THE BOY WHO RETURNED
CHAPTER 4 (unedited)
A U D R I C
For a moment I stood there transfixed, there was a black canvas in front of my eyes even though I could feel they were wide open. I waited for it to vanish, to disperse and get my vision back but dread filled me when after many terrified moments, nothing changed.
With panic blooming in my chest, I tried to trudge forward but I tripped over my own feet and lost balance. I heard the swoosh of wind loud in my ears before I flew ahead and felt my head collide with the last step of our porch.
Searing pain shot in the side of my head and I let out a loud wail. On instinct, my hands traveled to my forehead and I felt a thick liquid coat my fingers.
Damn
Groaning, I tried to sit up straight, fumbling all the while trying to get my hands on some support. I blinked rapidly as I tried to ignore the stabbing pain in my head. I could feel my blood pouring out and the burning sensation on the skin that had received the hit.
I still could not see.
Soon after fear creeped in and I found my heart thundering in my chest, my anxiety grew in large scales.
What is happening to me? Why can't I see anything? How the heck did I lose my eyesight?!
I rubbed my eyes desperately feeling helpless and scared. Warmth spread on my cheeks and I was sure my blood had smeared across half of my face. The pain wasn't dwindling and my entire body felt like it was on fire.
Suddenly, a new sharp pain emerged in the side of head and soon it spread across my entire head like wildfire. I felt like someone was squeezing the insides of my brain and wrenching the life out of them. My mouth opened to scream, but no voice came out.
I clutched my head and felt like pulling it apart, the pain was unbearable. My blood had got hot and my limbs shook, my muscles screamed in agony.
Someone please help me!
Just when I thought my body would give up, that I would pass out from the exhaustion, the pain reduced gradually and with it my vision was greeted with bright spots of multiple colors. There was a swarm of blotches and I could feel myself soaring through them, traveling with the speed of light.
My trembling hands dug into the ground. I could hear the wind in my backyard, my heart beating wildly, I could even smell the scent of wet soil and the new paint and yet my eyes weren't showing anything around me.
I waited for it to end, for those embellishments to go away so I could be back again in my backyard but the colors in front of me refused to leave.
My brain was definitely not functioning properly.
My throat felt constricted, my lungs burdened as I took deep breaths. My head had started to hurt from the brightness that was increasing in intensity. Like fireworks in sky, they exploded into one another and the next thing is see before me, shook to me in every way.
I was in the middle of a forest, surrounded by countless trees, I could see the rain pouring down hard on the forest floor beneath me. I was desperately shaking my head from left to right trying to figure out where I had suddenly landed.
The forest was dark and gloomy, I couldn't see any soul near me and the pelting of rain continued, not slowing down at all, worry took toll on me and I began moving my legs around. I scanned each and every direction as far as my eyes allowed, but I was all alone.
Soon, I found myself speeding through the woods, desperately trying to get out from here. My legs seemed to work at an incredible pace, my eyes always flickered in both directions to look out for something, anything other than trees.
After a minute of running with my breath high, I found a clearing and my legs slowed down. Exactly, in the middle of the clearing stood an old trunk cut three feet above the ground. It was giant, it's girth size greater than any normal tree. It's top was a creamy color with fine brown concentric circles lying on the entire area.
I looked around but no one was present and so I left as hurriedly add I came there. I ran with all my might, the trees disappeared from my vision so fast like I was riding a sports car.
As if a force had pulled me back, I slowed down and when I turned right, there stood a cottage. A cottage that passed for being the den of a mafia. Dark and shabby from the outside, the windows were black.
An overwhelming feeling invaded my heart as if my intuition kicked in, the more I looked at the cottage, less palatable became idea of going towards it. So, I took an involuntarily step back, one after another and soon I was sprinting in the opposite direction.
My ears hurt, the rain never stopped, my eyes strained so much to see. I desperately hoped to find a way out of this vortex.
A warm sensation filled my stomach and my head whipped to the side and that's when I notice it.
It was another clearing and near the foot of the border trees, someone lay still. My legs work without being told to and in moments I'm looking at the person.
My breath gets caught in my throat as I look in front of me, a girl few years elder to me, was sprawled on the ground. Her white dress was dark red and under the thundering rain, her face was hidden by her black hair.
Something pricks my heart at the sight and a gasp leaves my mouth. Unknowingly, my steps waver and I'm falling down on my knees. A big wave of nostalgia washes over and my hands come to cover a cry that threatens to crumble me to pieces.
She is just inches away, covered in her blood and unknown to me, yet I could feel the whirlpool of several emotions inside me and the most prominent one was sadness.
I felt cold, so cold and not just because of the water hitting me but something else in my heart that had broken. Like an age long bond.
I looked up at the pouring sky with eyes burning.
