Thank you for your continued support of this story. Enjoy :)

“Look at you, your eyes are almost as red as my own! It’s not so much the blood you crave; it’s the fear, the pain, the need to suck the life from this body!” That sadistic voice screamed from all around me as I squeezed my eyes shut as if to somehow banish it from my existence.

“And you think hell is not where your headed sweetie?” Andrew’s words tormented me; flashes of his burning flesh, his sinister smiles, his pain filled eyes as he was dragged into the earth seemed to merge with the sight of the joyful oblivious faces of the surrounding party.

“Please make it stop,” I whispered helplessly trying earnestly to erase the memories that bombarded me from all sides.

My vision became hazy, my footsteps unstable as the sight of  Alice’s soulless eyes, her unforgettably tortured features becoming unresponsive as the massive amount of locus swarmed over her body flashed before my gaze as I tried to cover my ears to her now nonexistent screams.

“My Anna, my baby doll with her beautiful silken curls, rosy cheeks,” I heard him whisper into my ear as my arm rose to swing out only to strike out at nothing.

“Don’t touch me,” I whispered desperately while noticing how some of the guests now watched me strangely while quickly choosing to move further from where I stood.

I knew my stepfather was no longer at my side and yet still I could feel his fingertips rising to caress my cheek, his lips whispering, “Her forever pouty full lips.” Could see his face leaning over slowly, his breath fanning my skin, his lips gently tasting mine causing me to clutch desperately at my knees gagging, retching, and yet unable to release anything but tears.

“Sweetie,” Clarice began as she gently grasped my shaking shoulders only to stop at the venom she found in my stare. She retreated a few steps, only to stand next to a worried and yet remorseful Andrea, Maria soon joining our small circle.

“Maybe we should take her inside Clarice. People are starting to notice-,” Maria began only for me to interrupt.

“And as we have learned in this life appearances are everything,” I mocked, my body swaying as I glared at the three of them, my breakdown making me appear almost drunk.

“That’s not what I meant,” she quickly appeased. “Anna-.”

“I am not your problem anymore,” I viciously spat back up into her anxious features, “so why don’t you take your false sense of concern and go mother some other pathetic lost cause.”

Her brown eyes began to puddle up as if I had actually hurt her feelings, “Anna I have never felt or said you were a lost-.”

“Just leave,” I whispered, tears still sliding down my cheeks. I knew I couldn’t speak freely to my so called protectors until she did and it forced me to be cruel. “I no longer need you, so leave me the hell alone!”

Her lips actually trembled as she tried to reason with me again before Clarice finally found her own voice, “Maria, Anna is clearly upset, and although I thank you for helping I have it from here.”

“But I can-.”

“No, Maria just go. If and when I need help I know where to find you.” Clarice replied gently, her voice calming, her demeanor soothing even to me in my troubled state of chaotic emotions. I watched as Maria still reluctant finally turned and rejoined the party. “Anna-,” Clarice began only for me to glare at her as I turned my back on them all on shaky feet quickly walking towards the solitude of the balcony.

The sky was still setting, its beauty polar opposites of the emotions I felt buried within me. I felt this dark burning need to lash out that had nothing to do with my inner sinister self and everything to do with this massive sense of betrayal that seemed to surround me, and I could understand hell even expect it from my mom, my step father… but from those who swore only to be protecting me. From those I loved, from those who constantly kept me in the dark about anything and everything… now that shit was getting old.

“So let me guess I’m the only one who didn’t know about Rick and his so called assistant?” I asked mockingly while clearly already knowing the answer.

“Anna, you had to discover it on your own,” Clarice replied gently while a guilt stricken Andrea moved closer to my side.

“Seems as if I learn a lot ON MY OWN! Tell me, what is the use of protectors that can’t fucking protect!” I screamed back at her, her sense of calm literally only adding to my rage.

“Stop it,” Andrea said quietly causing my eyes to turn back to her.

“Oh, so now you want to advise me?” I openly mocked. “Now that right there is funny!”

“You’re mad at the world and I get that. You have every right to be Marie, but you’re taking it out on Clarice and that isn’t right,” she reasoned, her big blue eyes sad.

I stepped closer into her face, anger coursing through me, “there is no way in hell you have the nerve to lecture me on what is right and wrong, right now!”

Brows furrowed, Andrea didn’t back down, “I am your big sister. I always have the right to lecture you when you are in the wrong, and right now you’re wrong! She risked her life to save you!”

I walked away in a small circle laughing cruelly before I faced her once more, “Risked her life? Risked her life! She stepped from the crowd! Bra-freaking-vo!” I screamed, my false hand clap seeming to echo in the silence around us. “While I and I alone was being chasing by some fire throwing maniac and his crazy pets, tossed like some rag doll, and repeatedly beat the heck up, but let’s forget all of that and lets clap for Clarice because she stepped from the freaking crowd!” I clasped my hands up in prayer position gazing up at Clarice’s impassive face, “My hero!”

Andrea expression was deadpan to my antics, “We don’t have time for your sarcasm, Anna.”

