LADY WHISPER PRAY

"LADY WHISPER PRAY"
BY MANAHEL JAVAID

    The monster was still chasing her. She had been running from it in this maze for the last half an hour at least. No matter where she went, the monster chased. And it was close enough that she could hear its breathing in the absolute silence that seemed to consume the surrounding in a still state. It wouldn’t come out though and she was too scared to call it out. It had all started with that cursed book. Or maybe it was that stupid message. Or the old lady whispering prays you never get what you deserve had been the catalyst. The Beauty Pageant certainly hadn’t helped. 

 

    No, it was losing a contest that had started all this. Victoria had been one of the three finalists in the state beauty pageant. Whoever won would have gotten a modeling contract with big names like Nike and Hollister. She had deserved the crown, but it had been given to Anastasia. What kind of name was Anastasia anyway? 

 

    Victoria was named after a queen, who was Anastasia named after? Cinderella’s step-sister? Anastasia certainly acted like it. After losing the contest she had to put up a fake smile that had to look genuine and give the winner a hug. She would have rather puked then hug that snake of a person but hugged she had and had vomited too, but that was after the contest had ended and she had gone to the backstage toilet. 

 

    Taking her revenge had been a little sweet, though nothing could have removed the taste of bitterness that had coated her mouth ever since the winner had been announced. It had been with that rage she had been muttering when the old lady who was with the cleaners had told her that she should pray to never get what she deserved. She had wanted to say something equally snarky back but the reporters had been all over the place and she couldn’t have afforded a scene to be made. So she had smiled.

 

    Just like she did when her mother belittled her and told her she’d never amount to anything. Or when her father treated her like another piece of an accessory rather than a child. She knew how to a fake smile very well. Two nights later she had received a message. A book had arrived in her mail. And with it, a note. It had been a book of simple rituals, no great magic was needed, just scary precision. And while Victoria maybe a defective piece (as her mother liked to call her) in the line of great witches, she certainly had enough magic to perform a simple ritual.

 

    Her technique was also good enough to be scarily accurate (as it becomes when you spend hours upon hours practicing to simply show some results to your mother), so precision was no problem for her.  A page in the book had been marked and a note stickered to it. 

For those who wish to get what they deserve, use this spell, but be warned beforehand. How well do you know what you deserve?

 

    She hadn’t really cared who posted this book to her, there was no return address, but she did think it a sign from the universe telling her to go after her right. Someone had handed her the means to get justice for herself. She’d be a fool not to take it. And Victoria had never once claimed to be a fool. She had rolled up the carpet in her room, clearing the space for the spell to be chalked down on the wooden floor. Drawing up all of the geometrical figures with precise angles had been difficult but she’d done it, then she’d written down the words and lighted candles on each corner. 

 

    And just as she had poured her power into the pentagram, she’d vanished from her room. One second she’d been standing on the wooden floor, a blink of an eye, and then she’d been standing on bricks that glowed and illuminated the path she was on, being the only source of light in whatever place she’d transported to. 

 

    She hadn’t felt any evil from the spell, nor the book. So what was this place? Taking another sharp turn to the right, she stopped abruptly. In front of her was a pit, the brick pathway had ended, she couldn’t go forward, and behind her was the monster, so she couldn’t go back. Was this how she was going to die? In a forsaken place with no one by her side?

 

    Victoria took a shaky breath and called out to the monster, “Come out, whoever you are! If you’re going to kill me, at least face me first.” Her voice shook with tremors. Something whistled by her with great speed and jumped into the pit. The dark abyss cloaking whatever it was. She couldn’t hear the monster behind her anymore. Had it gone into the pit? She turned around to run away but saw that the brick path had been destroyed. Another pit was there now. She was trapped. 

 

    Her knees hit the pavement as all hope went out of her. So this was it. Her end. She would like to at least see the thing that killed her.

She looked into the dark pit and found nothing but herself.

 

    Victoria gasped. Her face was staring back at her, except it was clearly not her face. All the features were the same but the flesh of her cheeks was missing and you could see the mouth inside, which was full of worms. The hair was the same color and length but they were frizzly as if it had been burned. The whole body was covered in bruises.

