Woman was torn of her immortality. Woman was torn of her fire. Woman was torn of her sword. And Woman was torn of her shield. Her radiance was faded. Her life was shorn. And when she lost too her fertility, from her self she too would be torn.
Bereft of her Goddess to stoke her flame, Woman was reduced now to an animal, no different from the birds and the beasts that roamed the earth long-side her. But it would be through the birds and the beasts that Woman would find one last light, one single flicker that would illuminate the path to her salvation from Oblivion.
***
"Going for a run. Be back in about thirty."
"Have fun. Don't fall down an open manhole again!"
"Hmph."
The door closed shut as Erin left the apartment, leaving Mindy all by her lonesome as she sat down on the living room couch, reading her mom's book. Interesting thing it was. It definitely helped to...contextualize a lot about what those girls in that lesbian nudist cult actually believed.
Mindy still couldn't believe what a mad coincidence it was. On the same weekend that she and her sister found out about the Zenrist religion, it would appear her mother had as well. First through text-messaging and then through online chat, she learned from Henrietta that the two older women recently had a formal meeting with the Zenrists, going so far as to enter their place of worship and speak with the head priestess at New Deastone. She didn't go into detail about what exactly they talked about or did in there, but the important thing was that Carol had developed a very keen interest in the religion. Enough to not only read through their tome rather extensively if her bookmark was anything to go by, but to even consider joining it. Mindy couldn't help but be a little concerned about that.
Oh, she didn't mind if her mother was going to be a nudist. The teen already knew she was. Carol had tried to be sneaky about it in the past, tried to hide the fact that she liked to roam around in the buff, but she couldn't fool Mindy. They had been living in this tiny little apartment for nearly a decade; keeping secrets of that caliber for that long would be difficult for even a ninja master. There would always be a door left ajar where you could catch a glimpse of some bare skin, there would always be some lack of discretion in a phone call where someone would say something like "I'd be naked all the time if I could," or "Be at your place in 15. No clothes on of course," and there would always be a time where you would walk in and see a naked woman outright. Doing something like sitting at her computer in her room...or doing other things...in other parts of the house...
No, Mindy's real issue was that if her mom really was considering finding religion, then did that mean something was going on with her? Was she depressed? Lonely? Secretly dying? Henrietta didn't say. She just said Carol was seriously considering joining the religion because it would give her the freedom to be nude all she liked. And that she
really
liked being nude. Mindy wanted to take her word for it, but she couldn't be sure; Carol had been acting weird yesterday ever since Mindy and Erin got home. She seemed really sad somehow. Deflated, like someone was letting all the air out of her. She didn't eat much at all, hardly touched the Indian takeout they ordered, and seemed to be always looking to the side or down at herself. And this was all after the cold way she kicked Henrietta out of the house.
Erin didn't notice of course. She was too damn preoccupied with her own crap to pay any attention to her mother. But Mindy did and it worried her. She didn't know what was going on and from what she could tell, neither did Henrietta.
Speaking of which, it was probably high time for them to continue their conversation from last night. Picking up her phone, Mindy started writing her next text message. She would have preferred calling her mother's girlfriend, but she was likely at work right now.
"are u sure mom was ok b4 yestrdy?"
A few moments passed. Then a reply popped up.
"Yes. Carol was happy day before. sed she was go ing 2 convert."
"Ready to convert? To Zenrism?" Mindy mused out loud. "What could possibly happen to change her mind? Was it when Erin said..."
Oh. Ohhhhhhh. That must have been why. That's what caused Carol to get so depressed. It seemed so obvious now. It was because of Erin. It was all her fault. Again. Seems that rotten twin sister of hers just had to find more ways to drag everyone else down with her.
"First thing when she gets back, we're gonna have a long conversation here," she said, standing up and marching purposely back to her room. She didn't know how she was going to take this issue on with Carol; the whole idea of her mother converting to a new religion was an odd one after all. But she did know how to handle Erin's deal: she had to make the girl come to terms with what she had done at Duny Beach.
As Mindy stepped into the room, she couldn't help but notice something strange. Her sister's sleeping clothes were strewn about on the floor, and her running clothes were gathered neatly on her bed on the lower bunk. Like she put them out, but forgot to put them on.
She didn't...
She was out the door in less than a minute. "Erin! ERIN!"
Her cries fell on deaf ears, for Erin was nowhere to be seen. Mindy could only mutter a curse as she took off, hoping that her sister at least had the decency to run her usual route. It would make finding her a whole lot easier. Unfortunately, she sure chose a bad day to go running outside in because it was a freaking oven right now. The teen could feel her sweat glands open up the second the sun hit them.
At least she'll be dressed appropriately for the weather
, she thought with an amused smile.
If you're going to be running on a day as hot as this, you might as well save yourself some trouble and just go totally bare.
Appropriate dress or not, Mindy still had to find her sister and quickly. She ran down the street and rounded the block where Erin would typically go when she was out exercising. Hopefully, she would catch at least a glimpse of the girl in the distance, sashaying her shapely behind around as she ran. Sadly, Mindy caught no glimpse of her; all she saw were a few people hanging out on their porches and a middle-aged guy walking his dog.
"Damn it," she muttered as she took off again. It looked like Erin had gone a lot farther than she predicted. Or worse, she decided to change her usual route up for...reasons. No matter; Mindy would find her sooner or later. Or someone else would find Erin. Scratch that, plenty of people had already found her judging by how many were out and about right now. Nothing Mindy could do about that.
"What the—"
"There she is again..."
"Wait, I think...differ...girl..."
"Wish I had...era."
"YOU GO..."
"Shake it!"
Mindy paid little mind to what they had to say. She had to find her sister. She ran a little further, rounded another block, and came across a group of children scribbling chalk on the sidewalk who suddenly stopped what they were doing to gawk at her like she was some kind of wild animal. They didn't even bother to step aside as she closed the distance on them.
"Out of the way...out of the way!" Mindy growled. When it looked like they wouldn't be moving, she opted to go around them by veering off the sidewalk and into the street.
Stupid kids, thinking they own the place. When someone is running on the sidewalk, you move your ass out of the way!
She took a moment to catch her breath and wipe her brow, which was already starting to dampen with perspiration. "Christ, it's hot. Wish I brought some water, though I guess holding that while running would be a pain. Damn you, Erin, making me run around in this weather. Where the hell are you?"
She jogged a little more down the block. A car rolled past her. For no reason at all, the driver honked his horn twice, startling the girl and sending her tumbling into the shrubs of some random schlub's lawn.
"Asshole!" she shouted as he zoomed away. Ugh, this was quickly getting irritating. Mindy was starting to think it was high time to just hike back home. To hell with Erin and her impromptu streaking. If she got humiliated or arrested for indecent exposure, it would be her own damn fault—
