See No Evil (Anthony Lockwood)

Chapter 30

Violet felt so cold and empty in her body, and yet she couldn't find it in herself to even shiver or express that. It was a cold ache like getting under your cold sheets for bed before your body heat warmed them up. Or when you just get out of the pool and the air hits your wet skin. But the feeling never went away. It persisted as she wandered.

Everything felt foggy. Like a heavy mist was settled over her mind and body and the entire world around her. She heard a steady dripping noise and finally she was able to look down at herself.

Her body, so pale and tinted blue, dripped water onto the floor that didn't seem to exist. Ghostly bodies surrounded her with disembodied voices whispering in her ears. She couldn't make out any faces or real figures, but she knew they were there with her.

Violet felt like she was floating through the river of mist, traveling in a direction unknown to her. Her surroundings were so familiar and yet so foreign. She was so cold. Her mind was unfocused.

"Violet, please!"

Violet felt like she had been jolted out of a trance. She gasped but no air seemed to enter her lungs. She whipped around to look behind her in the cold white void. She felt a sense of familiarity in the steps she had since passed by. Warmth in her dead heart. Tears sprung into her eyes and she viciously wiped them away.

Violet turned back around and began to walk away faster. This way was safer. Better for her. So peaceful.

"Violet, come back! You can't do this to us!"

Violet stopped once again and turned around, tears once again falling, "Shut up!"

She clapped her hands over her ears to try and stifle the screams that called her name as she began to run. They sounded so sad, so heartbroken. The anguish in their tones made her want to go back. She didn't know who they were.

"I love you, Vi."

Violet's eyes widened and she stopped for the last time. Had she really forgotten such a voice? A voice so delicate and warm. A voice that felt like home. How could she leave him like that?

Violet began to sprint back in the direction of the voices. Ghostly hands clawed at her figure and she fought against them harder and harder to return home to them.

"Anthony! Lucy! George!" she screamed out, pushing the hands away from her as she struggled to make her way back.

~

Lockwood held tighter onto Violet's body. He didn't know how long they had all sat there with her. He knew they would have to leave eventually. That they would have to bury her. He would have to watch her body be lowered into the ground. And then all he would have left of her was a stone in the dirt with her name.

Lucy sobbed profusely, holding onto Violet's hand tightly as she continued to plead under her breath for her sister to come back to her.

George was no better as he stared at the scene in front of him. He felt so lost. So detached from the world. Such an important piece of him had now broken away and shattered into a million pieces. He was so used to staring death in the face every single day, but he had never thought he would look at the death of someone he cared for so deeply.

It had been 5 agonizing minutes. 300 seconds of pure hell for the group. 5 minutes that they would never forget. But 5 minutes had passed and granted them their wish.

Violet's body suddenly moved as she began to choke on the water still in her lungs. She turned her head to the side and the water poured from her mouth, her chest rising and falling rapidly.