Her reluctance to understand my point of view only added to my pain and anger, “Oh, I’m sorry. Is there some other horrible giant creature that I know nothing about or how to fight suddenly about to spring from the trees? Oh, should I grab you guys some chairs so you guys can WATCH,” I screamed the word watch with fake air quotations, “Me get my ass handed to me again!”

Andrea sighed tiredly, “Look Anna, I’m sorry about Andrew, and Rick,” she closed her eyes, her trapped tears escaping, “and… mom. I never should have taken over. I never should have gone after her.”

The sight of her sadness seemed to instantly cause my anger to evaporate, “its ok, Drea. Anybody in your shoes would have wanted to kno-.”

“That’s just it, Anna. Anybody would have wanted to know, but I’m not just anybody anymore. I’m your watcher. I’m supposed to be looking out for you, advising you and yet it was you trying to reason with me. Trying to stop my actions.”

“It’s ok Andrea, mistakes happen-,” I gently reasoned trying to get her to stop crying.

She pushed angrily at her blond tresses, “Yeah, and mistakes like that can get you killed Anna. Andrew is right about me being a bad protector. You deserve better.”

“I deserve you,” I whispered while taking a carful step closer to her trembling figure. I watched her step backwards, her eyes swimming with sorrow, her hand rising to stop me from coming closer.

“I always thought… wondered,” she paused to try and mollify her crumbling composure, an impossible feat considering all that had happened today, “hoped that if someone, anyone knew of everything he did to me-.”

“Andrea.”

“No Anna, let me speak. I thought if someone knew,” her voice halted as a sob was released, “If  SHE knew, if SHE fucking even cared then she would have protected me. That she would have taken us away from there! That she would have stopped him from coming in my room at night! That she would have stopped him from robbing me of my childhood!” The tears now flowed feely from her reddened eyes, her gaze now the depiction of dejection, “but she never cared, was never going to save me…”

Her despondent gaze was almost too much for me to bare, “Andrea-.”

“And I’m sorry, Anna.”

“Sorry for what Drea? For always trying to save me! You did nothing wrong.”

She smiled miserably through her tears, “Yes I did. Looking over you means putting to bed the past and making you my top priority, and today I forgot the main reason I was sent here. I put everyone in danger for my need to know the truth, my desire to enact revenge, and for that Anna I am sorry, and I hope you can forgive me.”

I moved towards Andrea quickly wrapping her in my embrace, whispering into my big sister’s ear, “there is nothing to forgive. You have always put me first even when I did not know it. I’m sorry for everything you endured Drea, for never knowing how you suffered.” I pulled back to wipe the tears from her cheeks, “it’s only human to want revenge-.”

Pushing me away Andrea yanked her cloud of blonde hair from her face angrily, “that’s just it Anna I’m not human! I’m dead!” She turned from me, her expression suddenly transforming into one of enlightenment as a smile crept upon her pretty disheartened features. “Finally… I realize now what they were trying to get me to see…”

“What are you talking about? Drea, what’s going on?” Panic started at the base of my spine as I watched my sister’s solid figure gradually fade, the sight of her slowly growing in its transparency. I watched her look down at her own arms seeing the forest floor through her skin before her saddened eyes rose back to mine.

“It’s okay Anna. It’s going to be okay.”

I had seen her disappear before but this was different and even though my heart tried to deny the feelings of dread beginning to fill me I knew there was something final about this time. “No, no! Drea I need you!” I pleaded desperately with her already vanishing form. “You are all I have left!” I screamed, my own sadness pouring down my dimpled cheeks.

This can’t be happening.

“I finally see why I was meant to watch and not interfere,” Andrea replied, her voice already a gentle whisper. “You have always been stronger than you appear even when we were growing up, but I never took the time to notice. I always sheltered you too much, but you have a strength inside you that is so much stronger than anything I could have ever imagined which you showed easily today, and now I have to be strong enough to let you go so you can continue to prove that to yourself.”

“No Drea, I need you!” I begged.

“No,” Her voice spoken softly, barely heard, the sight of her all but vanished, her voice now just a whisper carried along the wind, “You need only to believe in yourself.”

“Drea?” I was met with only deadened silence as my eyes wildly searched the vast area as if suddenly she’d somehow reappear, and yet inwardly knowing this time she would not. “Drea!” I shrieked distraughtly running to where she once stood.

I gazed crazily down at my trembling hands as if they held all the answers as grief consumed my body causing me to fall harshly to my knees, my shoulders shaking with the need to release my pain.

It was like…. It was like losing my sister all over again.

“Anna,” Clarice began, reaching my side to help me rise, but I hastily backed away from her touch.

“You bring her back! You bring her back now!” I screamed up at her, barely noticing the sadness that clung to her own features.

“I can’t, sweetie.”

My head fell into my hands, my palms instantly soaked from my irrepressible weeping, my curls sweeping out, shielding me from a world that seemed hell bent, determined to destroy everything I possessed within me.

“Anna,” Clarice whispered again trying to appease my anguish, but even her touch did nothing to quench the gulf of misery inside. If anything it only seemed to make whatever self-control I held shatter that much faster.

“Just stop. Just stop!” I yelled, my body moving quickly from her side, my emotions controlling my every movement. I felt crimson slice uncaringly into my hazel gaze as I glared up into her face, my voice deepening, “leave me alone!”

