PAIN KILLER [DISCONTINUED]

009. THE NIGHTMARE

009.

――― CHAPTER NINE ―――

THE NIGHTMARE 

FEBRUARY 4TH, 1986

📍THE MADISON HOUSE

3:39 AM

I GRABBED ONTO her hand— shaking her hard. "Wake up!" I screamed and wailed mere inches away from her face. "Mom! Wake up! Please!"

I stared at her for a few seconds before whispering, "Don't leave me. Please, Mama— Don't leave me!"

I gripped her hand even tighter— refusing to believe that she was gone. I gripped her hand like she was going to vanish into thin air in mere seconds. 

But as I stared at her— her lifeless body, I realized that she was gone. She was never coming back. 

I grip her hand— so tight. "Please, Mama— I love you!" 

It's no use, I hear a voice say. What are you going to do about it? 

"No," I say, shaking my head, clamping my eyes shut. "Go away! Go away!" 

She is dead, the voice continues. 

I hug my knees, rocking back and forth as I shut my eyelids tightly against each other, clamping my hands over my ears tightly. "Go away! Go away! Go away!" 

Tears are streaming uncomfortably down my cheeks now— but I don't make an effort to wipe them. All I'm doing is trying close my eyes— get the devil out of me— out of my head.

"Wake up, Dahlia," I say, again and again, but to no avail. "This isn't real. Wake up." 

Somewhere vast, I hear the door slam closed. I look up— face blotted with running mascara and a shirt that is half tear stained. 

"Dahlia?" I hear a voice say. Mike. 

Mike is here. Lucas is here. Max is here. 

"Oh my God— Dahlia!" Lucas bolts to my side, crouching down by me and my Mother— who is lying limply on the couch. 

"You— She— Is she—" He can't find the words. He doesn't want to find the words. He doesn't want to believe what we have to believe. 

"S-She's gone. She's dead," I whisper to him. He's clinging to me and I'm clinging to him like a baby. He hugs me tighter— as I bury my face in the crook of his neck. "I can't live without her, Lucas. I don't know how to." 

He clamps me tighter. "I know," he cooed. In the corner of my eye, I see Max and Mike— staring at my dead Mother in horror. 

Dead Mother. Dead Mother. Dead Mother. 

The words don't feel real in the slightest.

Suddenly, his grasp on me is tighter than ever. My chest feels clamped and tight. My breath hitches. My breathing became shallow. 

"Lucas— I can't breathe—"

He doesn't say anything. He just grabs me even tighter. My breath hitches again and my throat feels like it's closing up.