Eve's Hollow by Charles Bedlam (best free e reader .txt) 📕

Estelle felt a great weight bearing down on her small body. She was able to feel before she was able to see in this new environment. It was hard to breathe. Something heavy and iron was closed around her throat. Slowly but gradually, her eyes focused. She was set on her knees beneath a single red light in a pitch black space. Before her was a large oval mirror that stood close to seven feet tall. Estelle looked into it, but only saw her vague, unrecognizable reflection. She tried to stand, but could not move.

The iron collar around her neck was tethered to the floor by a heavy chain. She pulled at it and found that her wrists were chained together as well. She struggled with her shackles and the chains jangled loudly in the room. She was not able to free herself.

“Aww, what's wrong?” a voice cooed.

Estelle held her breath. The voice that spoke was her own. Yet, her mouth was closed.

“Can't get free, can you?”

Estelle looked around to locate the source of the voice. Her pace quickened and she could feel the heat of fear rising in her body.

“Here,” it said. “Look up.”

Estelle looked straight ahead and again saw her reflection in the mirror. She watched in disbelief as her reflection, hunched as she was, stood upright. Estelle's breathe was caught in her throat. Her eyes wide with anguish, the girl's mind struggled to make sense of what she was being forced to witness. The figure in the mirror approached until the light from the room illuminated her. The red light cast black shadows across her face, but that didn't stop her recognition.

It was Estelle. She was looking at herself in the mirror, only it wasn't her. This Estelle's hair was tangled and much longer. Dark circles around her eyes as well as the stains of tears trailing down her face gave her a truly ghastly appearance. She wore Estelle's clothes and her skin appeared to be much paler. The Anti-Estelle smiled a twisted smile and her eyes glowed with beady silver lights.

“What... what are you?” Estelle choked.

“I'm you,” the Anti-Estelle said. “The real you.”

“How is that possible?”

“How did you feel seeing Damian again?” she asked, ignoring Estelle's question. The inquiry tore into Estelle's chest like a jagged knife. She stared into the haunting eyes of her dark self in anger and contempt as she spoke to uncover deep, dark, terrible things within Estelle's mind. Estelle felt a connection to this creature that she couldn't quiet understand.

“Did you miss him?” she asked with a grin.

Under the red light, the Anti-Estelle looked like the devil. Estelle said nothing to this- this best.

“I guess you're not ready yet,” the Anti-Estelle chuckled. “Soon enough though. Soon.”

Estelle watched in confusion. In a flash of white light, the Anti-Estelle's face distorted and stretched beyond recognition, bending the entire room with her. Estelle felt her mind twist, then she blacked out.

***

Estelle awoke in the same room that she had fallen asleep in. She expected rays of sunlight to shine through the window; a predictable expectation , but her room was just as dark as it was when she lost consciousness. From her bed, she could see the bloody, cloudy sky of Eve's Hollow. She had no idea how long she had been asleep. She felt groggy, but refreshed anyway. She realized, however, that the smell of running through the city was grafted to her and her clothes. She got off of the bed and went to the closet with the intention of finding something to wear. She was utterly uninterested and a bit uncomfortable by what she found.

From left to right the closet was full of the laciest, frilliest, dresses that she had ever seen. Most of them were white or sky blue with pink ribbons and bows. Such garments made her think of spoiled little girls who always got their way. This was a distaste that she and her past life shared. The inability of her past life to get along with other females contributed to her being alone much of the time. As usual, Estelle pushed the memories of her past life out of her head. There was a knock at the door.

“Miss Estelle?” Tabitha called through the door.

A rush of warmth rose up inside of her.

“Come in!” she called.

Tabitha opened the door and closed it behind her. Carrying a bright lantern, she seemed very winded and distracted by something.

“Miss Estelle! Miss Estelle! Have you seen it?”

“Seen what? What's wrong?” Estelle asked, perplexed.

“The snow! Oh, it's so beautiful! I've never seen anything like it here!”

Snow? While Estelle had been running through the streets, she never would have thought Eve's Hollow was cold enough to get something like snow. Estelle got out of bed and walked over to the window. She parted the curtain and sure enough, in the dim light of the torches of the ground level, she could observe a thin blanket of snow, marked with trails of footprints on the ground. In the light of the fire, the snowflakes sparkled brilliantly. Estelle thought of the last time she remembered seeing snow. She touched two fingers to the bandage around her neck, then wished she could forget that memory as quickly as she had summoned it.

“Let's get you dressed,” Tabitha said, excitedly. “Then you can go out and see the snow. Hm? What's wrong?”

“It's just that there isn't anything in the closet that I like. I love this outfit.”

