Esther

Esther and her daughter sat at their table enjoying supper, in their small cabin nestled deep in the wilds of Patagonia. Esther and her former partner Vincent built the tiny cabin themselves. It was evening, and all they had to illuminate the inside of the cabin were plenty of candles. The two were eating a viscacha that Esther had roasted over her fireplace which she lit by hand. Living completely off-grid, Esther had no access to running water, gas, or electricity. She was an escapee from a maximum security, forensic psychiatric hospital nestled in a remote area at the base of the Andes Mountains in Argentina. She was in her early thirties. She had big dark brown eyes, pale white skin, and blondish-brown hair, which she often kept braided, and a face that rarely smiled if at all. Her nine-year-old daughter Ana was a smaller brunette version of herself. She and her daughter lived their lives in hiding. 

Ana: “Mama, tomorrow can we eat something different? We have eaten this for forever now.” 

Esther: “It depends on what I can find for us my love, Mama is trying her best.”

It was the end of winter, and most of the small lakes around Esther’s territory have fully melted. The next day Esther and her daughter made the short hike to the nearest body of water to collect water for the cabin. Sometimes they made the trip 5 times a day. When they made it to the base of the small lake, they filled their pales with water. The small lake was situated in a low open valley that stretched for miles. 

Ana: “Mama, can you make me fly again?” 

Esther: “Sure, my little muffin.” 

Esther concentrated on Ana, and she slowly started to levitate into the air. Ana giggled as she floated above Esther’s head. As her daughter was content giggling and writhing in midair, Esther turned her head to look at one of the hills at the southern edge of the valley. She noticed a figure standing at the top of the hill staring at them. Esther released her telekinetic hold on Ana, and she quickly descended into Esther’s arms. 

Ana: “Mama why did you stop?” 

Esther: “ We have to go right now sweetheart.” 

Ana: “But why?” 

Esther: “We're leaving right now, don't ask questions!” 

Esther grabbed her pale of water and then grabbed Ana’s hand quickly leading them out of the valley to the north where their cabin was located. She turned back to look at the figure one last time, but they were too far to make out any features. All Esther knew was that someone was watching them, and in her world that was a very dangerous thing.

When Esther returned home, she stored her daughter’s pale of water for drinking, and used the water in her pale to bathe Ana after supper. Ana was sitting in her horse trough-bathtub, while Esther poured small cups of water over Ana’s hair. 

Ana: “I miss Papa, Mama…” 

Esther: “I do too sweetheart… you can never trust people, all they will do is take things away from you.”

Ana: “Except you, right Mama?”

Esther: “Of course, you could always trust me no matter what.” 

Ana: “Are you ever going to tell me the full story of how you met Papa?” 

Esther sighed. 

Esther: “I think you may be ready now hmm? I met your father when I was locked up in the psychiatric prison. I was 21 years old at the time, he was something called an investigative journalist. His job is basically to go and write stories about other people. He came from the United States to see me because Mama was the only person in the world who had special powers, how I could control things with my mind. The doctors and scientists could never explain how I got them. I think I was born with them. Your dad helped me escape, and we were hiding from the government ever since, and that's when we had you.” 

Ana: “Did you and Papa kill people to escape the prison?” 

Esther: “Sometimes to survive you have to do difficult things sweetheart. I couldn’t stay there, and Papa knew that too that's why he helped me. The doctors and scientists always treated me very badly. Like I was their treasured object, to use, to do experiments on. Because I was different, they didn’t understand me” 

Ana: “ I remember when I was 5 years old before Papa got killed, I heard him talk about how you killed grandma. Is that true?” 

Esther was silent for a while. 

Esther: “I was little, maybe your age. It was an accident, I didn't understand how powerful I was back then.”  

Ana: “Is that why you were sent to the prison?” 

Esther: “Yes, when I was young I was sent to a lot of different mental institutions, but when I grew up they sent me to the grown up mental hospital. It was a lot more mean. I was never supposed to leave there. Not just because of what I did, but because I was special. People are mean to special people in this world Ana.”  

After Esther was finished with Ana’s bath, she went to tuck Ana into bed. Esther didn’t even have enough water to bathe herself. Ana fell asleep rather quickly, but Esther was up almost the entire night, she often suffered from insomnia. She sat in her wooden chair in the small living room area of the cabin watching the lit fireplace, their only source of heat in their home. She looked up at her black hooded cloak that her former partner and Ana’s father, Vincent, made for her. It laid on a shelf above the fireplace since Esther was planning on burning it. However, she never could bring herself to do it. Even though it brought her pain when she saw it, it was the only thing other than Ana that made her feel less lonely. 

