Forbidden magic

chapter one

Nobody looks good in their darkest times

But it is during those hours

That we become who we are

___________

||Edited||

She woke up deep into the night, voicing an ear splitting scream. Inevitable tears smudged her face and a sob pushed past her lips, her hair stubbornly clung onto the sweaty skin on her neck.

The sheets that clad her body felt suffocating, Raven kicked them off in between sobs. Slapping a trembling hand over her mouth, Raven willed herself to calm.

The force of habit made her wipe away the salty drops with the back of her hand and place herself back in bed. But when it came to people with a scarred past like her, rest did not come so willingly.

Raven turned to face the wall, her eyes burned into the concrete. She felt beyond tired but her body rejected sleep, she knew that it was no use to toss and turn in effort to seek slumber.

The malicious dreams always made sure to keep her awake till dawn. Always.

Raven exhaled harshly as she briskly sat up and switched on the lamp beside her bed, the light generously illuminated the room. It was precisely midnight and a crescent moon governed the night sky, dwelling amongst the buff clouds.

The door creaked slightly open, Raven didn't need to look to know that it was her aunt Cassandra.

"Nightmares again?" The petite brunette spoke with a comforting tone. Raven nodded as her lips curled into a frown, she detested having to awaken her family every single night. She felt like a burden, too heavy to rest on the young shoulders of her aunt and uncle.

"Every single night, the memories come alive in my head and they never leave," Raven said through clenched teeth as she placed her index finger on the side of her temples. Cassandra's eyes were overflowed with sympathy and pity, the two sole emotions Raven despised being directed at her.

Cassandra  pushed the door further, and walked over to her niece. She plopped down next to Raven and procured the girl into her arms, resting her chin above the mop of red locks and sighed. Cassandra had done this countless before and she would do it countless times again.

"Just a dream, darling," Cassandra whispered in what she hoped was a reassuring tone.

Raven had been orphaned by the tender age of eight, her parents and brother had their souls claimed in a gruesome way. But that is another story.

"Have you tried the sleeping pills?"Cassandra asked, she suddenly regretted it as Raven stiffened in her hold. The redhead gently pulled away and reached over to the side of the bed, Raven slid open the neatly varnished mahogany drawer where the lamp was placed and began to rummage around.

Her hands emerged holding six empty white  capsules, which she neatly arranged on the floor on display. Cassandra's eyes widened into saucers at the minuscule hollow cylinders which she had just bought two days ago.

"I had two capsules yesterday and four today," Raven said under her breath before giving Cassandra a cold look. "They don't work, you know."

You could have died from overdose, what were you thinking? Cassandra wanted to scold her niece for such lethal actions, but she could not bring herself to even to utter her name.