadow plays and strange imagery, Lydia turned her back on her so as to not let the old woman see her weary expression on her face.
She didn't know if it was the lack of sleep she had for the last couple of nights, though they might have played a part in her overall tiredness.
And while she was rubbing her temples, the memory of the blood-stained lettering on the wall she saw earlier crept back in her mind. No matter how much she tried to shake that thought away, the unsettling image persisted and haunted her mind, clouding any sense of place and time. It took a while to fling her eyes open again, and when she did, the girl couldn't help but notice how her surroundings started to take on another form, which in this case were mostly the walls and furniture slowly fading out, leaving behind a black background and a layer of smoke emanated from an unknown source, covering her feet up to her ankles.
She cocked her head downwards, deeply lost in her thoughts once more, only to be interrupted by the redhead's shrill voice, now echoing from behind.
''I think we are ready to begin now, Lydia, dear. Unless you want to take your time with your...''
''No, of course not. Please do carry on so that...that, you know, I have a better understanding of what's going on, even if I have feeling I'm not going to like any of this.'', Lydia said, doing her best to cover any sign of her new-found confusion from being revealed and exploited by the older woman.
After examining the teenager's face for a split second, Clotho returned to the task at hand and with a gesture of her right hand, the white wall gave way to what appeared to be a translucent sort of portal, almost like a misty window to another place and time.
The foggy imagery was soon clear enough for Lydia to see what went on. Stepping a little closer to the illuminating portal, she spotted three young women dressed in robes and working on what she presumed were their craft, within the confines of what looked like the inside of a cavern. Their faces were hard to discern, as the hoods of the dark robes they wore only exposed parts of their mouths and noses, with only a few locks of hair streaming down their cheeks, adding a sense of weariness to their expression.
It was only when Lydia noticed the youngest of the group spinning some sort of thread onto a spindle that she suddenly made the mental connection to all those mentions of Greek Mythology she and Clotho discussed earlier, particularly those mentions of the fate goddesses all the way back from elementary school to the present.
But the biggest shock came when the young Fate momentarily sat up from where she stood and crossing her arms in deliberation, she slowly moved her head a bit to stare into the distance, gradually revealing her facial features a little more, and once she wasn't obscured by her hood, Lydia almost held a gasp at what she saw.
The Fate's face looked very identical to her own, albeit more lively, and with a tint of colour to complement it instead of her own trademark paleness.
During Lydia's fixation to the scenery in front of her, the young girl made direct eye contact with her, like knowing that she was being watched all that time, and before returning to her work with the thread, her lips curved into a smile. By the time she got back to her place, she started some sort of conversation with her sisters, but Lydia couldn't listen to what they were actually talking about.
In spite of the scene in front of her being inaudible for some reason, and after calming down from the initial shock, she inferred that perhaps they were discussing something related to the thread from the looks of it, as one of them began measuring a large portion of it with a wooden rod, leaving the last of them sitting on a stone-like bench, with a black scissor in one hand and a piece of string on the other.
Lydia never said a word in all that time she was witnessing the three sisters and how they were becoming occupied with their craft once more, oblivious to what was happening to the outside world, or the fact that they were observed at like some sort of guinea pigs in a scientific experiment.
Clotho, however, seemed to enjoy every minute of taunting Lydia, as her own smile suggested.
Turning back to her, Clotho asked the dumbfounded girl, in the hopes of bringing the young lady back to reality, and see if she was convinced of the nature of the situation now.
''Well, what did you make of all this, dear? You now look as if you saw a ghost for the first time, judging by the look on your pretty face.''
It took Lydia a few minutes to stop looking at the group in the center of the spectral window in front of them, tilting her head back to the direction of a rather impatient Clotho, who felt as if she had every right in the world to complain over the lack of attention she was getting right now, anxious to hear her response to what she displayed in front of her eyes.
In a last ditched effort to cover both her anger and confusion at what was happening as best as she could, Lydia opened her mouth, not really concerned whether her reply came out sounding rude and mean-spirited or not, feeling rather unable to tag along to this psychological torture she was inflicted upon by this woman. She didn't particularly care for her consequences, as the venom laced words rolled of her tongue.
''Who the hell is she? Why did she look like me? Why these women play those stupid games with strings in a cave, or better yet, how could I be related to them!? How could Beetl...he be a part of all this? And why am I supposed to see all that stuff since I can't figure out their damn meaning mys...''
''Now, now, Lydia, you just presume too much. How about we take each person at a time?'', Clotho asked to a highly irritated Lydia, who hardly contained the rage the consumed her whole, leaving no room for calmness and sanity, as her next reply gave away.
