Upsurged ( Protection and safety unit Book 2)

Chapter 2

Nova

The smell of dust and old clothes envelops me like a cold veil.
I know immediately where I am...the old closet in my parents' room that my mother put me in when she woke me up from my room and brought me in pulling my hand. I huddle in the far corner, my heart beating wildly in my chest as I hear my mother's screams. They pierce the silence of the house, a desperate sound that penetrates the walls and burns itself into my memory.

"Please, leave us alone!" Mother's voice, once full of warmth and love, is now a terrible scream that makes my blood run cold. I can't see out, can't intervene. Instead, I am trapped in this small space, trapped in my own fear.

At the time, I thought I was just dreaming it all.
The screams stop abruptly and for a brief moment there is silence. This silence is even more frightening than the screaming. I hold my breath, listening for any sound coming from the other room, the fear inside me grows and my heartbeat races as I hold my hands in front of my mouth to keep from making a sound.

Then I hear it - the sound of something falling to the floor. A dull thud, followed by a terrible, convulsive gasp.
I dare to take a peek through the cracks in the cupboard. My heart stops. My father lies motionless on the floor, his body in an unnatural position, his eyes wide open and fixed as if they were looking straight into my soul. They are empty and yet they seem to be telling me something - a warning, a reproach, an unbearable truth.

My mother's cries return, but they are now desperate and broken. I can't bear them any longer. I want to scream, I want to move, but my body won't obey me. I am trapped in this nightmare, this terrible memory that keeps repeating itself.

I wake up drenched in sweat, the bed soaked with my fear. The darkness around me is suffocating and the shadows seem to come alive. Deep inside me, I feel the same fear that I had back then - the fear that the screams will start again, that I won't be able to do anything. But I know it's just a dream... the same one that has been haunting me for years.

I sit up in bed, my hands shaking as I try to distinguish reality from the nightmare.
My hair is wet from sweat as I brush the strands out of my face and try to calm my breathing.
But the images remain, the screams echo in my head, and I know that I can never really escape.
As I leave my room, daylight floods everything and I squeeze my eyes shut with a groan.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," Cece calls from the kitchen as she smiles.

" Yeah... to you too" I reply strolling to the coffee machine.

"You're late...we have a meeting in an hour." she says, petting her dog.

Max was a real friend, a lifesaver for Cece, and I liked the furry stinker a lot.
When I decided to stay here, Cece immediately offered me a place to live with her, and I hadn't heard from Mother in months, the organization Rei and I used to work for, so I had to take King up on the offer to make ends meet.
Cece is a very smart woman who is very easy to like because of her funny ways, and so is Max.

"I just need a coffee and we can go," I replied.

She furrowed her eyebrows at her phone and exhaled in annoyance. Cece giggled and shook her head at me while I gave her a puzzled look.

"I just found out that Dylan has left us." she said to me and took Max's leash to lead him out.

"Wait ... what?" I asked, surprised.

"He's probably fed up," she said with a grin and called Max to follow her out.

Why would he leave? Was I perhaps too cheeky with him yesterday after all?
I thought about Duke and Rei's words after he got in his car yesterday and drove off, he had a meeting with King and then he just left.