(Her) Divine Punishment

10 - Rebirth

         A story within a story. Stricken by regret, guilt and shame. The story was created and entwined by one with a demented mind, one who seeked have a hero stop at nothing for her as well. She hated the name Sophitia, just thinking about that name made her blood boil. That whore came and took away everything she had built on her own. A sense of serenity, a place where her mind could be at ease. Now, she feels like she had hit rock bottom. Blood was in her hands, a permanent mark at her inner insanity. At this point, there was no going back. But did she make these decisions on her own? Either way, the story she had been writing since her childhood was now finished; started at her youth, and ending at this very moment.

          The realm she was currently in was of a hollow red. Bloodshot eyes stared down at her from the walls and the ceiling. She could feel her body being suffocated by the blood veins that stretched from the flesh floors, coursing a familiar pain through her body. Trinity winced and struggled to get free from the ropes that restricted her movements, all while Demento stood in front of her, her lips forming a demented smirk.
         "Why do you try to keep yourself away? Why did you ignore this for so long, knowing that it'll eventually come back worse than before?" Demento asked, her voice mimicking that of Trinity's, though with a darker and more twisted form.
         Trinity's face lowered, her parted lips allowing a deep sigh to escape into the darkened world, "I don't know..."
         Demento grinned, stepping closer to Trinity as her face was close to her's, "I am the one, the only one who knows what you're going through. I represent your innermost thoughts. I am the symbolism of your hatred, your sadness, your self-destructive nature. But you don't have to feel this way anymore."
          Trinity's eyes lightened, her face lifting up to look at Demento with confusion, "How...?"
          "All you have to do is accept me." She answered as she turned around and took a few steps away, lifting her hand upward to make a rusted door appear in front of her, "Accept you for who you are, and allow me to fuse with you. That is the only way to rid yourself of this pain. Stop trying to be someone you are not, stop imagining a nonexistent hero who will come to save you. Only you can make this choice. After this- after accepting me and yourself, you will be reborn anew." Demento answered with a drifting whisper as she slowly walked into the darkness of where the door had led to, immediately letting the door close behind her.
          Once Demento had went away, the fleshed veins that held a strong grasp upon Trinity had let her go, dropping her onto the slimey ground where she would stand up as quick as she could, dusting herself of any ooze that came off the flesh flooring. Her eyes stared at the door, she felt her heart beat hasten, though she took a deep breath before she could feel herself panic.
          "Accept... Myself?" She whispered, walking to the door and placing her hand on the rusted doorknob.
          Turning the doorknob slowly, a loud creak sound had gone off as the door was pulled open, making more creak noises as the door swung open slowly. Taking a step into the dark room, a dim light came on with its resource being a small lantern being lit in the ceiling above her. The door immediately closed with a strong force, slamming closed as loud as possible which startled Trinity, especially when the doorknob had fallen off and hit the floor, making it impossible to go back.
          Panting, the sound of the rolling doorknob echoed down the hallway, rolling past her and into the darkness. The sound kept going and going, almost like the hallway was infinite. Suddenly, it stopped and the sound of a loud scary hiss came fron way down the hall. Trinity gasped, but she decided to keep walking forward anyway, where else was she to go?
          Another three steps forward signaled another lantern to switch on, along with the echoes of voices;
          "Why the hell didn't you make me dinner already!?" The shouts from Tatum roared through the hallway, making Trinity shut her eyes and cover her ears, "Useless! How the hell did I end up with someone like you!?" The voices of the flashbacks stunned Trinity and made her body shake like nothing before. She moved her head to the side, almost like she was anticipating an attack after hearing the shouts. But instead of Tatum, a disfigured Trinity crawled toward her from on the ceiling. She had long black hair, hair that seemed like it moved by itself, and crimson red eyes, the same red that stained the walls and the floor. Trinity immediately grabbed her handgun and shot at the disfigured Trinity, blasting off it's left cheek.
          The creature grunted and hissed violently as the long black hair reached toward her and grabbed Trinity by her throat, attempting to strangle her. But Trinity was just able to aim her gun up to the head of the creature to blast off its head. Trinity fell to the ground and coughed roughly, holding onto her neck as she stood up in a daze. She began to walk as she stumbled upon the side wall, allowing another lantern to light up dimly above her.
          "What do you even mean? I know you'd kill me the second you had the chance. You see, doc? This woman is crazy. She craves attention in the form of bloody violence. Hell, she's even attempted suicide a couple of times when I didn't have the time to give her my attention. Pathetic, isn't it?" The voice of Tatum echoed through the halls again, the grunt of the doctor in the background, "I-... I didn't try to kill myself!" Trinity screamed in a response, her voice now echoing through the hallway, "Is that so? Then do you care to tell me what happened that night? The night your wrists were found to be slashed by razor blades." The deepened voice of the doctor now echoed through the hallway, followed by him clearing his throat as he turned some pages, "Don't you say anything..." Tatum whispered to Trinity, even his whisper echoed through the darkness.
          "Tatum..." Trinity whispered to herself as she looked up to the warmth of the light above her, "Were you really such a bad person...?"
          She continued on, leaning along the hallway as more lanterns switched on as she progressed. Every now and then she would have to sit down and take a breather. It seemed like days, weeks, maybe even a month had passed since she traverse through this hall of nothingness. The flashbacks seemed to get worse as she progressed, they were all showing the symbolism of her relationship with Tatum, her inner feelings about him. Her body shook uncontrollably, her vision blurred; she felt like her soul was being ripped from her rotting body, like she needed to find a way to extract herself from this meaningless shell, but there was nothing. No rope, no blades, just her handgun which had one bullet left inside.
          Eventually Trinity fell to the ground in exhaustion. Her heavy breathing melting into the ground, and she felt as though she was going to pass out. But an immediate pain was felt along her hair as she was pulled up by her hair by a figure that replicated Tatum.
          "A-Ahhh!" Trinity screamed as she tried to pulled away from her predator.
          Tatum grinned, his apparent injuries that brought upon his death were still there. Numerous knife stabbings and the top right of his face was beaten in, blood and brain fragments slid from his face.
          "Even though I'm dead, that won't keep me away from you, you dumb bitch." He spoke intimidatingly as he threw her against the wall. "I knew you'd end up killing me one way or another, I got to the point where I anticipated it days upon days prior!"
          "You're... You're dead though...!" Trinity screamed as she backed away from him, holding her gun close to her.
          "You think that'll change anything? I abused you mentally and physically every day, I traumatized you. I will always be on your mind in this manner. I'm not going away. And in your demented mind I rule over you."
          "Stay away! Please!" She screamed as she aimed her gun at Tatum.
          "Ha!" Tatum laughed, his voice growing more and more demented as he laughed on, "You really think that gun will save you? Here of all places?"
          As he laughed, his body started to transform, spreading throughout the walls as his body would mimic the crimson red on the walls and the floor. His head would materialize from the floor just behind her, with darkness in his eyes. His arms materialized from the ground as well, much bigger and tougher than normal human fists looked physically.
          Trinity began to run down the hallway as fast as she could, running from the demented Tatum as his body matter chased after her in a quick haste, looking as though the top of his head was under the crimson red flooring as he traveled. The dimmed lanterns that had lit up behind her began to darkened, though as she traveled on, the lanterns guided her to the right path. She could stay in the darkness with Tatum, or this imagery of him. This malevolent force was too strong for her, strong enough to give her the most painful migraine she had ever felt.
          From the exhaustion and the painful migraine, Trinity's body went numb and she fell to the ground just in front of another door, perhaps the door that would help her escape this personal hell of her's. Tatum gained traction to her. He rose up from the crimson red flesh floor and overshadowed her from above as she cowered toward the door. And then a bright light.

