Page 52 of Curse of Immortality
Despite the noises of things falling from their tall piles, there was no other sign of the Gleaner. Nevertheless, Maeve felt certain Edith was there because the feeling of being watched sent cold shivers down Maeve’s spine and made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.
“Edith,” Maeve called in the friendliest tone she could muster, which to most would still feel insincere and cold. “I’m no danger. I’m an Earthen, just like you.”
Her words triggered something inside the Gleaner who watched Maeve from high up on a pile in the dark shadows. The sudden ear-piercing scream that came from her lungs startled not only Maeve but all the insects and rodents that lived in the mountains of trash as well. As her hoarse voice echoed through the maze of garbage, the piles seemed to come to life as all types of rodents and insects came from their hiding places and ran past Maeve. Their collective sounds of squeaks and screeches were deafening and when a fat rat ran up Maeve’s right leg she kicked and yelled herself.
Being so focused on getting the rat out from under her dress where it clawed its way up her leg, Maeve did not see how Edith crawled down from her pile of garbage that reached the top of a dark part of the ceiling, and in the process, she knocked items to the ground making the whole pile collapse. Only in the last second after Maeve hurled the rat across the room did she look up to see a pile of metal boxes and broken furniture come crashing down towards her like a destructive avalanche pulling other things down as well. Afraid that she would get buried under the piles, Maeve turned on her heel and ran in the opposite direction as fast as she could. The thunder from piles collapsing echoed through the house and she had to use her power to keep things from falling on her head. Once she reached safety in an aisle with no movement, her cheeks were flushed. Assessing the damages, she looked at the claw marks on her calf and thighs and the dress she had paid a fortune for, which was torn in several places and covered in filth from buckets with questionable contents that had fallen on her.
Annoyed, she released the fabric of her dress and became aware of the prickly feeling of someone watching her.
Turning to look back at the part of the house she had just come from, she narrowed her eyes to see through the dust that hung in the air. On the other side of the room, a small figure stood in the shadows staring at her.
“I’m done playing, Edith. Come out now, or I will make you regret it,” Maeve threatened and stepped up on the fallen trash. A heavy cloud of dust still lingered in the air when she slowly walked toward the deformed figure.
“Get out! Get out! Get out!” the Gleaner hissed in screeches with spit flying through the air.
Maeve raised her chin and reminded herself that if anyone were to be scared it most certainly wasn’t her. “Show yourself!” she instructed in a stern tone.
With a hunched back and a limp arm, the Gleaner dragged herself forward into the light. The rotten roof had a hole where the sun shone through directly onto Edith’s old and frail body. She was a woman in her sixties who appeared to be a hundred years older than she was. Not a single layer of fat lay between her skin and bones. She was small and though she appeared weak, she looked as though she would jump anyone who got too close. Her many wrinkles were defined by the dust and dirt that covered her completely. Her thin hair didn’t cover her scalp but clung to her head as a sticky gray texture that didn’t cover her wounds.
Edith inched closer and closer to Maeve without blinking. The part of her eyes that had once been white was now red and so was the surrounding skin, making her eyes appear large and terrifying. “Zosia. Zosia. Zosia,” Edith mumbled to herself.
Maeve had no idea that Gleaners were cursed for a few moments each night with the memory of who they used to be and the people they loved and missed. And of course, Edith was too much affected by the venom to understand the words coming from her inner mind, which was trying to remind her of who she was.
For a fleeting moment, Maeve was able to feel sorry for someone other than herself. Edith had once been an Earthen, connected with nature and competent at healing and tending to others. Seeing her reduced to the paltry faith of a Gleaner brought a glimmer of sentiment to Maeve’s cynical heart. It was a shame for Edith that she had crossed paths with Charles and come to suffer such a cruel fate. But every Earthen knew not to blame a bee for stinging or a snake for biting. It was all part of their nature. Expecting otherwise was naïve and foolish.
Though Maeve pitied Edith, she did not blame Charles for her fate. Unlike Zosia, he had never pretended to be kind or merciful. If anyone was to blame for the life Edith had been trapped into, it was Zosia, who hadn’t protected Edith well enough. Zosia could have saved her just as she could have saved Rose. Thoughts of Zosia and her betrayal made Maeve’s thick shield rise around her cold heart. The compassion she had felt for Edith was overshadowed by her hatred toward Zosia.
“Zosia can’t help you, Edith, or at least she won’t,” Maeve said and squashed a cockroach with the heel of her shoe when it came too close. “I’ve come to collect something from you, and if you hand it over willingly, we won’t have a problem,” Maeve spoke unhurriedly while looking around at the overwhelming mess in the hopes of finding the compass Charles had instructed her to get.
Edith began to huff as her eyes, which already looked too big in her pale and hollow face, grew even more in size. “Get out!” she spat, revealing how many teeth she was missing. “It’s mine! It’s all mine.”
Maeve followed Edith’s movements as she backed up against the nearest pile of trash, reaching out her arms and hissing like a crazed animal marking its territory and protecting her beloved treasures.
Maeve gave a small sigh realizing her task was harder than expected. Finding a small compass among these endless piles seemed impossible without Edith’s help, but Maeve doubted the fanatical Gleaner had intended any sort of order in what items were kept where.
Raising her hand Maeve began to lift Edith mid-air and suck the air out of her. When the sun’s dusty rays landed on her face as she walked closer Edith saw Maeve’s pretty face for the first time and nearly gasped while raising a shaky frail hand to point her crooked finger.
Not understanding Edith’s attempt at speaking, Maeve let her down and watched Edith blink her eyes for the first time.
“I saw you. I knew you would come. Where is it?” With her eyes fixed on Maeve’s chest, Edith reached for Maeve, who quickly moved back and watched the Gleaner’s hands possessively grasp at the air.
“Where is what?”
“The necklace,” Edith uttered with her crazed eyes scanning Maeve frantically.
Raising her hand to her chest, Maeve protected the necklace she wore under her dress. She had taken it back from James the day she cut out his tongue and it was the only sentimental thing she owned. Maeve kept it to remind herself of the life she deserved and to never trust anyone other than herself to achieve it.
Seeing an opportunity, Maeve’s face remained stiff as she lowered her hands to her sides telling Edith, “I’ll give you the necklace if you give me the compass.”
“I-I-I-” Edith huffed like a child with a stutter who was suffering from an asthma attack. With the way her hand went to the outside of the pocket in her skirt, Maeve had a feeling the compass might be close after all.
With slow motions, Maeve pulled her necklace out from under her dress and instructed, “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”
Edith couldn’t stop staring at the necklace as her fingers pulled out a small item from her pocket. It looked to be nothing more than an old sailor’s compass that had seen better days. But Charles had told her of its magic, and as Maeve would soon learn, the world was filled with many objects that held much greater value than what they appeared.
A smile spread on Edith’s wrinkly face revealing the few teeth left in her mouth and her rotten gums. It was a creepy smile that didn’t stem from kindness and love but an addiction.
In hunched movements, she eagerly hurried toward Maeve and stuck out her hand to grasp the necklace from her throat, but once again Maeve was quick to step aside with an arched eyebrow that warned Edith not to try anything stupid.
