burning red

- 10 -

Spot had tried for a week to get her to speak. Apparently the roles have become reversed, except Lilly hasn't been utterly rejected like Spot was. Still, he sat beside her on her bunk, a hand on her shoulder as he begged her to breathe a word.

"it's jus' me, Lilly." He softly spoke, his head tilted to the side as he looked up at her numb, emotionless expression. "yer best friend."

She hadn't even looked at him.

"please," He choked out.

Lilly dreamt of her uncle and the Refuge. She's seen rich, lustrous walls that housed greedy darkness closing in on her, and she's choked on the rotten stench of the Refuge that suffocated her. But this time, her dream had been different.

All she saw was darkness, circling around her, driving her mad. The stench of the Refuge flooded her senses as she spun around, looking for a potential light source. But all she saw was darkness that went on and on to no end.

"Lilliana!" The voice was distant and coarse, as if it had been screaming non stop. She couldn't stop herself from turning to face the owner of the voice. Horrified, brown eyes fixated onto her, begging for her help.

Louis Dubois stood beside him, a firm hand on his shoulder and a knife in his other. His scream deafened her as he drew the knife closer and closer to his bare chest. But she couldn't run towards him, she was stuck in her position. She couldn't even avert her gaze, it was forced onto him.

With heavy breaths that pounded in her ears, he shut his eyes tightly as a large X was drawn on his chest, blood dripping down his stomach until his upper body was as red as his hair.

"come with me." Her uncle demanded, but his mouth hadn't moved from his wicked smirk. "you can save them all if you come with me."

"Lilliana!" He screamed once again.

"don't ya care 'bout us?" She suddenly heard 12 year old Race's voice from a distance, his voice lingering in the air above her.

"'course I do." Her little self replied. "which is why I got'a go."

The maddening darkness ate at her, her heart racing and her ears ringing. The eerie presence of her own blood haunting her mind.

"Lilliana!"

"you can save them all."

The sound of a blade cutting through skin echoed through the air and she looked down to see Albert by her feet, dull brown eyes wide open, a large X on his chest and a slit on his throat.

✧༝┉˚*❋ ❋*˚┉༝✧

One week had gone by since her entire life had been turned around in a blink of an eye.

One week since she lost everything she once had.

One week of pinching herself, begging herself to wake up, convincing herself that it was all just a bad dream.

While her father was under house arrest, awaiting trial once he was charged for 2 counts of murder on Antoine and Letitia Dubois, Justine had also been confined to their home as if she too were paying the price for a crime she hadn't committed. But she had reopened it. They, unfortunately hadn't found Lilly's power-crazed uncle that night, for he had gone into hiding just in time.