Chaos & Kuryo (Novel 3) Chapter 5 Part 2

Chaos’s POV

“Execution?” I blinked, shaky hands holding onto that cigarette for dear life. Okay, okay. I uh – hadn’t seen that coming. “Are you sure?”

Ysolda gave me a pitying look. “You really didn’t know?”

“No,” I squeaked. “Maybe their other cells are full?”

Ysolda gave me that look again. “Maybe,” she said. Then she offered me another cigarette. I turned it down, feeling sick to my stomach. I lay backwards down onto the cot, trying to collect my thoughts.

Alright, let’s take score of things. I was locked in here. I was in jail, probably awaiting execution. I uh- was no longer immortal so that execution would probably be fatal. Very fatal.

I gritted my teeth. Okay, this wasn’t fair. Lucifer, you buggery liar! He was the one –

And then Kuryo drifted back into my thoughts. He was still missing. The jerk who’d not even told me he was transgender. What else was he hiding from me? Was he- did he even love me?

I rolled onto my side. Moped some more.

Curling on myself, I caught sight of the ducky socks I was wearing. The sparkles in them were valiantly doing their thing, proclaiming to the world that, indeed, they weren’t shoes.

Aaliyah and Jade had loved me, in a different way, I thought. Maybe. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to steal these ‘lucky’ socks. Lucky! Well I sure wasn’t feeling lucky.

Ysolda had sat down and was chain-smoking some more. I rolled onto my side and looked around. The cell on my other side was empty. Above was a flooring, and above that was the occasional scuffle. Across the corridor were more cells, their dark interiors too dark for me to make out any forms within them.

I flung myself around, sprawling this way and that. I just couldn’t get comfortable. Maybe, oh I don’t know, the fact I was going to die was weighing on me?

“This sucks,” I muttered out loud, without really meaning to.

“Life’s not fair,” answered a voice further down the hall.

I draped an arm across my eyes. “You don’t say,” I snarled back.

A figure shuffled to press against the cell door across the corridor. They had long silver hair that dangled around their face, and were wearing a long black trenchcoat. Oh yeah, and they had a black thing across both their eyes. Like a scarf, wrapped over them.

Great, I thought as I felt a familiar twinge of curiosity. I got hurt by Bella who covered one eye. Now I’ve leveled up to being hurt by someone who covers both their eyes. Whoopee.

They tapped their palms against the cell door, then rested against it. “Who are you? You don’t sound that old.”

I snorted, sitting up. “I’m Chaos,” There! Have a good laugh, you old geezer.

“Chaos?” They hummed. Wrung their hands against the bars. “I’ve heard of you.”

“Yeah, so has everyone,” I grumbled, flopping back down onto the cot. Which was stiff like a brick, mind you.

“I’m Sephira,”the stranger cooed, holding out a hand. It was a craggly hand, strong but not broken. Just weathered.

My heart jumped up into my throat. “Sephira? The presence of God?” I sat up and spun, staring at the figure that was now grinning like a shark. “How are you still alive?”

“Oh, you know,” they whispered. “That’s a mystery.”

“What, but-”

“Hey kid!” I turned, and saw nothing. Where was I?

“Hey kid!” a voice was calling.

I was suspended in grey, like stuck in a mist.

“Hey kid!”

Suddenly just before me, Sephira wiggled their fingers at me. “See you later, Chaos.”

“Wait!” I jumped after them – and fell off the cot.

“You were dreaming,” said Ysolda’s voice from oh so not far enough away. I was straight back in the cell. No more grey mist. I looked desperately across the corridor – and now there was enough lamp light for me to see into them. They were empty.

“God’s alive,” I blurted, jumping up to my feet.

“Say what?” asked Ysolda from her side of the cell wall.

“I just -” maybe now would be a good time to shut up, Chaos. So I paced instead, the mud in my socks squishing like ice between my toes.

Sephira was still alive. God’s presence was still out there. Inviting me to find them. What the hell?

I looked around the cell again, the irony of this entire situation not lost on me. I was in the depths of hell, set for execution, and God’s presence showed up. How charming.

It also meant I had to get the hell out of here. If Sephira was still out there – maybe there was a way to fix this world! To put everything back into order!

I cracked my knuckles, cracked my neck, and looked down at the lucky socks. Maybe those duckies had something going on, indeed.

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