The Last Theiro

30

Tessa
•••

I felt her fingers dig into my cheek, the four blackened ovals that would remain and discolour my skin long after the blood had dried from my veins.

My scream was stifled. I could hear her panting, the pleasure in her breath, like an animal in heat.

She did not speak, no need to tell me not to fight, to make a sound. Her fingers did all the work. Cling, hook, crush, threatening to unhinge my very jaw if another sound were to leave my lips. That was how I was to remain, silent.

Her hands tightened around my arms, pausing my blood flow, and I was flung to the floor. My head hit the edge of the bed and I crumbled to the floor in defeat, my hands clutching tightly onto the edge of the bed, trying to cower into the corner of the room.

"Cassia..." I whimpered helplessly. "I'm sorry." Broken sobs fell from my mouth.

Cassia gripped my hair and tilted my head back, her eyes gazing into mine with loathsome and hatred. "You weren't supposed to go out into the forest, Tessa," she seethed through clenched teeth.

The back of her hand stung me across my cheek and the emotional pain cut my breath short. In seconds Cassia had wounded her fingers into my hair and shoved my face into the wooden planks of the floor over and over until my blood splattered the high-end gadgets, walls and her clothes alike.

But something didn't feel right. Cassia wasn't like that. She would never hurt me.

It wasn't real.

I tried to convince myself but the more Cassia's hands pounded against my flesh, I began to think otherwise.

"This isn't real," I muttered through a mouth full of blood.

"You are weak and naive!" Cassia screamed and she gripped my face, forcing me to look up at her.

"You're not real." I swallowed dryly and clenched my jaw and fists to stop my body from shivering from the fear within.

Cassia threw her head back and laughed. "I never loved you, Tessa. Do you know why?" She smiled, her tongue running slowly over her teeth, her eyes gleaming with disdain. "You are not worthy of love. You destroy lives. You destroyed my life."

"Why are you doing this?" I whispered, my voice too weak to go an octave higher.

She didn't reply. Instead, she dragged the nail of her finger across my neck and I closed my eyes when they planted themselves firmly into my skin. I was cold. I couldn't move my tongue. It was stuck inside my mouth, useless. My heart hardened in my chest like a big stone.

"Cassia, stop. Please."

It was as if I hadn't spoken.

Silently, I prayed for her to stop. If only I could have gotten up and ran away. But that was a nightmare and you can't run from your nightmares, your demons. My entire body had turned to stone.

I screwed my eyes shut and let my body sink down to the ground. She's not real. My teeth bit into my lip and my chest fell and rose with my rapid breathing. "Please..." I sobbed. "Go away." My voice was a whimper, an insight to my fear and anguish.