13.

Five decades earlier...

If there was one thing Esme loved waking up to, it was the smell of Rose's baking from the kitchen every morning. She was always making various baked goods like muffins, croissants, pies, and tarts. Rose loved waking up early to do her baking for the day, letting the goods rest in the window before serving it to a freshly woken Esme.

Esme was forever grateful for Rose and her meaningful gestures, because Esme knew that this was Rose's way of worshipping her. Rose had been a consistent believer in Esme since the time she was nine years old, having committed herself completely to her God. Even though Esme hadn't always recognized the value of Rose, she did now. Rose's undying belief in Esme was proven time and time again.

Day by day, Rose proved herself and how steadfast her faith in Esme was. Even when Esme was at the height of her popularity, Rose never lost sight of who Esme was to her. She continued to believe, to pray, and to worship wholeheartedly even when Esme had all the believers she could possibly wish for.

Esme, however, wasn't always so eager to return the favour back when she was popular. It wasn't that Esme was willingly ignoring Rose, more so that Esme was caught up in the fame and popularity that she had quickly amassed. Rose was put on the back burner while Esme reveled in the glory of all her believers.

Rose never took Esme for granted or resented her because of how many believers she had. More importantly, it was Rose who stuck by Esme when it all ended for her. Rose was the last remaining believer when everyone else abandoned Esme.

All because of one important answer that Esme could not produce: What happens to believers after they die?

It wasn't that she couldn't answer, it was that she didn't know how to answer. Because, as much as Esme hated to admit it, something had happened between the time she and the other Gods were in the Heavens and when they made their descent to earth --- something bad. Whatever it was, it wasn't a good thing that the Gods were on earth now. They were trying to recruit as many believers as possible in order to secure more souls to the Heavens. However, there was a catch: Not one God knew why they were recruiting believers or what was going to happen afterwards.

They had their memories wiped, Esme figured. But for what reason? And by who? Obviously someone didn't want the Gods to remember why they were being sent to earth, making it hard to explain to believers about what comes after death. Esme found herself in a very awkward predicament when she couldn't lie to her believers anymore, telling them the truth that she didn't know what happens after a human dies. They claimed she was a phony and, one by one, her believers stopped having faith in her, until there was only one.

Rose Mary-Anne Edwards.

A true, faithful believer in Esme, her belief never wavering despite the accusations made against Esme. Rose stuck by Esme through the slander and the hatred, until Esme had to go into hiding. Eventually, with only Rose's belief, Esme found her happy place and didn't feel the need to bunker down any longer.

Despite losing all of her other believers, Esme still had enough power from the belief that Rose had in her to continue on. She found herself increasingly weak as the days went on, but Rose continued to pray and worship like the faithful servant she was and that kept Esme going.

As Esme woke that morning to the smell of Rose's cooking, a reminder of Rose's undying faithfulness, she couldn't help but feel like something was amiss. She couldn't seem to put her finger on it, laying in bed a little longer than usual as she tried to make the feeling come to a stop. Her stomach was churning like butter, making her feel as though she was going to be sick at any moment. Not wanting to take any chances, Esme rushed to the bathroom to hug the toilet.

When she felt stable enough, Esme felt that she needed to talk to Rose about the sudden illness that had overcome her. Not only that, she was feeling increasingly tired as the minutes passed on. Esme didn't want to waste any time as she fled from the bathroom, heading to the landing at the top of the stairs.

Something wasn't right. Something was burning.

Esme rushed down the stairs as fast as she could, reaching the bottom in record time. She swung around the bannister towards the narrow hallway that led into the kitchen. The kitchen was beginning to fill with smoke and Rose was nowhere in sight. Had she gone outside and forgot she had the oven on? That wasn't like Rose.

Esme rushed to the oven and turned it off before checking to see the damage inside. Luckily it wasn't actively on fire, though it looked to have been at one point. It had been a pie, but now it was a charred mess.

Unsure of what was going on, Esme safely disposed of the remnants of the pie in the sink. She searched the house top to bottom before heading outside through the back door in the kitchen.

Pausing as she looked over the railing, Esme saw Rose slumped over in her garden. What on earth was she doing? Esme wasn't sure what was going on, not wanting to stand around waiting for answers. She hurried down the back steps and rounded the railing, but came to a halt before she could continue on.

Just then, Esme was struck by the need to be sick to her stomach. She couldn't contain it any longer, throwing up onto the grass. There was no reaction from Rose in her garden. Esme felt her head begin to spin as she collected herself, trying to muster through the need to sit down and sleep. She couldn't explain the feeling, it made her ill while also making her drowsy.

Stumbling across the lawn, Esme made her way to the garden until she couldn't stand any longer. Falling at the foot of the dirt while Rose sat slumped over, her back turned to Esme. Esme could see that Rose was breathing, but it was very shallow.

Without saying a word, Esme knew what was going on with Rose, shaking her head as the realization sank in: Rose was dying.