In the morning Esther decided they needed to make a trip to the nearest town for some supplies such as firewood, candles, matches, and gasoline. The small amount of money she had was left over from Vincent after his death. However, a good friend of hers, Father Gil from the small-town church would occasionally spare her some money in exchange for some work. The closest small town she sometimes visited was a two-and-a-half-hour ride on her moped, her only means of long-term transportation. Usually, Esther would be wary about bringing her daughter with her into town. However, the fact they were being watched by someone the previous day only a couple miles from their home, made Esther paranoid to leave her daughter alone. When the two made the long bumpy ride into town, Esther noticed a peculiar Jeep truck in the parking lot of the small convenience store. She noticed two men in the truck looking at her and her daughter. Esther looked away and quickly walked with Ana into the convenient store. Esther was on edge, and gathered her supplies from the store as quickly as she could. Esther’s paranoia started to overcome her, she dreaded having to return back to the parking lot and walk past the truck with those strange men. But when she returned to her moped, to her surprise the truck was gone. Esther turned to look in all directions, but she saw nothing. Ana helped her quickly put their things in the basket of the moped and after quickly filling up on gas, the two were off towards the exit of the town. 

Esther and Ana were speeding down the remote dirt trail leading back to the direction of their cabin, when Esther noticed in the distance an abandoned car blocking the entire path. Esther couldn't drive around the car since their path was surrounded by trees. She came to a complete stop, her heart now pounding. Her and Ana got off their moped preparing to walk it around the path through the trees when they noticed the same truck from earlier parked just off the path. Before they could react the truck drove full speed straight towards them. Esther with her telekinetic abilities managed to launch Ana out of the way just on time, but the truck plowed right into Esther, sending her flying into the nearest tree trunk and hitting the ground. The two men got out from the truck and began kicking Esther repeatedly while she was down, in the abdomen and to the head. Ana ran to try to help her mother but one of the men grabbed and held her tight, the barrage finally stopped once they saw Esther was too hurt to even move. 

Javi: “Hello Esther, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Javi and this is my partner Luis. We are a part of the Armagon militia. It has taken us quite some time to finally find you.”

Ana struggled and whimpered but Luis kept his firm grip on her. Esther's face and head were completely covered in blood and she went in and out of consciousness. 

Javi: “You have quite the bounty on your head Esther. Did you think you were going to be successful hiding forever? There is no person in this world that can truly remain unfound. I am not really doing this for the money to be honest Esther, I just love what I do.” 

Luis raised his hand gun at Esther’s head, but Javi made him lower it. 

Javi: “Death… is too kind for you Esther.” 

Javi walked over to grab Ana from Luis. She was crying in hysterics looking at her mother, laying in her own blood. 

Javi: “In death you will have freedom but in life… you will always be a prisoner.”

Esther, laying on the ground helplessly watched as Javi pulled out his gun and shot Ana in the head. All Esther could do was reach out her hand for her daughter and grunt in agony. 

Javi: “I will be seeing you around Esther, eh?” 

Javi winked at Esther before he and Luis hopped in their truck and sped off in the distance. Esther painfully crawled over to Ana’s body and laid her head on Ana’s chest. She slept there until the next morning.   

Esther carried her daughter and limped the rest of the way to her house. There she wrapped Ana in blankets, dug a large hole and buried Ana just outside the cabin. Afterwards Esther limped to her small bathroom, she washed the blood and dirt off her face, but her face and eyes continued to leak blood. She stared at herself in her mirror, stared into her own eyes. All that looked back was emptiness. Esther took her small switchblade and held it to her throat, she stared at herself for a minute. Then she dropped the knife and broke gaze with herself staring down at the sink. Esther’s body trembled, filling up with rage before she burst, letting out a fearsome wail of anger and destroying the mirror with her fists.  

Esther didn’t leave her home for over a week. She hardly ate or drank water. Ironically she had the most consistent sleep she has had in a while during the last couple weeks. However Esther’s will to survive persevered. Once she decided she had enough rotting in her home, she decided to pay a visit to an old friend. 

Esther limped her way through the small church doors. It was empty inside, except Father Gil standing at the end of the seated rows. He was delighted to see Esther, but taken back by her broken appearance. 

Father Gil: “Ah Esther it’s been a… oh my goodness Esther, are you alright?” 

Esther with tears in her eyes, spoke painfully through her hoarse voice. 

Esther: “Javi… Armagon militia… they killed my daughter.”  

Father Gil: “Esther... I'm... so sorry.” 

Esther: “Do you know them?” 

Father Gil: “They have come through the town a couple times. They questioned me about you as well. But I swear I didn’t say anything about you.” 

Esther: “Do you know where they are?” 

