Endless misery

Through the open window, Sierra floated in, watching the happy family with a blank expressionless face.

She didn't know what she had expected by coming here.

Maybe she held a slither of hope that her best friend betrayed her in a fit of anger, in a moment of rage, without any pre-planning or pre-mediation.

Maybe she still cared about her and was drowned in misery and regret from her rash brainless decision.

But reality was not that kind..

It's not even been an entire month since she died, but the trio happily enjoyed their evening, without a single care in the world.

The cozy, stylish and lavishly furnished living room was filled with laughter from what apparently looked like a game's night.

Kenna's childlike innocent laughter rippled through the room and sent pangs of hurt to Sierra's cold dead heart.

At that instant, something inside Sierra broke and changed forever.

She silently floated out of the atrociously extravagant apartment and headed straight to one of her three grinding spots.

Beep. 100 souls have been successfully absorbed.

Beep. Speed has been upgraded to level 2. The user is now able to move at twice the initial speed.

Beep. Next mission is to absorb 200 souls. Time limit 1 month.

The notifications kept cropping up. But Sierra didn't care.

She completely forgot about everything else. If her speed could be upgraded, then so could everything else.

Fuck it. Fuck everything. Someone had to pay for her death. And she needed to collect it with her own dead hands.

If this means, she has to keep collecting and absorbing souls for an eternity, then so be it.

Blind with rage, Sierra roamed from hospital to hospital, old age homes, prisons, anywhere she could find a dead body.

Days went by like seconds and weeks went by like hours.

The beeping notifications from the system seemed distant and pointless now. Even the system realised it and modified itself.

It wasn't handing out any more missions and just occasionally updated her with the progress.

She could distinctly feel herself getting stronger and stronger with every passing month...

And today would technically be her first death anniversary. It would also be the day she absorbed her 1500th soul.

And more importantly, today when she finished absorbing the soul of some greyed out old geezer, she actually topped a flower vase on her way out, scaring the bejesus out of some relatives.

Finally .....

All the empty useless upgrades about her speed, this is the single fucking upgrade she actually cared out. And just in time, came out the notification.

Beep. Corporeality has been upgraded to level 2. The user is now able to interact with small physical objects.

Sierra didn't waste any time and headed straight for that star crossed penthouse. There was no hesitation or sympathy in her gaze.

Through the same open window, she slithered in, barely containing her endless rage and misery.

It was still early evening and Kenna wasn't home yet. But there was someone else.

Kenna's husband Tuck was chilling on the couch watching a game on his high definition TV.

This guy... he was the start for everything.

Sierra looked at him with cold hard hatred. She had never liked him and had always warned Kenna against him.

But she never listened. And even ended up marrying him.

Sierra headed straight for the knife on the dining table. She lifted it in one smooth motion, wrapping her soul around it.

Not taking much time with it, she then slithered over to the couch and sliced the unsuspecting guy's throat like a ripe melon.

And floated over his puddle of blood with an expressionless face.

This kill didn't really count. This was not the one she came for. Soon wisps of disintegrated soul emerged from his body.

As if it was a normal thing to do, Sierra casually absorbed the wisps.

Waiting patiently, she just stared at the dead body and the pool of blood. Why didn't she feel anything, she wondered.

Time ticked by and soon it was 9.30 pm.

Kenna finally got home and dropped her bag on the counter.

It took her a couple of minutes, but her eyes eventually wandered to the site of her husband's dead body.

Letting out a loud shriek, she stumbled and fell on the ground. Groveling she reached for her phone and started making a call, when Sierra slithered close to her.

Watching her, Sierra felt her rage increase and completely engulf her.

For some reason, this time she felt like she could do so much more than just drive a knife through her heart.

With a force, she didn't know she had, she reached in and dragged Kenna's soul right out of her body.

Kenna could literally see Sierra and her breathtakingly beautiful face on something like a wisp of smoke.

Before she could respond or even process what happened, her weak damaged soul was absorbed in an instant.

Sighing loudly Sierra closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

She had taken two lives today. This was the first time she had actually harmed anyone intentionally in her entire life.

She didn't realize but right this instant, a grim black aura surrounded her crystal white soul.

This was the first time she had pulled out a live soul out of a living body.

She didn't know it but this was completely different than everything she had done before.

In a few seconds, the black aura grew stronger and stronger, forcing Sierra to break out of her stupor and notice it.

She was just about to ask the system, when suddenly an insane amount of suction tugged at her.

Resisting, she tried holding on to something, but it was of no use. There was no point in fighting that tremendous force.

There was a white blinding light and everything disappeared.