Solstice - The Goddess Awakens

Whatever Celeste was talking about, she had clearly rattled his father. Opening the door, the light from the hallway spilled into the darkened room, and Alex could see that Celeste lay curled up on the bed like a child. Her state was deteriorating; he recognised the effect of his father’s poisonous brand of magick. It was invading her body, despite her best attempts to repel it.

All his life Alex had been sure of who he was and what his role was. He had been brought up to have no mercy for the weak – it was his birth right to keep the masses ignorant and subjugated. He would one day take over his father’s mantle, in the meantime his wealth and good looks always ensured that he got what he wanted. Women were there for his enjoyment, pawns in the larger game, he used them and disposed of them as and when he pleased. Their lives were honoured in the best way as a sacrifice to their deity. That’s what he had been raised to believe. Survival of the fittest was the natural order of the universe.

But lately, he had been growing weary of this way of thinking. There was a constant voice deep inside him that began to question it all. He was unsure whether he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, he often felt ashamed, feeble and scared that his father would not accept or tolerate weakness.

Standing in the doorway staring at the pitiful figure before him, Alex couldn’t help but feel bad. Celeste didn’t turn to look at him; she seemed to know it was him. Her breath was laboured, and her mouth was dry and cracked, as she tried to speak. Alex didn’t know what to say, though he knew that Celeste wanted him to hear something. He walked into the room and set the water, bread and fruit that he had taken from the kitchen onto the small French table that sat beside Celeste’s stark bed. He knew it was wrong for him to go to her, even stupid and reckless. But as he was about to leave, he heard Celeste’s hoarse voice and stopped.

‘You are so like her, Alex, more than you know.’

Initially Alex thought that Celeste was talking about Lola. But the sadness in her voice made him think otherwise. Still he couldn’t speak; he just stood there close to the doorway as Celeste began to sob.

‘How did I not know? I loved her so much.’

Alex couldn’t understand what she was saying, who she was talking about. Then Celeste dropped the bomb shell.

‘Your mother, how did I not know? What sort of person abandons their sister?’ continued Celeste, sobbing uncontrollably.

Alex’s head began to spin and his knees felt weak. He quickly left the room, closing the door behind him without a word. He stood outside for a moment; Celeste was alone again in her cell, she was lying, trying to trick him. He reasoned with himself that it was all a lie; she could sense his weakness and was trying to turn him against his father. Climbing the large staircase to his room, he removed his clothes and fell into bed in a daze. Lying in the dark, he listened to the wind and rain as it lashed at his window, struggling to make sense of what he was feeling. What was happening to him?

He tried to tell himself that this feeling would pass, and for a moment it did. But then he realised that ever since the night he had met Lola something in him had changed. That first night, standing staring into Lola’s vivid green eyes, a transformation in him had occurred. It was like she had reached into the dark depths of his soul each time she looked at him, igniting it with pure light. But his feelings for her would have to be suppressed at all costs. She was now standing in the way of his destiny and that could not be tolerated. He knew that she would have to be terminated.

Lola’s humanity and light energy were infectious, and he knew that once his father met her he would see this immediately. His father would then realise that she was neither common nor stupid, and as a result would want her for himself. His father would greedily consume the powerful force within her, and there was nothing that Alex would be able to do to prevent it.

Alex lay in the dark with Lola, his father, the Club and his mother all racing through his mind. The storm beyond the stillness of his bedroom continued, perfectly mirroring the internal tempest that raged deep within his soul.