Father Gil: “They took me with them to question me. It was a small camp outside the town. It looked like a small garage made out of one of those huge containers cargo ships carry. It had guns and vehicles and other weapons in it…” 

Esther: “Take me there” 

Father Gil: “Esther look I know you’re in pain…” 

A light bulb on the ceiling above burst, then Gil began to levitate slightly off the ground. Esther approached him face to face while he was helplessly bound in place. 

Esther: “Either you take me there today and I kill them… or I kill you, and everyone who comes to your church.”  

Esther released her telekinetic hold on Gil and he fell to the ground breathing heavily. After some contemplating he agreed. 

Father Gil: “ Alright Esther, alright… so… when are we going?” 

It was sunset and Esther made sure to grab her cloak that Vincent made her, before they made the journey to Armagon camp. The cloak was the only thing in Esther’s life that still had meaning to it. Father Gil drove Esther just outside the camp where they were out of sight. Esther put on her cloak that covered her completely. 

Father Gil: “You really want to do this?” 

Esther didn’t respond, she exited Gil’s car. 

Father Gil: “If I don’t see you again Esther, just know I've enjoyed your company.” 

Esther began walking to the front of the garage. Inside it held 10 men including Javi, laughing, joking, drinking, playing cards, until they saw the mysterious cloaked figure approaching. They stared in confusion. Esther kept subtly approaching. When she reached the driveway of the garage, she thrusted one of the trucks with her telekinesis. The men were unnerved. They aimed their guns, warning her to stop, but she continued. The table the men were playing cards on flew the opposite direction. Now they opened fire on Esther emptying all their ammunition onto her. However, the bullets never landed. Every bullet was tangled into Esther’s telekinetic shield. The men were out of fire and disheartened, every bullet floating in place around Esther dropped to the floor. Then Esther raised one of the men high into the air. As he floated in place every limb and bone broke and bent the opposite direction. Esther continued forward with her arms open. Everything around them ascended into the air as if gravity no longer existed. The two-armed trucks floated above; the surrounding small trees uprooted. Esther continued forward and the men continued backward into the garage. Slowly every man around Javi started to ascend into the air helplessly struggling, their bones snapping like twigs. The garage itself began to disintegrate, every piece of metal began to break and dislodge, ascending into the sky. The world around Javi was breaking and floating away like leaves in the wind as the cloaked figure approached him. He was helpless and vulnerable. Javi then lifted off the ground but floated in place. Esther’s cloak began to dismantle, tearing into small pieces of debris that ascended behind her flying away, along with the rest of the world around them. When Esther was close enough, she reached out her hand to helpless floating Javi. As she approached him her hand fit perfectly around the front of his neck. With her outfit gone Esther was completely visible to Javi now. She stared at him with her cold unblinking brown eyes. All Javi could do was stare back totally helpless and completely at her mercy. But mercy would not come. Esther slowly pushed her fingers deep into Javi’s eyes until Javi’s face met her knuckles. Each nail on Javi’s fingers ripped off its nail bed and floated away like the rest of the debris. Esther then bit onto his nose hard until it broke, and chewed on it until it was disconnected from Javi’s face. Every one of Javi’s limbs snapped and contorted in ways no human limbs should ever bend. 

Esther released her telekinetic grip on Javi and he dropped to the ground, screaming and wriggling in agony. 

Esther : “Death… is too kind for you Javi… in life you will always be a prisoner… and a cripple.” 

Javi continued crying and whimpering in pain on the ground. Esther stomped on his crotch for good measure, before she turned and walked away from the disintegrated world around her. Esther’s face was smeared with blood, only this time it wasn’t her own. She walked back in the direction of Father Gil’s car. When he saw her he was astonished. 

Father Gil: “Esther! Esther! What happened!? I witnessed this whole place fly away into the air!” 

Esther: “I finished it.” 

Esther continued walking towards the direction of the wilderness, the place where she belonged. The place of desolation, of no people, of no love. 

Father Gil: “Esther wait! Where are you going, what are you going to do now?” 

Esther ignored him and kept walking. 

Father Gil: “Esther please you are all alone! Don’t you at least want me to give you a ride home? You can even stay with me for a couple days if you want.” 

Esther finally pitied Gil and gave him a response. 

Esther: “Father, everyone and everything around me dies… don’t make the mistake of trying to be part of my life. Please. Thank you for your help.” 

Father Gil: “The pleasure is mine, Esther.” 

Esther continued walking in the direction of her home. She limped for hours on foot along the highway, through the trees and the desolate wilderness until she finally made it to her home. 

Gil entered his empty church and walked over to the altar and cross. He faced the cross and with his arms open, began to levitate into the air. 

“It’s time for Esther to know what she is.”