11 Song of the Caged Bird
Very early in the morning, Ashley heads to the kitchen. In recent weeks she has not slept or felt well, the hunger she feels is getting worse. Nothing satisfies her to the point that she even eats the residues dumped secretly in the trash. Feel that she is dying inside. A week ago when she accompanied her mistress, she did not jump on the leftover plates at Prince Kenton's table by chance, she held back as much as she could. It is unheard of for her to behave in such a way that she even disgusts herself. The doctor who inspected her found nothing absolutely wrong with her body, tests showed that she was in good health until a month ago, but then she began to decline abruptly. Sophia doubted at times to have her with her because of her famished and disorderly appearance.
For her, her problem began after the gala ball offered by Duchess Orville at the Palace of Roses about 15 days ago. There she had eaten enough but that was not the cause in itself, there was a hazelnut cake on one of the tables which she secretly hidden with magic to eat it later in her bedroom. After that her upset stomach was destroying her daily well-being.
Today she was more emaciated than ever, with an ash gray complexion, parched skin and lips, eyes sunken into their sockets, she looked like a recently unearthed skeleton but with a full belly that looked like she was about to give birth. For this occasion the doctor attended her again and again found nothing. An ultrasound showed that the reason for such swelling was because it only had water and gas accumulated. Not even with purgatives and medications could she get rid of the problem, it continued from bad to worse
To finish aggravating her situation before the gala she listened to a song that left her petrified when she heard it for the first time in many years and no one else except her was able to hear it. That dismal song was repeated like a broken record when she was in the hallways or near the kitchen for hours until she disappeared. She had been listening to the melody until she was fed up that she came to believe that death was stalking her and she would not stop until she was hunted. Paranoia made her hallucinate with girls playing in the hallways and gardens calling her name while singing or whistling the song. Ashley ran to meet them but they vanished without a trace.
At night it got worse. She heard laughter in the dark, in others it was heartbreaking wails begging her for mercy. Furniture moved and lights turned on by themselves in the middle of the night, preventing her from sleeping. In one of those many delusions, she heard a whisper in her ear and felt a bony hand pat her shoulder. She jumped out of bed and screamed out into the corridor screaming where the guards escorted her with the doctor who prescribed tranquilizers and sleeping pills. It all resulted in wasted effort.
Perhaps because of the fatigue and pressure of her mistress she had lost her reason.
The servants saw her speaking to herself and yelling at nothing. It didn't take long for the queen to hear from her that she sent her to recover. She really didn't want to see Ashley's grotesque figure or what she had become, but she didn't want to lose her trusted dealer either, so she sent her to rest. Madness had won.
-Hunger, I'm hungry ... that's enough damn it !!! -
⸟..La la la la la la la ... ♪ ♫ ⸞
When she was about to enter the kitchen she collapsed on the floor.
They took her to her room and there they would let her rest. Her state was fatal, it seemed that she would die at any moment.
When night fell, Ashley woke up suddenly when she heard the song coming from the corner of the room. There was someone sitting on the couch, you couldn't tell who it was because of the darkness.
⸟..La la la la la la la ... ♪ ♫ ⸞
Tears began to flow and dread flooded her. She sensed that this would be the end if she remained in that place then she got up from the bed trying to flee the room but fell in the middle of the bedroom and the most heartbreaking and brutal pain she had ever felt was present.
⸟..La la la la la la la ... ♪ ♫ ⸞
Footsteps approached in the dark. The song stopped and the person stood in front of Ashley then the impatient and laughing voice of a girl spoke to her:
-Hey pimp, did you eat today? How did it go with the meritocracy? Have you already chosen the wood for your coffin? Or will you settle for a crate of fruit ??? Hey? You are not going to answer me or your questionable devotion ate your tongue-
The person questioning her was the same girl she met a month ago. The ghost-white girl with jet-black hair and eyes red like blood rubies. The girl bent her knees to be level with Ashley and with one hand touched her cheek.
The stabbing pain was horrible, she felt that her guts were being ripped from their roots and between sobs she began to vomit a viscous black liquid when she wanted to say a word.
The outlook was laughable to the person standing.
-How terrible, does it hurt right? Too bad because it will get much better, he will not let you leave cleanly-
-Wow ...-
Ashley was choking on her vomit but a force beyond what was known prevented her from dying. The liquid gave off a putrid odor. The girl covered her nose with a handkerchief and kicked Ashley.
-Damn you disgusting, you can tell that your interior is so rotten, now it suffers everything they suffered, in the end nobody will hear anything until dawn because the room is acoustically isolated-
- .. ahh right, you would no longer run with the benefit of the return or the ascension, your light will be extinguished to be able to generate my new colleague and once you disappear there will no longer be a barrier that stops us from attacking the bastard of your owner-
The benefit of return and ascension. The girl was referring to the fact that once she died she would not return to the world in any known way and neither could she go up to eternal rest. She would disappear forever becoming the food of something beyond her logic. Extinction was a worse punishment than going to hell, it would mean that she would feel that this torture would be repeated a million times before she died.
Ashley was more upset when she heard that, she continued to contract in pain and vomit. After a few minutes the black liquid began to drain from the eyes, nose and ears. A skeletal Ashley began to convulse.
⸟..La la la la la la la ... ♪ ♫ ⸞
The girl outlined a smile and sat cross-legged on the armchair to wait for Ashley to finish procreating the new being while singing the song of the condemned to death.
"The song of the caged bird", so the prisoners in the north say to this fatal song. A song that is only known among inmates. If you hear it, it is because your day has come. The gypsies sang it to their fallen comrades but over time it became a symbol of ill omen due to the harshness and sadness that emanated from hearing it.
Ashley sang it to Kenton the day before he was handed over on trumped-up charges. Kenton had felt dizzy and had a severe headache. Ashley offered to take care of him and to reassure him she sang it with the excuse of being a lullaby from her homeland. She was giving her the warning that this would be her last night in freedom.
