His Darling

His Darling | 1

                                                                     CHAPTER ONE.

"Why are you recording me?" I ask my therapist, Mrs. Grace, looking at the recording camera several feet away from me. It taunts me with greed. Like it wants desperately to know all my secrets.

Her red, full lips become slightly thin. "This is being made into a documentary...sort of."

My hands begin to sweat that familiar cold and clammy sweat. "Who allowed this? I thought I came here to talk to you." I clasp my hands together because they are shaking uncontrollably and because I couldn't hate my therapist more than I do right now for even letting this happen. I knew I would never go to that news channel ever again and talk to the world, which was actually a relief. But this...this--

"Your mother. She said you won't talk to anyone about what happened but me. And you are." She says calmly. "Other people just want to hear your story. You disappeared from the face of the earth for a year after all."

I let out a shaky breath and my eyes find the camera again. It's true. Mom had tried everything possible so I could relent and talk to her. Pour everything out, claw it out of my brain, my veins, my heart. But I just couldn't. I couldn't. I couldn't bear her reaction to the...the madness. And I felt pathetic for that. I still do.

"Don't worry," she says softly. "It's going to be okay. It'll be over before you know it."

I lick my dry lips and my head is bombarded by memories that I want to bury deep in the ground and forget they ever existed. It's not going to be okay. Not after what happened. Nothing's ever going to be okay. My heart squeezes.

I stay silent.

"How old are you, Raven?" Her big, brown eyes look at me with a calm, understanding expression.

I could feel the small room shrinking. "Seventeen."

She nods and looks down at her notepad, quickly scribbling something before looking up and smiling softly, pushing her black glasses up to the bridge of her nose.

I stare at her.

"Whenever you're ready." She says, her short, brown hair brushing against her shoulders.

I swallow and close my eyes briefly, the raw, strong memories flooding my mind like disastrous waves, pulling me deeper and deeper into that fathomless ocean. It's overwhelming and suffocating. I open my eyes and my breaths become deep. I'm horrified for reasons that I myself don't understand.

"The beginning is always a good place to start." Mrs. Grace says with understanding in her voice after a moment. "This tape won't be released until we have several more meetings." She says as if to calm my antsy nerves.

"What do you know?" I ask.

"I only know what your friends told the police--told everyone. You were with them one second and then the next there was one of them on the floor lying unconscious. And you were nowhere in sight."

I nod and move a strand of hair behind my ear. I look out the tall window to my right, where I could see the view of the city, of the tall buildings and of the full, stretching clouds cover the blue sky and almost instantly, I become a tad bit relaxed. Maybe Mrs. Grace won't think I'm crazy after I tell her. Maybe she'll understand why I am so scared to speak. Maybe, I don't know.

So I begin to talk.

-

One Year Ago.