Iyssabel by Poechick13

It was all too much. Iyssabel gave up. After her parents sudden death and the mystery shrouding the disappearance of her only friend; she just gave up. How can one blame her though? How she stumbled upon her mother and father hanging from the arch of the garden gate. The looks of fear on their pallid blue faces could never out do the sight of her old shoelaces wrapped around their necks, bloodstained and cutting into their dead flesh. On top of that, two weeks ago her best friend Annashey just quit existing. It does sound strange, but that’s exactly what happened. She called her house and Annashey’s parents professed they had no children. Iyssabel even called the police and even they denied her. Her own Uncle, a trooper, had said he had no niece named Annashey.

This was not the first time she had pondered over suicide. Iyssabel had written many-a-suicide note. Lately though, it seemed this was all she ever thought about. She had hypotheses of different ways to conduct it. Now that she was alone in her house and the world denied her existence, she could do it.

Iyssabel had always been strange mentally. She was not handicapped, but she possessed (from an early age) what her mother called “powers”. She could perform simple tasks with her mind. She would do dishes, move things, even clean her room sometimes; all with her mind. In this new state of thought, she pondered whether or not she could kill herself with her mind. No doubt it was possible. She could easily make a knife fly at her, strangle herself, perhaps drown herself. All these things she thought very trivial and too easy.

Stepping into her room, she sat down at her vanity. It was antique, everything in her room was. From the rugs to the wall decorations, all were ancient. Iyssabel gazed into the cracking mirror. As she viewed her distorted yet beautiful reflection, she lifted her trembling finger to her forehead. “I wish it would all go away.” She whispered to herself. “Sometimes I think I’d like to die, but, that’s too easy. I don’t know what I’d like. Perhaps another go at life.” Warm silent tears began running down her ivory powdered cheek. She wiped them away and then replaced her hand underneath her chin. “I’d like the world to just stop spinning. I could observe everything and find out what went wrong with….. Wait…I know. I was born.” She said with growing volume while her eyes grew wide with anger. Iyssabel stood up and began shouting demands at the vanity mirror. “Why couldn't I disappear like Annashey? Why couldn't I have hung like Mother and Father?” She sat back down. She was sobbing and cursing under her breath. “Why? Why did I get left? Why did everything leave me with no explanation?” She touched the pinkish wet face in the mirror. “If only I could leave and go somewhere else; not on earth, some other place. Like…..” Iyssabel suddenly fell to the floor, lifeless.

By the looks of her, Iyssabel could have passed for dead. Her stomach wasn't’t rising and falling with the familiar pattern of breathing. Her skin was becoming cold and even more colorless at an alarming rate. As with the other strange occurrences, no one came by the house or even called for years. It was as if the world had ignored its existence completely. Bill collectors, telemarketers, and even distant family had quit calling. Cobwebs grew in the corners; dust blanketed every possession in the house. Her parents’ bodies still hung in the garden now stained skeletons wearing torn rags. Their bones were picked clean by the parasitic wind that had blown so strongly of late. Still, no one seemed to notice. The children playing in the street remained completely unnerved by the gruesome sight of the corpses. Religious informants just passed up the house like a superstition. Even stray animals never dared to venture near that strange place.

Although her parent’s bodies had decayed, hers remained intact. It only appeared that she had died minutes ago rather than years ago. She wasn't dead. Iyssabel had only locked herself inside herself. She had gone on living in a Utopian place created in her mind. She had no idea she had been lying on her bedroom floor for more than a few years. The immense pain and overwhelming sorrow had consumed her and her “powers” had killed herself without making her die. So great was this utopia that Iyssabel had forgotten all about her parents (who decayed only yards away) and Annashey (who in truth had been kidnapped and murdered then forgotten just like Iyssabel and her parents).She existed in a black little room that had an expanse ,she estimated, that went on forever. She heard nothing but silence; no bad news for her to hear. She saw nothing but darkness; no light to hurt her eyes. She (physically) felt nothing but the soft ground underneath her; no hardness to bruise her. She (mentally) felt nothing but the contentment of existence; no sadness, no pain, and no confusion. She thought of nothing; nothing to trouble her mind. In this state she was perfect, it was exactly what she had wished for but couldn't put into words.

Although she couldn't think or mentally feel anything, she could sense her emotions. Iyssabel sensed that this silence and all of this was driving her insane. She sensed that it wasn't her keeping her in there anymore; it was her mind holding her prisoner. In the back of her mind, she rebelled and wanted to be released; she wanted to deal with all of what she had run away from (though what it was, she couldn't remember). She could do nothing but lie there and exist.

One day, a hapless stray cat came wandering inside the house. It had enough fun with the mice and the dust balls; it decided it was time to be curious. The cat had found its way into Iyssabel’s room. Once it spotted her lying there it was overcome with its previously lost “house-cat-like” instincts. It rubbed against her, and purred as loud as it could. For some reason, in Iyssabel’s mind, she felt the warmth of the fur, and the resonance of the cat’s purr. Her mind was letting up. Finally, after ten years, her mind was actually getting lost.

Iyssabel woke up to see two shiny eyes staring into hers. The cat ran away. Enchanted with sight, Iyssabel slowly stood up and followed the path of paw-prints in the dust. She could hear things she never noticed before; the setting of the sun, the breathing of the walls, the music of the world. After so long of being locked away inside her mind, she lost all feeling towards her dead parents and lost Annashey. Once outside, she noticed all the houses that used to be around her were gone and replaced by cornfields; newly plowed. The setting sun added a reddish tint to all Iyssabel’s eyes drank up. Her head turned to the left as she noticed a small black figure perching atop a staff of what was left of a corn stalk. It called in its harsh voice. She recognized it as a crow, a filthy thing she used to loath. Now, she saw it in a different light. It was beautiful, something new. For the first time in ten years, Iyssabel sang. First, softly, then growing in confidence and strength.

Rude call,
To my tainted-
Ear, ‘Tis music. Feathers-
Obsidian sweets for my eyes.
Take flight.

Iyssabel stood with tears in her eyes watching the raven fly away. What had happened before she “died” came back to mind. The coming back of senses awakened her to emotion again. She fell down to her knees and cried in a fury. There were so many things for her to say, yet she remained silent. Iyssabel looked up to the, now, night sky and didn't think. She thought of nothing. She lifted herself up with her mind until she was hovering parallel with the ground. With one last sorrow-ridden cry, her body collided with the largest remnant of corn stalk in the field. She struck it with such force that it pierced her flesh and had gone completely through her chest. Iyssabel, choking on blood, smiled said in a broken whisper “I’m leaving now.” Her head fell to the side and rested in a pool of blood. Everything went dark. She looked dead, she was dead.