“Greetings, Asylum Seekers.”
Haha.
That’s what she says right? Oh, our Maggie, exceptionally beautiful but could use a bit of chocolate now and again. Or at least a long, satisfying hug.
Hi, earthlings. I’m Melina and so very excited to talk to the living again. I can already see a few of you look as if you’d be fun to have a few drinks with, so this is already worth the walk over.
I’ll tell you first about the cell I occupied when I began my stretch here in this grand facility. It was a rose garden, the rose garden my mother tilled and tended to until her fingers bled and bled from the thorns and she was forced to drag herself back into the real world and become a real person again. Most times, she just sat out there with a small sip of sherry in her hand, eyes glazed over by whatever medicinal stimulant she could huff down.
I’m getting off track…
So, it was my mother’s rose garden, except my mother wasn’t tending to it. It was Bobby —Lieutenant Robert Erntz – the man who’d stolen my heart. Who’d given me a sparkly new ring. The man who’d promised his life and eternal love to me.
There he was, sitting in the outdoor chaise lounge chair my mother was so fond of, sipping from her glass of sherry and bleeding endlessly from the bullet I’d put in his skull. My life for close to 90 mortal years here in the Asylum has been me conversing with this bloody corpse of the man I once loved. In most scenarios, he’d convince me of how I’d betrayed him, how I’d betrayed the mother who went crazy because of the child she refused to accept as natural, how I’d betrayed my own religion and the moral compass of the world we had worked so tirelessly to defend against the impurity of evils like the Third Reich.
My betrayal? It was all bullshit. The point of that horrendous war, what I – as well as countless others – were fighting for, was the end to tyranny. The end to things like “a purification of the species” or “the master race.”
The Master sex. Master mindset. Master set of values. Master nonsense.
Once I’d accepted that killing a man who was prepared to snuff out my own life because he feared what I represented to his fragile little ego and his hypocritical view of the world, I found my smile again.
I like my smile.
What I realized was my salvation lay in staying true to what I always knew about myself. That my heart has always been sound, that the world isn’t so cut and dry. I mean, look around you, folks. We weren’t meant to be created all the same. We were meant to have our glorious differences and CELEBRATE THAT FACT. Those that deny that have a loooong way to go.
But I also learned that practicing patience is also akin to bliss. Which is why I’ve been so good at my job. Nothing rattles me anymore, and I see the best in every soul that I greet. Even if they are the worst of the bunch (and I’ve stared some of the worst in the eye) I’ll still throw out one of my best jokes or offer a puff of the good stuff.
Every soul deserves to be treated with grace. I won’t ever judge. That is for the Authority and the Malifecium to sort out.
I’ve also enjoyed my expanded role as visitor to some of the souls who need a little more of a nudge toward the Light. Those visits have been some of my favorite moments here in the spiritual joint. I am a nurse by nature and lending a healing ear and spot of positive reinforcement has always given me a warm feeling. There are so many in here who feel they will never be worthy of forgiveness, that humans should live their lives as perfect little angels (no offense, Maggie). That isn’t reality. We are infallible clumps of delicious imperfection.
Now, I belong to Hannah Donovan. Represented by the same caduceus I served for most of my mortal life. She will know that when that tattoo appears and she is in need of healing, in any regard, I will be there with bells. I applaud Donovan’s bravery. It is quite an ordeal she is about to take on. Which is why I will make sure that woman is never truly alone in all of this.
I felt that loneliness once. That I had to wear the weight of the world on my shoulders.
Maybe that’s why Maggie chose me... Well, she is a celestial and, don’t forget, the True Flame – an honor given to her by the Source. Has she mentioned that six or seven times already? Heh.
Okay. I think I’ve taken up enough of your time. Wish a lady bon voyage on her journey. Who knows, maybe I’ll see you out there in the great wide world.
An adventure. It’s been almost a century. So exciting!
- MELINA