The Heirloom Ring: Haunted Book 3

Chapter 8

Destiny’s POV

Darkness. Beautiful darkness surrounded her. Twinkling lights. Sparkling eyes.  A soft breeze blows her dark locks across her skin, tickling her shoulders. Music, soft and romantic. The swaying of bodies. The smell of the flowers surrounding the lake.

Spinning around and around. A sip of wine that  makes her more dizzy than it should. Everything looks like it's spinning.

Giggling and a charming dark chuckle. Soft murmurs of love and dark secrets. Promises that no one knew about. A future of love and happiness. Sharing her fortune with her true love.

Soft kisses. Gentle touches. Warmth and heat causing more dizziness. More spinning and giggles.

A face, pale and innocent. Brown eyes that sparkled in the moonlight, and dark raven hair that shimmered in the candlelight.

Pain. Clenching and tortuous. Sharp and throbbing. Shocking numbness. Quaking and burning flesh.

Blood. Leaking from all the pores in her body. Dripping from her cold lips and ears rushing with loud sounds.

A soft whisper in her ear. “Destiny, help me. You need to find Richard. He’s doing it again. You need to stop him! Help me find Richard!”

I wake up panting. My body is shaking in sweat and tears. Her chest hurts like no air is reaching her lungs. Anxiety shot through her body, causing her panic attack.

Richard. His name is Richard, but that is all she knows about him. How did they get him with just a name?

Destiny pulled her hand from her abdomen. Blood dripped from her fingers once again. Shock fills her brain. Her body shakes violently seeing blood again. The need to vomit seeped through her system.

This was becoming way too common. Why? Did she have to see this over and over again for a reason? She already wanted to catch the creep. What was the point of all this pain flowing through her body?

Scrawled across her chest in red was written in clumsily written letters ‘Find Richard.’ Her chest burned, but she didn’t know why. She couldn’t figure out anything other than she was hurting and she wanted it to stop. She didn’t want to hurt anymore.

Of course she had sympathy for Angela, but she really didn’t want to feel this over and over again.

Tears leaked down Destiny’s eyes, as sobs were locked in her chest.

How long will it take for her to find this Richard and put him away.  She knew this was the only way for her to stop all the pain. Until then she would repeat this night after night. With the way all this was going she was going to go crazy very shortly.

Destiny mentioned that he was at it again. Did that mean he found another woman? Would she also look like Destiny? And would that also mean that we could find her and try the same trick? They had to stop this! How many times has this happened in the past?

It wouldn’t work on her because she was already with Mark and would never give him up. Mark had already sworn to help find him. He would keep her safe and love her.

But how did she find one Richard when there were thousands of them? Everyone and their brother had the name of Richard! Destiny had 3 of them in her class. Is it one of them? Were they going to come after her once they were finished with the next girl? Should she drop out of school and not go to work?

Unable to go back to sleep, she forced her aching self to the bathroom so she could clean up. She turned on the light and stood by the sink, looking into the mirror and her pasty face.
Removing the ruined sleepwear she noticed the scars across her chest, from where her burning sensation came from. It was the same message as on her nightgown. Only it looked like the letters had been chopped into her body using a scalpel.

Destiny cried. Seeing it made everything worse! Maybe she should have kept the nightgown on so she wouldn’t have to see all the damage done. Would it ever heal?

The pain from the marks and the scar across her abdomen had her hunching over.

Slowly, blood started leaking from her skin. The seams of the scars started to separate and seep dark warm liquid.

Her eyes changed slightly in the mirror. Her eyes were normally rounder, but they suddenly turned more almond shaped.

Her dark raven hair started to all out in clumps. Blood started dripping down her skin, stinging her eyes.

Then her freckles changed on her nose, trailing down her neck and shoulders.

Blood started leaking from her mouth in red bubbly foam.

“Help me!” Destiny’s lips whispered without her permission.

“AAAAAHHH!” Destiny screamed.

Turning on the shower as hot as she could, she stood under the hot spay and scrubbed her skin until she was sure it would melt off her body. She couldn’t seem to stop shivering. Along with the pain radiating from her center, her body started to lose its warmth.

Still in pain, and losing heat by the second, she lost her strength and she slid her body down the shower wall until she was a wet ball curled up on the floor.

She let herself cry until the water ran cold.

While she was crying she missed the multiple calls from Mark on her phone. Without her knowledge her mother, Mercy, called him when she heard her daughter scream from the bathroom. She had no idea how to help her daughter, so she called the one man who could help her daughter.

Suddenly he was rushing into her shower and gathering her into his arms. He didn’t mind that he was getting soaked to the bone, but was worried about his precious Destiny.

He shut off the water and pulled a towel around her. She was shivering and her teeth were chattering uncontrollably.

He held her in his arms, sitting on the wet shower floor. She was so happy he was there. She gave no thought to anything other than she was in his arms and she needed him right this moment.

Finally, she was calmed and pulled away from him to look into his eyes. She needed him. She needed his calm and his assurance.

“What happened?” He asked.

Slowly, she pulled the towel away and showed him what had been carved into her chest.

The moment he saw the words, his face turned green.