CHAPTER SIX
MISERY
It was this silence that had always managed to creep up to her despite the number of occasions that she had encountered it as a child. To her, what creatures and beings that the dark trapped in its never-ending void were merely just figments of her imagination. And how vivid it was! That this darkness was now staring at her, staring deep into her memories, looking into her soul, finding her vulnerabilities that were covered by her tough exterior.
It was this level of vulnerability that was now extending itself towards her feet, swindling around her feet, her ankles and knees, winding around her thighs, her hips, her waist and chest, then twisting its tendrils around her shoulders, her neck and then her mouth, the one tool that she could have used to escape this hell hole of hers. But funnily enough, if she had reacted quick enough, she could have run away. She could have run until her legs failed to function and her lungs tightened and failed to expand to let in anymore air. She could have run into the void of this darkness that she was trying to escape from and disappear.
That was how it felt to look into that creature's eyes. Its eyes were alluring enough to haunt her in her dreams and scare her out of her sleep. Enough to let the blood convulsing through her own veins and arteries to thicken against their walls and the glands of sweat dotted on her arms, legs and forehead to run into an overdrive where she was sent up from the cascade of pillows she had created to let out a shrilling scream. One that was sure to wake up the rest of the house and one that was sure to send her fears up to her mind, hitting those vulnerabilities. Because that tough exterior? That your exterior that she had built from fear had lost its foundations. She didn't know who she was anymore and it was scaring her.
So much that when Katherine had dashed into her room with worry scattering her face, she didn't reject the questions or nagging that she would often offer but instead unravelled right in front of her. For the first time, she had finally let herself cry after all those years of promising her mother that she was going to be brave in the face of danger. Those tears blotched her shirt and her sister's when she took the initiative to sit beside her, wrapping her arms around her like a mother would do with her child.
She was fine with that. She didn't want to remember her mother because of what she did to her. Because of how she left her in that forest all on her on and let her father sacrifice himself for their well-being. She didn't want to remember when her mother had tried to run away with her daughter and let herself get killed in the process. She didn't want to remember when Katherine, being the four year old she was had found her in those woods and asked her where her mother was because if she replied, she would burst into tears letting her remember those few scenes.
So she let herself forget those memories. She submitted them to her void and let them reminisce there. And they all came flooding back when Katherine held her like her mother did when she woke up from those terrible nightmares that she had as a child.
At the end of the day, Leo was right. About what? She wasn't sure. But all she knew was that Leo was right about her. And she just wasn't strong enough to do what her parents had done for her.
Only a few hours passed when Katherine had fallen asleep beside her, one arm still positioned awkwardly behind her head whilst the other was rested on her stomach. In those few hours, Roman had tossed and turned in both directions without letting her eyes closed. The image of those crimson eyes failed to submit to the void and disappear with those memories that she had discarded as well.
It had come to three o clock when she was scrolling through her contacts in the hopes of finding somebody that she could call. She didn't know Sanah well enough to spill out her thoughts and she was sure that Autumn was asleep at this time. When her finger hovered over the name, she wanted to refrain from pressing the green symbol but she was convinced that maybe he could have some words of guidance to give her.
