The Anomaly Affliction

Thirty

TRIGGER WARNING: this is basically just quite a fucked up chapter

Where am I sitting?

Everything's getting less and less fuzzy. Focusing.

Finally the world's in focus. I look around. I'm in...my bedroom. On the chair at my desk. My curtains are closed. It's nighttime. I can smell something...cinnamon?

"You're home," a voice says.

I turn to my open bedroom door. It's Lake. She's standing in the light, smiling at me, with that new half-green-half-blonde hair of hers. She's here. I'm finally with her.

"I've been waiting for you for such a long time," she says, closing my bedroom door behind her. "You were gone for so long."

"I'm sorry," I tell her.

She doesn't say anything. Her smile fades. Slowly she goes to sit on the end of my bed.

"A lot happened while you were away," Lake says.

"What happened?"

She looks away from me. "They hurt me."

"Who did?"

Lake starts to look more and more traumatised.

"They hurt me," she repeats, a tear rolling down her cheek. "They hurt me over and over. They hurt me because they wanted to know where you were."

She starts to sob and scratch the back of her neck. I want to comfort her, but I feel glued to my chair.

"Where were you, Violet?" she cries, staring at me helplessly. "Why did you let them hurt me?"

"I'm sorry," I say again, more desperate this time. "I shouldn't have left. I was just thinking of myself. I'll never let them do anything to you again..."

"It's too late now!" she yells. "I needed you! I needed you and you weren't there. How could you do that to me? After everything we've been through together?"

"Lake, I'm sorry!" I start to cry too, but I still can't move. My body feels too heavy.

Lake continues to cry and cry until she gradually starts to calm down. She wipes her face with her sleeves, sniffling, and eventually the tears have stopped. Hearing her cry was becoming unbearable. Then she just sits there, staring at the floor, looking...broken.

And it's because of me.

"If I'd never met you, none of this would have happened," she says with a defeated voice. "I wouldn't have been put through this."

She stands up and looks down at me.

"I'm going to die, Violet," she says.

I frown. "What do you mean?"

"I'm going to die," she repeats. "And you are responsible."

She walks over to my bedside table and picks up a knife. Why is there a knife there? What is she going to do with it?

"Lake, what are you..."

She holds the knife up to her throat and presses the blade against her skin.

"NO!"

I try to jump out of my seat but something blocks me from getting up. I look down. There are binds around my wrists and ankles. No...I can't let her do this...

"LAKE!"

She looks me dead in the eyes.

"Goodbye, Violet."

And she slits her throat.

I scream in horror. I can't look. I can't look. I can't look.

I hear her fall to the ground.

She died she died she died she died she died.

And I am responsible.

I can't look. I can't speak. I can't even breathe. I feel like I'm going to be sick.

"Wow, Violet," says a man's voice.

I turn my head and see Harrison, Vic, Nova, X and Cage all standing by my bedroom door, looking at me with pitiful gazes.

"Another one?" Harrison continues. "Why is it that you're ruining the lives of everyone you care about?"

I can't...can't speak. Can't breathe.

"It's like you destroy everything you touch," Cage adds disdainfully.

"Why couldn't you have just died when you tried to?"

I should have...

Believe me, I should have...

Suddenly I hear voices coming from all different directions. I look around. Everyone I know is standing around me. The dead Lake. Harrison. Nova. Vic. X. Cage. Mum. Dad. President Curtis. Dylan. My classmates. My teachers. My doctor. Even me.

They're all talking at me. They don't stop.

"You should've died."

"You're an anomaly."

"You're a murderer."

"No friends."

"You've got nothing."

"Waste of life."

"Coward."

"You're a weakness to our society."

"You ruined Lake."

"Lake never loved you."

"You shouldn't have been born."

"All you do is hurt people."

I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. Please, someone make this stop. Make it fucking stop.

Please.

I can't take it...

PLEASE -