The push within my voice caused her to stumble to the ground, her eyes widening at the sudden force behind my words. I watched as she clumsily picked herself back onto her feet hurriedly walking back to where the party had once commenced barely glancing over her shoulder as she ran, “I’ll … I’ll just give you a moment. Make sure no one else interrupts you.”

“Just leave me alone,” I whispered miserably, wishing with all my heart that everyone and everything intent to capture me would for once listen…

……………………………………………………………..

My eyes closed as if trying to block out the pain, as if the simple act of sliding lids shut robbing me of sight would cease the unspeakable shaft of sadness from overwhelming me. The breeze kissed my skin, causing chills to erupt along its surface as trickles of agony dripped from my chin sliding in free fall as quickly as my feelings descended further into despair. And that black void I constantly managed to evade, to somehow elude its clutch grasped my heart squeezing from its core all my naive notations and infantile ideals of a happier future for myself.

My gaze peeled open, the wind playing with my curls, my tresses blowing teasingly around my shaking shoulders, the hem of my dress brushing against my bare legs as I listened to the trees sway within mother nature’s gentle touch. The sun had set and yet the sky remained alit, a beautiful streak of azure that transcended into mixes of cobalt and navy just waiting to extinguish its predecessor, and allow twilight to accede to victory. I felt the cold sterile metal touch of the ebony colored railing beneath my fingertips and yet still I felt numb, lost to all things around me, blind to my normal way of thinking. All I could feel was the torturous pain of knowing that now I was truly alone, and how much I wanted that feeling of overwhelming sadness to end.

I felt my sandals slips from the soles of my feet, the gravel harsh on unprotected skin as I gripped the railing with an unyielding grasp, my eyes on the breathtaking view surrounding me instead of the dizzying plunge below. Clutching the metal with sweaty palms I lifted a leg to lever myself from the ground focusing on the untarnished beauty of everything around me that I had once seen die so quickly, burned by evil’s ominous kiss. But what I treasured most in this moment was…

The silence.

Trembling on shaky legs I stood facing death knowing how easy it would be for me to fall and plummet to the ground at such a height while balancing on nothing more than a metal tightrope, but I no longer cared. Defiance filled me and for a second it overtook the sorrow the seemed to rule my very essence because finally I felt in control. I had power over my ending; not fate, not demons, not even angels.

Just me.

Finally all that remained was the impenetrable exquisiteness of quiet tranquility as at last in my bleakest moment I had managed to obtain a small morsel of peace.  

Visions of my mother touching her tender neck gently while trying to wipe away the moisture that blinded her sight flashed before my eyes so suddenly it caused me to sway dangerously atop my narrow metal foundation.

“Carmen, this is what you wanted,” I heard her repeat; her voice hoarse even as it traveled alongside the breeze that surrounded me.

“No,” I whispered as I viciously wiped at another fallen tear. “I will not cry for her.”

Steadying myself quickly while trying to mentally shake it from my mind my eyes widened as it took in the considerably distant ground below. My breaths coming out at a quickened pant as I listened to a loose pebble stumble from the balcony trickling over the edge plummeting down gravel, knocking into the harsh hillside; rocks embedded within its lush surface, hitting jagged braches of nearby trees as it continued to plunge until it hit the ground, earth’s surface so far from where I wobbled that I could not even hear its impact as it finally acceded to earth’s gravitational pull while knowing that if I were to follow its path no one would hear mine either.  

And yet still it did not cause me to see reason. Still it did not force me to listen to my inner sensibilities that screamed at me to retreat to safety, for finally up this high the world seemed to stop, at last I felt as if I could remain untouched.

Sounds of a headboard crashing repeated against the wall filled my ears as I clutched them desperately, squeezing my eyes shut as I crouched down trying to block out the sounds of my step fathers satisfied moans.

“No!” I screamed into the silence, my cries seeming to echo throughout the surrounding forest as I pierced my eyes open only to endure the sight of Andrea’s small tragic face crumpled on blood soaked sheets.

“Stop it!” I yelled even as I heard my stepfather whisper softly into my ear, “she offered herself to me.”

My heart felt as if it was breaking all over again, and all I yearned to do was unleash the pent up scream I felt buried within me, release the guilt I felt inside. Tears clouded my vision, the night melting as if the world had caught a flame. My lips trembled, my chin wobbling as sobs poured out into the sky seeming to thunder into the stillness.

This was my fault; everyone’s suffering was because of me. Guilt ate at my conscience, while despair made me beyond reckless, uncaring of the plummet below I extended my outstretched arms, closing my eyes, letting my face fall back to greet the sky, my curls caressing my spine, feeling the wind kiss my tears.

 “And now I have to be strong enough to let you go so you can continue to prove that to yourself,” I heard Andrea’s whispered goodbye, doing nothing to cease my outpour of grief.

“Please, don’t leave me,” I whispered while knowing my plea would go unheard, unacknowledged, and completely ignored. Knowing inwardly how utterly deserted I felt, how lost I now was.