Estelle gestured to the clothes on her body. Tabitha tilted her head to the side.

“I got you,” she said with a smile.

Tabitha moved over to the closet and opened it. She gestured for Estelle to come over and join her. When she did, Tabitha handed her the lantern. She then reached into the closet and pushed the dresses aside, revealing a hidden door, one that Estelle would never have known about otherwise. Tabitha opened it and took the lantern back from Estelle. She disappeared into the dark room, then it lit with warm candlelight.

“Come on,” she called.

Estelle went through the door and found herself in a small washroom. It was very fancy despite its compacted size. It contained a toilet, sink, mirror, bathtub, and the object that took up the most room, the water heater. About the size of a dresser, Tabitha explained that this metal box is used to heat the water in case of a power outage at the estate. Tabitha continued to inform Estelle that she would be more than happy to wash her clothes while she took a hot bath. Tabitha could then lay Estelle's wet clothes across the water heater and they'd be dry by the time she'd be finished.

“Is it really okay for me to take a bath though?” Estelle asked. “I've seen the people huddled together outside...”

“Way I see it,” Tabitha said, “God wants certain people to have certain things. If he didn't, then you wouldn't have it. Since you got it, enjoy it.”

Estelle felt that these were very wise words and felt it would be disrespectful to argue any further. Tabitha had already sat on the edge of the tub and turned on the water. Pipes from the wall ran through the heater and through a system of size-diminishing pieces, then to the faucet of the tub. She pulled out a small piece of wood from the heater and lit it with her lantern flame. It didn't take long for the fire to catch and the water to heat up. Soon steam came off of the water gathering in the tub.

Estelle undressed and gave her clothes to Tabitha before climbing into the tub. The hot water felt nice on her skin and her body immediately began to feel release from stress.

“You just relax, and I'll bring these back,” Tabitha said.

Tabitha swiftly exited the room, closing the door behind her. Estelle took a deep breath and sunk down into the water until only the top half of her head was sticking out. She felt the warm water caress her body and felt truly relaxed, something she wasn't used to. In her bath, she had nothing but time to think. The thoughts of her current circumstances raced through her mind like a hundred rowdy stallions. Everything in her brain was a jumbled mess. She struggled to put everything together, but knew that she had to continue to make sense of things. Or else, she could loose her way.

She started from the beginning. Her past life died and attempted to get a second chance by coming to Eve's Hollow. Estelle, herself, was given this chance instead of her past life. She was told by a goddess of Eve's Hollow to find her Guardian, the Supernova Samurai. Many people know the samurai. They said that he was a monster. The Supernova Samurai is a monster. No! Baba wouldn't have instructed her to find him if this were true. She was now at Damian Grigori's estate in Eve's Hollow, wishing that she wasn't. She had to find him. She had to escape. She had to escape.

“I have to escape,” she whispered.

The realization swiftly dug into her and it made her heart thump so hard that the water shook. She had to leave the compound to find the Samurai.

She heard someone walking around in the bedroom and she immediately looked toward her gun. Before she could react, Tabitha emerged through the closet door door. Estelle sighed in relief.

“Shouldn't take long to dry,” she said. She promptly stretched Estelle's clothes out over the heater. It was very warm, but one would be able to press the flesh against it without much grievance. Tabitha sat down on a wooden stool. “You enjoyin' the bath?”

“I am,” Estelle responded. “May I ask you something?”

“What's that?”

“Do you know if a girl named Aleena is here?”

“Aleena?” Tabitha pondered for a moment. “I don't reckon I've heard that name around here before. She come in the same time as you?”

Estelle nodded. As Tabitha thought, she flipped Estelle's clothes over so that they wouldn't get too hot on one side.

“I can't say that I have,” Tabitha finally said.

“Oh...”

“Is she a friend of yours?”

“Well, sort of. I met her when I was in the machine.”

“Oh...”

Tabitha looked down at her hands.

“I'll keep an ear out for that name from now on, Miss Estelle. You know, just in case.”

“Thank you,” Estelle said. For a moment, she struggled to “So what's your story?”

As soon as she asked, she regretted it. Estelle felt it rude to bring it up and ask out of nowhere, but Tabitha was one who didn't seem to mind question.

“Was born in Eve's Hollow,” she said. “Ever since I can remember, I've always been fighting. Always surviving. I used to belong to a group of people called the Blue Key Soldiers. The Blue Key Club isn't too far from here, but the Punished make it impossible to get back. I always helped out at the club, so that's what I do here. I help wherever I'm needed.”

Tabitha smiled at the thought of what Estelle believed to