The sound of twigs moving stirred me and I look down. A person in dark clothing had appeared in front of me, his back to me, he crouched down on the ground before the girl with his head bowed. His broad shoulders shook and again I felt a connection to this man sitting right in front of me.
He looked so familiar.
He was trembling with grief and so was I but that didn't last long, my entire head explodes with a strong increasing emotion.
Anger.
The girl was murdered and even though I didn't know who she was, I felt the anger justified. The man in front of me rises slowly and when he is standing upright he turns towards me and I had never been more shocked in my entire life then I was at the moment.
With eyes red and anger brewing on face, I watched as my father looked down upon me. His entire face was crumpled in a combination of grief and anger. He looked at the girl again and when his eyes met mine, I was frozen. I could not process what was happening.
I simply stared at him as our emotions followed sync. I looked at the girl. Her strong arms held battle scars, the wounds on her stomach were half filled.
My heart hurt looking at her.
But who was she?
As I looked up at my father, his eyes looked glazed as if holding back tears. He met my gaze with a strong face.
"Find them. I won't leave them alive for doing this to her." He gritted out and again his face changed to pure rage and he suddenly turned around and sped away.
I wanted to shout and ask him what was happening but I couldn't do anything. I was frozen on my spot.
When my head bowed low to look at the ground. I couldn't raise my hands, I couldn't stand up on my will, I couldn't speak and I was aggitated with it.
Suddenly, I move towards the girl and as I raise my hands, a cold shudder passed down my spine when I realise these hands look nothing like mine.
They weren't my hands.
Slowly, the hands move, brushing her hair aside and shielding her face from the rain. Her skin is cold, pale and when I move her face to look at her, another shock greets me.
Her triangular face and dark hair make my heart skip a beat. I had only seen her picture once in my entire lifetime, yet I had memorised her face and I was certain that she was her.
I kept staring at her and my grief increased ten folds, I could feel the physical pain in my chest. The pain in my head grew exponentially and I felt like clutching my head and banging it on the ground.
Her beautiful face in front of me darkened to a level that I could no longer see it, the darkness was burning my eyes and my ears also began to hurt as if the pressure had reduced suddenly.
Again those embellishments came forward making me pass through thousands of them, making my head twist and turn. Even one second felt like an eternity. I was so desperately waiting for it to go away.
My senses were all hazy, I couldn't differentiate illusions from reality. Everything that happened in my head was a chaos.
Finally, after what felt like ages, the pain wore away and the embellishments started to fade. But before I could sigh in relief and thank the heaven, a familiar voice registered in my brain.
That's when it all started...
....when she died...
Seek for the truth alpha...
Find the answers...
Know why she died...
....because that's when it all started.
Everything felt confusing. As the darkness in front of my eyes evaporated, I was back in my backyard, staring at the grass in front of me. I was leaning against the wall near the back porch. My clothes drenched in sweat and my hands were red, covered in my blood and dirt.
I continued to stare ahead of me unable to fully understand what parellel universe I was transported to.
My head felt heavy, my limbs broken. I managed to summon all energy within me to stand up. Using the wall as support, I slid up slowly. As my legs pushed against the ground, a shot of electricity ran from my head to toe.
Oh God, help me.
I touched the side of head and grimaced,the wound was big and my face was swathed in dried blood, it felt hot and itchy.
Taking a deep breath I pushed myself away from the wall and took a step ahead,immediately my hands flew to the side talking and u clutched it tightly.
My head spun a little like I had been drug induced for a long time. Ignoring the dizziness, I moved forward and climbed the few steps and entered my house.
My eyes closed and bright spots again started appearing in my vision. I shuddered for a moment not wanting to experience that pain again. I forced my eyes open and lurched forward to go up the stairs.
There were thousands questions running through my head all at the same time and I wanted the answers to all of them.
How had I been able to see something that happened years ago through the eyes of someone else?
Who was the woman whose voice I kept hearing in my head?
What was she trying to say?
To find the truth.
But the truth about what?!
What started because of her death?
My heart ached as her face came in front of me. Unshed tears welled in my eyes and I locked my jaw.
She was murdered.
My entire body felt hollow because of the events that happened just moments ago. As I open the bathroom door, a distant voice again falls on my ear. This time it's calling my name but my brain doesn't feel normal.
I close the door behind me and stare at my reflection. A deep gash runs from the right side of my hairline, stopping just a centimeter away from my eyebrows. I can see a small part of flesh underneath the torn skin. Dry blood coats half of my face including my eyelids making them hard and heavy.
I open the tap in the sink and when I feel the cold water against my skin, flashes of the forest bombard my memory. The heavy rain, the half cut tree, the dark cottage, my father's rage and the still body of my grandmother on the ground.