“How easy it would be to jump,” a sudden voice said at my side, its abrupt appearance breaking into my thoughts but most importantly causing me to lose my balance. As if in slow motion my eyes pierced open, my mouth fell ajar to release a silent scream, my arms reached out to grasp something to stop my collapse and yet there was nothing to clutch as my shoeless feet tumbled over the edge, and the feeling of terrifying weightlessness took over my body as it sprung from my safe position and plunged towards the awaiting rocks. The wind swept through my curls, so much air rushed to greet me and yet I couldn’t seem to catch my breath, my dress fluttered out around me like a parachute that wouldn’t break my fall as my sight remained liquefied by tears that flooded my gaze.

My final thoughts as my skin made contact with the jagged rocks below was, I don’t want to die, just as pain erupted as the impact instantly broke my arm, dislocating my shoulder completely. It shattered my hip causing bruise after bruise to grace my skin while my pummeled body began its continued descent, blood soaking the once pretty pink fabric like water seeped into a bathing suit. Blood ran into my eyes transforming the sky into a ruthless scarlet tainting its once unchallengeable beauty as those unforgiving rocks broke skin. I heard the snap of my nose breaking sliding unnaturally to the side of my face before I felt the unimaginable pain, cherry colored liquid flowing freely onto my busted lips while ribs cracked causing breathing to become impossible.

And yet still I fell while feeling every diminutive and massive hit my body took until finally still trapped within my battered form as it tumbled; bones broken, face now unrecognizable, with legs I could no longer feel I saw my own conclusion. There looming like the angel of death was a giant boulder waiting to collide with the base of my skull. I closed my eyes inwardly whispering, for I could no longer move my lips, “I’m sorry Drea. I failed you.”  

I took a final breath trying to ignore the excruciating pain while waiting for its fatal impact…

…an impact that never came.

My body grounded to a halt. I felt the earth suddenly beneath my sandal covered feet, that cold metal now under my shaking fingers, and still I could not open my eyes. I dared to let out a breath amazed that all the pain had now vanished while wondering if this was how Andrea and Daddy felt after they had died. Slowly I pierced my eyes open expecting to see heaven, hell, or at the least the lake I had once met Andrea at only to find not the ending I expected, but myself back at the beginning… or at least the beginning before I had the crazy notation to climb that damn railing in the first place. 

“Not as easy to fall as it is to jump, now is it Anna?” that same voice mocked, causing me to turn only to find Katrina lounging indifferently against the very railing I had fallen from.

My voice deadened, even while my mind ran riot with unexplained questions, “what are you doing here?”

I saw pass the beauty that surrounded her very being, pass the compassionate cerulean gaze that made you want to trust her, the full lips always curving into a ready smile, pass the long stunning auburn colored waves that surrounded her shoulders on towards that tinge of hatred that lingered behind her virtuous façade, to the inner darkness that even Andrea couldn’t see in this supposed protector.

Her brow rose surprisingly at my tone, a smirk upon her lips, “How about a thank you?”

“How about next time you use those wasted powers of salvation before I actually hit the rocks. And yet I repeat, what are you doing here?”

The smirk left her lips so hastily, her livid expression reminding me of the possessed humans so much so that I quickly searched for that angry yellow lining that surrounded their forms, the red in her eyes, and the shadows that normally lurked across their faces only to discover none while secretly terrified at being on the opposite side to such power without the excuse of possession. “You’d think with all the those years living with the great Mayor Stevens, attending all those fancy boarding schools that they would have taught you a semblance of respect for your elders,” she replied, bitterness laced into her every word. “Better question my dear Anna, what are you doing?”

I watched in petrified silence as she slowly encircled me, her yellow sundress blowing out against her legs while inwardly knowing something was seriously wrong within her as she paused before me to wipe away a stray tear that still clung to my cheek. My eyes widened, my breathing stopping completely as her gaze danced with amusement at my traumatized expression before she leaned in to whisper, “Repeating past mistakes?”

Katrina; a guardian to those opposed to evil, menacingly grinned pushing my immobile form causing me to fall …

…fall right back into my tormented memories…

Darkness swirled around me, constricting my shape like a snake clutches its victim as I continued to collapse into nothingness. My body once again found itself to be weightless causing increasing panic to besiege my limbs because this time I couldn’t even began to fathom what I would discover at the conclusion of my descent. My body slammed into something soft, my eyes closing even though I could see nothing through the inky blackness as I felt forces unseen pull with an unrelenting force at my hands and ankles until my attempts to break free became weak, useless against my constraints. 

“You’re only going to hurt yourself by thrashing around that way,” a bored voice called out to me, my eyes instantly opening at its sound. A nurse stood over my bed with disapproval clearly apparent on her tired features, her black hair lay limp around her slightly wrinkled face falling easily from her bun with patches of gray sprinkled throughout its length. Her uniform hung from her thin figure, a name tag with the name Beatrice was etched into its surface, and an undisguised abhorrence lied in her flat lifeless brown gaze. “Now are you going to take your medication to help you sleep, or aren’t you?”

“Where am I?” I asked, my voice hoarse to even my own ears as I glanced around this room for some small clue to what was going on. The walls were beige, the windows bar less. Above a dresser sat a mirror, in the corner a wooden desk, a door leading to a private bathroom resided next to the entrance, a yellow robe hanging off of it. This sure as hell was not Glover dale, and while everything looked vaguely familiar my sane voice of reason dismissed the notation that I had been here before.

