A Light in the Dark

Chapter 70

Trigger warning for violence

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Filled with dread, she looked around the abandoned warehouse, frantically searching for an exit. The sooner she got out of here, the better. She shouldn't be here... this was wrong...

'You should've done as I said,' Gabriel's voice came from somewhere behind her and she whirled around. But there was no one. 'I told you to stop... you should've listened...'

Swallowing dryly, she searched the hall for the source of the voice, but he was nowhere to be seen. 'Where are you?'

A cold laugh echoed from the walls that surrounded her. 'Aww, are you scared, Karla? So pathetic...'

'You're dead,' she muttered to herself. 'You're not real... I'm dreaming...'

'Are you, though? Would you bet your sister's life on that? What a shame... she could have gone to places, y'know?'

'This is a dream,' she whispered and hesitantly turned back around. 'Wake up... come on, wake up...'

She flinched away when she saw that Gabriel was standing right in front of her. Where had he come from?

'I'm going to kill you, Karla... and then I'll kill the little brat...'

'You're not real,' she repeated like a mantra and tried to take a step back, but she couldn't. Her feet were stuck to the ground. 'You're not real, you're not real...'

'If I'm not real,' Gabriel started and smirked condescendingly, 'could I do this?'

Before she could react, Gabriel's hands were around her throat, squeezing it tightly. Her hands flew up, but she was too weak... she couldn't breathe... was that possible in a dream? Was this real?

"Camila!"

Gabriel laughed in her face as she continued to struggle. 'I always win, Karla... No one will save you now...'

"Wake up!"

'You're mine...'

Blackness surrounded her and she blindly lashed out, frantically trying to hit him, scratch him, anything – she was not going to die... not now...

Her fist hit something hard and a yelp told her that she had indeed caused him pain. Good. She was not going down without a fight...

"Camila, fuck... Stop, it's me! Lauren! Stop it!" Someone got hold of her wrists and the tight grip didn't lessen, not matter how much she pulled. It didn't help that they were constricting her legs either – wait, when had she fallen down? But that didn't matter... she needed air... "Camz, it's okay, you're safe... It's me, babe, please wake up... Shh, don't cry... Take a deep breath..."

She blinked her eyes open and saw a shadowy figure above her. Sobbing loudly, she recoiled and continued to struggle against him. He would not get her...

The voice cursed quietly before light flooded the room and Camila squeezed her eyes shut.

"Breathe with me, Camila. Come on, you can do it. Take a deep breath... yes, just like that..."

The panic, that she felt only moments prior, slowly faded as the soothing voice continued to give her gentle instructions. She didn't know how long it took to calm down or when exactly she had started to trust the voice and follow its advice, but her sobs started to subside.

"Camz? Are you okay now?"

Now that her angst-ridden thoughts wore off, she became aware of the familiarity of the voice and why her subconscious mind had automatically trusted it without doubting its intention.