The Fawx Bite

XXXI.

One night – when they had been children – and not long after Viola had first lost her sight. Almost every night, Viola had begun to have nightmares. Sometimes she simply woke up with a pounding heart, other times she woke up crying. And then there were nights where she woke up violently and terror seized her heart when she opened her eyes and only blackness greeted her. Those were the times where she screamed.

And this was before their parents died.

Scarlet had taken up to sharing a bed with Viola. They had started sharing a room almost immediately after Liane had disappeared. It wasn't until the nightmares that her sister had begun crawling under the covers with her. Whenever Viola had a nightmare, Scarlet would slowly stir into wakefulness. She would wrap her arms around her. Holding her close so that she only felt warmth and love. While she was holding her, Scarlet would tell her stories. Some real, some false. Some were genuine stories while others were more epic poem types, and then sometimes it was pure foolishness that she spouted. But it helped Viola calm down.

There was one night, where the dream was worse than usual. And not because of anything overly scary. It touched a sensitive spot with her. She had been walking through a dark forest, with trees stretching towards the stars– in her dreams she could see – and there in front of her was a little girl. She was in a red coat, kneeling in the mud. It must have rained recently. Viola paused, wondering if the girl was lost as she was. She was about to say something when the little girl turned to look at her. She paused for a moment, staring at Viola. And a slow, dawning horror began to color her face. And then she screamed and ran away. Stunned, Viola didn't know what to do. She walked forward as if to chase down the girl but then she stopped when she saw a puddle. She looked down to see her reflection. Horror stabbed her in her heart. Her face...her face was monstrous.

She had woken up screaming. Scarlet rolled over and hugged her, pulling her close and letting her cry into her hair. "Shh," Scarlet whispered as she cried. "I know it doesn't seem like it, but guess what? One day you're going to be able to stand on your own. Someone will try to hold you back. They'll try to drag you down. But you have to stand strong, even when you're at your weakest. And you'll have to shake them off."

"How can I shake them off when I can't even see who has ahold of me?" Viola asked, struggling to swallow the hiccups.

"You don't need to see who the are. If you simply have the will to stand up, anyone trying to hold you down will never be able to." Scarlet stroked her hair. And despite the simple words, it had always stuck with Viola. Encouraging her to push herself. In school, she got straight A's. In her personal life, it helped her achieve a brown belt in martial arts along with her taking a chance with Bruce.

Now as Viola blinked, she realized that for the first time in nearly a decade, she was able to see. The grass that was barely growing beneath their feet. The older house that looked as though it was barely standing, other than the steel door that lead outside. There was a road a little over a mile away that stood empty of cars. Directly in front of her was Scarlet, covered in more blood than clothing. Her face ashen. Her hands were covering her ears in a desperate attempt to hide. And only a few feet from her was Stoker. Slowly, he was struggling to get to his feet. Clutching his stump of an arm to his stomach.

Forcing any feeling aside, Viola walked past Scarlet and came to a halt in front Stoker. She could feel the pulsing energy within her veins, something more powerful than the blood that had touched her tongue from Scarlet. It felt similar to the hum of New York. The energy that wrapped around everyone in the city. It was an amazing feeling and it gave Viola a touch of confidence. Even in the face of her greatest enemy.