“Oh, don’t start that again,” she moaned, her expression annoyed, “you know exactly where you are. You are in the same place you were yesterday and the day before. The same place they ordered you to be sent to, or have you already forgotten your conviction,” she openly mocked.

No, this wasn’t possible! I had never traveled back into my own past.

My heart pounded in my chest, “how long have I been here?”

She rolled her eyes, intent more on leaving my room and finishing her shift than answering my questions. “Are you going to take these damn pills, or not? It’s almost lights out and I have other patients to tend to before I can leave.”

“Please,” I pleaded, my eyes filling with tears, “just tell me how long?”

“Two days, and that’s two days too long if you ask-,” she continued her rant, ignorant to that fact that I no longer listened.

Two days…

I racked my mind for what happened two days after I had arrived here and yet finding myself only to be frustrated at discovering only gaps in my mental recall while knowing if my past memory travels were anything to go by something horrible awaited, and knowing my recollections would be no different than anyone else’s.

“I’m not wasting anymore time with you. I have more important things to do than tend to some fucking attempted baby killer,” Beatrice raged furiously. “Now do you want this pill?”

My eyes roamed the blank sterile walls of my entrapped cell focusing solely on the dying daylight through my small window as the sun began to sink slowly into the earth, my mind quickly realizing what its disappearance would mean. What would happen once light was truly extinguished and darkness took over enveloping my world, ensnaring me into monstrous nightmares, when shadows that lurked corners would no longer be harmless but transform into dark mysteriously disconsolate pockets, when my room would become eclipsed by ominous silhouettes with sharp claws reaching out to hack the very essence from my body, the very essence that was me.

They would come, and with this being the past I knew I would be completely and utterly defenseless. A fucking buffet laid out for feasting.

My hands feverishly yanked out at the restraints that held me to the bed uncaring of the bruises that would mark my skin at my attempts to break free, my heart coated in fear hammering inside my chest.

God, I silently prayed, please wake me up, somebody wake me up now!

A sudden thought started to grow inside my mind hoping against all odds that it would work. Maybe just maybe if I took the pill it would knock me unconscious and the demons would leave me alone. It was a desperate long shot, but it was the only hope that I could seem to possess. But as the words formed in my mind I couldn’t seem to get them to tumble off my tongue, and then I remembered. I recalled Andrea’s words. Words she had once voiced while facing her own hellish memories.

“In a memory nothing can be changed. You’re only here to observe.”

That dismal thought only made my desolate strives to eradicate myself from the bed that much more frantic. The mattress literally vibrated; the frame rocking violently as I bucked eccentrically trying to twist and thrash myself free.

“Stop that,” the nurse ordered, although in her voice worry lay hidden beneath anger.

But I no longer listened, I no longer cared. Dusk was falling and while my mind remained blank to what truly happened on this very day my future self knew of my enemy’s capabilities, and internally I sure as hell didn’t want to stick around to see those skills reenacted.

I felt a strap loosen and then snap around my left wrist as I continued to resist, the nurse rushed to my side in an attempt to hold me down, my screams bouncing off the walls. Her grip was merciless as she wrenched my hand back atop the mattress uncaring of the contusions her clasp would cause while already yelling for backup. My efforts to remove her clutch from my skin remained fruitless, and yet I could see the growing fear she tried to hide at the realization of exactly how strong I truly was. Rage amplified my strength; swimming through my veins to the very heart of me like adrenaline fueled a sprinter in its last mile, while fear intensified my resolve to be released as one strap at my foot unraveled.

Almost as if some intangible force had untied the buckle itself…

The door to my luxurious confinement smashed open, three other attendants rushing inside to my nurse’s aid.

“Bout time you three showed up,” she barked out breathlessly; sweat breaking out across her brow while trying to keep my straining body onto the bed. Two muscular men grabbed my left side; Greenwich stitched onto their emerald collar shirts, while a blonde dressed identical to Beatrice grabbed my once freed leg.

“Should we give her something to calm her?” one of the male attendants asked, clearly looking to Beatrice for guidance.

I felt my leg slip from the younger nurse’s grasp, my foot rising chaotically just swift enough to smash into her stunned expression. I watched, my body never ceasing in its determination to break free as her blue eyes widened, blood squirted across the bed at impact staining the once colorless sheets as it openly gushed from her nose before she fell back onto the cold hard tiled floor. One of the men moved to help her only to freeze at Beatrice’s order, “Do not let her leg go! Jessica, are you okay?”

The blonde rose soullessly to her feet, hair in total disarray, nose bruised, and blood coating not only her face but her once unblemished uniform. Had this not been a memory I would have noticed the signs. I would noticed the fury coursing through her veins, the incensed red aurora pulsating around her form, would have observed the pleasure she took from my fright as she slowly drew nearer.

“Fuck a drug,” she muttered, her fist brutally rising unsympathetically to connect with my face. In that moment my struggle ended, for finally all I saw was empty darkness. But had this not been a memory, had I been in control of my own actions instead of being trapped inside my own mind I would have recognized the demon’s burning touch as its fist collided with my tender skull.

