Epiphany

Chapter 24 Part 2~Rage

My eyes peeled open and I wiped the moisture on my face away with my sleeve.

When I heard quick pants in the dark room, my eyes widened, but I soon realized it was my breathing. I then squeezed my eyes shut, trying to calm myself again.

The recent horrific dream that I just had was slowly fading away and I hoped it didn't leave its remnants behind.

It was the same bloody scene that I just witnessed, but with my brain's unique touches and turns.

It was horrendous.

I recall kneeling beside my passed-out friend who was still bleeding. When I turned her around, not only was her arm dripping with thick blood, but so was the gash in her stomach-her old stab wound.

Then the thing I was most afraid of happened.

Her soft, inaudible pants abruptly stopped.

I didn't remember how I reacted to that in my dream.

But what mattered was that it was only a dream.

My head sank further into the pillow-which still had a hole from where Ryder had stabbed it-as I stared at the ceiling.

The dream was still hazy in my mind, but I tried my best to think of anything else as it took its time to grow faint.

I clutched my tall sleeve and wiped the sweat away from my whole face, including the water that fled from my eyelids.

My soul almost retreated out of my body when I heard a sudden rumbling shout. I became motionless when my mind tried to think of what that was and where it came from.

It came from downstairs.

I took a quick glance at the window. It was dark, but someone seemed to have been awake.

Someone was raging downstairs.

The carpet wool brushed against my bare feet as I walked towards the door. The clenching in my gut told me to stay put, but my curiosity overpowered this mild feeling.

I turned the door handle and it was unlocked?! The door swung with ease without groaning at me.

I remembered heading straight to bed earlier than usual to try to lessen the ache surrounding my head. The sky didn't fully darken yet when my eyes gave up on me.

So maybe Chase forgot to unlock the door? Or did he think I would not cause any trouble because I was already fast asleep?

No, that was stupid. He wouldn't do either of those.

Maybe it wasn't even past midnight. I just woke up a few hours after I slept.

Let's just check what was going on downstairs and head straight back to the safety of this room.

If I had known where my friend was, I would have used this opportunity to find her and flee this place. But I didn't know where she was or where I was. So leaving this house would only make matters worse.

I stopped for a second in the middle of the corridor to ease the muscle cramps in my brain at the thought of my poor friend.

She'll be fine.

The cramps traveled all the way to my stomach when a rough voice cried out from downstairs.

"Why?!"

It wasn't hard to guess who it belonged to.

I crept forward and came to a halt directly before the stairs, hidden behind the outer corner of the wall. I peered down, and even though I couldn't see the entire living room, I noticed Gunther standing a few feet away from the front door, and Ryder standing directly in front of him, his back to me.