Save Shade

14

  She coughs once and then again, this time taking her left palm up to her lips to cover her mouth. Her eyes flash open and she coughs out again as smoke filters into the room. She reaches out to open the window but it only turns worse. Her eyes suddenly become itchy and the coughs become intense. She itches her eyes once and again before trudging out of the bed. Moving to the edge of the bed, she slips on blue flip flops and adjusts her yellow coloured pyjamas coat. Her condition worsens as she can't see anything except the ray of light provided by the early sun pointing directly to the exit door. She moves towards it and pulls the door open in anticipation for relief only to be met with a worse condition.
  "Mom." She calls out weakly making her way over to the well furnished living room where the television is on.
"Mom." She calls again.
"Where are you?" She shouts now extra agitated as she notes that the genesis of the smoke and likely hades is from the kitchen. She steps into the kitchen and screams in fright as she sights a thick pool of red substance on the tiled kitchen floor.
  She screams again hands to mouth as she follows the trail of blood to her mother's tummy. The middle aged woman is sprawled on the tiled kitchen floor holding lifelessly to her tummy where a red handled medium sized kitchen knife is stuck to. She whimpers in pain and the mid aged girl runs to her in fright.
"Mom! What's going on? What happened to you? Who did this to you? Is this a prank? You have won alright! I'm scared and frightened so you can stop playing now. Fine! I surrender! You're the boss!" She shouts in a frightening tone holding on to her mother's almost cold body. She shakes her wildly for a while and this seems to be effective as the whole slowly regains consciousness. Her eyelids flicker for a little while and her eyes finally open though blood clotted.
She tries to say a few words but instead she coughs out blood in replacement of spittle. She groans in pain and tries to hold on to her daughter with her blood stained hands but her strength fails her as the hands drop back on their own accord. Her daughter them holds on to her hands and places them on her face.
"Don't do this Mom. Please don't." She pleads as tears and mucus flow down her face. She holds on to the almost cold hands and pulls her mother close.
"Mom. Just say something Mom. What can I do to take you out of here?" She pleadingly asks still holding on to her mother. The woman pulls her hand away and waves her out.
She doesn't budge and tries to hold her hand again but her mother waves her out once again. Seeing that she intentionally doesn't want to respond, her mother struggles to speak a few words.
"Go." She starts as a cupful blood follows her struggles.
"Out. Help." She concludes waving her out with one hand and pointing to the kitchen door with the other. She nods in understanding and runs out of the house to get help as instructed by her mother.
  Just as she gets to the brown gate, a loud boom sound draws her attention back to the house and she screams in frenzy as she sees the house burning from the top. She freaks out and shouts pulling at her hair in anguish. She holds her chest and immediately lunges forward in attempt to return to the house. She goes running into the house when a hot bulb falls from the top of the house directly in front of her just as she almost enters the house and she falls down in fright. She immediately passes out as her body hits the marble floor.

  Shade jumps up in fright.
  "It's a dream!" She shouts as sweat trickles down her body. She looks up to the Air Conditioner and sees that it's perfectly working. She wipes her tear stained face and clenches her teeth in fear.
"What just happened? Why can't I remember just like the others? I do feel like it's the same thing I'm seeing but I can't just remember what it is." She sulks in annoyance as she stands up to open the windows. She returns to the bed and picks up a locket from under the pillow. Opening the locket, she stares on at the smiling couple on one side dressed in their wedding attires and another picture of a little girl holding on to her both parents on either side all dressed in sporting attires and standing next to a treadmill in a gym. She lets out a sad sigh as a lone tear trickles down her face.

Looks like Shade has PTSD(Post Traumatic Syndrome Disorder). It happens when one has a very bad experience with something and the scene can't just help but live rent free in the person's head. PTSD is caused by a bad happenstance though. You can't have PTSD because something good happened to you. It takes time to heal actually, depending on the victim's response and willingness to let go. Please pray for Shade; no one really wants to have this bitter experience. It's a lifetime scar.
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  Yours in Ink; Bethel ™