𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒲𝑒𝑒𝓅𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒲𝒾𝓁𝓁𝑜𝓌

Chapter two

My feet pounded against the ground, jolting my body forward. Adrenaline and fear course through my veins all at once, burning like fire yet shivering from the icy wind.

I shouldn't have left.

I was safe. And I left.

My feet start to collect themselves and head towards the house. The anger towards my brother threatens to boil again but I push it down refusing to focus on anything else right now.

I spot the dim glow of the oil lamp shining through the cracks of our house's walls. Pushing each stride longer than the last, until I'm well and truly inside the house with the door slammed behind me ensuring It's shut.

Collapsing beside the kitchen table, knees buckling, but they've done their job. I'm inside. I'm safe.

Meer minutes after bursting through the door engines rumble past and speed away.

By the skin of my teeth.  I should take up running, build up some speed in hopes that maybe I'll flee from danger faster.

But I need sleep. My eyelids are weighing heavy on my eyes, guilt weighing heavier on my conscience.

I shouldn't be mad at Ajax, warning me and calling my name would of only given away our location.

Silently creeping past the several scattered beer bottles and climbing into the thin cotton sheets. I have the bed all to myself tonight. Ajax is with Laura, Dad is passed out on the lounge. No one to cuddle too at night for warmth, only the heat that I can provide. I already miss the feelings of Braytz's arms around me.
I finally let my eyes shut and rest themselves. Waiting patiently for my mind to succumb to the blank void we all call sleep.

Although it doesn't take too long.

———————————

They're all here. Ajax, Braytz, Dad, and Mum. Standing in front of me. Life breathing into each one of them. Even mum. The way her chest rises and falls. It shouldn't do that anymore.

I find myself rushing in her direction, hoping for a warm embrace but am only repaid with a harsh shove, throwing me to the ground. Which is confusing, until the looks on their faces become evident. Hatred and anger. Towards me?

What have I done? Especially to deserve this much rejection from each of them.

Rejection. The word caught in my throat refusing to be swallowed. Instead, it just sits there, blocking any air from travelling to my lungs. Breathless and scared I stand up and gather my posture back.

Together they start walking towards me, herding me backwards. I shuffle in the dirt and back away slowly.

I step further and further back and each time I do they step further and further forward. Within a second my footing was gone and I was stumbling off the sharp edge of a heavy drop. It's not until I am suspended in air that I realise it was a cliff. I was standing on a ledge.

The air finally comes back into my lungs, allowing me to scream for help. Before a response could come, the impact of the rocks in the chasm sweep any remaining air I had away.

Just as I plummeted and hit the ground my mind pried me out of the dream. Sweat lining my forehead, my heart beating way too fast.

I can hear a scream that sounds all too familiar until I realise it is my own. High-pitched and croaky. The inside of my throat was dry, I was screaming in my sleep.

Nightmares again. We are well acquainted with each other. Repeated trauma tends to have side effects.

I finally am able to stop myself from letting the noise erupt out of me, but the scream is continued by someone in the distance. Like two vocalists sharing the same pain through their songs. Agonising and heart wrenching. It echoes through the small window above our bed, and following it a whip breaks the sound barrier.