Raine Aksenov
Oeillet de règne Académie: Garden
Tripping over the uneven debris, I fell and grovel at the rough soil as my tears continued to burn my cheeks. I clawed the dirt until the insides of my nails and my nail beds felt full of little pebbles. As my eyes opened, I saw my beautiful garden back when it wasn't scorched by flames, "Raine... Calm down—" I warned myself and stood up.
Whispering to myself, I smiled and took an inhale of the fertile soil scented air, "It's just your imagination. Just take advantage of it like it was real..."
Not minding the soiled feeling on my knees and palms, I started to walk and run my hands over my Carnation plants' petals. They felt like passing chunks of clouds as they glide over my palm and I don't have to worry about my hands getting pricked by sharp edges and thorn-covered stem. As a child, I've always compared myself to a Carnation flower— I'm not difficult to harvest because I have no thorns.
I walked and walked until the big tree came into view. Someone was sitting over the rock. It was Saccharide, but he was holding something in his hands. No— he was hugging something oddly familiar in his arms. The more I step closer, the grimmer the surroundings became.
"I did it, Raine..." he spoke. The shadow of the tree darkened half of his body from his shoulder down his legs. He was smiling proudly, but his eye was twitching as he looked at me with a wild stare.
I tried opening my mouth, but something wouldn't permit it to make a crack. No sound dared to come from me. My feet cemented to the ground as Saccharide stood up from the rock and made his way towards me after hiding the thing he was holding behind his back.
"Aren't you going to ask what's this?" asked Saccharide before he walked behind me to give my neck and nape wet kisses. Shaking my head at his question as my only response, I felt him smile before grazing his teeth along the outline of my ear.
"I did it, Raine," he whispered once again, but this time, his voice was shaking, "I caught the son of a bitch who lit your garden on fire," — until it turned into a maniacal laugh.
"You don't have to worry about him anymore..." he reassured me before he covered my eyes.
I felt the chills crawling on my back as his wet hands covered my eyes. The iron smell entered my nostrils as I whimpered and held back my tears brought by his petrification. My legs moved on their own as Saccharide led me forward. We stopped walking then he commanded me to sit on his lap while still covering my vision.
I gasped when he wrung my chin to face the other side before a pair of soft lips forced themselves upon mine. As our tongues intertwined, I tasted a familiar taste. That's when I pushed him away and coughed the compelling taste of the liquid on my buds.
"Look, Raine..." Saccharide chuckled and placed something on my lap, "I already killed him..."
Gasping for air, I tried to stand up and ran away from Saccharide's lap when my eyes made contact with Sir Broshe's rolled back eyes. His decapitated head spewed out blood on my dress, the veins that stuck out from his detached neck appeared like mealworms crawling up to me.
I stared for it like it was an eternity spent until the man behind me grabbed it and tossed it far away from us, the head rolled on the dirt and when it came to a stop, a blue fire started from its mouth and it burned the carnations around us.
"Are you proud of me?" I heard Saccharide ask.
Hesitantly, I turned my head to him and smiled before saying, "He's not the one to blame, Saccharide..."
His smile faded as soon as I said those words. Not long after that, he pushed my face down on the ground and crawled on top of me. Saccharide kept my face squished on the ground as I felt him grabbing the end of my dress before pulling it up. It took me a minute before realizing that he was trying to defile me. As much as I wanted to scream my cords, I was unable to so, I just closed my eyes and when I pried them open again, I was faced with Saccharide's handsome features.
His eyes softened before he smiled warmly, "I—" he started, "I don't know who to blame..."
...
My scalp burned when he dug his fingers to grab a handful of my hair before he turned my head to look ahead where the bodies of our friends and families aligned in front of us, they have no eyeballs and their bodies looked like it was shot many times.
"—so I killed them all!" he proudly declared.
Their bodies were melting slowly and the aroma smelled like freshly baked meat. My vision was blurry because of my tears, it helped me block the dreadful expression on their faces. They became ashes after a few seconds then Saccharide flipped me over so, we were properly facing each other while he loomed over me.
"No one will ever bother us again," a red tint appeared on both his cheeks, "We're alone now... We can finally be normal"
Opening my trembling lips, I spoke without hesitation and thinking the consequences, "I don't want this, Saccharide!"
"Oh yes! I forgot!" he exclaimed which shocked me, "You don't want us to be normal. You want me to stay a psychopath because you want to feel the pain again..."
I am fully aware that this is just part of my brain creating scenarios from my distresses, but the thought of Saccharide knowing that information brought embarrassment and disgust in my soul.
He waited for me to speak, but I just stared at him. The smug look on his face came back when I gulped and squeaked when he grabbed me by the throat, "Speechless?— I must admit that your desire for pain came from me," he said with lust in his voice, "Don't worry, I'll take responsibility for it..."
Tight...
His grip became tighter...
And tighter...
I wasn't fighting.
Holding his hand, I felt his knuckles hard under my palm as he strangled me with the same vice grip consistently. Desperately, I gasped for oxygen and called his name multiple times. My pleads fell into his inconsiderate ears, the coughs forcefully exited my mouth.
There was one cough that I chomped down my lower lip causing it to bleed for Saccharide's amusement, he leaned down and kiss me. Instead of feeling the pleasure, my body fell limp because he restricted my only airflow by kissing me.
Tears stopped coming out of my eyes as I closed them. But, I could still hear him talking to me. His hands traveled from my neck to my hair before he combed the tangled strands with his slick fingers. After a few brush, he placed a gentle peck on my forehead before whispering, "You're crying because you saw their dead bodies aline in front of you, but you don't realize that you're the one that should be held accountable for their deaths..."
We watched the fire by the tree after he held me again on his lap while he leaned on the trunk, as the flames slowly creep towards our location. I heard him sing the melody my mother used to hum to me, "We wouldn't have gotten this far if you just told me the imposter..."
...
The dream stopped. And when I opened my eyes, I was in a vacuum of dark space, just floating in a fluid-like surrounding.
I still can't move. But, I can't speak, "Dione's right..."
I made up my mind.
"He shouldn't know about Sir Broshe. He'll kill him."