Prisoners of Sin: A Dreamer's Lie

Flowers of chaos

Mikuna and I were walking around downtown Toxica, looking for anything suspicious. Kaiden was busy working on lord things. To be honest, it was odd to not with him. He had been a part of our little group for so long. As for Leo, he was supposed to be asking around.

But knowing him, he probably got distracted and made ten new friends. He was like a butterfly.

The sky was grayish-green, and I saw shadows everywhere. Not the normal kind, no. But twisted, horrible things that shouldn't be there. No one else saw them. Things with horns and wings. Things with visible smiles and sharp teeth.

I shook my head to distract myself. More awful dreams had filled my mind recently. At this point, I wanted nothing more than for this thing to be over. For the police to find whoever was killing these people.

"Rina, I think we'll have some luck with talking Annabelle today. From the information Kaiden told me, I think she might know something that she's not telling us," Mikuna said pleasantly. "If not, we can always force her to tell us whatever she's hiding." She laughed delicately at that.

  A piercing shiver hit me, and I smiled weakly, forcing myself to laugh with her. In my mind, I could see a frenzied flag waving. Gripping my skirt, I attempted to not let what she said bother me. But it seemed so wrong. Not like anything Mikuna would have ever said before.

  Eyeing the girl beside me skeptically, I kept my face neutral and forced my feet to keep walking. But the flag was joined with tolling bells. They drove me up the wall.

  The Rose Garden was full when we walked in. Daphne held her hand up to signal us to wait. I took a seat, but Mikuna marched to the desk. Her words were too quiet for me to hear, but it was hard to miss her rage.

  With a pale face and a shaky smile, Daphne allowed us up to Annabelle's room again. The girl was alone and lying on her back. Her eyes were watching something at her ceiling. I looked up but found nothing there. On another look, her lips were so moving. She didn't seem the same as when we saw her last. Instead, she seemed feverish.

I went over to the side of her bed and waved my hand in front of her face. After biting my tongue for a second, I said, "Hello again, Annabelle. Mikuna and I are here for more questions."

Annabelle propped herself up, and that was when I saw the blood. A dark trail of deep red blood was trailing from her left eye. I hadn't seen it back by the door. Even that eye seemed to have a film over it, turning it paler than normal.

"I'll talk, but not with her here," she whispered faintly, eyes staying away from me. "I...I don't want her here." Annabelle sounded as if she was about to start crying. Her voice was shaking.

Mikuna shrugged and left without a word. I watched her leave, trying to figure out what this odd emotion was. But I couldn't name it, so I didn't bother anymore.

When I faced the other girl again, the blood was trickling faster. She reached up to wipe some away. Tears were falling down her right cheek now. Her shoulders shook as she unraveled into a crying mess.

Instincts took over, and I squeezed her shoulders. She turned and buried herself into me. I felt her blood and tears soak my dress. Despite the fact that I didn't like having stains on me of my clothes, I allowed her to stay there.

I stroked her hair as she sobbed. Slotting my tongue between my teeth, I thought about everything that was going on.

'She's been acting odd lately. I never know what she's thinking anymore. And these last few minutes were definitely odd. I mean, she's the lady of this town. Kaiden is the lord here. I'd think she'd get some kind of respect. Not to mention, her birthday was months ago. I don't know why she said that it was coming up,' I thought. Then I exhaled, unable to find anything that could resemble an answer.