Havenfell

Chapter 28: It's All So Familiar, and Yet So Different

The group staggered back into the hotel, the weight of the night's horrors pressing down on them like a suffocating shroud. Felicity's mind was a foggy haze, their sense of reality slipping further away with each step. They barely registered the others as they moved through the dimly lit lobby, the walls seeming to close in around them.

Alex and Bree exchanged a tense glance, and without a word, they headed upstairs. Felicity's eyes followed them absently, but their mind was miles away, drifting in a sea of disassociation. Nathan and Callum, both visibly shaken, found a quiet corner to calm each other down. The soft murmur of their voices was a distant echo, barely penetrating Felicity's numbness.

Minutes stretched into an eternity, the silence heavy and oppressive. Felicity's thoughts were a chaotic swirl, the events of the night playing out in fragmented flashes. Pete's lifeless eyes, the grotesque forms of the demons, the blood that seemed to stain everything—it all blended into an indistinct blur.

A sudden scream shattered the stillness, piercing through the fog that enveloped Felicity's mind. It was Juno's voice, filled with a terror that cut through Felicity's detachment like a knife. The sound jolted them, bringing a sharp clarity to their surroundings.

"Felicity! Come on!" Rin's voice was urgent, pulling them out of their stupor. Felicity followed, their heart pounding in their chest as they ascended the stairs, each step feeling like a monumental effort.

They reached the door to the room they shared with Bree, the sight that greeted them freezing them in place. Juno was kneeling beside the bed, her hands stained with blood as she tried to stem the flow from Bree's gruesome wounds. Bree lay on the bed, her face and stomach marred by brutal stab wounds, blood pooling beneath her.

"Help! Someone help!" Juno's voice was frantic, tears streaming down her face. The others crowded into the room, their expressions a mix of horror and disbelief.

Nathan and Callum rushed to Bree's side, their faces pale with shock. "Bree, stay with us," Nathan pleaded, his voice cracking. Bree's eyes fluttered open, the light in them fading.

Felicity stood frozen, their mind struggling to process the scene before them. The disassociation was a protective barrier, dulling the impact of the horror unfolding in front of them. They felt like a spectator in their own body, unable to move, unable to react.

"Bree, please," Callum's voice was a broken whisper. Bree's lips moved, forming silent words, her breath coming in shallow gasps.

"Alex... he did this," Bree managed to say, her voice barely audible. "I'm sorry, Felicity... I'm so sorry."

Felicity's heart ached with a pain that felt distant, like it belonged to someone else. They wanted to reach out, to comfort Bree, but their body refused to obey. The disassociation wrapped around them like a suffocating blanket, keeping them at arm's length from the raw agony of the moment.

Juno's sobs filled the room, a sound of pure anguish that seemed to echo in Felicity's mind. They watched as Bree's eyes slowly closed, her chest rising and falling in weak, irregular breaths.

"Bree, no, please," Juno cried, her hands trembling as she held Bree's lifeless hand. The room seemed to close in on Felicity, the walls pressing in as the reality of Bree's death sank in.

Felicity's vision blurred, the edges of their world fraying as they struggled to stay present. The pain, the loss, the sheer horror of it all—it was too much to bear. They felt themselves slipping further into the void, the disassociation a merciful escape from the unbearable reality.

As the others wept and grieved around them, Felicity stood in silent detachment, their mind a swirling vortex of confusion and despair. The hotel room, with its bloodstained sheets and echoes of sorrow, became a cage from which there was no escape. And amid it all, Felicity's soul screamed silently, trapped in a nightmare that seemed to have no end.