The heart's voice (Chapter 5)

Flo sneaked down a set of steps, finding herself standing in front of a huge hall where there were tables lined against the walls. Every table had a basket full of dirty clothes in it and humans were running around in panic. There were just too many orders and very little time for them to wash all the clothes and send them back to their owners. There was always a limited time for a launderer to complete a request. Flo stared openmouthed at the hoard of extra clothes falling in from the holes and into the baskets. A lady screamed and fainted. Some gathered around her to get her to a corner while the rest of them carried on working.

 “Hurry up guys. The demons in hallway seven are very restless. They’ll send you to the Keep if you slowpokes don’t rush it,” a broad shouldered man said.

“We’re working as hard as we can. There are just too many orders and we’re tired,” a lady complained.

“Yeah, and our hands are wrinkled to the bones. I don’t think they could soak in anymore water,” a young girl said, slumping on the floor near a table. She had a bucket full of soapy water in front of her in which she dipped a shirt and started rubbing it roughly. Everybody was doing the same thing with their buckets full of water. The broad shouldered man turned his head to look at the skinny, innocent looking human girl watching them all work.

“Who’re you? You a new one? Well, don’t just stand there, help us here. There’s a lot of work to do. You take that corner and start rubbing.”

For a moment Flo was confused. ‘Does he think I work here? If I tell him who I really am, I’m afraid he’ll tell on me… oh, what now?’

“And that’s an order!” The man’s deep, rough voice made Flo jump and she had no choice but to obey him. He scared her and she didn’t want to cause any trouble so she simply went to sit beside a nearby bucket. The young girl came to sit beside her. Flo looked up at her to see that her face was covered in healed scars. She looked away quickly as it was rude to stare at others.

“That’s Arnold. He’s not a bad person. It’s just that he’s got too much work on his hands.”

“What happened to your face?” Flo regretted that the moment the words came out of her mouth. “I’m sorry, I… you just have a lot of scars. Did the demons beat you here?”

The girl studied Flo’s eyes for a moment before answering in a low voice, “No… these are from the place I lived back on Earth. My caretaker was always so cruel to me but the demons haven’t lifted a finger on me yet… who knows what’ll happen if we don’t get all this work done in time.”

Flo scratched her head wondering what to do here. These people needed help desperately but what could she possibly do to make a difference. The idea started to make its way through her head, slowly affecting every part of the brain it touched. And Flo didn’t give it any second thoughts.

“I think there is a way to finish this all in time…” she glanced at the edges of the rectangular room. They were at least a feet high after which the stairs started. “This could work… there isn’t any drain here, is there?”

“Well, there is one small drain hole but it’s closed. This used to be the place for a hot water bath till they shifted us here and the bath was closed. We’ve been working since then.” The girl’s voice was shaky and she looked sick by the color of her pale face.

“Anne quit the chit chat and let’s work work!” Arnold growled at her but when she tried to stand up, her legs gave in. Flo left her bucket at once and went to check Anne’s forehead.

“She’s got a fever. She shouldn’t be working for so long.”

“You think you can wash all these clothes instead of her?” Arnold countered.

“Yes. We all can and it won’t take too long either.”

“How?” a woman asked when Arnold raised a hand to silence her, “Don’t listen to the new girl. She ain’t familiar with anything. She has no idea what the demons will do to us if we mess this up.”

“No, they won’t do anything because we’ll get the job done. Listen, we just need to fill this entire floor with the water and dip all the clothes in it at the same time. They’ll all get cleaned faster. We can open the drain when the water needs to be changed and turn on the taps again to refill it.” When Flo finished her enthusiastic speech, she noticed that every person in the hall had stopped working and was staring at her wide-eyed.

“Nonsense! This girl will surely get us killed. Ignore her and continue your work. We only have three hours left–” Arnold was saying when the same woman stood up, dropping the soap angrily.

“No! We are tired of you bossing us around like this. I mean, who made you in charge anyway? I say we try what the girl says. It’s better than this wreck.” The lady had an Indian accent. Flo hadn’t heard that one in a long time. Arnold raised his hand to silence her again but no one was listening anymore. They were already putting their buckets aside and opening the taps. Cold water streamed out of the small metal pipes, filling the rectangular bath tub in less than five minutes. Flo watched as the water filled up to her knees. Bubbles floated on top of the surface as ample of clothes were splashed into the water.

Furious, Arnold turned to Flo, “If anything goes wrong, all of this will be on you,” he said in a threatening tone and turned away. Flo sucked in a breath when she felt someone grab her hand and squeeze it slightly. Flo tilted her head sideways to see the young girl with the fever.

“Don’t worry about it. I believe that this is going to work, all of us do. That’s why they’re all ignoring Arnold. You should too.” Flo smiled at her,

“What’s your name?”

“Anne,” the girl replied shyly. Flo touched her forehead again, “Oh, I’m fine, really. Fevers don’t bother me at all. You get them all the time here.”

