Kiss of Monochrome: A Tale of Mercy
By: John Keith Bone
“Where am I?”
No answer came… Only the echo of my own voice.
“Is this a dream?”
Nothing once more…
The world I looked out upon was unlike anything I’d ever seen before in all my life. There was no color. No sound. Nothing…
“Who are you?” A soft voice echoed from nowhere, it seemed. The enigmatic sound brought a measure of comfort in this dreary, colorless place. A soft breeze caressed my cheeks, beckoning me to move forward. My step was measured and cautious, but my voice remained firm as I called out to the ghost.
“Just a boy. Who are you?”
A short laugh resounded.
“I meant your name.”
A twinge of fear tugged at my heart, but maybe she meant no harm? I mean, what could be hurt by telling my name?
“Sebastian.”
“A strong name. And such a handsome boy...”
This made me stop dead in my tracks.
“Where are you?” I called.
A presence made itself known to me somewhere off to my right. My eye shot out into the nothing that surrounded me. Off in the distance, a shape stood. A person? I turned to face the black figure with an uneasy demeanor.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“My name is Ambrosia.” The figure responded, and offered out a hand.
From the distance I stood, her appearance wasn’t at all clear, but she appeared to be wearing a dress of some kind. As I drew nearer to the shade more became clear. She wasn’t much shorter than myself and wore a dark vale over her eyes. Her cheeks were as white as snow and her lips appeared supple.
“Welcome, Sebastian.” She mused.
My one-eyed gaze wandered her countenance carefully, studying what little of her was visible. Her dress appeared to be made of velvet, just like her vale. The gloves that obscured her hands allowed a peek of flesh through the laced floral pattern.
“Do you know why you are here, Sebastian?” she asked in a breathy tone.
I shook my head, still eyeing the girl.
“Am I dead?” I asked, unable to think of where I was before this place.
She chuckled at the question as she knelt down and reached into the mist at our feet, producing a black-pedaled rose, which she brought to her lips.
“No, you are not dead.”
It seemed that her touch dispelled the mist, causing it’s murky tendrils to retreat back into the shadows surrounding us. The lapping of water against a shoreline sounded, announcing our location at a lake of some kind. My gaze played over it only to regret it. Black as night, the water was. It was quite unsettling.
“Is something wrong?” Ambrosia asked.
“No. It’s just… Strange here… Different.”
She smiled against the pedals.
“That’s what love is, Sebastian. It’s different.”
I scoffed at this.
“Love? For a fool like me, in a place like this?”
Ambrosia’s lips pursed for a moment in thought, then she reached over to me and touched my cheek.
“Have you ever felt love before, Sebastian?”
My face heated up at the girl’s cold touch. This was uncharacteristic of me, and made me a tad nervous.
“No… But what does it matter? Love just hurts people.”
The shade drew close to me with this, keeping her hand planted firmly against my face.
“Love abused hurts people, Sebastian… Love itself is a perfect emotion. It can free a person from almost any pain. Even the pain you’ve gone through.”
Her icy fingers played up my cheek to the length of bandage gauze that obscured my left eye. It was my ultimate stigma. My deformity. The mark given to me by a man who had the gall to call me his son. Professor Q. Her words flustered and frustrate me, causing me to take a step back.
“What would you know about my pain!?” an edge of cruel steel entered my voice.
Ambrosia’s voice softened even further.
“Your father-“
I did not allow the girl to finish before throwing my hands in the air.
“I have no father! I never did! And I never will! The man who had me conceived abandoned me! My brother as well!”
Ambrosia’s lips pursed once more as my words ripped through her frail heart.
“I was a subject of Q’s insanity as well. I was the one that came before you.”
This fact took me off guard. There were more? More subjects? More children that madman mangled and destroyed? Still, I couldn’t let this stranger know that this was news to me.
“Practice makes perfect, I suppose.”
The smile that caused the young girl’s lips to part took me aback more than the previous news.
“You’re not a very good liar. You never were.”
My eye narrowed further at this.
“How do you know me so well?”
Ambrosia didn’t respond to this but instead reached out once again reached out to me, caressing my cheek with a feather-like lightness. The touch had a strange effect on me. I didn’t want to get away from it, no. I wanted it. Her hand was cold, but it made me feel… Warm… Welcome… It beckoned to me. I headed it’s ghostly call and reached out to play a finger over her icy lips and spot on her cheek. She smiled once again and edged a little closer to me, nuzzling herself into my palm.
