Out of the Darkness

Anna's POV 77

The pain was unbearable. I remembered Colby's face. I was with him, having an amazing night. Then the Darkness came for me. I tried to fight it but I didn't know how. I felt my soul being torn back into it's emptiness, ripping me from the mortal world. My insides had felt like they were on fire, a searing hot pain starting in my chest, then spreading out into my entire body. I kept my eyes locked on Colby, not wanting to leave, knowing that I didn't have a choice. Then there was nothing. Only pain and emptiness. It was quiet here, except for my screams when the pain would get to be to much to bear. It wasn't constant now, just every now and then. The silence, the emptiness, it was like a blessing after the pain I had just experienced. I knew that I was here, in the Darkness, the empty, but I couldn't feel my body. I was just a consciousness now, but I knew what it was like to have a body, so my reactions mirrored that knowledge. I tried to look around with my imaginary eyes, to see anything, or anyone...but there was nothing. Only emptiness. A black void, leading down a never ending hallway. I relished in it, hoping that it would stay, scared of what I knew would come. I had pissed off the Darkness. I could feel her anger when she came for me. Anger for me somehow escaping, even for just a little while. I knew that she was more angry that she couldn't feel me at one time. That I had truly escaped, and she didn't know how to find me. Then I started to become clearer to her, the connection that she had to me strengthening. I knew this because we were connected somehow. In the Darkness, when she pulled me in, I could feel everything that she had or was feeling. It was an overwhelming feeling, but it gave me a little hope. I knew that I had truly escaped...but how? What made the connection disappear? I thought about it, chewing on my imaginary bottom lip with my imaginary teeth. Could it be...Colby? Was he the reason that our connection had broken for a little while? What brought it back? These were the things that I was thinking about, as I floated in the empty space between life and death. The pain was steady but bearable, like an annoying buzzing sound that wouldn't go away. "Annnaaaa" I sucked in a deep breath when I heard the snarling whisper of my name. She was here. "You thought you could leeeave meee?" The voice continued. "You can never leave Annnnna. You will always be miiine." I shivered, feeling the cold breath of death on the back of my imaginary neck. I heard the the Darkness suck in a deep, cold breath, then the pain started again. The deep, unbearable pain. The searing hot, ripping pain. I screamed, clenching my imaginary fists and gritting my teeth against the pain. I wanted to die. To die again. To be completely erased from existance. Anything would be better than this torture. A white hot, searing pain shot through my chest, ripping me open, clawing from the inside out. If I had a body, I knew that I would be crying. I couldn't take it. It was too intense, too loud, too painful. If I had to compare it to something, I think that it felt like having open heart surgery, but being fully aware of everything going on, as they ripped out your organs to sell on the black market. "Colby," I whimpered, wanting someone to help me, to save me. The sadistic whisper laughed, a cackling sound that seemed to crack through the thick air in the Darkness. "He can't help you now. He never could. Silly girl, I would never let anyone take you from me. Especially not a stupid man." I whimpered again, then screamed as the pain ripped along my spine, making my imaginary body buckle under it. This was the most the Darkness had ever spoken to me. Usually, it was just the pain, a little laughter at my expense, then She would leave me there, coping through it all myself, until she would do it all over again. This was my punishment for leaving. She was antagonizing me, teasing me with the knowledge that I had thought that I had escaped, but in the end, She had won. She would always win. "Why-" I broke off, hissing out a breath through my teeth as pain shot through me. "Why are you doing this? What are you getting from it? What are you doing to me?" I groaned, trying to get any information that I could. My breath was coming in quick gasps, my imaginary body trying to deal with the unimaginable pain that I was experiencing. "Because I can," She answered, laughing a little. "You see, dear Anna, I need you. You're special." I saw something start to form in the Darkness, a figure, a shadow. I watched it completely form, turning into a beautiful young woman, with long red hair, thick and shining. Eyes as green as mine, emeralds shining in the darkness. She was wearing a white slip of a dress, the silk looking like a waterfall cascading down her body. "Aren't I beautiful Anna?" I didn't answer, holding my breath, scared of what was to come. Then pain shot through my body again, starting at the back of my neck, splitting my spine, burning a line down my back. "ANSWER ME!" She demanded, holding up her fingers, like she was about to snap. "YES!" I yelled back, falling to my knees. I was unable to bear it any longer. I was finished. I wanted to die, to go into the nonexistent, part of the emptiness that surrounded me.