Suddenly, someone screamed. It was the same lady who had fainted a while ago. She was wet to her shoulders. The people had forgotten that she was there while filling the water. She stood up frantically, coughing out water while thrashing and waving her hands around crazily.

“Help! I’m drowning, help me! Someone!” Anne and Flo looked at each other and then rushed through the water towards the clumsy lady sitting on the floor. Water splashed up onto their faces when they reached her.

“Miss Carla, please calm down. You’re not drowning.” Anne said every word slow and clear; the way people talk to little kids. Surprisingly, it got Miss Carla’s attention. She stopped splashing water and looked at the two girls. “This is Flo and she invented this new method of washing clothes.” Anne gestured toward Flo and then the rest of the water. Miss Carla frowned at the people dipping clothes and rubbing them one by one. Her gaze lingered towards her own pile of clothes which were no longer on the table.  Panic held her for a second before she burst out screaming and strode through the water towards it.

“No, wait! Miss Carla, you’re going too fast. You’ll fall!” Flo called while striding after her. Anne followed as well.

Miss Carla faltered towards her empty table. The basket was in the water turned upside down and all the clothes were lying near it getting soaked. “My flower. My precious flower! It was right here,” she said tapping on the table furiously. She dipped her hands into the water while kneeling down and threw the clothes away like a mad person would do. Anne and Flo grabbed her shoulders to get her back onto her feet but she shrugged them away roughly while screaming, “I have to find that flower. My husband died getting it for me. It’s the only thing I have to remember him with.” Tears started rolling out of Miss Carla’s eyes, pouring into the water.

That’s when Flo’s eyes caught sight of something red inside the pocket of a white shirt beside her foot. She bent down and tugged the pocket. The red petal floated onto the surface. Flo flinched.

“Your flower doesn’t happen to be a red rose… does it?” she asked warily.

“Oh, yes. It is a red rose. Did you find it?” Miss Carla swirled around quickly, her eyes searching Flo up and down. Her lips quivered when she followed Flo’s gaze toward the petal. “Out of the way!” she shouted, shoving Flo backwards into the water and not caring to even apologize. “My rose! No! This petal may be all that’s left of it…” Miss Carla wept, taking the petal in her hand. Just when her skin touched it, it melted to blood instantly. “What? That is not my rose petal… My rose does not do that.”

“Flo! Wake up Flo! Oh, she bumped her head on an overturned table underwater! Help me get her out, please,” Anne pleaded, bending down to grab Flo’s shoulder and pull her into sitting position. It was almost impossible for her to do it alone. She didn’t have much energy left in her due to the fever. She gasped and sat down beside Flo. “Someone, please help me here.” Unfortunately, no one seemed to care much about the fainted girl. They were all too busy cleaning the clothes. Some ignored Anne’s pleas while some groaned.

Miss Carla turned around and looked at the bunch in bewilderment. “You people are so selfish. After all, she was the one who gave you the bright idea about cleaning clothes quickly. You can’t just abandon her. Now help Anne move her out!” It was strange how she forgot about her flower for a moment and focused on something more important going on. Surprisingly, it got everyone’s attention and a few nearby people helped take Flo out of the water. They placed her in the next room on the soft, thumping organic floor. After that, they left. Anne stood up from beside Flo and marched up to them, “You’re just going to leave her here? Alone?”

“What’s the worst that could happen to her? If you’re so worried then why don’t you stay with her?” Arnold snapped at her before leaving the room and slamming the door on her face. Anne sighed and went to sit beside Flo again. She brushed her hand through Flo’s tangled hair, attempting to untangle it and make it look saner. “It’s the least I can do. After all, you stood up to me even though Arnold scared you,” Anne murmured. The entire room was glowing orange except for the front wall where the door was. Everywhere else was covered with the orange organ. She smiled. “I’ve never been in a more magical place before. And it’s all thanks to you.” She chuckled under her breath, knowing that Flo couldn’t hear her. "You cared for me. It’s something people have stopped doing. They figured what’s the use but you’re different. Maybe you can make a difference…”

Meanwhile, Melda stopped by the research lab while heading for her class. “How’s the demon doing?” she asked in a serious tone.

“Not good, madam. It looks like it’s dying. It’s arms are covered in blood by now and it looks to me like the boy’s crying blood tears,” a demon in a lab coat said.

“Fred, this is not good news. Why didn’t you inform me earlier? And why isn’t there anyone else here helping you?”

“I don’t know. You took Jon and Crayz for the inspection, remember? They haven’t returned yet.”

Melda put a hand on her head in realization, “Oh that’s right. I sent those two to look for Flo.” She shook her head as if to forget about them and focus on the situation at hand. “Alright, step aside and let me take a look at the boy.” She walked closer to the bleeding organ and touched her hand on the boy’s forehead. Melda closed her eyes and focused. She could feel the faint beating of the dragon heart far away instead of the demon. She could feel the lungs still heaving for blood and air. For some unknown reason, all she felt when she touched the demon boy was the dragon. It was like the dragon was living inside of him.

