Smolder

Chapter 9 :

The tunnel was, obviously, dark and stuffy. The sound of scurrying feet was the only proof Russell and Vivi weren't alone. Roughly a hundred people in the tunnel with them but the only voices were occasional whispers. Some people were crying.

The sound of thunder from up on the ground was muffled before coming to their ears. Dirt and pebbles occasionally fell on their heads and made Russell suspicious if the tunnel would hold or not.

Vivi's hand was cold around his. She didn't let go even after entering the tunnel. Perhaps she was worried Russell would run off and kill himself again.

Her grip was unnecessarily tight. Her fingernails dug into his skin. He thought about telling her to loosen it, but then he felt her hands trembling.

Okay, a little longer, then.

The last time her hands were around his was yesterday, at the coal pit, when his hands were around her throat. Back then they were cold and wet too, griping to pry his hands off. They clawed and pulled at his fingers.

Russell knew what that felt like. He remembered the feeling of trying to slip his fingers into a huge muscular hand, trying to pry those fingers open from his throat. His vision darkening. The veins in his head getting hammered to his skull like nails. His heart pounding like hooves on his chest. Eyes shut, he could still hear that nervous Glee in  the deep, broken voice, as if it was disgusted of itself for feeling that way.

That's it. Go to sleep, honeybunch. Go to sleep...

The voice amped up and down, like the image of a coin under rippling water.

That was somebody else. You don't have to worry about it anymore, he chided to himself.

Was it? Something chided from the back of his head, slowly emerging from the black currents of his secrets, something he didn't know he had inside him

How did it feel? Didn't you like being on the other side of it? The voice slithered like a snake, rough scales grinding against his brain, exposing bloody images of the past.

But it was what's necessary. It had to be done to protect Vivi Russell spoke back.

it doesn't matter why you did it. What matters is you enjoyed it, said the other voice.

Or was it another?

Or was it just Russell?

You.

It was almost a tangible sensation, so close to being real Russell almost heard it. He got goosebumps.

The other voice was worryingly silent.

The crying in the tunnel had stopped. The occasional whispers had become rarer. The thunders above had subsided.

The tunnel was pitch black but it wasn't that hard to find a way because the tunnel went absolutely straight. And the ground was clean. It was a surprisingly well made tunnel.

Russell looked back out of basic human nature.

Two glowing yellow eyes looked back at him, only a foot behind.

Russell almost did a backflip.

Then he looked again, in the light that has no source, it was the Lycanthrope girl. She was looking down up until now. As Russell looked at her, she looked up to meet his eyes.

Russell saw, in the light that was becoming clearer now, her sunken eyes. She had been crying. The echoing words that voice had said in his mind seemed to be fading.