Fading in and out of consciousness the only thing I was truly aware of was the knowledge that I could no longer move. When I finally managed to open one eye; for one lid was completely swollen shut, I realized time had not sped by as I had hoped, had prayed, but instead dragged itself along leaving night to be my welcoming companion. The straps at my wrist and ankles bit securely into my skin, so tightly that in fact simple movement burned as fabric moved against its already bruised surface. Beatrice stood framed in the entrance, her eyes on my chart, the only light this room possessed leaking in from the hallway behind her as she paused clearly intent on leaving after her last check up on me.

“Wait, wait please… don’t leave me,” I begged weakly, feeling the slight throb from my bruised face, my sight still glued to the growing shadows, how the light seemed to retreat as if slowly smothered from the room. “Please help me,” I pleaded, tears plunging over the rim of my good eye.

The nurse remained in the doorway, her hand grasping the handle, her gaze looking back at me uncaring, hate swimming in her brown depths, “I’m sure that’s exactly what your little sister said too.”

The slam of the door obliterated the silence evoking my sense of panic, sucking the only source of light along with it while unwittingly inviting my worst fears out to play.

Then suddenly I remembered… Two days after my arrival to Greenwich was the same night they had first attacked. This was my first glimpse of hell on earth, the precise moment I truly believed the legitimacy behind my verdict of insanity.

Lying motionlessly, darkness enveloping my terrified form I waited; anxiety replacing any sense of calm I had once found in dreams with only the sound of my thumping heart as companionship. My eyes had widened, apprehension swimming within their hazel depths, expanding their magnitude to inspect every crevice, every nook this room contained, my body slightly vaulting every time I assumed a shadow had budged. The moonlight crept pass the window pane, its illumination my only ally, while my hands and feet still shifted vigorously trying to eliminate my bondage no matter how much tenderness my effort produced. I heard a small pitter patter of rain drops falling from the sky as they collided with the earth while trying to contain my own liquid from trickling down my quivering cheeks.

Distant thunder rumbled like god’s wrath, its sound causing the eruption of a terrified shriek to fall from my lips as the sky ignited, its brightness as if fireworks lied within its dark clouds before once again plunging back into that unforgiving ebony colored obscurity that smothered me like a pillow seized over my wind pipe. My neck snapped towards my right at the abrupt smack against the window only to discover a branch stuck against its glass. The wind animatedly howled behind the walls of this institution pounding against its surface as if demanding entry as the temperature seemed to drop and goose bumps traveled the path of my exposed legs and arms my thin white dress did not cover.

“Anna… Marie,” I heard whispered, a sound so faint had I been breathing any louder I would not have heard it at all.

“Hello… is anybody there?” I questioned softly, tears already dribbling down my cheeks, my words causing small clouds of smoke to rise from my lips. The unexpected thud of my hair brush falling to meet the ground caused me to swing my terrified gaze back towards my dresser only to unearth that nothing lied beside it.

“Anna,” I heard it whisper yet again as I whipped my head back in the opposite direction, darkness the only thing to greet me.

“Its ok Anna, your mind is just playing tricks on you,” I murmured trying to pacify what my already racing heart knew to be true. A stench of rotting flesh and sour blood lingered in the air making me twist my head to the side vomiting what little remained in my system beside my pillow, my long curls blocking my view.

“Such marred beauty on one so young,” it murmured its voice raspy as if hoarse from dilapidation, my psyche no longer worried about insanity for there was no way this monster did not exist as I slouched lying in my own waste feeling its smoldering stroke as it tenderly ran a talon through my curls exposing my swollen eye. The odor was so much more potent up this close that I retched on impulse causing the creature to cackle in amusement. “Its fear is strong in this one,” it hissed, at that moment not only did the unknown of what fiend stood beside me trigger dreadfulness to fill my soul, but also the mere contemplation of how many lied in wait listening to it speak.

I trembled involuntarily, my chest rising in falling hastily feeling its eyes follow my torso’s movement. It leaned in nearer and yet still I did not… could not open my eyes as I listened to it halt briefly lingering over my static figure inhaling the very aroma wafting from my body. A satisfied moan emitted from its throat, saliva slithering from its mouth hitting my neck, burning instantly like acid against its surface.

I felt that same sharp claw leave my tresses trailing down my neck, its path burning my skin, shredding my white gown as it slid along my chest until my naked skin from my neck to the middle of white bra lay exposed, “I can practically taste the deliciousness coursing through her veins,” it murmured retracing its path but this time on my once unblemished skin, blood rushing up to meet the tip of its nail.

The burning was excruciating in its throb as if someone captured my naked palm and held it over an open flame, causing my lungs to belt out an agonizing scream. My eye sprung open and with tears blurring my vision I got my first sight of the mass of creatures hanging from the ceiling of my room, all waiting eagerly for their own small taste.

