she was fine

I am fine. I am fine. I am fine.

Her figure was hunched over a corner, sobbing.

Deep breath in, deep breath out. I am fine. I am fine.

A cold gust of wind scraped mercilessly into the alleyway. Her rapid breathing soon fell into a rhythmic pace as she tried to calm herself.

It was just an illusion. I am fine.

The streetlamp above her flickered to life, the orange glow casting the woman’s solitary shadow onto the dark pavement. There was still crimson red staining the tips of her fingers.

She was fine.

Cassandra’s eyes glowed bright green before reverting back to a warm brown.

~

 

Agent 801 paced the length of his office. His teammates had gone missing over the past week, and all five of them had gone missing without a trace—he had investigated their trails personally, yet he had not a single lead. He had been lying when the old lady at the supermarket asked if he was okay. He was not fine at all.

Something was off. Really off. All evidence just said that they had vanished into the air. Poof.

At the moment, the higher-ups of the DSA had decided to put him to desk work, which was boring and not helping the case of his missing colleagues at all, which had instilled suspicion in him. 801 knew that they knew what happened to them. On the first day of initiation, the first thing they did was bury micro-trackers into their wrists.

Only three people had the authority to access the DSA database, and he was going to go find out the truth.

~

 

No. No. No.

Cassandra had seen this play out twelve times for the past twelve days, and every time, it had been a new victim.

Run! She wanted to scream at the other person, but her words couldn’t form. Another stab of pain shot through her head. Her arm moved to clasp her aching forehead, but an invisible force pushed it down.

Do not interfere, Cassandra. You know that there is nothing you can do to stop this. A raspy voice chided inside her head. The voice was ancient, weathered by old age, and it croaked in her mind once more. Open your eyes. Her arms moved of their own accord, and Cassandra’s eyes were forced open.

Cassandra could hear a gruesome crack before the victim could even call out for help. Thirteen down.

How much left to go, she didn’t know.

~

 

It had been days since he got any sleep, and Agent 801 was now running on pure caffeine and sheer determination. He had combed through every single file, and there was nothing that came up. They all indicated what he already knew—that his colleagues had disappeared randomly and without a trace as if they had simply winked out of existence.

His plan tonight, as a last resort, was to follow Miss Ilias, one of the three people who had access to the DSA database in the first place.

~

 

801 tried to dress as inconspicuously as he could, sweatpants and a white hoodie, like he was just going out for a run. He trailed behind Cassandra Ilias, keeping a safe distance between the two of them.

He thought he had kept a safe distance. He knew he did.

But apparently, he didn’t.

Ilias turned, and 801 had nowhere to hide. There was no cover, and all he could do was stare into Cassandra’s abnormally green glowing green eyes.

But Cassandra Ilias didn’t have green eyes—everyone knew that she had the most mesmerizing eyes the shade of chocolate. 801 tried to back up, but he was frozen in place. His limbs were stuck. They didn’t obey his commands.

“They obey my commands.” A croaky voice came out of the throat of Cassandra Ilias.

Smoke began to spew out of her mouth as she took step towards him, her fingers caressing his cheeks. “What do you know? Why did you try to interfere?” A malicious smile wormed its way onto her once beautiful face.

A pain seized 801’s head. It hurt so, so bad.

“You know nothing? How foolish of you to come here unprepared.” Her arms reached out, grabbing him by the neck. The smoke kept spewing out, and it choked him as he struggled to breathe properly. Deep breath in, deep breath out.

801 could see panic behind the smoke and the green eyes. This was not Cassandra. She was possessed. He knew that, and he also saw the apology that she tried to convey through her eyes. He also knew that it meant nothing.

The spirit possessing her meant for him to die. There was no escaping.

“Any last words?” The spirit hissed in his face.

“Who are you?”

Agent 801 of the Department of Supernatural Affairs went limp as Cassandra Ilias snapped his neck.

“I am fine.” Cassandra whispered to herself, the blood of Agent 801 spilling through her palms.

#

The prompt for this drabble was this set of pictures.