Melda opened her eyes again. They were crimson red and before anyone could move a muscle, the bleeding stopped automatically. All the blood started to evaporate into the air. The other demon watched in amazement as all the blood disappeared in only a matter of seconds and the boy regained his original look.

“That was amazing, Madam. You should teach me how to do that,” the demon said, eyes full of enthusiasm.

“Focus on your work,” Melda told him strictly.

“Yes ma’am,” he replied fearfully.

“I’m leaving now. My class has reached its limits by now and I’m sure that plenty of them are already causing a lot of trouble.” Melda flipped her hair with her hand and walked out of the lab.

“Come on, Flo. It’s been like a crazy ten minutes or so. Hah, it’s always crazy around here but when you get used to it, it’s not so bad. Crazy time, Crazy people. Crazy, crazy, crazy…” Flo moved her head slightly towards Anne’s hand and whispered, “Help me…” Anne was shocked for a moment at how fast Flo had responded. She put an arm under her head and helped her sit up straight. She bent her head feeling embarrassed about Flo getting to hear her talk like that.

“Where are we?” Flo distracted her, noticing the flushed face in the dim orange light.

“I don’t know. It’s another piece of the organs. Can’t tell which one,” Anne replied hesitatingly. Flo stood up and twirled around slowly just to take in the sight of the tiny room.

“Oh, wow… this is so­–”

“Magical?” Anne asked, cutting her off amusingly, “Yeah, that’s what I thought of it too.” Flo looked at her, realizing that the two of them were supposed to be in the laundry room helping everyone complete their tasks for the day.

“What happened to me? Why did I faint?”

“Miss Carla shoved you by accident and you fell and bumped your head. We all brought you to this little room which was right beside the laundry room. This is the only place demons won’t bother you or stop to ask why you’re not working.”

“Oh, I see. And you’re here to skip work, I presume?” Flo teased but Anne’s face saddened.

“I didn’t want you to be all alone when you wake up so I sat here by your side. I had to return the favor.”

“What favor?” Flo crouched down beside her, staring at her innocently. Anne looked at her and then looked away.

“It doesn’t matter. Let’s get out of here and back to work now that you’re okay.”

Flo nodded and the two stood up when a sudden voice made them jump,

“Why leave so soon? Flo likes to stick around with the organs and talk to them, don’t you Flo?” the voice echoed in the entire room. Flo recognized it immediately and without a word, took Anne’s hand and hauled her towards the door.

“Wait, what is that? Who’s speaking?” Anne asked, pulling her hand back.

“We have to get out of here. This guy’s evil. He’ll kill us both.”

“Not so fast, kiddo! The door is completely under my control as long as the organs are touching its walls. Now unless you don’t want to get electrocuted like that crazy guy in the research lab before, you better stay where you are.”

“Great, now we’re trapped,” Flo said, gritting her teeth angrily. Anne’s hands trembled and she started crying.

“Whoever you are, demon. We did not mean to slack off. She fainted and I had to sit by her side to wait for her to wake up so we can go back to work. I promise we never meant to relax or anything. Flo, tell him.”

Flo’s mouth hung open. She was completely taken off guard here. She hadn’t expected Anne to be such a coward. ‘Sure I’m the one who screams like hell when I’m scared but I’d never give in to someone so easily; especially not a filthy demon!’

“Get up, Anne. Stop kneeling like that. This demon is not superior to us!”

But Anne didn’t have the courage to listen to her. The demon laughed bitterly and Flo felt something sting her leg. She jumped and yelped and fell backwards. “I’m not superior to you, huh? You won’t be thinking that once I devour both of your souls.”

“Leave her out of this! I’m the one you want. Can’t you see she’s scared to death? Just let her go!” Flo demanded, looking up at the roof where white sparks were starting to appear.

“Fine. I won’t snack on her unhappy soul. Besides, she’s already passed out.” The demon laughed again, mockingly. “It is you I really want. And it is you I will get.” The sparks spread through all the walls till Flo was surrounded by them. They started dispersing onto the floor, slowly inching their way towards the middle of the room where she stood. Anne was sprawled on the floor like a sleeping baby when a spark touched her finger and it twitched. Flo immediately grabbed her arms and pulled her away from it.

“I thought you said you wouldn’t eat her soul!” She yelled, infuriated.

“Hahaha! I said I wouldn’t snack on her. That doesn’t mean I won’t kill her.”

“Why would you do such a thing? What has she ever done to you?”

“Shut up! Pathetic humans, always asking for reason…”

The sparks were spreading rapidly now and Flo had no more space to back away to. She knew that this was where the demon would kill her. She fought with all her might but lost in the end. “I can’t believe it…” Flo shut her eyes tightly, a single tear dared to come out but she wiped it. She waited for the final blow before her soul would leave her body.

“You will not touch her as long as I protect her, Keegan.” Flo opened her eyes at the sudden voice and gasped. It belonged to the person who’d come in her dream when she’d fainted while going through the transporter. She’d freaked at that time because she’d thought he was the same demon who was out to kill her. Now… she wasn’t so sure.