Lamb to the slaughter

return

The sun peers into my room as I open my eyes. It feels like I haven't opened them in centuries.

"Honey, come down and eat something." A sweet voice says.

I start grumbling to myself as I kick the sheets off of me and my feet hit the floor. As I make my way downstairs I can hear the sizzling of bacon and the sweet smell of pancakes.

"Mom, you didn't have to do thi-.." I trail off as I don't see my mother, but a familiar figure instead.

Val's mom.

How is this possible.

I just saw her dead.

Am I dead?

Val's mom smiles at me and states, "take a seat." In a voice not to sweet anymore.

I shake my head as I start backing up, my back bumps into something, I turn around and see her mom. Standing in-front of me. I turn back around thinking,

If she's still in-front of me then how is she behind me?

A shiver runs down my spine as I start breathing faster, my limbs feel numb and it feels like I can't move. Val's mom -the one behind me- grabs my shoulders and slowly spins me around facing her.

Her face a crooked smile and her eyes are hollow. Completely hollow. As if someone had scooped her eyes out.

One of her hands touches my face, cupping it and rubbing her thumb on my cheek. Her nails, once pretty and smooth, are now thick and sharp. I grab her wrist trying to get her off me. Her grip tightens to starts choking me.

I gasp for air, not receiving any. As a thick sweat coats my forehead. She lifts me off the ground, my legs kicking at her, trying to get her off, but my feet went right through her. She's dead after all. And I soon will be too.

~~~

I bolt up, a light coat of sweat drips off my face. I'm not to sure if it's sweat or tears, but all I know is..

Val's mother is mad.

I change into a gray sweatshirt and black shorts, fixing my hair so it's not a complete birds nest, however, my mind isn't really focused on my hair, it's focused on my dream.

It's hard to remember all of the parts, but I remember her choking me and her pretending to be my mother.

So all I got from that is, trust no one.

I slowly approach the stairs hoping when I go down it's nothing like my dream.

When I reach the last step, I hear talking. It's not a whisper, but a bit above that. I walk into the kitchen and see my mother.

Relief

And Jaz

Betrayal

I wave at Jaz then jerk my head to the side, meaning 'let's talk'.

He walks over into the hallway and I follow him with a whisper yell, "What are you doing here?"

He replies saying, "My parents said it'd be the best idea if I hung out here for a while."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?"

I feel a burning sensation in my stomach and ask in a stern voice, "Why did your parents want you to be here, you have other friends."

"Because Val isn't just your best friend, she's mine too." He snaps back, putting his head down.

We both sit there is silence before he speaks up again.

"Be-..because I miss Val just as much as you do." I question if I saw a tear in his eye before he rubs it away.

A feeling of guilt overwhelms me as I put a hand on his shoulder and say in a reassuring voice,

"We're going to get through this." I fumble on my words before speaking up again,

"we never know if Val is really dead. How about we confirm before we jump to conclusions."

A tear runs down my face as I walk back to the kitchen, turning on the news.

[A mother found dead in her house! We suspect an illness, for the victim was foaming at the mouth. Anyone in the house at the time is ether dead, from the illness or in the hospital being examined for the virus.]

~~~

After we ate we rushed straight to the hospital, hoping we weren't to late to say our goodbyes, if she was sick.