2 The Second Cerin

A strong pounding erupted from behind the locked door of the studio door and a high pitched and irritating voice yelled on top of it.

"Mother-in-law!"

The old woman sat in a huddle behind the locked door and sneered at the meaningless title she was called by. Her wrinkled hands tightened around a folder and her eyes hardened with every bang on the door.

She finally lost patience and began to yell back at the woman on the other side of the door.

" Who exactly are you calling mother you ungrateful b***h! If not for my music would you ever have come to see me again?!"

Another voice suddenly joined the first and began to speak in a soft, loving and ingratiating tone that only served to summon an acidic bile in the old woman's throat.

With a hawk she spat it out onto the floor, completely disrespecting the building she had all but built with her own hands.

"Mrs. Cerin! no, Respected elder. Won't you come out? You know you've gotten old by now. Wouldn't it be more suitable to have a younger generation sing those songs?"

The agent waited anxiously behind the door for a response, thinking that the old crone was thinking over her offer but quickly began to panic when the stuffy smell of smoke filled her artificial nostrils. The agent began to anxiously bang on the door and yell.

"Cerin!"

A chill ran down her spine as a cackle crept out from the studio and into her ears. She couldn't see exactly what was going on but the mental image of the stubborn old crone, with that same condescending sneer, invaded her mind.

" You know before you were assigned to me, I had a name in this blasted industry! Who didn't know of me? Who wouldn't have begged for the chance to work with me?! It was once upon a time that I couldn't even have a moment to myself without one agent or another coming to beg me for a song, a sample, an IDEA! How is it that I've fallen so far because I had the ill-luck to marry my precious son off to you?"

The old lady began to cough, nostrils irritated from the abrasive scent of smoke and dropped the cinders of the folder onto the floor.

"Now you want my songs for free? for a bit of recognition? and moreover, you want to besmirch my name by having some young chit sing them?! Over my dead body. This old lady's days as a money-making pig are done!"

Monologue over, Cerin walked towards the door and prepared to walk out of the studio and eventually the building. She straightened her sagged shoulders that had been weighed down by age and prepared to walk out triumphantly.

The wrinkled hand pressed down on the She attempted to open the door only to find it blocked from the other side.

Behind her a small spark roared alive and began to burn the oxygen from the room. The assaultive smell of smoke burned the inner lining of her nostrils and Cerin began to cough as she panicked and anxiously pounded on the door.

" hey! Let me out!!"

Only silence greeted her in response. She pounded even harder and attempted to force the lock open, but she was far past her days of youth and her old bones were far from up to the task.

The agent looked at the door that was jostled from the old woman's attempts to break out and at Cerin's daughter in law that held it shut.

" Aren't you going to let her out?!! I think there's really a fire in there!"

The older woman scoffed,

"That's just her trying to scare us. Once she get scared enough she'll see our way is the best and will give us our songs...and even if it's real, what value does an old woman who can't even make money have in the company anyways. Are you planning on paying her pension?"

The agent looked at the other woman in horror,

"But she's your mother!"

The only response she got was the spiteful woman jamming the lock so even she couldn't open it and walking away confidently as if she hadn't just caused a murder.

Cerin, who was slowly losing consciousness heard all of this and gave a sad laugh as she suffocated to death by the smoke.

To think they would even go this far.

Through the smoggy air and her slowly disappearing consciousness Cerin vaguely registered the door shaking from an obvious attempt to break in but she was beyond caring. She gathered the last of her oxygen that might have been enough to keep her alive until the door was opened and instead used it to shriek,

" Even in death, I won't let you live well! I'll haunt you all until you come to join me!"

After she finished the sentence her soul floated out of her body and was propelled into the cosmos towards the bright white light. But she wasn't satisfied with such an ending and unlike the first Cerin, she all but jumped towards the green star, having realized that this was her only way.