She's Broken

Chapter Three

Present time
Ashville College
School library

The wind roared and howled with defiance as a sharp bolt of lightning sliced through the dark ominous sky, accompanied by the deafening noise of a frightful thunder that tore through the peace and serenity of what is supposed to be a silent, mourning night.

Samantha flinched when she saw the blinding flash race through sky menacingly, as if it could split the sky open and rain down hell, the viciousness and furiocity of it raised instant goosebumps on her deathly pale looking skin but she didn't run off to shelter like she always does, probably because a part of her knew there was no one to run too... No one. So she remained, unmoved with a heart full of sorrow, pounding violently in fear as every cell in her body begs for her to stop the foolishness and self inflicted punishment.

"Be reasonable Sam! Doing this won't bring her back or change the past. What is done is done.

Stubborn as she is, she didn't yield to her inner voice of wisdom. Time passed and She must have lost track of how long she watched the raging storm through the glass wall of her "sanctuary" with a choking sense of guilt, recounting the disastrous omen she had always attributed to it all her life, it was her personal superstition but it came true just when she started to discard it.
So consumed in her grief, she didn't notice the change in the air around her, how it shifted drastically until she started shaking and shivering in her heavy boots, it suddenly felt too cold and icy for her, even though she is dressed to suit the unrelenting harsh weather in a long black coat, over a simple black gown for the mournful occasion.
Then came the irresistible urge to look up at the sky again, to challenge it with her own gaze against her better judgement, she knew that unsolicited action will be her undoing, she knew it would shatter her to face her biggest fear but something, perhaps a stronger force made her do it and so she obeyed and looked up to behold another clasp of frightening thunder as if on cue, that was when she saw it, the image that will hunt her for the rest of her life

It was the form of a grotesque face that emerged from the stormy cloud and glared maliciously at her, she could have sworn it was only an imagination until it bared long, sharp fangs and let out a splitting scream that accompanied the next roar of thunder.
Everything happened in a split second, she had no time to ponder on what she saw as primal fear and horror washed through her spine, seizing her entire system and almost knocking her off from shock, but her survival instinct kicked in next, willed her body to move instantly, to run to safety and hide from it, the demon that has come to hunt her.

Sam staggers back like a hopeless drunk and started backing away hurily, sensing an unseen danger while moving as fast as her legs could carry her, bumping nosily and carelessly into random chairs and tables without care until she tripped over something foreign and nearly fell face flat on the floor.
She froze, her heart sank all the way to the bottom of her queasy stomach as an unearthly gush of air twirls around her teasingly, it was followed by a loud piercing scream that tore through her mouth, so loud that it should definitely have woken the whole school up if it wasn't drowned by the angry and unstopping splatters of the rain.

She kept screaming with her eyes shut tight, expecting something or someone to lung at her and tear her to pieces like in the movies but nothing happened, she soon realized it was no horror movie and  nothing was dragging her down beneath, she should have felt relieved when she looked down, minutes later to see it was only a book, carelessly strewn in her path but it made her feel worse and pathetic, made her feel so small and useless.

Then it came, the flood of tears she has been holding back for the past three days since they found her best friend's lifeless body, hanging from the fan in her dorm room.  Her tears came pouring down like a deadly tsunami without restriction, since there was no one around to see and judge, no one to call them "crocodile tears" and snidely ask why she's faking it.
The reality of her loss finally hit her deep as she kept backing away, whimpering and crying silently, her whole body shaking like that of  a wounded deer until she was up against a  book shelf from behind, tired and drained, she slid down into a desolated heap on the cold tiled floor and folds into a tiny ball, trying as much as possible to make herself shrink into invisibility. She desperately wished she could disappear off the surface of the earth like a puff of smoke, but if wishes were horses, beggars would ride