Ink: Living Life as Serena Gleis

XXVIII: A Fool for You

⚠️ TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️
The following chapter contains sensitive content, viewer discretion is advised.

My eyes fluttered open, steadily adjusting with the darkness around me. There was nothing to be seen, everywhere you look, it's all darkness. The pungent smell of iron struck my nose as I felt a sharp pain through my abdomen.

Am I not dead yet?

My hand reached the area where I can feel pain and there I felt sticky liquid coming through my clothes. It was blood.  Memories of what happened flashed through my mind.

“Serena?” I called but she did not respond. I tried calling out to her several times as I grew worried. The last time I was able to see her was when she fell into a deep slumber, looking like a corpse.  I am most surprised that I am still alive.

I started feeling my surroundings as I cannot see anything, I used my sense of touch to at least have a clue on where I was. A sudden realization hit me, I was in the same prison cell where Serena died in the novel. This place is accurate on how I described it in my book— A cell of total and absolute darkness, where not a single glimmer of light dared to intrude.The silence was equally oppressive. Not a sound, not even the subtlest whisper, could penetrate the walls. The outside world had been banished, leaving only the muffled thud of one's own heartbeat as a reminder of existence.

My chest suddenly felt heavy, I was starting to have difficulty in breathing. I tried to scream, I tried calling out to whomever there is but I all that was heard was silence.

In my mind, this is where I will die. I can't make myself hate Serena for what she did. It's my fault to let her take over even if I knew that she's a an explosive, a ticking bomb that will explode anytime.

Within the impenetrable shroud of darkness and silence, time itself seemed to lose its meaning. Minutes bled into hours, days into weeks, I have lost the sense of time. I have no clue how many days have passed, let alone how long was I unconscious.

It already felt forever. No one visited me over. I was left to confront my inner demons, those whom I wanted to escape in my previous life all came back. I have nothing but my own thoughts for company. In this place, I felt reality blurred, everything turned into an empty, listless void. In this eerie void, my mind was left to wander, grappling with the surreal isolation and the overwhelming sense of being cut off from the very essence of life.

I was a breathing corpse. I am dead but at the same time, was still alive.

I found my comfort in the corner of this cell. In this place, I felt safe. After a long time of being here, my eyes got accustomed to the darkness, I can't even feel hunger nor thirst. I was empty, seemed like I have become a void myself. 

I haven't got any response from Serena, I have no clue on where she is. It seemed like she left me all alone to pay for the consequences of what she have done. At first I thought that it was not her fault at all but as the time passed by, anger, hatred and resentment built up within me. Not just towards Serena but towards everyone.

I haven't done anything to deserve this. I tried my best to get on their good side from the time that I got here.

The family that I once cherished, the people whom I treated as friends, the man who told me he loved me all turned their backs on me. I am no saint, I am incapable of bestowing forgiveness to those who do not deserve it.

♠ ♠ ♠

A sudden thud was heard. My ears pounded with the sudden introduction of noise after a long period of silence.  The door unlocked, followed by heavy footsteps and clanking of metal keys.