Not The Afterlife
Looking at the veil before her, that had once taken her godfather, it still looks the same after all these years.
An arch with a tattered black curtain that symbolises a barrier between life and death.
Will it finally end her suffering? Valeria longs for it to finally end, this cursed life.
Taking one last look behind her, at the world she's leaving behind, she finally takes a step forward. And then another one, until she feels the slivers of the veil pulling her in, almost guiding her in a maternal manner.
To her death, she hopes.
Closing her eyes, Valeria smiles and breaths in relief, after taking one final step into the veil, for she will finally be reunited with her family at last.
'See you on the other side, Sirius.'
After some time, Valeria feels a sudden stillness in the air.
'Is this the afterlife, am I finally home?' she asks herself.
Opening her eyes, darkness greets her.
She doesn’t know if she wants to scream in rage or cry in despair.
For this is certainly not the afterlife.
Now where is she?
Another hell?
After she calls upon the light, wandless, Valeria walks forward.
Into the unknown.
The shadows seem to envelop her wholly, not in a menacing manner. No.
It seems as though they've awaited her.
Frowning, but shaking her head from the strangeness of it all, Valeria continues on.
To wherever this path will lead her to, to civilization, she hopes.
Hearing a sudden noise coming from behind her, she stops her stride.
Looking around she sees nothing, only shadows.
Until she doesn’t.
Wraith like creatures descend upon her from every corner. They look a bit like the dementors in her world, Valeria thinks.
'But they are something entirely other .' she decides.
They suddenly stop and are watching her as she is watching them.
They don't seem to want to do her any harm, on the contrary, they seem to surround her in protectiveness?...And perhaps, joy? For she hears strange-like buzzing in the air.
Baffled, but also curious by it all, she takes a step forward to the closest one to her, she offers it her hand. It sniffs her hand and bumps, what Valeria concludes is its nose, into her hand. After feeling it bump into her hand incessantly, Valeria then finally pats its head.
She's rewarded with purring .
After that, the others seem to follow its lead and now she's cocooned between them all, all the while they bump into her person as well waiting for her to give them attention too.
'They are like touch starved cats.' she thinks wide eyed in mystification, all the while chuckling at the sight they are making.
She feels warmth, Valeria concludes.
Something she hasn't felt for a long time.
Even though she hasn't gotten what she originally wanted, she accepts her fate once more.
She's not alone at least, not with these wraith-like purring 'cats' that seem to have welcomed her as their own.