Darkness Falling

Book One: End of Days - Chapter Eight

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Eleanor sat before the dresser with her makeup laid out, taking a deep breath. She’d applied it many times when no one was around. Eleanor hadn’t left the house with makeup, other than family events, which was never. She and Mother simply couldn’t afford it.

Sabina sat on the edge of the bed, watching Eleanor’s every move, paying close attention.

“I wanted to thank you for letting us utilize your spring,” Sabina said.

“My spring?…Oh, the shower!” Eleanor said, “Yeah, no problem.”

“We…Well, at least myself, I get to bathe once a week. I’m not sure about Col.”

Eleanor applied some cover-up, “It’s not a problem. Really. Do you use makeup?”

“My sister Emma uses some ceruse to make her skin fairer.” Sabina reached for one of the kits near the edge of the desk. “It’s an indication of opulence. But I always thought it made someone look sickly. This makeup…do you apply it to look more appealing to the opposite sex?”

Eleanor looked confused, “Ceruse?”

Sabina nodded, “It accentuates the skin tone. Very pricey.”

“Oh,” Eleanor looked back at the mirror, “Yeah. There’s this idea we do it ‘for ourselves,’ but who the hell looks at themselves? Well, I guess with all the social media influencers do. So it’s kinda true.”

“Social media?”

“Ohhh, you didn’t have anything like that,” Eleanor applied some eye shadow. “Yeah, people post pictures of themselves for everyone to see. And everyone posts pictures online. Not a thing you can hide when you have an account.”

“A picture…like a painting?”

“A photo…wait…Those wouldn’t have been invented for two hundred more years. Umm, imagine someone could ‘paint’ a picture of themselves by clicking a button. It happens in an instant. Then they upload it, well, they edit it first, then they ‘share’ it with the world.”

“And how does an entire…THE entire world see what someone else sees? This happens all at once?”

Eleanor grabbed some mascara. “Imagine you could hold up a painting, but rather than the people in front of you seeing it, there’s something that, like, pushes it across the air. So now everyone could see it if they wanted to. It’s kinda neat.”

“Is it a clean process?” Sabina looked inquisitive. “How does dusting make a painting visible?”

Eleanor looked confused. “Ohhh, neat! You thought I meant TO CLEAN. Hang on,” she stopped and grabbed her phone, “Let me show you.” Eleanor woke her iPhone and sat next to Sabina, who watched with curiosity as Eleanor swiped and clicked to show a vast amount of tiny artist representations.

“This is…unreal,” Sabina said. “When my father had the family’s portrait commissioned, it took a month for the artist to ARRIVE. And then he was a drunkard, and we had to wait until the man sobered before he was able to work.”

Eleanor chuckled a bit, “Most of the people in these pics probably aren’t sober either. Kind of an ageless theme.”

Sabina smiled, giggling slightly, “It very well may be.”

“Here,” Eleanor handed her the phone, “You swipe and check everything out. But don’t post anything nude.”

Sabina smiled, “I don’t often get nude…Which is a wildly inappropriate thing to talk about.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Eleanor sounded worried, “I didn’t mean to offend.”

“It’s alright,” Sabina was immersed in the phone, clicking many things as she looked through the device, “I didn’t get offended. Besides, this time and place is very different.”

“I can imagine. How do you think you and Col got into our world?”

Sabina shook her head, “We’re unsure. But we have ideas. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn the woman in the woods, Frieda, is behind all this.”

“Wow,” Eleanor started. “I don’t mean to sound insensitive to what’s happening, but there are some fascinating parts of your world. I mean, I’ve seen them before, but seeing you here—it’s unsettling. And you guys are different than in the VR world.”

Sabina looked up, concern on her face. “Are we? How so?”

“Well, you guys are very real. But you’re different. More…alive, I think that’s the right word. Just the details about you. Like…more vivid.”

Sabina looked confused. She returned to the phone, “Some of these women…They show much more of their bodies than the men do.”

“Yeah, social media is kinda exploitative. Especially to women.”

“I never liked being…showy.” Sabina smiled at one of the pictures, “My God, in heaven, this woman is essentially unclothed! That’s not something I would be able to do. I’m more of a rough-and-tumble sort of lady. I’ll fight anyone.”

“I can see that about you,” Eleanor applied some rouge.

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