A Touch Of Lightning (COMPLETED!)

Chapter 56 Breaking Links 3

Chapter 56 Breaking Links 3

That memory, that darkest day, flashed through her mind in less than an eye blink. That memory was the core reason why she had rejected the link to Callin. And the twins had experienced it with her. Every last heart-bleeding second of it.

Carmen completely lost her grip on her power, not even noticing it trickling through the fingers of her control like water through a thin cloth. She backed away from the twins, her face pale and her body beginning to tremble, her slow steps almost clumsy. The magnitude of what she had just revealed to Callin and the twins was welling up inside her like the bars of a cage that knew no limit.

The twins accepted Callin at that same moment. The fire-storm of blue, bio-electric power around them ceased instantly, and they opened their eyes, locking Carmen in their depths. Carmen opened her mouth, shaking her head slowly back and forth, but no sound came out.

Jesse spoke first. She held out her hands calmingly, like she was addressing a small, terrified creature.

"You did what you had to do, Carmen. It's ok. We understand." She said softly.

Carmen didn't hear her. She was growing more panicked by the moment. How could she face them now? How could she ever face Callin again? Her world had just unraveled. She had killed those people. She had killed and she had enjoyed it.

It didn't matter to her that she knew her own powers wouldn't have worked like they did that day unless she hadn't truly believed they all had needed to die.

That dark, ugly truth laid its filthy, skeletal fingers across her consciousness, cutting deep by force of its wrongness.

She was not a warrior, she was not one to hurt others. It was incomprehensible to imagine that someone needed to die. She had gone against her very nature that day. She had killed a part of herself, a warm, loving, innocent part, an inner piece that defined her to herself. And she had been living a lie ever since, acting as if that didn't matter. As if she didn't need that part of her to go on living. And now Callin and the twins knew this. They knew it exactly as surely as she did, having been there in her mind that very day, through her memories.

"Carmen. You aren't responsible for that. It's not your fault." Jen whispered, tears beginning to streak down her face.

She had her arms wrapped around her midsection, was holding herself tightly, feeling like she might shatter like a statue made of fractured crystal. Both her and Jesse had went through a very similar experience years ago. Carmen's memories, her past, had cut very deep indeed.

Carmen spun and fled, her sobs tearing up from the very center of her, making her stumble as she ran, making the world a blurry, twisted, confused image with no bearing on her own reality. What was this place? Her thoughts scattered about as she ran through the huge, front doors on the mansion.

Her eyes skittered around as she ran, not really seeing anything, her mind barely functioning enough to keep her from running headlong into things. All she knew was that she needed to be alone, she needed to run and hide, hide deep where she couldn't be found.

She made it into the woods before a new horror rose up before her, stealing all strength from her limbs, dropping her to the forest floor in a helpless heap. Callin had felt her reject him. He knew she had rejected him. He knew everything about her past.

She buried her face in her hands, her agony muffled but still giving away her position. She choked back the tearing sobs, curling into a tiny ball close to the roots of a pine tree, biting her lip fiercely in an attempt to hold back the sound of her misery. She had to be utterly silent here. Otherwise they would find her. She was a terrified little girl again, hiding under her bed, shaking like a mouse waiting for those dreaded footsteps.