Absolution | +18

Chapter 33

Val

⚠️Trigger Warning ⚠️

Everything was dark.

It was like the world had collapsed inward, caving in around me, swallowing me whole. The walls of my mind were suffocating, trapping me in this endless abyss of my own thoughts and fears. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. The silence was deafening, pressing down on me with a weight so heavy it felt like I was drowning.

I curled tighter into myself, clutching the bracelet in my hand like it was the only thing tethering me to reality. But even that felt distant now, slipping away from me like everything else. I could feel myself being swallowed by the darkness, the cold void of nothingness closing in from every side.

Then, in the distance, I heard something—a voice. Faint at first, barely audible over the roar of my own thoughts.

My name.

The voice was pulling me, drawing me in like a thread unraveling from the fabric of the darkness. It sounded familiar, deep and low, like it had been there all along, waiting for me to hear it. Silas.

I followed it, stumbling through the void, desperate to reach that sliver of sound. The darkness was thick, but there was light somewhere ahead, a dim glow at the edge of everything. I pushed toward it, the voice growing louder, clearer, cutting through the haze.

"Val..."

It became a beacon, the only thing that existed in the nothingness. Louder. Closer. I reached for it, grasping, pulling myself toward the light until finally—snap—I was back.

The room was bright, the sudden light almost blinding. I blinked rapidly, trying to reorient myself. It was the same guest room, the one I'd slept in earlier. The walls, the bed, everything was exactly the same. But I wasn't alone anymore.

In front of me stood Silas, his expression confused, dark brows drawn together as he stared at me. He crouched down, his voice sharp but with an undertone of concern.

"Val," he said slowly, as if testing the waters. "Why are you sitting here like this?"

My mouth was dry, and it took a second for me to find my voice. "Why are you back so soon?" I asked, my own confusion spilling into the words. "Did you forget something?"

His expression shifted, something unreadable flickering in his eyes. "I've been gone for nine hours."

Nine hours? The words hit me like a punch to the gut. I looked around, disoriented. Had I really been sitting here for that long? Rocking back and forth, lost in my own head, for hours? I hadn't even noticed. The room felt smaller suddenly, the walls pressing in.

Silas stood up, his arms crossed, his gaze locked on me with a hard, calculating look. "Have you been sitting here the whole time?" he asked, his voice flat, though there was something else in it.

I looked down, trying to piece together the last few hours, but all I could remember was the suffocating darkness. And then I saw it—my bracelet—the cool metal clutched in my hand.

Everything came rushing back, a flood of memories hitting me all at once. I held it up, the small, delicate chain catching the light. My eyes snapped to Silas, and the words spilled out before I could stop them.

"You took this from me."

Silas's face changed instantly. His eyes narrowed, his expression hardening into something cold and distant. His jaw clenched as he stared at the bracelet, and for a long, tense moment, he said nothing. The warmth that had been there earlier—the concern in his voice, the confusion on his face—it vanished, replaced by the icy mask I knew all too well.