Berceuse for The Suffering (Complete)

8. {The Other}

Martin had been descending into the peaceful realm of slumber when he was rudely yanked back to reality by a guttural growl and desperate wailing. His senses jolted awake, sharpening in the darkness as he struggled to orient himself to the source of the disturbance. Without hesitation, he followed the anguished sounds to his daughter's room.

His heart thundered in his chest as he flung open the door, revealing a scene that froze him in horror. The air was thick with the metallic scent of blood, and his eyes darted frantically around the dimly lit room until they settled on the crumpled figure of his wife, holding their daughter close in her arms.

Martin's eyes widened as he beheld the gruesome sight before him - his once pristine child was now coated in crimson, the macabre display only heightened by his wife's frenzied panting as she sang a lullaby to their lifeless child. He could do nothing but watch in dread as the weight of their situation bore down on him like a crushing burden, the knowledge that something was deeply, horribly wrong threatening to pull him into the abyss.

And wrong was right there, on the floor. The other was squirming and contorting. Martin heard growls come out of its mouth along with the chilling sound of her bones breaking.

At that moment, Martin was a helpless bystander, overwhelmed by the unbearable reality he found himself confronting. As his wife rocked their daughter back and forth, tears mingling with the blood that stained her clothes, he knew their lives were over.

***
Two decades ago

As Martin drove along the silent road in the early morning, the sun began to rise above the horizon like a molten ball of fire. Its vibrant rays slowly began to shine down upon his distraught face, casting an ethereal glow that illuminated his features in a way that seemed almost otherworldly.

The light of the sun seemed to penetrate every fiber of his being, bringing with it a sense of hope and renewal. But that was only wishful thinking. As he drove on, the world around him slowly came to life, the morning mist lifting to reveal a world painted in shades of gold and bronze.

But even the sun's warm embrace failed to comfort Martin. The light seemed to know itself that his troubles and pain were impossible to ease. Though it tried to offer a gentle reminder that even in the darkest of moments there was always the promise of a new dawn by spilling its rays upon his car, it still failed to eradicate the shadow that covered the man inside.

As he continued on his journey, the sun continued to shine down upon him, its light bathing him, forcing a sense of peace and tranquility that was claimed by the previous night's events. But still, the shadow remained. And with each passing moment, Martin's heart slowly began to die, his spirit drowning, unable to grasp the beauty of the world around him and the promise of a brighter tomorrow. There was no longer a tomorrow. None for him or his family.

His absent-mindedness soon took a drastic turn as his car careened down the winding road, it swiveled and jerked with frantic energy, reminiscent of a wild, feral beast struggling against its captors. The tires screeched and howled, protesting against the velocity they were tasked with handling. But the chaos of Martin's vehicle mirrored the turmoil that consumed his mind as he grappled with a gut-wrenching reality, one that threatened to upend his entire existence.

In his mind's eye, he saw the flickering images of his wife and daughter, their faces twisted with an unspeakable horror that he could scarcely comprehend. He could hear their screams and cries ringing in his ears as if they were echoes of ghosts from a distant, haunted past. The thought that they had killed a child - a sweet, innocent being who had done nothing to deserve such a fate - was too much to bear. But why had they done it? He will never know because he was too scared to ask or confront them. Like the coward that he is, he ran.