Chapter 7

So far the only factor in this place besides me was a light gray shadow following me around. “Did Terra really kill me?” I asked my shadow. “Do you need an answer to that question….intentionally or not your ties to the physical realm have been severed” it replied. Having nothing to talk to but a shadow without a soul was wearisome. Confident that there was something to do in this place I walked and walked towards an endless stream of white. There was no sense of time in this monotonous place, only more white to look forward to; I fell on my hands and knees weeping and screamed in tears, “WWWWWHHYYYY!!!!!??? Terra I-I loved you, only you….what did I do to deserve this….what!?” the anger came out, “All that time was nothing but a game to you!! Answer me!!!!!!! Answer me TEERRRAAAA!!!!....why?”

“My life had no meaning…something beautiful came into my pitiful life and gave me love then took it back and my life as payment” the shadow cried, “ I am a fool, I knew it was too good to be true!” “Your right” I responded to the shadow’s depressing remarks, “I give up.” The white began to somehow get even whiter, but I didn’t care, I was dead, there was no point. An almost inaudible whimper ran through one ear and out the other, without my interest. Then it happened again, still I didn’t care. Another sound this time a little louder, still was not caring, then a soft, “Hubert….help me…”

I got up out of curiosity and walked towards the sound; and stopped in front of a small transparent version of Terra. The shadow that had followed me stepped towards her splitting into hundreds of tiny human shaped silhouettes that surrounded her. They were shouting phrases, “she is a monster!”…”a threat to humanity and its progress”…”she must be destroyed!”…”a demon”…then a different tune to the voices, “how about making her a weapon?” “She could be used to fulfill our agendas.” “What have I done to deserve this!” boomed the mini Terra, “I don’t want to hurt, I only want to loved” The figures ignored her and continued to think of ways to exploit her, “what about the animal side?”…”yes we could use something to bring it out then her mind could not resist our………….” “Please, a friend is all I want…someone that I can love and protect, is that so much to ask” Terra wept, “but no matter what I try everyone runs away!” “What about me, Terra” I said softy.

“Ahh, yes…you Hubert” she quickly responded in a completely different voice, “She really is a too nice you know that, far too nice to use her body properly… She is even nice to the worms that reject her, how stupid.” “But I love her!” my lips blurted. “Hmm, yes but you left her for no reason, and broke her poor heart” she said sarcastically, “Why, Hubert I thought…” “But I almost died, I had to leave” was my cowardly reply. I was beginning to add something when a familiar voice interrupted me, “But it wasn’t me!!!!!!” “Be quiet!” shrieked a teary eyed Terra, “If it weren’t for you he would be dead…and I could finally help you without him keeping me from you. You want that don’t you...I can help you get whatever you want, no more empty belly, no more cold, no more lonely nights, no more hatred towards you, no more no more no more no more no more………..no more………” Finally stopping the sudden burst of insanity the dark Terra said softly and in tears, “Hubert, I almost had her, I was inches away, but when you showed up and brought her LOVE...and brought my usefulness to an end, she finally had a reason to care about herself again, because she had you….but is that it!? Is one man all she gets for her all her kindness through the face of hatred? Is that it for all the days she spent healing your kind without so much as a “thank you”? I can help her, she deserves much more than just Hubert wouldn't you agree?”

“She deserves a real man…not a coward like me” I responded then ended my sentence with a weak, “Your right.” The tiny Terra began to twist and grow until she became two black doors floating in front of me…exactly alike in every way except one. The right one told me, “Step through this door and return to your world.” While the left said, “Step through this door and your beloved will get what she deserves.” I immediately decided on the left one and began walking, telling myself, “this is the way it has to be…I know what awaits me here, but for her... “No, what she said is not what I want, I want only you, and I don’t need anything else, this is my true wish, please come this way.”

This voice sounded like the gentle Terra I was in love with, the one who had the tenderness of a mother, her voice was coming from the right door and that she what I wanted “YOU SELFISH FOOL! Don’t you see you see that path is the way to leading her back to her old life…yeah she might have been able to disguise it with a beautiful demeanor and a gentle spirit but she was unhappy…don’t you want her to be happy!!” A voice on the left boomed furiously. Again, I changed my direction and walked to the left, convinced that the right door was a self-interested only choice. My legs stopped when I heard something familiar, the soft song from the first day followed by words in the tune of the song speaking to me, “She is right I was unhappy” said the gentle voice, “But not anymore, not with you, come back to me, nothing I have ever experienced has been as wonderful as the short time you were with me….nothing...” With my final step I had made it to the door of my choosing. “NOOOO!!!” the left voice screeched, “DON’T DO IT, THINK ABOUT HER!!!!!!” I grabbed the plain handle on the door pulled it open and stepped through, realizing I had made the choice that not only she wanted but I as well (I felt weak for letting the voice of hatred and revenge almost talk me into the wrong path).