Chapter Eighteen: Screams

The hand that was gripping my small fingers in its tight clutches refused to let me go even after all my struggles.

The panic was rising inside me as I tried to get myself away from the threat that was invisible to my eyes.

All that I could see around me was darkness, the dark abyss that was refusing to let me go.

I wanted to shout at the hand to let me go but nothing came out of my tightly sealed lips and that was the moment when I realized that I could not speak.

Something was stopping me from speaking. My throat felt so dry that even gulping down the saliva made the pain erupt in my throat.

'Where are you going honey? Don't you wanna stay here and accompany me?'

The sudden voice pulled my attention away from the pain and towards the hand which was clutching my right hand in a death-like grip.

And after a few very slow seconds, the silhouette of a person appeared in front of my eyes.

That person was the one holding my hand and suddenly my mind erupted with the dark memories of the past that I shared with this person.

The dark, cold, and smelly dungeons, the whips, knives, and so many other kinds of sharp weapons that were kept stored in the shelves, the loud ear-piercing screams that had kept me awake countless of nights.

The howls that ranged throughout the dungeons and the sound of a particular footstep that always kept me at the edge of panic attacks.

As the memories after memories of the darkest period of my life kept rising, I found my breathing getting shallower.

The person in front of me burst out into laughter as they stretched out their free hand towards my neck.

The moment those cold and stone-like fingers made contact with my neck, I finally found my voice, and an ear-piercing scream left my mouth.

I kept screaming loudly as I thrashed around to get away from those hands that were trying to pull me back into the darkness that had ruined me.

'You won't be able to get away from me. You can't hide. There is no one in this entire world who can save you!'

The person shouted at me and started laughing even more loudly.

I felt my body moving but was too tired and afraid to pay attention to anything else other than the silhouette in front of me.

After a few moments, I finally registered a voice that somehow sounded familiar but no matter how much I tried I could not get a grasp on it.

Something was trying to shake me as if I was suddenly trapped in an earthquake.

My free hand automatically went to get my right hand free from those tight clutches. And suddenly another silhouette appeared in front of my eyes.

It was hidden in the darkness that was surrounding me but I somehow succeeded in finding its identity.

All of a sudden, my entire body stilled as I realized that the figure in front of me was not. human but it was not the first time I was seeing her.

My body started trembling as she inched closer towards me and my eyes landed on the blood that was covering her body.

My screams increased as I thrashed around to get away from her. I could not let her come closer to me.

No! I needed to run away from her as far as I could. Unfortunately, I was unable to do anything.

I just watched in complete horror as she got closer and closer to me. My screams had turned insane at that point and I could feel that the shaking had increased too.

There were more voices present around me but my fear did not let my attention slip from the figure in front of me.

As she stood in front of me, looking right in my eyes, I already knew what was going to happen next.

But I did not want to see any of that. I would not be able to handle that.

Right at that moment, the hair on my nape stood up as a cold sharp breeze passed exactly s few inches away from my ear.

An ear-piercing scream once again left my lips as my eyes finally flew open.

I could not see anything, could not hear anything. All I was feeling at that moment was fear, grief, and guilt.

She was the worst memory of my past that I never wanted to go through it ever again.

I just wanted to seal it inside the farthest corner of my brain and forget about it. Would be way better if I could toss it out of my brain and could get rid of it.

However, when had I ever got what I wanted? Neither could I toss it out or seal it. I just needed to live with it.

I didn't realize that all my brothers were present there in the room and that I was no longer in my own room.

I also didn't realize that someone was holding me in his arms, rocking me back and forth to calm me down.

I had no idea for how long I cried. No idea if it was early morning, the middle of the day, or whether night.

All I knew was that once again I was afraid of closing my eyes. I was afraid to see her, afraid of the scene that was about to appear in front of my eyes the very second I broke out of that horrible dream.

I could hear a faint voice that was trying to soothe me. A hand was brushing through my open hair.

As my senses slowly returned, I noticed that another hand was rubbing my back to comfort me.

At that point, I was aware of the identities of the two persons who were holding me, and one part of my brain wanted me to do the most sensible thing and get away from those fake comforting gestures.

However, the bigger part of my brain and my tired heart which were still under the terror of my dream wanted some comfort.

I wanted to make sure that I was no longer trapped inside my worst nightmare and scariest reality. That I was no longer had to experience those same terrors.

And that was why I didn't push them away. But only for that particular moment.