The Life of Gaia

CHAPTER 1: Conspiracy of Man

Aries lived with her mother and a man.

Her real father had been a good man, but he had died years ago in a car accident, one of the many victims of the case. She was nine years old, and she loved him. 

A few months after the funeral, her mother arranged for another man to fill the vacancy in their house, and one afternoon she told Aries that this person would be her new father. However, the little girl had decided from the first moment she saw him that this man would never be more than a "man" to her. 

And so, eight years after that episode, her little house was built in one of the many buildings in that city that were bright red on the outside, but dark black on the inside. 

Every day her mother left the house very early and returned at noon, or later if "work" required it, while her husband was never seen before nine thirty in the evening. Every morning the girl woke up knowing that things wouldn't change that day. In that sense, you could say there was a lack of hope, she would have explained if anyone had ever listened to her, because each day was a photocopy of the previous one. Which hadn't been all that exciting. 

As Aries turned the hands of the clock forward to speed up the torture, she felt the weight of every single second ticking rhythmically in her ears. She watched the street from the balcony, looked at the paintings hanging in her house for the millionth time and let herself be captured by anything that could save her from the monotony, but not even the wind wanted to enter the red house that was actually black.

<< Honey? >> The voice of her mother who had just returned broke the silence.

"Yes mom, I'm here" answered Aries from another room, and this was the only conversation that the two had during the day.

It all seemed like a nightmare, but when the monotony was broken, she wondered if the nightmare had just begun. It was an ordinary morning when she hadn't slept as much as she would have liked: nothing special. But the man was home. Strange, he must have slept with her. 

Aries recognized his deep, hoarse voice on the phone from her mother's bedroom. He obviously had to believe she was still asleep... so she let him. But her instincts told her to eavesdrop on the conversation.

<<Yes, I know. I know there's a rush. Can I talk for a second or should I just listen to you yelling at me? It's not easy, she's always away from home, and the girl instead is here all morning. I don't know, even that one is strange. Tonight, when she comes back, I'll do it. Yes, I'm going to strangle her. Where should I get the poison in your opinion? The girl? I'll find a way to send her away. Enough now, I don't want to wake her up. Bye.>>

Aries was sitting cross-legged on the bed, her mouth shut and her eyes full of incredulous tears. What was happening? This is how the man found her when he looked out of her bedroom door. As soon as he saw her he furrowed her eyebrows.

<<'Morning Ari.>>

"Good morning" the girl replied in a flat voice that didn't suit her. Even a blind man would know she was holding onto something.

<<Have you been awake for a long time?>>

"Enough. At least ten minutes."

<<Ah...>> the man said, who now stood out on the doorstep like a shadow.

His eyes were fixed on Aries like a rattlesnake seeing a helpless mouse. They were empty, but full of evil. What did those words she had just heard mean? Who wanted to kill the man?

"Man, what do you want to do to mom?" He didn't answer for a few seconds, but he didn't lower his gaze. By now everything had vanished for the girl, except those eyes of his. The black, the red and those terrible eyes.

"Do you want to kill her?" Aries asked quietly, even though she was screaming in fear inside. <<Yes, Ari. I'll kill her at dinner tonight and then I'll be gone. You will never see me again.>>

"Why?" The man changed his gaze: now it was a mixture of suspicion and resignation. He leaned against the door frame with one arm.

<<Because sometimes a man has to do bad things to get ahead. And you won't stop me from going on, will you?>>

He gave her one last look, then settled down and walked away, leaving her alone in the house once again. But this day was not like the others: Aries didn't turn the hands of the clock forward and watch them go; she didn't feel the weight of the seconds, but their very long duration; she answered her mother when she came home, but she didn't tell her anything. She had felt the urge to do so, and in that moment the man's eyes had come back to her, but she froze. She couldn't say why. 

As soon as she had the chance, she left the house and ran down the big tree-lined street where she lived for hours, dressed in red as always, her hair blowing in the wind and her cheeks wet with the tears that flew behind her with her thoughts. 

Her yellow backpack bounced on her back, her shoes slipping on the pavement as if covered in oil. She walked for hours until she reached a bench, sat down, and stayed there until the sun went down. Then she went home, full of thoughts, tears and tension. 

The air was colder. She climbed every step of the building until she reached her floor. She read "5" on a gray plaque, and her mother's last name on another. This was no longer her home. 

She pushed the door a little and it opened as if someone had just pulled it shut. Inside the house, she felt death. Her body shook with every step as she entered the kitchen where her mother and the man must have gone to eat. She didn't hear a sound, but there was the smell of something charred. 

There it was, the kitchen door: she found it in front of her, also closed. She thought it was the only choice and opened it, but it wasn't. She could have run away, called the police, screamed... but she opened the door. In the middle of the kitchen stood the man, looking down: in his hand was a long white rag; on the floor, face down, was her mother, dead. 

The man looked up, dropped the rag and looked at Aries.

<<Did you tell anyone?>> The girl didn't even try to answer her question.

"Is she dead?"

<< Ari, I knew it would go like this. You had to stay out a little longer, to give me time to leave...>> The man began to approach the girl.

"Did you...did you strangle her? L-like you said on the phone?"

<<...I didn't want to go that far...>>

"She trusted you, maybe she loved you! Why did you do it?"

<<...I'm sorry>>. Aries fell to the floor with a knife stuck in her belly. The man wasn't even wearing gloves: he didn't have enough personality to deserve fingerprints. The man fled, and she soon found herself alone, lying on the ground, in that black house inside which she was becoming, drop by drop, redder than before. The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was the second hand of the clock advancing. Then she closed her eyes, and sank into darkness.

*******

Zantas taught me to sense the presence of the soul when we were next to each other. It seems that the Flower of Life has granted me a number of abilities. Not very useful or scenic skills, but skills nonetheless. If only I had known what a superhero was I would have felt a bit like one of them. He told me what to do and I followed his instructions, nothing could be simpler. And when I was finally ready to find her, I tried to feel where the lost soul was: I closed my eyes and, as he had taught me to do the flying god-sign, I managed to perceive the subtle bond that united us.

°So?° Zantas asked after he saw me raise a questioning eyebrow.

"I think I'm doing something wrong, because, yeah, I feel his vibes...but they're too weak. As if the life in her was dying out."

Zantas turned pale (yes, literally turned pale).

°Gaia, we have to track her down immediately.°

So he taught me to do that too.