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Chapter 4 – But Only Leads to Doom and Despair
Chapter 4 – But Only Leads to Doom and Despair
Today feels different from the others to Charlotte. It feels better. It feels like something positive is going to happen. After seeing Alec and giving him a morning kiss, she goes to work. She’s working at a restaurant today as an assistant cleaner. Her popularity from yesterday has carried over with people in the restaurant calling her a prime example of a real woman and defender of her love. The townspeople praise her and offer to buy drinks for her and spend time with them.
“Do it,” a whisper suggests, “You deserve it. What’s a couple drinks in the morning going to do to a strong woman like yourself?”
The rest of the day becomes a blur from there as Charlotte’s original job is forgotten. She celebrates her meager display of standing up for her love. Charlotte never thought she would become famous or have this kind of attention nor did she know she wanted it until she tasted it. She goes from indulging in her actions, to drinking alcohol, to giving kisses on the heads of men as if anointing them as her knights. In her drunken state, she tells everyone in the restaurant their secrets as revealed to her by the Whispers. The people there then begin to treat her like a prophetess and bow down to her. Some people are doing this as a game because they think she got these secrets while she was working while others are drunk and believe that she is a prophetess.
Word gets out about what she’s at the restaurant until they reach the ears of her father, Alec, and his family hear about it and go to see what’s happening. They come to see her in her horrid state. The sight of her family slightly wakes her up from her power trip.
Her father says, “I didn’t believe my daughter would end up like this. Don’t come back home until you fix yourself up.”
Alec says, “I don’t know what to say except I don’t recognize the woman I fell in love in.”
Charlotte’s ears go deaf after what Alec says. She can’t hear what his parents say but the words, “never see again” hit her and knock her off her pedestal. After picking herself up, she chases after her family, but she can’t manage to catch up to them. Her mood towards them then sours.
“I don’t need them. I’m amazing enough to get any family I want. I can get the best man in the world with my face alone,” Charlotte drunkenly says to herself.
A familiar face then appears to her in the distance. She can’t quite tell who it is, but she seems familiar. A woman is crying in the distance on a street corner with her hands cupping her face.
“What-Why are you crying?” Charlotte says.
The weeping woman explains, “I had everything I could ever need in the world and I gave it up.”
“Why did you do that?”
“Because I thought I knew better. I’m one of the most well-liked people in town and everyone should like me. I should get the man of my dreams when I see him rather than having to wait for him.”
“You’re one selfish witch, aren’t you? Someone should teach you a lesson.”
Charlotte punches the woman in her in the face so hard that she breaks the woman’s neck. Even though her head is twisted, she still stands up perfectly as if hit by a light breeze. The woman’s face then snaps back into place and is revealed to be Charlotte herself. A smile from the doppelganger tells her everything that she needs to know as she falls to her knees and sobs for what’s she done. Fall’s Whispers then begin to fly around her and accuse her of her actions.
“Heartless daughter.”
“Disloyal lover.”
“Unmerciful woman.”
“False prophet.”
“Drunken idiot.”
“Self-righteous mortal.”
The Whispers keep torturing her mind with her sins.
Charlotte calls out to her Guardian, “Help me! I didn’t know any better, I was an idiot! Have mercy on me for my actions!”
It doesn’t seem like her Guardian is going to answer her. That is until Charlotte is sufficiently sorry for her tears and sorrows to be legitimate.
Her Guardian appears to her and says, “Go to the priest at the church to be forgiven. Make haste.”
As Charlotte walks to the church in tears, he body fights against her. The Whispers seems to have found the opening they needed to completely possess her body, but her Guardian gives her just enough strength to move in the direction she wants to. It’s painful for Charlotte to walk as it feels like the Whispers are destroying Charlotte from inside her body. Every part of her body aches and feels as if it’s slowly decaying. The Whispers keep up their ceaseless talking to keep her from the church.
“You’re beyond redemption.”
“Why don’t you ask God yourself for forgiveness?”
“You’re righteous enough to ask God for a favor, aren’t you?”
“You’re not going to make it to the church anyway.”
“Your sins wrap around your neck, ankles, and wrists to slow you down. The weight will kill you if you keep going.”
“Stop and save your life.”
“You can still be great if you listen to our whispers.”
“We can get your family back to loving you again. They’re already eagerly waiting for you at home. If you listen to us, then they will never abandon you again.”
Charlotte endures their temptations and enters the church. The priest has just entered his part of the confessional as if he was expecting her. She goes into it and confesses her sins to the priest. After which, she does her penance prayers but doesn’t feel completely forgiven. The one last thing she has to do for her penance is to apologize to the envious woman. Somehow knowing where to go, Charlotte goes to a bar where the woman is drowning herself in her sorrows.
People in the bar look at Charlotte and expect her to humiliate the envious woman again. When she sees her, the envious woman falls to the floor in terror.
She says, “I’m sorry for everything that I’ve done! You’ve already sent me to the hospital once. Please, I beg of you to spare my life! I’ll do anything you want!”
Charlotte hugs the woman and says, “I forgive you, but please, forgive me.”
“What? Why do I need to forgive you?”
“I was too harsh on you. I’m sorry about that. You don’t deserve the negative reputation I’ve given you. Here, let me help you.”
Charlotte spreads the word throughout the town that the envious woman is not an envious woman and is just a woman afflicted by her temptations just like everyone else in town. She clears up the woman’s reputation, which completes her penance. Her soul feels completely clean and the Whispers are silenced for now. When she goes back to her house, her family can’t tell what’s different, but they know that she’s back to normal self again. After her experiences, she puts more effort into putting what she thinks is right last and what is truly right first. Her temptations will still plague her until she dies and there will be moments where she will be tested. The question is the same for everyone. Will you be a slave to sin or a servant of God? There is no in between.
The End
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