Suffering Part 6: No Longer

Chapter 53

The room feels heavy, thick with tension as you slowly make your way down the stairs. You've been moving through the past few days in a fog, barely interacting, lost inside yourself. 

The weight of what happened presses down on you, suffocating, making it feel impossible to connect with anyone. Even Lucius and Severus—who have only tried to help—feel like they're on the other side of an unscalable wall.

You hear hushed voices as you reach the bottom of the stairs, and your eyes drift toward the source: Severus and Lucius are standing together, huddled over an envelope, their faces tight with a mix of concern and something else you can't quite place.

For a brief moment, you consider turning around and going back to the nursery, seeking refuge in the presence of the twins where things feel simpler. But something pulls you forward.

"What is that?" you ask, your voice hoarse from days of silence. "Ransom for the girls or something?"

The tension in the room spikes immediately. Lucius and Severus exchange a glance, their movements suddenly stiff and guarded. Severus, usually so composed, quickly stuffs the photographs back into the envelope, trying to hide whatever they're holding.

"You're not ready to see this," Severus says quietly, his voice steady but laced with an emotion you can't quite pinpoint.

"I'm not ready for what?" you demand, your voice cracking as you step closer. "What aren't you telling me?"

Lucius takes a step toward you, his face tight with concern. "You don't need to see this, not right now."

But something in his tone—something in the way they're both acting—makes the knot of dread in your stomach tighten. "No," you say, your voice rising with panic. "I need to see it. I need to know."

Severus shakes his head, but you won't be deterred. You grab the envelope from his hand before he can stop you, your heart hammering in your chest. You pull the photos out and, for a moment, the world stops.

The first image hits you like a punch to the gut—your body, your lifeless body, sprawled out with glassy eyes, clearly drugged, and surrounded by masked figures.

Your breath catches, and your hands start shaking uncontrollably. "No," you whisper, your voice so low you can barely hear yourself.

But there's no escaping the truth of the photos. The tattoos on your arms, the unmistakable outline of the white rabbit tattoo on your ribs—the evidence is right there in front of you. It's you. Every detail. Every horrifying, undeniable detail.

"No," you say again, louder this time, shaking your head violently as if trying to will the images away. "No, this didn't happen."

Lucius moves toward you, his eyes filled with a mix of sorrow and helplessness. "You don't have to look at this," he says gently, trying to pull the photos from your hand.

But you yank them back, flipping through more of the pictures, each one worse than the last. There are hands on your body, masked figures towering over you, their faces obscured. It's too much. The room spins as you clutch the photos, your entire body trembling.

Severus's voice cuts through the haze, low and steady but pained. "We didn't want you to see this. We wanted to protect you from it."

"Protect me?" you snap, your voice breaking as tears blur your vision. "How can you protect me from something that's already happened? How could you not tell me?"

"We only got the envelope today," Lucius says quietly. "We didn't know... We didn't know how to tell you."

You stumble back, dropping the photos to the floor as you shake your head in disbelief. "I don't remember any of this. I... I don't remember."