“You sick, twisted bitch!” Ruth’s fist flew at Divinity’s nose as hard as she could launch it but it went right through her ghostlike head. Divinity pixeled and dissolved then reappeared as a middle aged African American woman with talons for fingernails and razor sharp incisors. She screamed in Ruth’s face and cut her head clean off with her talons. Ruth’s head instantly pixelated then reattached itself as though nothing happened.
Both women stood inches from one another, growing increasingly agitated, circling each other. A heavy snow began to fall, wet flakes clinging to their coiled bodies, ready to lunge any second. The sound of a train became audible and as Ruth jumped toward Divinity her body went through hers. Then all went white. Next thing Ruth knew, she bolted upright in her bed, at home.
It couldn’t truly be over. She looked outside to see her suv parked in front of the house, covered in heavy snow. She called for Bella her cocker spaniel and she came bounding into Ruth’s room and up onto the bed. Tears streamed down her face faster than Bella could lick them. She was home. She was safe. She was out of The Womb, never to return. She didn’t care about the money. This was all she wanted.
Ruth made a flurry of phone calls but none of them found anyone except her mom. She had a second chance at life! Everything was new and she promised herself that she would be better in all ways for how thankful was she. Ruth’s mom listened. She never said more than a few words and it almost didn’t even sound like her.
When Ruth momentarily stopped talking, the voice on the other end whispered loudly. “Your mother is dead and is deep inside The Womb with you.” Ruth’s blood ran cold. The walls in her room turned to ice. The cold choked her, brought her to the edge of life. Then the bed and floor dropped out from under her.
When she opened her eyes Ruth was back in the open field, this time without the mansion, the wolves and the rows of participants. A voice called to her and she knew who it was immediately. It was from underground and she followed his voice until a staircase in the soil became evident. Down she went. And there stood Embryo.
They sat down at a small stone table. Embryo enquired how Ruth was doing in her journey through The Womb. Ruth spoke long and detailed through many tears about everything that has happened and mostly about Divinity. She bared her soul and Embryo took it in, not saying much at all.
There was a long silence and just before Embryo opened his mouth a train was heard again, this time the whistle blowing. “Ruth, frankly I don’t understand any of this. The Womb is one thousand percent my design, no one elses. I have nothing to gain by drawing you into my program and then lying to you and messing with your very core, it is absurd. This dream, right now and everything else you’ve seen in The Womb is of your creation, in your own head. These nightmares are yours, not Divinity’s.”
Embryo took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. He drew new focus and smiled at Ruth. “Ruth, you are not dead. You are fully alive in my studio. Fact. And please understand…there is no Divinity. Within our dreams we sometimes make up helpers though I can’t fathom why you’re imagining she’s wanting to kill you and all this nonsense. Please reassess why you came here and get a grip, Ruth. Ultimately you’re in control. You aren’t some pawn in others psyches, it’s insane to give it a moments thought.”
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