Chasing Chances // Minho

Old Wounds

Cabin 19
Somewhere Along the Coast
October 25th, 236

I strolled around the grove, relishing in the feeling of the soft grass beneath my feet. Reaching up and pulling an orange down, I began to peel it as I listened to the buzzing of the bees and the songbirds up in the trees. "Mallory." Came a voice on the breeze. I was chilled to the bone instantly as I looked around me. "Mallory." The voice called again.

"Mother?" I called back, looking behind me once more. She was nowhere to be seen.

"Come this way Mallory." Came her voice again, this time directly in front of me. Dropping the half peeled orange, I took off at a run through the grove. The sunshine beating down on me slowly vanished, and was replaced in the sky by dark storm clouds. "Mallory."

"Mom!" I shouted, twisting and turning through the trees. I don't know why I was running towards her. If anything, I should have run away but this didn't make sense. My mom couldn't be here. She was dead. She had to be dead. Even if she managed to escape the WICKED Facility, she wasn't immune. If she was still alive, she would be a Crank.

"Mallory." I stopped running. I had come to a break in the trees. My mother was standing in the middle of the grass, looking exactly as she did last time I saw her, from behind at least since she had her back to me. Her blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail, her white lab coat was immaculate and she stood in her black heels on the soft ground. It's something she would never do.

"Mom?" I whispered. Thunder cracked overhead. "Mom is that you?" I asked, approaching her slowly.

"Come here Mallory, let me look at you." But she didn't turn around, she didn't glance behind her and I grew uneasy as I walked towards her.

"Mom?" I whispered.

"It's me honey, come here." I was only steps away now. Soon I would be able to reach out and touch her. "Oh come on Mallory. Don't be shy. It's me. It's your mother." She stopped referring to herself as my mom a long time ago. She only called me her Daughter when she thought it might hurt me or benefit her in some way.

"Mom." I touched her shoulder and like a flash, she turned and jumped me. Half of her face was sunken in and rotting away, her left eye socket was dark and empty. The front of her shirt and lab coat was drenched in her own blood. Black veins raced across her face and arms. She snarled at me.

"You did this!" She screamed, trying to choke me. "You killed me. You killed your own mother!" I screamed as she leaned down to bite a chunk of my flesh off.

A scream nearly ripped through my throat as I sat up wildly in bed, my legs kicking the blanket off of me and rocking the makeshift mattress so badly that I woke Minho up. He sat up, startled as I tried to gain my bearings and remember where I was. "Hey, Hey. Malls." He said soothingly, touching my arm. I flinched away from him and immediately regretted it when I saw the look on his face. "Mallory, everything's fine. You're okay." He murmured as I stood and began to hyperventilate.

"I hated her Minho. I hated my mother."

"I know." He says softly but that's not what I mean.

"I hated my own mother." I cry out as he stands. "She was supposed to take care of me. She was supposed to love me unconditionally and I hated her." Before I could stop myself, I started to cry. "How could I hate the women who gave birth to me?" I asked. Minho tentatively reached out and touched my shoulder before I flung myself full force into his arms, hugging him tightly.

"Malls, it's okay. Your mother should've protected you but she didn't. It's okay to hate her." He said soothingly, wrapping his arms around me.

"I killed her Minho. She wasn't immune. When we destroyed WICKED, I killed her."