Demon saved by The Devil I Cassandra Dimitrescu

Gold on Red

"It doesn't work."

"It doesn't work, why it doesn't work?"

"Why? Why? Why it doesn't work?"

...

"Maybe I get used to it?"

Zână closed the door behind herself as quietly as she could, her body trembling so much that she had a hard time to even hold the handle. Quickly she moved to her bedroom sealed herself inside, tears running down her face as she did.

"What- What is happening?" She whispered to herself, long fingers tangling in white curls.

She circled in the middle of the room for a moment, not being sure if she even wanted to stay on her feet or sit down. Her chest was rising up and down so fast that even Zână started to fear that she was going to suffocate.

"No, no... Not ag-again..." her whisper filled the room, usually calm and soft voice now trembled, words barely left her mouth.

The walls of the room felt like they began closing in on her, suffocating her with their relentless presence. She was alone in the room, having company in the wind howling on the other side of the windows and in the candles, their flame and warmth of it and the sounds of soft clicking. For Zana, however, the wind sounded like it was pushing right into her ear while on the other side the sounds of flames was exploding in her ears. The noises became a jumbled mess, disorienting and overwhelming her to the point that she covered her ears with her palms. Every sound, every movement, amplified and distorted, feeding into her growing panic, feeding it as it was starving inside of her.

Soon the sound of faint ringing filled her ears and that's when she shut her eyes close, bend down with her face turned towards the floor as if she was about to fell to the ground. A tingling sensation crept up her limbs, as if a thousand tiny needles were pricking her skin. Her fingers grew cold and clammy, losing their dexterity and becoming unsteady, almost loosing the grip on the sides of her head. Even with closed eyes she felt like the room started to spin.

"It doesn't work... It doesn't work. Why? Why, why why?" She chanted under her nose.

She had no idea how much time had passed or when her legs gave up and she landed on her knees. The minutes felt like hours, time stretching out into an eternity of torment, while Zână yearned for relief, for respite from the torment within. It seemed impossible to find solace, to find a way out of the suffocating darkness that engulfed her.

That was the ringing in her ears stopped completely. Only one source of painful storm in her head left her, and yet, that made her open her eyes. Looking thru tears that welled in her eyes, that blurred her vision to the point that she had to blink several times to even see the colors of her own room, her gaze landed on one of the cabinets.

On wobbly legs she pushed herself to her feet, which took her some time. Still trembling and breathing rapidly she walked to the cabinet and opened the first cupboard, her eyes shining thru tears of panic as she locked her gaze on wooden box. It was already open with many lavender cigarettes inside.

It wasn't long before the taste of lavender smoke filled her mouth and then the air around her. Reddish eyes turned back under her eyelids and for the first time she exhaled lowly, it wasn't fully steady but it was enough for her at this time. Zână, still trembling, opened her eyes and fixated her gaze on one of the candles that stood right on the cabinet. It wasn't small and yellowish like the rest, but big and black and with craved runes.

"I'm safe, I'm safe... It's not the, the first time they don't wo-work on someone," she whispered her eyes never leaving the candle. The racing heartbeat slowed, the breaths became deeper and more measured. The tingling subsided, replaced by a calming warmth that spread through her body and the sounds fainted away into their normal volume. "I'm safe, safe."