Tandem

Raechel Harchey

There it was again, that piercing scream. It was still as deafening as the first time she'd heard it. She knew what came next, the crunching of breaking bones followed by a surge of pain that coursed through her entire body. She felt every muscle in her body spasming in agony as she lay on the cold, damp floor. The moisture from the soil beneath her slowly soaked into her coat and felt like ice against her skin. The pain made her want to vomit but she had no energy to sit up and spit out the bile and blood that filled her mouth. She found herself praying for the darkness to come, it seemed to take longer than last time. Her vision was dark and cloudy. All she could hear was the pumping of her heart, trying desperately to keep her alive. All she could do was lie there and wait.

Slowly the screaming began to subside. She willed her eyes to stay open, she wanted to look him in the eye when he bent over her lifeless body. She wasn't hurting anymore, though she knew she should be.

Her mouth was filled with the taste of hot metallic liquid. She felt it running from her nose and mouth and down onto her neck.

And then there he was. His body blocked out the sun as he stood over her. Through what little vision she had left she could see that he was snarling with anger. His menacing expression acted as a warning of what was about to happen.

Every time she replayed the experience she tried to change the outcome. Unfortunately nothing would ever change because this was not a dream, this was a memory. Arina had lay there cold and in agony waiting for the fatal blow at the hands of Bertie.

Raechel would always try to keep the memory at bay but it always consumed her and every time she would wake afterwards to a racing heart and sweaty palms. This was unlike anything she had experienced in her life. Memories didn't take hold of your body like this. They shouldn't take a hold of your body and ravage it like a lion mauling its prey. She was at the mercy of the memory of Arina's body and there was nothing she could do about it. She couldn't go back to that place. There was no way she would be setting foot in the Gauze ever again.

Just as she was wiping the sweat from her forehead she heard a familiar voice call from the Nook next to hers.

"Are you done with your nightmare?"

Raechel put her head in her hands. "You heard that?"

"I think the whole damn place heard that."

Without being invited, Holt stuck his head through the curtain and crawled in Raechel's Nook.

"Would you like to come in?" Raechel asked sarcastically.

Holt rolled his eyes. "What's up with you?"

"You've answered that yourself. I had a nightmare."

"And the night before that?"

"A nightmare."

"And the night before that?"

"Look what point are you trying to make?"

"I'm just trying to say that I've noticed you have a lot of nightmares."

Raechel shrugged. "And?"

Holt gestured to the back of his head. "You think I haven't noticed the scars?"

Raechel instinctively brushed the small marks on the back of her head. So small you could miss them.

"You've been to the Gauze?"

Raechel nodded.

"It's ok, I'm not going to say anything bad about it. Do you mind me asking why?"

"A car accident."

"Were you driving?"

"No my dad was. Him and my brother passed away. I was the only survivor."

"No mother?"

"She passed away from cancer a while before."

"I'm so sorry. That sounds horrendous."

"Yeah, life's been awful since they died."

"Has the transfer worked ?"

Raechel studied Holt for a moment, wondering whether or not she should tell him the truth. She didn't know him well but there was something in her manner that made him feel trustworthy and understanding. She could see a lot of herself in him. After all, he'd found himself living in the Stack just like her and there was a certain unity that came from that.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"Well if you're asking me to comment on the back of witnessing those screams for the past few nights, I'd say no."

"Well there you go." Raechel replied. And just like that there was the smell of burning rubber, the screeching of tyres and shattering of glass. She'd always thought that would be the worst memory she'd ever have to endure. How wrong she was.