“You’re really strong, Sebastian.” She cooed as her frame came ever closer to my own.
Something was wrong… Nobody, not even Lady Alice took to me this quickly… I took a step back, bringing a confused frown over the lips of the girl.
“Is something wrong, Sebastian?” Ambrosia asked with a slight cock of her head.
“Show me your eyes.”
“What??”
I steeled my voice, suddenly certain that this was a test of some kind that the Professor had set up.
“Show me your eyes. Now!” I demanded with venom dripping from my words.
With a sigh, the pale girl began to lift her vale, revealing a sight worse than what I had expected. Black crosses amid icy blue… Her eyes had been altered… Just like mine…
“Always so cautious…” she mumbled.
“Oh my God…” I squeaked, suddenly becoming weak at the knees.
“You’re just like me…”
Ambrosia nodded solemnly.
“I’ve called you here to ask a favor of you, dear Sebastian…”
Anticipation suddenly gripped my heart, causing my brow to rise ever so slightly. What on Earth could a girl like this want from an Italian butler??
“I want you to kill me.”
Her reply struck me so hard, I actually felt the wind leave me. Kill her! This girl wanted me to kill her!!
“Why?” I asked hoarsely.
“This world is what Q did to me… Anyone I go near is sucked in… I’m too dangerous to be left alive… Besides, nobody ever stays with me long. I’m lonely, Sebastian. I’m suffering and I want it to end!!! Please kill me!” she pleaded, taking my cheeks between her hands.
Pain was never more clearly inscribed upon a face. I had to do it…
“Will it get me out of here?” I asked, finally regaining my sobriety.
Her nod was slow and solemn. She was serious.
“As you wish…” I said with resolve. “I’ll make it quick and painless. Just… Just close your eyes.” My voice broke over the last request, she cooperated, however and let her icy blue orbs become hooded and finally enshrouded by her milky white lids.
After a cursory search of myself, I found that my scalpels were still in their places in my sleeves. I flicked my wrist and caught the one that came. As I made the sign of the cross with my knife, I recited in Latin to her in a low, placid tone.
“Et haec ultima ferro ... Apex acutus Finire dolores et liberabit vos me ...” (And with this final stroke of edged steel… I end your suffering and set you free…)
“Wait!” she cried out suddenly. “I have one last request.”
I nodded to her and awaited her request. Her eye were teary, but she smiled ruefully. Her voice came at last after many moments as a hushed whisper. One uttered to a lover.
“Kiss me, Sebastian… Before I die, I wish to at least have my first kiss.”
This struck a chord within my steely heart, bringing a small mist over my sight. Without a word, I stepped forward once more and laid a hand upon her cheek again, slowly allowing my eye to slide closed as I edged toward the ghostly girl’s frame. The colorless, silent world about us seemed to be watching this as a breeze picked up, causing her wavy, pale locks to cascade out behind her, blonde tendrils whipping about so divinely, one could mistake her for an angel. My lips met hers tenderly at first and lingered for several moments, allowing her to savor the sensation of a kiss. I tilted my head slightly and pressed in further, flattening my lips to hers and parting them gently, allowing my tongue to play along the edge of her icy cavern. I felt a pleasantly cold sensation play over the tip of my tongue as she slid her own in for a quick taste. After several moments of sampling my taste, she drew back and smiled once again.
“I’m ready.”
With a final utterance of Latin, I drew my knife back, ready to set the girl free from this place, Ambrosia closed her eyes.
“Requiem in pace.” (Rest in peace.)
With a quick stroke, color finally entered this world, staining the gray earth a most perfect crimson. Ambrosia fell, allowing the crimson to pool about her serene, smiling face. The black roses were painted red…
The Queen would be pleased… I thought as my gaze surveyed the rapidly dissolving world. As normalcy neared Ambrosia’s perfectly poised frame, it turned to beautiful sapphire orbs, rising up to heaven on high with silent grace. Soon, even her smile dissolved into the holy light.
It took me several minutes before I brought my gaze back down to the four walls that surrounded me. My room…
“Sleep well, Ambrosia…” I mumbled. “I shall make sure Q sees the Hell he so badly deserves… I will make him pay.”