Esme cried out as loud as she possibly could, but there was no one around to hear her. Even if they did, no one would bother Rose and Esme -- they knew better than to do that. The boundaries had been established for quite some time and no one dared to push them, this being no exception. It didn't matter that there was an emergency, that Rose needed to go to the hospital, the people around would never have a change of heart. Not even for Rose, a human.

Because the betrayal from Esme was far too much for them to handle, therefore Rose was guilty by association for wanting to still believe in Esme. Everyone had collectively agreed not to, that they would let Esme fall asleep by default. Whereas Rose refused and did the opposite, she believed in Esme even more.

Now, as Rose sat in her garden bed, Esme knew that these were their final moments together. Despite her weakening state, Esme pushed forward so that she was crawling through the dirt and flowers towards Rose. She got as far as Rose's side before she couldn't continue on any further, pulling herself up so that she could rest her head on Rose's shoulder.

"Hi, old friend," Rose whispered, her breathing becoming more and more laboured as time went on. "I thought you wouldn't make it in time."

Esme nodded and closed her eyes, listening to the sound of Rose's heart. The beating was erratic, slow and then fast with her heart beating so hard it felt as though it was going to pound right out of her chest. Esme felt the prick of tears in her eyes, squeezing her eyes tight to hold them back.

"I'm glad you're here," Rose continued. "It wouldn't be right if I didn't get to tell you..."

There was a pause as Esme gathered herself, trying to hold onto whatever wakefulness she had left.

"Tell me what?" Esme asked, her own breathing becoming laboured.

Rose leaned her head on Esme's, trying to reach up to touch Esme's face but her arm was too weak. The two sat like this for a minute in silence.

Finally, Rose's fingers pulled themselves up to Esme's knee, squeezing it two times.

"We'll meet again," Rose said. "Wherever the Heavens are, I believe you'll find me."

Esme nodded, unable to form any words at this point. Her tongue was numb and her head was swimming with a dreamlike heaviness. All she wanted to do was lay down, but she knew she couldn't do that yet. There was one last step before she could finally fall asleep: She had to bury herself.

Rose was weakening by the second, holding on for Esme's sake. She, too, knew what Esme had to do. Because Rose was Esme's last believer, that meant that Esme would have no faith to keep her going and would, ultimately, succumb to the sleep-like state that Gods go in when no one is there to believe in them.

Esme snapped awake for a moment, her eyes blurred as she tried her best to sit up straight. Rose attempted to help the best that she could by nudging Esme with her shoulder, but soon Rose was unable to get the strength to do so any further.

"Don't waste your energy any longer," Rose implored. "You'll fall asleep soon."

"What about you?" Esme said in a sleepy voice, attempting to keep herself up by placing her palms down on the dirt. "What happens to you now, Rose?"

Rose smiled. "I'm going to die, Esme."

Esme couldn't contain her tears any longer, reaching out with one arm to stroke Rose's face gently.

"What happened to you, my friend?" Esme asked, her voice wavering as she said it.

Rose pointed to her chest. "The ticker ain't so good these days."

"Why didn't you tell me? I could have healed you," Esme was almost pleading with Rose.

"You could have, but I didn't want you to," Rose replied.

"What? Why not?" Esme said, shocked.

Rose sighed. "Because we all have to die at some point, Esme. I'm not an exception to the rule."

"But we have so much more to do," Esme said, trailing off.

As if Rose had gotten a second wind, she gathered herself and stood up from the dirt and flowers all around them. She looked down at Esme, who was beginning to lay on her arms on the ground. Her eyes were so heavy that Rose was surprised she could keep awake.

"Esme," Rose said, towering over her, "Go to bed."

Without saying another word, Rose turned and walked away. Esme couldn't fight the need to sleep much longer, more importantly, she couldn't find the strength to beg Rose to come back. Rose left the garden and the backyard behind, carefully navigating her way back into the house. She would walk the entirety of the house, up the stairs to the second floor, into her bedroom, and straight under her sheets without any issues.

But the second that Rose steadied her breathing, laying wide eyed as she stared at the ceiling, she knew it was time. With one final breath, Rose closed her eyes and her heart stopped beating.

Esme cried out from the garden the second she felt the emptiness begin to swallow her, dragging her deep into the sleep-like state that would overcome her for an unnumbered amount of days. She fought it off, clawing her way through the soil in front of her as she let out a guttural scream. Her last believer was gone. This was it.

Digging into the dirt, Esme began to tunnel her way down in the garden, her hands moving at an inhumanly fast speed with the last bit of strength that she had left. The further she went, the more she felt herself giving in to the tiredness. Eventually, she was so deep in the ground that she couldn't breathe any longer.

Then, Esme dug enough so that her body would fit far down into the pits of the earth, laying in her self-made grave. She couldn't fight it, she had to sleep now.

She closed her eyes one last time, and then it went dark.