“Dear god, angels from above, help me,” I whispered weakly jerking away from the beast’s touch as his tongue licked the blood from my chest just as razor-sharp teeth sank into my untarnished skin. The pain was instantly immense, my cries filling the night sky as the numerous fiends swooped down from the ceiling intent to receive their guaranteed microscopic morsel. The straps that held my hands and legs were ripped from their confinements, their touch scorching my skin as teeth ripped into its surface, the white sheets transformed quickly into scarlet as blood seeped into its fabric. And all I could hear was the piercing bellow of a horrifying screech that had my future self not lie trapped inside me trying to come to terms with the extraordinary pain it too had to endure yet again I would never have realized that its sound was coming from my own lips. My vision became hazy and for once I welcomed oblivion.

……………………………………………………………………

It took me three days to awaken from my attack, four days for them to assume I had hurt myself for the mere idea of an intruder was an absurdity seeing as my room was locked; impossible to infiltrate these restricted walls. It took a week for the simple act of breathing to no longer feel as if my ravished body was being ripped in two, ten days to heal enough to be sent back to my room, an additional two to come to terms with the fact that I still remained in the past, and another week to start to realize I might forever be trapped in this hell.

Everyday my therapist questioned me on how I removed my restraints, how I managed to hurt myself so horribly; my healed existence on this earth now viewed as a minor phenomenon. Always he questioned how I could now truly believe I remained in the past, and most importantly how I managed to continue to harm myself every night since.

Most nights they drugged me so profusely my mind remained barely coherent enough to realize my own name. It was those nights my screams remained within; trapped inside dreams of long claws chasing me through dark corridors like a killer toys with its victim until no longer amused it stuck; slaughtering all hope of escaping its burning touch. Those mornings I’d awaken screaming torturous shrieks, unexplainable gashes covering my skin, begging for a death that would never seem to come. It was those nights I could endure. Those were the nights I could cope. 

Then there were those nights when drugs no longer worked, when the dosage meant to protect the fragile melding of my mind was not enough. Nights when I couldn’t take refuge into nightmares and what was once reality became something of horror films. Evenings when darkness took shape plastering my stolen life-force from my devoured form along the walls; blood trickling down from the ceiling. Those were the atrociously terrifying nights I prayed for my own demise.

My eyes fluttered open, my vision hazy as objects finally took shape, the sunlight stroking my cheek. My head rolled sluggishly towards the nurse at my bedside checking my vitals, a needle already placed into my arm.

“This isn’t real,” I whispered, the sound barely falling from my lips.

“Excuse me? You say something?” Beatrice questioned.

“This is just a memory,” I murmured, my head rolling back to stare at the now forever stained ceiling, stained with my own blood before I turned frantic eyes back towards Beatrice’s annoyed expression, a trembling bandaged covered hand rising out towards her, tears clouding my eyes, “Tell me… Please, tell me this is just a memory,” I begged helplessly.

The nurse sighed exasperatingly before ignoring my pleas completely while continuing to write in my chart, “that drug they have you on has you more zoned out than I thought.”

“You don’t understand,” I pleaded, trapped tears escaping my hazel gaze. “I’m going to wake up and I’m going to have powers to fight the darkness.”

She paused, laughing lightly, “Honey, the only darkness in here lies inside you, and the only way to fight it is with drugs and therapy.”

My gaze left her cruelly mocking expression focusing on the beauty beyond the window’s glass. Her words killed even the most resilient hope I had left inside me as my sight blurred once again, my eyes fluttered back close, tears still leaking from trembling lids long after sleep had come to claim me.

I awoke at sunset, its magnificence filling my room bathing everything into a multitude of colors as I rose for once ignoring the slight pain movement caused, ignoring the bandages covering my wounded skin. My fingers removed the thin white sheet; my naked feet hitting the cold tiled floor before detaching the IV from my arm while disregarding the tiny trickle of blood the callous yank caused.

Countless days had passed. Therapy sessions blended together as doctor after doctor’s words began to be greeted only by silence until I found myself as I am now. Found myself day after day lethargic just staring blankly out the window waiting for dusk to fall; waiting for when the one thing I found dreadfully dependable came to chew the very flesh from my bones. Healed scars lied upon healed scars like a trail of broken promises decorating my skin until even I no longer believed that this hellish existence was a mere recollection. I traced a small heart along the window pane’s edge continuously repeating the words my doctors drummed into my mind, “there are no such things as demons. Andrea is dead. I possess no powers, and this life… is no memory.”

The sun’s descent into the ground signified the end of my day’s peace; my small moment of freedom. No one was going to save me. No one loved me enough to even try. Useless tears clouded my view tumbling down my chin as twilight crept upon me almost completely obscuring the light as I moved slowly to look into the desolate eyes of my reflection. My curls lay tangled around my bruised face, dark shadows encircled my golden gaze tears clinging to my long dark lashes, and a permanent expression of fear remained imprinted onto my features.

“The only darkness here lies inside me,” I whispered right before my fingers took hold of the wooden chair picking it up from its spot smashing the mirror into a million pieces, shards lying at my feet. Bending, grasping a chunk; its sharp edges sinking ruthlessly into my numb fingertips I once again glanced up confronting my mirror image. Sections of the mirror now remained cracked, some pieces missing all together and for once I finally saw the resemblance of my soul to my reflection.

“The only darkness here lies inside me,” I repeated just as I raised the shard and sliced open my trembling wrists. I watched numbly as small droplets of scarlet painted the floor until spots became puddles and what was clear became dizzy as I fell to the floor beside my bed.

