With Those You Love

Her.

 "Doesn't it feel great?"

You freeze at the words uttered by the intruder. You try to spin around but your feet fail you. You glance around the room in front of you. The voice seems to get closer. Footsteps come closer, and closer until they stop some ways behind you.

"Don't you recognize my voice?"

Your body fails to respond to your demands.  You're completely frozen.  The footsteps slowly circle around you, finally stopping in front of you. It's her.

You sputter, "I thought you- I thought I-," as your breath hitches.

"But here I am," she smiled innocently. She looked into the inside of your mind. Brain. Soul.

You open your mouth but she interrupts your thoughts.

"Remember that day? I remember that day clearly. Do you?"

You shake your head fervently as you stumble over your feet, backing away.

She giggles, "I'm not going to hurt you. Don't you remember me?"

Your body begins to tremble with agony. You try to calm your nerves as you utter your thoughts, "Why are you here? Why are you doing this to me?"

"Why am I here? I thought it was obvious," she giggles, "To help you remember of course."

You narrow your eyes at her as you spit out the words, "Don't you dare. Sedina, don't you dare."

Before you can move out of the way, she grabs your arm tightly and you feel yourself fall. You trail away. You feel the grass growing over your face. Feel yourself sinking into the earth. You clutch at the grass. It twists and tears in your hands and the dew feels like blood. You feel a hand on your shoulder. Before you can act, the hand pulls you out of your trance, and into another one. You fall to your knees, head pounding, arms aching. Something cold is touching your fingers. Your skin tingles. Blinking, you stand up, scrubbing your begrimed clothes and your filthy hands. Looking back at the ground, you back away from the cold object immediately. Pale, shriveled humans sleep forever on the floor. Pipes run from their heads into iron barrels. Something urges you to take a step closer to the barrel. You do. You peek into the barrel, your eyes absorbed into the batch of vivid black color. Your throat goes dry as you feel yourself sink into the thick, sable substance. You try to control yourself by stepping away from the barrel but to no avail. The unquenchable thirst drives you insane. Without holding back, you take a sip of the batch. Your throat clenches as the substance falls through your body. You feel colors erupt in your mind, a bouquet of drowning, an intense taste of injustice, and an aftertaste of betrayal. You can't believe all the times you sided with her. Thinking that she was right. Thinking that she was your friend. How she killed them. They were your family. Anger continues to boil up within you until you can't keep it bottled up any longer. Everything goes red. All you feel is hot anger and most of all betrayal. All of a sudden, the ground breaks beneath you. In panic, you try to grasp onto anything near you, but they are just out of reach. Clenching your fists, you squeeze your eyes shut as you feel yourself fall through the earth.