          "Trinity, tell me the truth." Doctor Stein asked her. The bright light reflected from the window for a few moments before allowing her to see properly. The doctor sat down in front of her, setting aside his packet of notes on his subject, "You can tell me, I won't write any of this down. He... He hurt you, didn't he?"
          Trinity panted heavily and held onto her chest, looking down at her lap. It took her a few moments before her head would nod slowly, "... Yes..."
          "Physically or mentally? Perhaps even sexually?" Stein asked.
          "... All..." Trinity answered hesitantly, quickly looking back at the door that would lead to the hallway where Tatum impatiently awaited.
          "Don't worry about him, Trinity. You won't need to go back to him anymore. We can call the police and have him taken away this very moment. But I need you to agree to this.
          "I... I love him though..." Trinity whispered as her body shook more so.
          Doctor Stein sighed, "I understand, but you can't be with someone who treats you like this. Especially with your condition. He's taking your mental state for granted. Trinity, he will be the one who'll kill you, not you. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you, it is him. Now I need you to really think about this-"
          Trinity slowly looked up at him, tearing filling her eyes as she listened, "Yes...?"
          "Can you truly live in a world without him? Do you wish to help yourself get better and no longer suffer? Or do you want to keep him around and await for the inevitability? What is it that you truly want, Trinity? Please... I only want to help you get better."
          Trinity slowly looked down at the palms of her hands as her fists opened up. A teardrop fell gracefully onto the palm, followed by several more. Her hands would not make a fist in pure anger. Instead her head rose up and she would take in a deep breath, letting out her inner and trapped emotions. Though her mouth moved, she wasn't able to speak because she had grown breathless.
         The doctor smiled and stood up, placing his hand on her shoulder, "You made the right choice, Trinity."
         Trinity looked beside at his hand, smiling as her head lent on his hand in comfort.

          The demented Tatum began to scream viciously. The flesh had begun to sizzle and bubble up beneath her. Trinity quickly stood up and watched as Tatum was slowly melting.
          "How could you...!? I loved you! Get your fucking hands off of me!" Tatum screamed the last thing Trinity remembered him saying before he was forcefully taken by the police in custody.
          Trinity stood and lent back against the wall, holding her chest as she shut her eyes and took a deep breath. The walls and the floors were now replaced with a calming dark blue color, and the exiting door had slowly opened with the same creaking sounds as the last door she opened.
          Trinity hesitantly peered into the room, spotting a very large orb in the room with distinct memories of Trinity's life playing within the orb at a rapid speed. She recognized the events of her marriage with Tatum, her writing her book from her childhood, the random outbursts of Tatum, even her numerous suicide attempts.
          "This is you, Trinity." Demento's voice spoke through the orb, "You chose to forget Tatum and accept who you are by remembering what made you allow Tatum to be taken away. You've been free from him all these years but you chose to remember him with lies, allowing him to abuse you in his grave."
          "Yes... I know." Trinity whispered as she placed her hand on the glass orb,  watching the events play out.
          "There were many lies. You did not truly kill him. You imaged yourself killing him because you had so much anger built up inside you, am I correct? The fact shows that Tatum was killed in prison by a gang of prisoners. Do you remember learning about that?"
          "I... I actually do remember receiving a letter about that..." Trinity's voice increased in volume as the memory of her killing Tatum and Sophitia vanished. "I hated him, more than anyone I ever knew. But I was desperate because he was the only person there, the only person he'd allow me to get close with. I was afraid of being alone."
          "You don't have to be alone anymore."