Centuries | Endgame [8]

NINE

CENTURIES | ENDGAME
Chapter Nine
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WAKEFIELD

GHOSTS OF THE PAST TAUNTED THE BROKEN WOMAN. Their haunting voices echoed through the darkness, beatened corpses floating around and passing her eye line multiple times with wicked grins that showed amusement at her pain and heartbreak. She was shoved in every which way as the ghosts taunted and mocked her, making fake cries that ended with amused laughter. Her best friend sat across from her, decorated in bloody bandages and dark bruises that destroyed her once gorgeous personality. She looked like a creature taken from a supernatural story, a ghost haunting a long abandoned building. But instead of haunting the real world, Reyna Daniels' spirit would forever live within Melissa Ryans' mind and never allowed her to properly rest without guilt and shame.

This was the third time in a single night that Melissa's guilt caused her mind to inflict nightmares that included the deceased. It was a frequent reoccurrence, one that hadn't impoved in the five years since the initial traumatic event occurring. It had only continued to get worse, Melissa guilt eating away at her and constantly causing her what felt like non stop grief and depression.

Her blurred vision slowly removed the nightmare as her eyes opened and she returned to the grieving reality she called home. Melissa didn't move as she awoke, her eyes merely staring at the window that had small raindrops racing down the dirty glass. There was a distant rumble that called fourth thunder, the gloomy clouds flashing with bright shades before returning to grey. It was like the sky mourned with her, that the earth itself failed to move on from the catastrophic event that occurred five years ago.

The bed dipped behind Melissa, but the hybrid didn't budge, nor did she respond as a comforting hand rested on her shoulder, squeezing gently. Carol gently called for the hybrid, trying to pull Melissa attention away from the gloomy day Wakefield was experiencing. Her voice was soft with sympathy, but not fully understanding the pain of loosing someone you saw as family. Multiple people you considered to be close family.

"Melissa, come on, you have to eat something," Carol urged, glancing at the plate of newly made breakfast related food. A glass of water was on the bedside table, resting next to the plate of scrambled eggs and bacon. "Don't do this to me again."

Melissa inhaled lightly, closing her eyes for a moment before letting the breath go and pushing herself up from the position. Her arms felt frail, weak despite the obvious muscle attached to the bones, the mental exhaustion taking its toll on more then just her mind.

"It smells good..." Melissa complimented meekly, forcing a smile.

Carol returned it, but it didn't reach her eyes that had been saturated with undeniable worry. A frequent look Carol adopted during Melissa's times of guilt and shame. This time however, Melissa read a different emotion, one of regret but determination. An odd combination.

"I'm fine..." Melissa assured, unaware that she was being selfish and Carol's emotions were focused elsewhere. She took the plate from the other woman once comfortable resting it in her lap before peeling off a bit of bacon and flicking it into her mouth. Carol shifted her eye contact to her hand, which pulled and twisted the end of the thick quilt cover.

The anxious gesture and avoidance of eye contact caused Melissa's heartbeat to speed up and grow louder with sudden worry. She bit down on her tongue, slightly stressed as her mind reeled to find a reason for Carol's hesitance and forceful breaking of eye contact.