A Shattered Song ✔️

Chapter Six: Prisoner

CHAPTER SIX: Prisoner

EVELYN'S ROOM COULD HAVE BEEN BEAUTIFUL, SHE SUPPOSED, ONCE UPON A TIME.
The walls were polished wood, the twin bed's blue blanket soft and warm. The carpet melted underfoot, and there was a watercolor painting depicting two children playing in a garden framed on the wall. There was even a small bookshelf teetering by the bed- full to bursting with human titles.

Yes, it could have been beautiful.

But there were no windows. And Evelyn's traitorous hand had locked the door itself.

Staring up at the bland ceiling from atop the mattress, her knees clutched tightly to her chest, Evelyn shivered. She'd almost memorized every crack and crevice and line in the paint- staring at nothing couldn't be healthy, but Evelyn could care less. It wasn't as if there was anything else to do besides read, and Evelyn now found that the abundance of fantasy books were no longer appealing- instead, they made her sick.

The heroes always won in each new story, rushing in to save the day, fighting against the monsters and other mythical creatures.

But books were much, much different from reality.

And what kind of hero was she if she couldn't even save Kayleigh?

With nothing to distract her, Evelyn's thoughts kept circling back to those last moments on the hill, under nightfall that shouldn't have been.

Her body crumbling to the ground.

What if she had said no when Kayleigh asked if they could stay longer?

Her blood pooling on the grass.

What if she had tried harder to break free of Melody's control?

Her anguished face.

What if they had never gone after that stupid cat- the cat they'd never found, the cat with Melody's eyes?

Her crying out for help that wasn't coming.

What if she had said, no, Kayleigh couldn't come over?

"Evie!"

What if what if what if-

Something coming closer.

Evelyn tried, again and again, to force her thoughts away from it, but she couldn't. And eventually, she stopped trying.

Why shouldn't she suffer?

It was her fault. Her fault.

And she wasn't moving, wasn't breathing...

Kayleigh had stopped.

Everything had changed, all in the span of a few hours. One minute Kayleigh was alive. The next she was dead. One day Melody was missing. The next, she came back and murdered Evelyn's best friend. One hour, Evelyn was innocent. The next, scarred beyond repair.

And now she was supposed to believe Faeries were real...

But then, why shouldn't they be, with all the craziness going on?

She mentally tried to review everything she knew about the creatures: They were allergic to iron, they stole children from their beds and replaced them with changelings, taking food from them would result in you becoming their eternal slave.

But how was Evelyn supposed to survive without eating?

She would just have to hope that part wasn't true.

Evelyn inhaled and exhaled, like someone in a meditation video she'd watched on YouTube had instructed. Needless to say, with everything going on right then, it wasn't working.