CHAPTER SIX

Soon, after quite a bit of ogling at maps and wandering, feet blistered and worn, Heli found what she was looking for. The office of the old elder who had originally found the black - now white - string hanging limply from her wrist. 

Heli didn't know why she was there. But she felt an odd tug at her heart and didn't have anywhere else to go. 

The only question was now, how to get in. Heli stopped walking when she reached the steep vertical wall of the office. It was a high, imposing building, glittering white, like a skyscraper or a tower. Heli had a bit of a hard time believing that the elder lived in such a sinister building. 

Heli peered around the building and then scampered around the back. With some difficulty, she crawled over a pile of glittering, frosty-white cardboard boxes, scraping her knees and her palms which had still not recovered from the elevator lever, and hauled herself over the window. Heli's balance tipped precariously and she watched, unscreaming, silently, tumbling into the white room. Helii blinked at the large white porcelain bottle next to her that read, "Dye remover". 

Then the door creaked open. 

Heli immediately tried to hide behind the Dye remover and ended up tipping it over. Immediately the bottle tipped, crashing onto the floor, porcelain scattering and breaking everywhere in biting shards. The dye remover was dumped on Heli, who tried to grab it with two hands but failed. 

Then the door opened all the way, and the elder entered. 

Just like last time, the only distinguishable fact about the hunched, hooded figure was the flickering candle they held in their hand. The elder stayed unmoving, a hand at the door, the other holding the candle. They looked at Heli, who was sodden in dye, colors, both black and white, streaming off her like a great battering of paint and over the floor, and holding a large shard of porcelain in two shaky hands. 

The child was quaking, quite literally, drawing large gasps. The elder, who had found out the hard way what people did in hysteria, regarded the shard with contempt and disregard, disgust. 

"So you're back." The elder said, voice clipped, and Heli didn't say anything. Now the elder saw why. The dye was bleaching her string. First white peeled off, and then black peeled off, revealing a white string. White like diamonds and pearls and everything in between. 

"Huh. I thought you already knew. That was paint?" The elder asked, a bit curious, and then shook it off. No matter. Heli was now staring at the string, and the elder reached one sharp-fingered claw out of her hood to try and grasp the shard. Heli looked up abruptly and slammed the shard across the elder's hand, who instantly fell back, clutching her hand as drops of bright red crimson fell on the white floor. Heli's eyes were now wide, and her hands were shaking even more. The elder held up her hand - where a bright red gash was straight across her soul string, snapping it in half, and it had now fallen onto the floor. 

And then it was gone, fizzling away to dust like hot water in a frying pan. 

"W-what did you do-" The elder stammered, and Heli stared at the floor, eyes glassy and hollow. She didn't know either. The elder snapped forwards and grabbed her by the hair. "What did you do!" Heli struggled furiously, her hands raking the floor for any more shards of porcelain. The elder was busy furiously shaking her, nails digging into skin in a mindless frenzy of anger. 

"What did you do! What did you do! What did you do!" She screamed, and a shard slashed her across the face, a long vertical gash across her nose and eyes. Heli was crying now, half out of fear and half out of anger, grabbing shard after shard to cut open the elder. 

Cut after cut after cut. 

The elder fell back as a shard went across her stomach, and arms, her hood getting torn by the seams. 

And then she was no more. 

Heli stopped, gasping for breath, tears streaming down her face. The bandages covering the left side of her face were damp. 

It ws over. Heli sighed and sank to the floor, her scraped feet and knees cold against the smooth white tile. Heli curled herself into a ball where two walls met in the corner of the room and let herself cry. Her sobs drifted out the window and into the night, haunting, echoing eerily.