 

    The monster, who it turned out was a grotesque version of herself opened its mouth and said, “Are you ready for your wish?” “What wish?” Victoria managed to spit out. “To get what you deserve. That is what you wished for, no?” Its voice was as hideous as it looks. “Are you going to get me the Miss Oregon crown?” The monster laughed, spit spraying out of its mouth.

 

    “Who said you deserved the crown? Or the title? I am the physical manifestation of what you deserve. This is what you’ll look like once our bargain is fulfilled.” One thing Victoria could never stomach was being ugly. Beauty was all she had to show. She had to be perfect in it.

 

    “No! I don’t deserve to look like you, you revolting monster!” Victoria shouted, fear forgotten in face of anger. “I want to go back. Send me back from this place.” “I can’t,” The monster said, “Not until a bargain that has been struck gets fulfilled.” Victoria knew how spells worked. There was always another way. “Why would I deserve to look like this?” She asked. Trying to gain time by talking, until she found something worthy of trade. What did she have with her that could be valuable to a creature like this?

 

   “Do you not remember the cruelty you show to your peers? 6^thgrade, you made fun of Neil, the kid who liked to study, by calling him book worm that eventually shortened to the worm. Your insults and bullying made him hate going to school. He had severe social anxiety because of it. “8^th grade, you targeted Harris Kosher, he was small for his age and you never let him forget it. Eventually, others started to pick your insults. Hamster size Harris isn’t exactly something a person likes to be called. 

 

    “11^th grade, you made it a point to slander the new girl, Cloe Travis, because she had a crush on the same person you did, and you saw her as a threat. Disparaging someone’s character to the point they contemplate suicide isn’t exactly nice. “The first year of college, you thought in your drunken haze it would be fun to lightly singe a new freshman’s hair to see what would happen. She was traumatized for quite some while. You got off the hook because your parents donated a huge sum of money to the university.

 

    “And let’s not forget what you did to the winner of the contest. Not very sportsmanship of you. “Shall I go on? Ask yourself what you deserve remembering all that. If your inner self became your outside, will you still be beautiful?” “I get it,” Victoria whispered, “I am a horrible human being. And I get what the lady meant when she said that may I never get what I deserved. I’ve realized it, will you let me go if I promise to live a better life from now on?”

 

    The monster snorted. “Do I look like a benevolent fairy to you? I was chasing you because it was amusing and I don’t get much amusement from her and I wanted to see how determined you were to live. You cannot get out of this place until you honor your bargain. But you can make a new bargain and fulfill that contract. You’ll be able to return to your home then.” She had called it, there was always another way. “What is the new bargain?”

 

    “I want your soul. You will wonder the earth soulless until you realize your errors. Not just by saying it through your tongue but by changing your behavior. It will be extremely hard and meanwhile, you will not be able to have any meaningful relationships. Not even casual friendships. You will remain alone and atone for your previous transgressions and until you have your soul back, you will exchange your place with me for a whole day, every year. I will go to your world in your form, while you will remain here. Do we have a bargain?” Did she have any other choice? No. The bargain seemed clear. No hidden terms that she could detect. 

 

    “Yes, I accept your bargain.” The words were said and a tattoo appeared on her inner side of the upper right forearm. It was of a dragon eating a ball of magic. Oh shit. So that’s what it was. One of the ancient magical creatures that had been locked out of the human world a long time ago. And she had just given him the key to enter again. 

    The monster smiled and showed its rotten teeth. “The bargain has been struck. See you in a year, witchling. I knew you’d be the right target for the book. I hope you don’t change for a long time to come.” Blink of an eye and she was back in her room. The candles shorter but still lightning the space up. She looked at the clock. She’d been gone an hour. She scrambled toward the book that she had set on the dresser, but it was gone. Being soulless didn’t felt much different except that her feelings and emotions seemed a little muted. 

 

    She had to try to get out of the bargain somehow. If she didn’t find an answer, it would mean disaster for this world. But that had to wait. She was tired and she needed to sleep. Everything else would be done tomorrow. As Victoria was falling asleep, her mind played the flashbacks of the different segments of her life that the monster had reminded her of. May we never get what we deserve indeed.