''Or how about shutting the fucking hell up? Maybe that'd be a hell lot better compared to some of the shit you made me go through today, and get me back home before I'll...''
Clotho raised her hand and all sound coming out from Lydia's throat ceased to be for a moment. Fearing that the elderly Fate would play a more twisted game on her, Lydia took a few steps back and sunk to the ground. Once her behind touched the cold floor, she propped her chin to her knees to rest her head on top of them, as her hands hugged her legs and squeezed them hard to her chest.
Her beating heart was the only thing she could hear right now, and the sound of her growling stomach reminded her that she hadn't really eaten anything those last couple of hours. Not that it made any difference at the moment, just that she longed to go back home and forget about the whole thing. Only problem was that she had to accept her current predicament at the hands of a being she couldn't understand and the purpose it actually served for the balance of things in the afterlife.
She began to suspect that the ''Handbook for the Recently Deceased'' didn't even have an entry that dealt with her kind and the role the Fates they might have had in the inner workings of what lies ahead beyond death.
Not bothering to check if the raven haired teen was still interested in finding out the meaning of this peculiar imagery, the redhead turned and walked towards the illuminating portal, deciding that a speech would be a better option than standing motionless like her unwilling new friend.
Breaking up the silence of the room, she began to tell the overall history of things that came before the teenager's time, by answering her first question; she still wasn't sure if she would listen to her, but it was better to grab her attention in way she can than doing nothing at all.
''You asked me why this girl looked like you, but do you recall the moment you said you wanted to take a closer look of how the Fates came to be? To be honest, I want to think I've given you half of that and you were only frightened at the truth that lay at hand. However, those women are not my sisters, but you could say that we all part and parcel of the same thing. Each and every one of us were dedicated to that same goal in our minds. It all depends on how you want to look at it. Either way, it has always been our mission to not let anything or anyone interfere with our work.
''This is not limited to what you may have in mind, though most of our time is devoted to it, and is the most important function of the Fates since the whole thing called life began. Incidentally, if I give your voice back, could you promise me not to lash out like this again and let me now explain everything you need to know as calmly as I possibly can? Would that be fine by you?
Lydia felt that perhaps it was too foolish to bark at her like that, and if she wanted some of her questions getting their answer by this mysterious Fate in front of her, then perhaps she should compromise for that instant just so that she could speak again.
Without hesitation, she nervously got up and nodded her head in agreement. The woman then made a swift hand gesture while muttering something rather quick for the young girl to catch on.
After opening her mouth to speak and see that her voice was back, Lydia's lips curled into a grin, even though it took several seconds to assuage herself that her vocal and speaking abilities came back to normal.
Turning her head to the redhead's direction, she finally exclaimed in a expressionless stare, ''Is it gonna be too much if I still want to know who that girl was, or why she looked like me, only more...more...different, younger, and lively?''
''Oh, so now you're more impressed with her lack of paleness than her true identity? Perhaps I should reverse time and arrange a meeting for you two, because who knows? You may find something in common to talk about, after all, huh?'', Clotho replied, letting out a dry laugh at her own joke, obviously not caring if the girl would take it the wrong way.
The look on Lydia's face showed how much she was not in the mood for bad puns and jokes, namely her deranged idea of humour, prompting the redhead to composure herself and regain her seriousness, in order to relay the rest of the story to her.
''Well, how should I begin? I thought it was best to start off by introducing you to our more infamous version, the ones worshiped by the former ruling empire of the ancient world, namely the Romans. You see, as the Roman Empire progressed and eventually became the ultimate force of Earth at that point, endlessly subjugating, slaughtering and enslaving other races and groups for their own perverted amusement, they weren't ones not to respect the fundamental laws their deities had given to them.
''Among their many achievements, they had somewhat adopted the Greek pantheon of Olympus to suit their spiritual needs, like faith and the belief that the hereafter following their physical deaths couldn't be much more discomforting than the barren lives they led above ground, before they were buried and a myriad of worms whatever was left from their bones when their time came. But we're not here to chat about unusual burial customs of a decadent nation that masqueraded its miseries behind the facade of a glorious city state like Rome. None of that, I am afraid, since today's occasion won't allow it, though we could shed some light onto a far more delicate subject, don't you think?''
With Lydia being shocked at the first half of this story, the woman made her mind to dismiss the teen's response and carried one as though nothing bad had happened, and with a roll of her eyes she continued her speech.
