Carpenter / No One’s Child /
It Ends with This
How much of an emotional toll can someone take? She speaks into her unregistered peonies pin, as she walks up to a stone shelter set in the middle of unkept farm land. “Correction, Alice, tell me how to obtain a kidney organ and not leave the victim in duress.” “Luvanna, stops in front of a trail of broken river rock that leads to the opened door of the stone shelter.
“Why, Luvanna, you know, I have been programmed to report any unauthorized seizure of organs that are not approved by the colony,”
Luvanna notices a shard of rock off to the side of the trail and picks it up. She begins to proceed to the top of the river rock trail and replies to her protector pin.
“Alice, do as I say, answer me.” As Luvanna, ends her sentence she steps into the entrance of the shelter. She is expecting a fight, anticipating a struggling and craving for a release. Luvanna whispers to her protector peonies pin. “Answer me….”
“Searching, but I must advise you, Luvanna….
“Answer me…” Just as Luvanna interrupts the peonies protector pin a wailing shriek encompasses the room, Luvanna’s body is propelled into the air and placed in the center of the room, encircled by flames.
“Your dirt,” a creaking voice says calmly, as Luvanna picks herself up and looks for her shard of rock.
“I should have known, you would come for me”, the voice says as a body cloaked in yellow rags approaches her. “You are just like your so called mother you know.” “Always, trying to stand on your own, to try and make a move, but too ill prepared to make any use of it.”
Luvanna, continues to stand in the circle, feeling the heat of the fire and noticing that as she becomes more filled with anxiousness the height of the flames rises.
“Well, Shuvanna, we must not waste time comparing our colony ancestry, after all, aren’t you my so called grandmother?” Luvanna asks, as she squeezes the shard of rock tighter and pierces the palm of her hand.
“Maybe so, but maybe not.” Shuvanna, replies with her creaking voice and hunched over body.
“It very well may be true, that your mother, Human, is mine, but you and I both know, you are not of this race. You are not, one of us.” Shuvanna leans into the ring of fire and the circle dissipates. She extends out her arm, reaching towards Luvanna as if she wants to bring her into an embrace. Without being able to control her own body. Luvanna is pulled into Shuvanna’s yellow cloak and she whispers a word to her as if she is singing a lullaby to a child.
“Metal.”
“Metal is what you are. Metal is what you will be. Be careful for whom you take from; be careful for what they will seek….”
Instantly, Luvanna stabs the old woman into the torso, jabbing the shard then in sawing motions cutting away to pull out the identifier organ. She must obtain it. He ordered her to to do. Nonetheless, he is her father and she would do anything he asks.
“Ok, for a clean extraction, gently lay the shard on subjects back and press in firmly, ensure that the subject is under the spell of sleep, all will be well once done. “
“Got Damn it, Alice.” You are too slow; I’ve already gutted the witch. Luvanna reaches into the old woman’s cavity and pulls out the kidney. She reaches into her satchel and pulls out purification disk and lays the kidney on it.
“Sorry, Lu, in these farm lands of the colony, my district connection is slow. You should have waited at the door for my data response.”
Luvanna listening to her protector pin while aggressively rubbing the kidney clean of 2000-year-old witch essence yells back at her device.
“Shut up, connect me to dad”
“Lu, madam, please if I connect you to your father, you will be in breach of the colony’s policy of unauthorized peonies device use.
“Do it, now Alice!”
“Searching….” Alice replies.
“Ah, damn farm land connection…” “O.k. forget it, I got a read, the witch, she is a match with mother, but not to me. My true blood, the blood of my palm reads invalid. I better put this kidney back before the witch’s cavity self-soothes.
“Still searching…, but I agree with your deduction Lu.”
Luvanna, places the witch’s kidney back into her cavity and places the ashamed jagged skin back together like a jigsaw puzzle. She then rings the remaining witch essence blood from the rag she should to hold the organ over the cavity and watches itself heal.
“Let’s get out of here” Luvanna says to her protector pin. As she rises from the body and begins to take a step forward. The old woman grabs her right ankle and will not release her grasps.
“Metal, metal you are….” The old woman utters as her grasps loosens from Luvanna’s ankle.
Luvanna looks back at the old woman with an expression of sympathy for cutting her but distain for who the witch is. As she leaves the witches’ sight and only a halo Luvanna’s body is visible to the witch.
Luvanna whispers to herself “What did he seek?”