Revelations

Listening to the sounds of her parents arguing, Harriet wondered if she could have done anything different. Would have tonight gone different if she was still Harry, probably not.

It was her brother's Idea to do a family DNA test, who wanted to know about their ancestry. Well, it turns out she was the result of Infidelity. What was worse was the look of relief in her father's eyes.

Looking out into the dry darkness of the night, her thoughts began to wander, would he be angrier if he loved her? Who was her "real" father. And why did this bother her so much?

"I wanted to go no contact with them anyway once I moved out.", she murmured into the nocturnal umbra of their backyard.

Loud clashing from downstairs signified the Front door being slammed. Followed by loud shouting from outside.

"We are talking about this now.", her Mother spat.

"We can talk in the fucking car, I need to fucking eat. I will not fucking leave you, Jenna. But give me a fucking break. I need to think, you can come with me, but please shut the fuck up." the following slamming of two car doors indicated that both of them left.

The absence of their shouting was quickly filled with her own silent sobbing. Laying down on her bed, she hoped for a sign of anyone, maybe even god. Not knowing that her silent prayer would be answered.

Harriet never had a Dream like she had that night, standing in a black void yet perfectly visible stood a haggard looking man, his eyes bright red and weirdly vibrant. Holding two withered swords in each of his hands.

"So you called for a god, any god?", the weird man asked.

"I think so. Are you a god?" Harriet said.

"Those who are about to die often call for my aid, but your intention was not for me to save you. You just wanted answers.", as he spoke, Harriet could clearly see that his mouth was not moving.

"About to Die? Have my dreams gotten that dark?", she wondered to herself.

"Ah!", the being in front of her said, "You seem to be under the assumption that you are dreaming. When instead you are in the process of passing on."

"Passing on? What are you even talking about?", Harriet grew frustrated, was this not supposed to be a dream? Usually her Dreams involved either Ryan Gosling or Cécile Stevens, that cute girl in her Math class.

"Your Lungs are filled with smoke, your body is being consumed by flame.", he seemed to chuckle for a second. "Quite unfortunate".

"Then if the Situation is dire, let me wake up!", Harriet shouted.

"That's not how this works. You already stepped onto the Path.", the man in front of her repositioned himself into a fighting stance.

"Are you expecting me to fight you?", Harriet asked fearfully. 

"Yes, but I don't expect you to do well. Many have tried getting past me, back to their lives. Only a few of those put up a decent fight, and even fewer impressed me.", his glowing red eyes were locked onto her as he tossed her the Sword he held in his left Hand.

Catching the sword, Harriet felt an odd sense of dread coming over her. His first strike was swift and came from above, seemingly out of nowhere. In the last moments she managed to block the blade and gave him a quick kick in the shins trying to make him stumble, successfully.

While he steadied himself, Harriet looked around frantically for a way out.

Maybe, if I slip past him, I could make a run for it?, she thought to herself.

But her darting eyes betrayed her plans. As the gaunt figure in front of her made another move towards her, Harriet tried to feign an attack on his leg, only to swing the sword upwards at the last second and cut his arm. But she failed.

The stinging pain of the rusted blade in her stomach was almost overpowering.

"It was a good strategy. You can take solace in the fact that you at least did not disappoint me." As the coldness of death spread through her body, she thought about just giving up. But then she remembered the day it all changed. The day she came out to her once best friend, who since then has never once talked to her again. The last thing he ever said to her shot through her mind and hurt even harder.

"You should just kill yourself.", to which she replied, "No."

Suddenly invigorated, she opened her eyes, only to see two red orbs looking back at her quizzically. And with a swift movement, she actually managed to stick her own blade into his side.

"Ah yes." he said coldly. His unmoving mouth twisted into a creepy smile. Moving backwards a few steps while slowly and painfully removing the blade from Harriets stomach. And to her surprise it didn't bleed, it just hurt a lot. 

"You managed to impress me. Your soul was gone. And then it came back." he looked like he was in deep thought.

Harriet was exhausted, the pain in her stomach not subsiding once the blade had been removed.

"You are a curious case, Harriet Anderson. But I fear our time together has to come to an end. And while you didn't get past me, I will let you go. Well, most of you anyway." as the gaunt man shrugged, he flicked his wrist and snapped his fingers.

The next thing Harriet felt was pain, not the pain in her stomach, but pain everywhere as she opened her eyes and saw the surrounding flames. Quickly, she bolted up and out the window, screaming as she did.

Screaming, she landed on the ground beneath her window, her left leg crashed into a flower pot and her right just fell onto the dry grass. Forcing herself to stand, she looked at the burning house. She should be dead.

Making her limbs move was not easy, but she managed to go along the side of the house towards the front. Where, to her elation, there was already a policeman who seemed to be just looking at the house.

The moment he saw Harriet, however, he sprang into action. Carefully approaching her.

The second he reached Harriet, everything went black as she collapsed into his arms.