''Good. The girl you thought she laid her eyes on you was my Roman counterpart and her name was Nona, which means ''the Ninth'' in Latin. Originally considered a goddess called upon in the ninth month of a woman's pregnancy, she gradually ascended in the minds of the Romans as someone whose duty was primarily the spinning of the thread of life. Pretty much like the thread she spun her spindle on, as you probably noticed, almost fifteen minutes ago. The other two were her sisters, Decima and Morta, with their Latin names meaning ''the Tenth'' and ''Death'', respectively, who they also happen to be the respective equivalents of my other two sisters, Lachesis and Atropos. Call it a hunch, but something tells me that if I had to go into any greater detail about them, I doubt you'll be more inclined to be more cooperative than you're now, so I'll just leave it at that.''
''Fair enough'', Lydia said rather timidly, unsure how to handle all of that backstory in her head in such a short amount of time. Still, it didn't necessarily add up to her current predicament, or why seeing that sort of ''wonders'' along the lines of fate and destiny would provide her with the means to her own end. To silence Beetlejuice's deadly antics once and for all, if possible.
Thinking this over in her head, she concluded that defying the old hag's wishes might be far more devastating, if not just plain annoying, than what the future has in store for her. There was no other alternative than buying her time off of this inner soul-searching by inquiring more about the history of the Fates, and how they manged to influence entire cultures and people with just a stroke of their hands.
''So, where do we really start?'', Lydia asked, while a smirk was slowly formed in her face. Upon seeing that, Clotho was now sure that the girl had accepted the fact that she should just enjoy the ride and try to comprehend the consequences of her actions and how she could prevent this from happening.
''In that case, we will have to go deeper underground. That way, on your right.''
When he said those last words, Clotho pointed to Lydia's right-hand direction, where a hole in the white wall suddenly grew wilder and wilder, until it was wide for the females to get through.
The darkness within that newly formed cavern disappeared as a series of torches lit up in either side of the hole. Once this process was over, the redhead turned to look at Lydia, whose glued at the sight in front of her.
''What can I say? Nothing like the direct approach!''
Clotho giggled at this comment of hers, with Lydia giving her a confused expression at what she meant by that.
''Just a bad joke, Lydia dear. I think it's much more better to let our history speak for itself than just me sitting around telling this tale, boring you to death, like that...''
''As long as is not part of the other cosmic pranks you pulled over to me, then I am game. But I won't be afraid by it.''
Clotho's cool exposition gave place to an expression of utter seriousness and mocking, judging by the looks on her face.
''Don't worry about it, you'll be. Oh, you'll be, before it's all said and done. That's the closest thing to a promise that I can make. Now, shall we ?'', the old woman asked while pointing to the large opening beside her.
And with further ado, the two females entered the deep cavern; Lydia on her part had no idea where this would lead, or if it was the end of the trip for her. And as she and the older Fate were inside this enormous cavern, she failed to realize that right behind them the hole was sealing up to the way it was just seconds ago.
All that was left was the white wall returning to its original state, with no evidence of something unnatural punching a hole into it. Silence was going to be the norm yet again amidst the half-darkness of this room as light footsteps echoed all throughout it. A figure was slowly walking towards the direction of the wall, and as he stepped a bit more into the light, only his clothing became visible, while the face was barely illuminated by the few sources of light out there.
He was wearing a pinstriped suit similar to that of Beetlejuice's attire, except it was grey and black stripes, complemented by a black shirt and a white tie. Shoving one hand into his jacket's left pocket, he produced something that looked a lot like a flashlight; turning it on, the figure pointed it to all directions, only to find nothing related to what he was searching for.
But once he turned his stare into the wall, a thought came to his head all of a sudden, and he had a good feeling where he might find what he was looking for.
Stepping a bit more into the light, his facial features begun to look all the more clear. His head had a blue skin and short auburn head, with black circles encircling his brown eyes. He lacked the mucus-like spots that Beetlejuice had in its own face, but from a first glance st him, one would surmise that this person could most likely a lost twin brother to the infamous poltergeist.
The mysterious individual turned off his flashlight, routinely putting into his black shirt's pocket, and dig another hand in his jacket's left pocket, only to bring a pack of Malboro cigarettes out of it.
He picked one of them from the pack, putting it into his lips and somehow lighted it up with his index finger. Puffing enough of the nicotine in that thing for few seconds, he rolled his eyes and throw it out in the distance.
His lips curled into a smirk, and said in a whisper, ''You two little bitches go as far as you can go. Nothing ever gets away from a guy like me. Nothing.''
