The Outbreak (The Nursery Nurse)

Fourty Seven

The next few weeks Charlotte felt as though she were dead.

As if she were a living corpse, she felt as though she was not in her body she was simply watching herself from the outside.

Darren would torture her and she wouldn't as much flinch nor cry, this upset him deeply, so deeply that he'd just leave her bloody and bruised as she lay lifeless on the floor.

The grief would hit her so hardly that she couldn't breathe, she couldn't drag the air back into her lungs and her body would shut down, blacking out from the sheer power of it.

She had nothing left, nothing.

She was curled up in bed sobbing from a memory. It was fuzzy, as if she couldn't quite reach it or understand it.

A red-haired woman was holding her, mumbling apologies into her ear as she kissed her neck softly.

Charlotte couldn't remember the last time she'd felt the warmth of another human, kind gentle touch seemed so unfamiliar and it scared her.

She stood up and forced herself to stop crying, if she were going to escape she needed more time, the memories were starting to come back and she needed to escape before the possibility of Darren getting his hands on them.

She pushed back all of her grief until she felt numb once more.

She was so accustomed to feeling nothing, she wished it could be this easy all of the time.

She got to the door and her hands shook violently, she carefully pulled it open and stepped out into the hallway, keeping her hand on the doorknob as she went.

She drew several deep breaths before finally letting go and making her way through the dark manor.

She stopped in her tracks when she heard something faint and warm in the distance.

Music.

She hadn't heard music in months, she hurried over to the wall and listened, she'd forgotten what it was like to listen to music.

She shut her eyes and let it invade her mind, trying to savour the moment afraid that if she didn't it would slip somewhere cold and empty along with the other things she couldn't remember.

Fifteen minutes went past when she finally decided to venture further towards the sound.

She ascended a staircase and slipped into the alcove above the ballroom, she crouched down away from the light and peered down past the railing.

Darren was throwing what seemed like a New Year's party, there was music flowing through the room, various people were talking to each-other champagne in hands. Some chatted avidly whilst others were only there for publicity.

There was a man with a camera, it flashed wildly at the crowd.

She tried to read people's lips but couldn't quite get a grip on the flow of conversation.

She gave up and tried to spot anyone who might of been familiar but came up blank, she gasped when she spotted Koro, she'd only seen pictures of him in newspapers that Darren would leave behind, she cowered back further.

"One minute until midnight, marking the new year that will go down in history!" Koro called.

Charlotte shuddered before slowly removing herself from the alcove and back out into the nearest hallway.

She pressed herself against the wall and willed herself not to start crying once more, she sighed and started heading back towards her room.

A noise made her freeze in horror, the clacking of heels echoed the large space, someone was coming up the stairs, towards her.

She thought about running but it was no use, there was nowhere to turn.

A face was visible now, a mask.

She'd seen that mask, that mask had killed everyone she'd ever loved.

News headlines were pulled to the forefront of her mind and something twisted inside her stomach as she pulled a hand to her mouth, she  should scream she thought but her voice was tangled with fear.

The Vindicta was coming towards her then, they climbed the last step and started drawing closer.

Charlotte felt her heartbeat quicken as she started to back away, The Vindicta drew a hand to their face, tossing the mask aside.

The red-haired woman was looking at her.

Someone will come for you, someone always comes for you.

Amelia Roberts was running towards her.