Aallotar [Good Omens]

Nine - Chained

"Did you have a good day?" Olly's grandma chirped, sipping her tea casually. Olly sat with her legs crossed and a cup of juice held close. She nodded, and that was all. Grandma, at one time a mother but still a competent human being, placed her cup on its saucer and gazed at her with sympathetic eyes. "What happened?"

Olly shrugged. She didn't want to speak about it--she didn't know how. Even if she did, what would she say? The words escaped her, for she knew something happened, but she did not know what. She felt strange--slightly frightened and on edge.

"Is everything alright?" Grandma asked.

"I've just got a headache," she mumbled. Suddenly, her breath fled from her lungs, and her body went rigid.

"Dear?"

She stood, setting her full cup of juice on the table. She stared past her grandma with vacant eyes.

Go to sleep.

"I-"

Leave.

"I think I'm gonna go to bed," Olly echoed. Grandma opened her mouth, but Olly was already gone.

She sat at the foot of her bed, everything and nothing happening in her mind at once. Labeless, nameless, numb. So many thoughts, so much noise. All of that noise.

Flashes, lights--flames. Olly gripped her head in agony, panting through clenched teeth. Something was happening. Something was... changing. A pain erupted in her wrists--deep within--to the bone. Every nerve burning. She pulled her arms before her, palms up, and hands shaking.

There, across her wrists like handcuffs, were glowing marks--blazing embers. It stung like fresh cuts or tight, coarse ropes. Maybe they were ropes, bounding her to something. What... what was happening?

Then it stopped, and relief overcame her.

Olly changes her clothes and climbed into bed, staring at the watch she set on her night stand. She drifted into a pool of comforting sleep, all memory of the last hour erased but the bond between her and Heaven sealed forever.