Vengeance: Children of Faust (Book 1)

1|16 - Faust

At first, my breath didn't come to me so willingly. The muscles that worked in conjunction to contract my lungs and steal the air around me pushed back against my instruction. Any air that managed to get in was jagged and cold; unsatisfying.

I didn't know where I was; I didn't remember the last thing to happen. The only thing I had a complete understanding of, was pain. My eyes peeled open but observed nothing but black and blurriness. It was difficult to open them through the cotton beneath my skin, but once they were open, they stayed. It was only a matter of time before minute details of the ceiling and light fixture above drew themselves before me. I waited patiently, allowing myself to become further invested in my apparent reality.

My body attempted to move but wires seemed crossed somewhere inside. Whatever signal I sent to a particular limb was misinterpreted and discarded. A refrained panic started to build in my chest as I struggled to move any part of myself. Eventually, my fingers twitched, and paralysis released me slowly. My skull was pounding; each tendon in my neck repeatedly tensed and released without reason or provocation.

All of the air I took in came through my nose, but that cavity seemed too narrow. The more awake I became, the more oxygen I required. Naturally, I attempted to separate my lips but found that simple task impossible. More than that, the very act of flexing my lips drove an indescribable pain into my jaw and teeth; reverberating down my neck and reversing back, scattering over the flesh of my face.

A soft whimper pushed from my nose and my eyes were now fully open; an exasperated breath overcame me. Shaking, I wobbly rose my hand up to my face and touched the delicate skin of my cheekbone; it was numb yet sensitive. Moving down slightly my tips were interrupted by some thin strand poking up from my skin. My hand came away and I immediately attempted to rise but found my movement sluggish at best.

With a raised torso and feet protruding forward, the blood came rushing to my cold body and reignited my awareness. I could see now that I was still in my bedroom, sitting up on the floor in front of the bed, facing the window. Just then a searing headache crushed my temples and forced me to submit momentarily. The pain simmered and I took a second to breathe.

Then, with great effort and determination; I pressed my hands into the floor beneath me and attempted to stand. With shaky joints, I managed to get myself high enough to use the edge of the bed for support. Finally, I was on my unsteady, aching feet just swaying and listening.

Just like that, my perceived isolation was shattered by the sound of a quiet whimper behind me. I whipped my body around, in the process sacrificing balance. My body fell to the side and I caught myself on the bed again, now facing the direction of my door. Laying against the wall in front of the mirror was the shape of my dad. He appeared to be unconscious, haunted by some frightful dream by the way he continued to gasp and twitch.

This radiating agony in the front of my skull persisted as I dragged my feet across the room, over to the light switch. I reached it with relative ease and slapped my entire palm over the toggle. With the switch flipped, the light above flickered on. My eyes winced with the new light; momentarily blinded. My eyes were still focused on him as the light cast short shadows; what I saw sent my mind spiraling.

His hands; from fingertip to wrist were soaked through with deep red blood, along with his shirt and waist. I followed the drip trail with my eyes; it connected us from where I awoke to where he is now. It then occurred to me and I looked down at my own clothes. I too was spattered in gore, mirroring him. My heart rapidly pounded, as I gathered the obscure pieces and glanced up to the closet mirror only to notice it was smashed into pieces.

Cold, I directed my body to the open door and my legs propelled forward in a slanted dash into the short hall. The house was dark just like before, and it was then that the memories of what happened started to come back to me.