“Now I decide my end,” I whispered watching the sky as the last of the light disappeared.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” a voice called out into the darkness, my foggy mind too astonished at my healing wrists to figure out whom it belonged to. Where blood once gushed, where deep gashes once lied began to fuse together as if invisible fingers threaded ripped skin back into place.

“No… no, it’s not possible,” I exclaimed dejectedly my fingers quick to touch my skin only to feel its smooth surface. “No”, I cried knowing I had to have truly committed such a unspeakable act, that I was not insane enough to only imagine it to be true for the glass still lie shattered; blood still streaked the floor.

“No, I decide my end,” I pathetically whimpered even as my extended arms swung out reaching for something anything and yet finding nothing as they scrapped against tile, nails detaching from skin whilst they gripped its surface leaving behind a bloody trail while unforgiving talons snatched at my ankles pulling my screaming unwilling form beneath the bed.

My screams still belted off my tongue even as I felt the burning touch of my enemy disappear, even as I felt the night’s sky caress my face, even as I felt the balcony back beneath my sandal covered feet. My eyes sprung open tears of gratitude, of relief just pouring from my face as I fell to my knees at the sight of the surrounding forest.

Nothing had changed.

What had felt like weeks had been nothing more than meager minutes.

My breath came out in small pants as I tried to calm my chaotic emotions while gazing up into Katrina’s oddly pleased face, “how did you-.”

Her smile; one of false innocence stretched across such beauty, “what, think you’re the only one with talents, Anna?”

My pain morphed quickly into anger as I glared up at her angelic features, “why do I get the feeling you enjoyed taking me back into that hell just a little too much?”

I watched her smirk condescendingly. “I was just proving to you how much of a purpose your life has. Something which clearly you had forgotten,” she responded her arm gesturing to the metal railing at our side. “Do you not understand the importance your existence is to us all? Why the significance of Andrea being taken away means so little to the overall picture?”

Taken?

I felt my emotions shut down completely as anything and everything paled in comparison to that one word, taken. My sister was taken?

The wind began to blow riotously around us, Katrina oblivious to our surroundings whilst she continued her rant while I rose slowly back to my feet, my eyes squeezed firmly shut. The sky rumbled over us, a sound one of true vehemence, dark clouds blocking out all sight of the once twinkling splendor of the stars above, as trees tilted hazardously fighting to remain intact while enclosed in the sudden furious gust of air.

My breathing became labored, my chest rising and falling quickly as a red vein emerged to the surface of my skin slowly tracing a scarring path up my arm, its appearance on my skin like tattooed barb wire as it trailed its olive tone, uncaringly slicing seeming to rip its surface in two to accommodate itself on its exterior. It slithered a passageway up my neck while inwardly my inside raged an inferno, my morals and sense of integrity going up in smoke; lost along the ashes as red transcended hazel. My eyes suddenly felt as if a rusted nail had taken to scraping ruthlessly against my iris, blood running blindly into my pupils.

Secretly I could sense my inner self that clung to humanity like a fallen person clutches to a ledge; that naïve sweet piece of myself whose innocence now forever lay tarnished, stolen, as it slipped further into the shadows of my soul. Inwardly I approached my darker self; my carbon copy, her form cloaked by darkness, her expression gleeful at the carnage her mere arrival was about to ensue as I freely place myself inside her rusted cage, my fingers gripping the bars as I locked myself inside.

“My sister was taken?” I questioned but with a voice that was far from my own.

Ignoring my altered tone along with my words Katrina continued, “Anna, I believe I was talking. I swear sometimes little girls just need to learn who exactly is in control.”

Thunder erupted around us, furious crimson pupils springing ajar as my arms rose, lightening booming from the sky crashing into the center of my palms. My hair flew out around my shoulders, my body illuminating at lightning’s entrance as if a flame lied beneath my skin, while my voice deepened with limitless power I roared, “Bitch, I stopped being a little girl a long time ago!”

Katrina’s eyes widened in horror, her mouth falling open just as electricity flew throughout my body, flowing along my veins, bursting through my palms straight into my so called protector’s chest, lifting her defenseless form in midair, suspending her pathetic figure from the quaking earth.

(Okay, I’m going to stop there lol. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Sorry if it was sort of depressing, but really what chapter isn’t? Lol. Writing is a lot of work so if you see any mistakes please point them out cause I am really tired right now. I know I haven’t uploaded in forever and I was looking at my views of ppl reading my story and they’ve went down a lot probably due to the fact of my three month absence lol sorry it will not happen again. So what do you think of this chapter? I’m a little unsure how I feel about it, but as always I tried my best. Oh, and what do you think of my new cover?

Saw my unofficial editor’s comments and wanted to thank you for always commenting with useful notes and as for your remark about trying to guess what’s going to happen next good luck because I have nothing actually planned out lol I never do. I’m happy to hear that you can actually picture everything I describe because my main objective when writing is to get you to feel how Anna is feeling and to get you to see what she sees. The forces can not band together and stop the step father because I do not know what those forces are yet lol besides I quite like tossing Anna around only to watch her get right back up : )

Vote if you liked it…

Comment if you want…

But always come back for more…

Until next time…