Only a dream

Chapter 21

I scowl at the girl who sits before me, all humble and smug. A smile rips across her pale face, mocking me. She is perched on the chair, shoulders slumped, arms crossed. Her blue eyes pierce my own.

"Ohhh Sammy! How I've waited for this moment!" She croons.

I clench my teeth and squint my eyes, my face distorting with anger and fear. "Where is he?" I growl.

Valerie looks at me, her face feigning shock. "Where's who?" She says in a taunting voice.

I stick my finger up at her, pointing at her face. "Zeke!"

She laughs a high pitched laugh the consumes the darkness around us. "Zeke? That boy who was laying on the table? Dying?"

"He wasn't dying!" I scream, rage bubbling up in my stomach and exploding out if my mouth. "He's alive and I know he is! Where the hell is he!"

Valerie cocks her head and looks up, pretending to be thinking. She crosses her arms and licks her thin lips. "Hmmm..." She mumbles. "I don't know where your little friend is...however, we could go search for him."

I stare at her angrily. Search for him? She knows where he is! "Just take me to Zeke. Now."

"Oh but alas, I cannot seek out your friend! You must come wi-"

"Shut up! You know where he is! Just take me to him, you bitch!"

She clears her throat. "Ahem. Sammy I don't tolerate that sort of language. Now if you would like to know the location of your friend, you must follow me." She says, challenging me.

I take three strides towards her and lean over her body in the chair. "Fine." I say.

"Oh joy! Time for some fun!" She cheers.

I step back and she stands up. She walks over to the door, which now has a doorknob, and steps into the room with the dead woman. She leads me over to the body and kneels down on the carpet. I follow suit. Her slender fingers reach out and brush the hair away from the woman's face, revealing even more damage.

"Oh Delilah, your life could have been so much better!" Valerie says, faking a frown.

She trails a pointer finger along the dead woman's -Delilah's- neck. She stops halfway and her face lights up. She turns to me.

"Wanna see something funny? I did it a lot when I was alive!" She says gleefully.

I don't reply.

Valerie takes that as yes and counts to three slowly under her breath. Then, to my horror, she stabs the nail of her finger through Delilah's skin and punctures something deep within her neck. Cold, sticky blood oozes from Delilah's dead mouth.

"Oh my god!" I screech, scooting away, "What the hell did you do?"

Valerie tips her head back and cackles. "Oh Sammy! C'mon, wasn't that fun! We will be doing a lot worse later, so you better be able to handle it!"

I stare at her in disgust. "You kill people... To torture them after their dead?"

"Oh, no! No, no, no! I kill people for the pleasure of it. Old Delilah Smith here, well, she was Jamesy's wife! He took my life, so I took hers."

It takes a second for that to sink in. Valerie kills people, I knew that. She killed James's wife, I know that know. James's last name is McStefans, Delilah's was Smith. Something doesn't fit...

"Why dies she have the same last name as me?" I ask.

Valerie lights up, obviously waiting for this question. "Sammy, honey. Don't you recognize her? She's your grand mother! Your fathers mother!"

My father? But he's dead...wait. My father said something that night he died, or I guess I should say murdered. He mentioned something about a butterfly, and a curse I think. My two-year old years weren't very good at the time, but...but maybe Delilah had something to do with that? And what about the James part, about them being married. That doesn't mean...it can't...

"Come on Sammy! Lets keep going! I got a lot to show you! Valerie says suddenly, standing up.

"Show me what?" I ask, still thinking about Delilah and James and my dead dad.

Valerie grins, showing her pointy teeth. "You've heard Jamesy's side, now I'm going to show you my story."

She snarls her fingers around my arm and yanks me to my feet. "Hey! Don't touch me!" I yell, prying her fingers away.

"Oh, big deal! Now come on!" She says.

I get one last look at my 'long lost' grandmother before I'm pulled away.

"This next part's even better!" Valerie says, jumping up and down like a child. She drags me down a long corridor, one of which that appeared out of thin air. Three doors are stationed on either side of the hall. She's just about to open the first one when I stop her.

"Where exactly are we?" I ask, looking around.

"We're in the Nowhere, Sammy! It's a place for imagination, dreams, nightmares and people like me!"

"The Nowhere?" I laugh, "well that's a very descriptive name.

"Yes. It is." Valerie says, trying to end the subject. But I feel like annoying her a bit.

"So, what do you mean by "people like you"? Is this place, the Nowhere, only for mentally deranged serial killers?" I say slyly.

Valerie takes a breath. "You cannot anger me, Samantha. It will not work. Now come o-"

"Oh so now I'm Samantha? What happened to Sammy?"

"Samantha, I'm tired of your games, come on."

Before I can reply she grabs a lock of my hair and yanks me into the room. I let out a scream and she throws me into a wall.

"Little butterfly, your flying over a windy river. I'd watch myself if I were you."

She traces her finger down my neck, like she did to Delilah. I scowl at her and she smiles, "Shall we continue, Sammy?" She says somewhat bitterly.

"Whatever you want, psychopath." I smile back.

She moves away from me and I see the room for the first time. But I'm not sure if I want to. The walls and floor are strikingly white, like my clothing. There are blood stains scattered everywhere, creating a pattern of red on white. The only piece of furniture sits right in the middle of the room. It's a large, metal chair with hand cuffs on arms. A strange, blinking helmet sits above it. I can almost hear James telling me to run.

I back away slowly, in the direction of the door. But Valerie stops me with a cold hand on my back. "Not so fast, Sammy. I think it's time that you take a seat."

And she pushes me forward, onto the chair, and straps me in. All in the blink of my bright blue eyes.

"Let me out!" I demand, pulling at the restraints around my wrists.

She walks over to me and puts her face inches from mine. I can smell blood in her breath as she speaks.

"Hush now, butterfly. It's time for the real fun."

Before she can say anything else, the helmet comes down over my head, shrouding me into complete blackness. I try to shake it off but it won't budge. I can hear Valerie laughing, and then there's another voice, James?

I don't have enough time to tell who it is. Am immense pain stabs me in the heart and rips open my skin, setting it on fire. Razor blades slash across my neck and knives are plunged into my chest.

I don't know what happens next. I just go numb.

Completely

numb.