Ignite [Wattys 2024 Shortlist] | ✔

12

To Light A Match

ZARA

        Shrieking, I jumped up from my sleep, screams escaping my lips as I was tormented by this nightmare. A dream I longed to forget. My heart raced as I gasped for air, pain surging through me as I frantically looked around the foreign room. My mind was trapped between two realities; one I hoped to fully escape and one I cherished.

I couldn't be taken by him. By that monster.

Fear coiled around me like a vice, and I thrashed wildly, desperate to escape the phantom claws that clung to my mind. I could hear my own voice, primal screams escaping my lips.

I was being tied down, punished for who I was and what I had. I ripped the cords away and stood, the sharp pain incomparable to the turmoil in my mind. Backing myself into a corner of the room, I slid down the wall. My surroundings were a blurred haze as I grabbed fists full of my hair, the screaming never ceasing.

And then, the door was pushed open, light flooding the room, and I cowered further in fear. I saw two different men standing before me – one being my supposed mate and the other being the one who ended my family and destroyed the only normalcy I knew. I wasn't sure which was the real one.

"Zara," a voice called out.

"No! Don't touch me! Don't kill me!" I screamed.

More people swarmed in the room but I couldn't see their faces, I couldn't see anything past my own panic. The walls were closing in and my chest tightened, my breathing unbalanced as I clawed at my chest. The people approached me but I pushed myself further into the wall.

"Please don't kill me! I don't have what you want!" I cried.

"Everyone stop," one voice said before he approached me slowly. I shook my head, tears running down my cheeks and eyes shut. When I felt jolts of lightning flaring through me, my eyes flashed open and I saw Haden crouched before me. His eyes locked onto mine, his face a mixture of concern and determination.

"Zara, calm down," he urged and I shook my head, unsure of this reality, of this feeling.

"Stay away from me!" I yelled as I pushed away his hand and stood, my voice trembling with terror and anger. But he didn't heed my plea.

As he took another cautious step, my terror intensified, and my muscles tensed. I couldn't comprehend the emotions churning within me. Haden was both the source of my torment and my supposed saviour. The mate bond, a relentless force, taunted us both.

"Calm down," he repeated, pulling my chin up to look at him. Holding my gaze, his hands drifted down to my shoulders. I breathed in and out as I looked at him. His touch, his scent, wiped away the cloud of doubt and brought me back to reality. I was in a hospital room and Haden was my mate.

Exhaling, I let my eyes flutter close as I leaned against the wall for support.

"No one is going to hurt you with me standing right here. No one will ever hurt you, do you understand me?"

I felt him close the gap between us, his body heat radiating off him and when I opened my eyes his arms created a wall around my face. Those meds must have been something, I thought. Whatever it was, I never slept that deep. Never allowed myself to dream. The memories were too painful.

"Back now?" he whispered, so close to me that I felt his breath on my lips.

"I'm fine," I mumbled, "ease up, will you?"