“What’s wrong, my darling girl?”
Despite the fact that Masika’s cheek was still firmly pressed against the cold floor, she managed to drag her eyes upward, facing the source of the voice. Standing above her, scruff on his jaw and a smile on his lips, was her father.
Masika’s breaths splintered out of her in shallow huffs. So…this was it.
Her ending.
“I’m tired,” she managed to choke out.
“Is that so?” Her father squatted down next to her. He reached out his hand, brushing his palm against her forehead, tucking a loose curl behind her ear. It even felt like him. Rough, callused hands tinged with tenderness. “Well. Why don’t you close your eyes, then? Take a rest.”
Searing heat crawled against Masika’s skin. Burning her from the inside out.
“I…can’t.” She breathed and the sound rasped in the back of her throat. “I won’t…wake back up.”
Her father shrugged. “Would that be so bad?”
Masika chuckled. “I suppose not.”
Her father smiled down at her. “You’ve been through so much,my darling girl. You’ve been so brave. Not just in death, but in lifetoo.”
He was right. Her death hadn’t been clean and swift. She hadn’t gently drifted off into the darkness, welcomed into the afterlife by a merciful hand. Her death had been long…arduous. Messy. A sickness that slowly ate away at her. Fluorescent lights and sharp needles jammed into her skin. Endless doctor appointments met with wave after wave of disappointment. Chemicals dripped into her veins. More pills. More pain. More waiting. More hoping.
And what had it all meant in the end? What good had it done?
“Dad…” Masika sobbed. “I’m scared. I’m really fucking scared.”
Her father’s expression changed from one beat to the next. His smile dropped. “Then get the hell up.”
Masika flinched. “What?” she croaked.
Her father leaned in closer. “Get. Up.”
Masika blinked. Her father’s face warped—two versions of him splitting and joining back together. But his features were changing too, molding into another face…a face Masika knew well. But it couldn’t be real. She was clearly losing her mind, the apparition of her father was proof enough, so there was no conceivable way that what she was seeing was real. That the face staring back at her was—
“I SAID GET THE FUCK UP!”
The voice that shot out of her father’s mouth was shrill and familiar, and then suddenly it wasn’t her father looming over her but Irene, eyes wide and frantic as she gripped Masika by the shoulders, desperately attempting to drag her onto her feet.
Masika groggily blinked through the haze muddling her senses.
“Irene?”
At her name, Irene blinked. A smile crept onto her lips.
“Rise and shine, Masi. It’s time to get you the hell out of here.”
Masika’s mind whirred, nausea licking up her throat. In the distance, more explosions rang out. The screams were deafening. The stench of magic overwhelming her senses. She let out a low groan.
“What’s happening?” she muttered.
“Armageddon.”
“Oh.” Masika let out a soft sigh and her eyes fluttered back closed. “That’s nice.”
“No—” Irene groaned, cursing under her breath. Masika could feel Irene’s hands on her, the desperation radiating from her as she struggled to pick Masika up. Masika wanted to move, but she was just so damn tired. Couldn’t she just keep lying there? Couldn’t she simply wither away?
“Wake up, Masi.” Irene slapped Masika across the face. “Eyes open. Come on.”
