❇ 𝔗𝔦𝔩𝔩 ℑ𝔱 𝔈𝔫𝔡𝔰 ❇

Chapter 20 - Mallory

Mallory POV

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Darkness...

That's all I could see and feel. I don't know if you can feel darkness but that's how it felt. An emptiness that leaves you feeling numb.

Being one of these monsters is like being in a coma. You can't open your eyes or move but you feel. You feel and hear everything but can't react to it.

For the first few days after I turned, I didn't even remember who I was.

Then all of a sudden, it was like I was jolted into my memories and I knew everything.

And Artemis. I hoped I didn't run into her because if I did, I would do the only thing I knew how to now.

Destroy.

There were so many of them. I couldn't see the other monsters of course. But I could hear their heavy breathing and dripping venom.

Then again, I couldn't help but feel sympathy for them. Because at the end of the day, they were once people. People who had something to live for. Most of these creatures were children who still had so much live to life and things to see.

They didn't deserve a fate as gruesome and cruel as this. No one. Not even the people I called my family. Especially not my brother. Ezra. I hoped wherever he was, whatever he was, that he was safe.

My older brother who'd been forced to grow up too quickly. Only because my parents had been "too young" when they had my brother and me. But by the time the twins were born, they were perfect parents and acted as if I had never existed. Ezra was favoured then since he was the only boy and the eldest child. I think I had just gotten in the way of their little picturesque family.

Like a smudge on their perfect family photo. Sometimes, I feel like he was the only person who had truly cared about me.

When my parents didn't cook for me, he'd make me my favourite food. When my parents didn't buy me new shoes after mine broke, he saved up his pocket money and bought 5 new pairs in the latest style. And when my bruises hurt too much, he'd spend all night awake with me and tell me stories.

Most nights, when I was younger, I had climbed into Ezra's bed and we'd spent hours naming the different constellations.

It was probably why I loved astrology so much. It had been what had distracted me when the pain was too much.

I should hate them, my parents. But I can't and I hate myself for that. Because if they were truly bad people, I should hate them, right?

I didn't want them to suffer the way I had done because no one deserved to suffer like that.

I honestly don't know how you can bring yourself to hurt someone of your own blood like that. Actually, I don't know how you can bring yourself to hurt anyone like that.

The amount of guilt I felt for leaving Artemis was incomprehensible. But if anyone could find all the pieces and fix this mess, it was her.

If our years of friendship had taught me anything, it was that she was a fighter and she would see this curse through to the end, no matter the journey. Her resilience is something I'd always admired about her.

Because even if Artemis Starwaski is a lot of things, she is definitely not a coward.

The sound of gunshots broke me out of my thoughts and for the first time in what felt like an eternity, it was like my mind had fully awakened.

Did this mean that Artemis had finally found the last piece?