บททั้งหมดของ The Consuming Heart: บทที่ 31 - บทที่ 40

Susan stood on the top of a hill with her gaze to the west. Around her lay decapitated limbless bodies, and scattered skeletons. It wasn’t her fight, and not her deed, but she silently praised the being who had done this.She was an artist of death, and a designer of fear. She was a lady who knew her craft, and her desire, she sometimes failed to please.“I’ll be going soon, Mercy,” Susan said. “Surely, that’s not all you have to offer.”“Wake, Mercy!” the voice of a child echoed. There was a rattling as bones became one, Susan turned to see.Soon, a girl of five stood before her, and in the eyes of this girl was the glow of death.“Susan!” the little girl said.“Mercy!” Susan said. “Mind telling me what happened here?”Mercy took slow steps towards Susan. “I killed them.” She walked past her and stood to look at the west.“Th

Susan was with a guy named Trevor at a table in a bar on Russo Street. He was handsome, and with that smile, the world seemed right. But it was not.Susan had a major restraint on herself because Vivian was nearby. She couldn’t see her, but she felt her presence. Susan tried to distract herself with a little civil discussion with Trevor.“You’re from around here?” he asked.Chatterings were coming from different tables, the music came soft and sweet from the speakers, and the air had that of a romantic ambiance to it.Susan heard everything and everyone, and it wasn’t hard to decipher who was speaking. She noticed Trevor’s words come to her like a sweet tone, and she said, “Not particularly. But I live here.” She looked around with a smile on her face. “I love this place, and the city, actually.”“You must have been here a long time to come to that conclusion,” Trevor said.

At midday in High Town city, Beatrice walked into the Crystal Bank to make a withdrawal. Beatrice met a queue within the bank, but with a card Elvis had given to her in hand, she showed a security man, then he led her to a private room where she was quickly attended to.With a bag of money in hand, Beatrice was seen out of the room, then the sound of rapid gunshots was heard within the bank.Beatrice briskly turned to see lots of armed men, she laid on the ground and held her head.This, she thought would be the end of her, and so she stayed still and prayed.“Nobody move, else, we would kill you.”More gunshots were heard, and Beatrice flinched a little.Feared raked at her body, causing her to shiver. It was hopeless now, Beatrice thought. She would either be killed here, or she might lose her money. She remembered the failed robbery in her restaurant and wondered if such a miracle could repeat itself here, today.Soon,

Susan finished reading a newspaper as she sat on her sofa by the window in her room upstairs, then she kept it aside, and moved to pick up a novel by her bedside table. She returned to the sofa, opened the page where she had stopped last night, and kept on reading.Reading novels, Susan discovered, was perfect for distraction. It took her mind off recent happenings, of her world, and took her to a world of her own. In her world of fantasy, she didn’t care what happened in her and without, especially the disturbance slowly stirring in High Town City (which the news, and the newspapers carried), and the great, uncontrollable urge to kill. She cared for nothing in this state actually, save for the story she read, and this way, she could control her power.The voices in her head would always speak, and sometimes, they read to her. She loved it when they read—these voices could be soothing. But there was nothing more annoying than when she was the central subjec

“They may fire me with the way you keep making me miss office hours,” Jake said to Susan as he had lunch with her at the Pelazio Hotel restaurant.Susan smiled. “Relax. I bought your company.”Jake laughed. “You can’t be serious.”Susan arched a brow and made a side head gesture.“Wait. You actually are serious?” Jake added.Susan chuckled. “Yeah, I am serious. And I need you to be the new managing director. Your old boss is under strict orders to educate you on all that you need to know. So, what do you say? Do you accept the offer?”Jake’s expression had the look of surprise mixed with unbelief. “Wow. This only happens if someone is in love with you. Are you in love with me, Susan?”Susan laughed. “So shocked,” she said. “What if I am?”“You—you—you play hard to get like nothing can go through you. And