"Stitches! I need disinfectant!" I heard muffled voices screaming in my dream—or was it a dream?—as the smell of blood permeated the air. It was coming from someone lying beside me. The scent was nauseating, and it reminded me so much of my mother's bloodied hands as I struggled to keep her alive on the bathroom floor while the doctors attempted resuscitation. It was like a horrible perfume that filled my nose with pain and made me want to vomit.
My blurry sight tried to scan the area where I was lying, and I could see old, dull walls surrounding an even duller hospital-like room. There were IVs everywhere, some dripping into various bowls while others hung from cords attached to various machines.
I turned to look at the man lying on the next bed beside me, and my heart sank at Nick's lifeless body being treated by a few unknown people.
"NICK," I tried to call, but my voice was too weak; I could not feel my body, even though I badly wanted to move.
"Hey! He'll be fine; I need you to sleep to recover, okay?" I heard someone say to me with a familiar voice I longed to hear, but Mom died a very long time ago, and whenever I fell into a state of hopelessness, her memory of comforting me would always appear to save me from falling too deep.
And I did fall asleep, a long, good sleep, I didn't know how much I needed it. Until an unfamiliar warmth pressed against my face as I winced my eyes with a small groan. It felt like the heat of the sun on my skin and my head hurt, but not like I was going to pass out or anything. My heart rate slowed down as consciousness crept into my brain, leaving me drowsy and confused.
If there was something that greeted me in the morning for my whole existence, it was never the sun's rays streaming into my room, but rather darkness and extreme emptiness because I hate something beautiful. But this time, except for the warmth of morning enveloping me from my slumber, there was a familiar pair of warm hands gently stroking down my cheeks. A soft chuckle sounded next to me, causing my body to jolt slightly as a pair of dark blue eyes looked straight at mine.
My mother.
"Good morning, sweetie. Did you sleep well?" she asked, her voice soft and soothing, as always. There was no trace of exhaustion in her usually energetic expression as she ran her fingers through my hair, pulling it back off my neck.
I am dreaming, I guess. Well, I could consider something beautiful in my dream, just like when I was still young and I still had a mom.
I guess life would be very different with her taking me out of this shithole I lived in, but instead, she chose to be weak and fell into serenity, living me alone with my father.
A stinging sound of a sharp knife then registered to my ears as it was being pulled from its sheath, and its dull swish as it traveled to the air made my body automatically respond by propping my elbows slightly and smoothly catching it by its handle without even opening my eyes.
"It always works!"
My eyes shot open wide in shock, as her voice felt surreal, it was as if it was not a dream anymore. My eyes landed on a woman who resembled my mom perfectly and grinned before marching outside this unfamiliar room.
The room was big enough with an old-modern-style interior, and it felt cozy. The walls were painted an almost white color, and the floor had plush carpet that matched the bed I was lying on. The only light that streams in from somewhere is coming from what looks like a window that overlooks a forest. Everything around me feels unreal—so unreal that I can't remember where I am—but it's nice.
I sat up while keeping myself steady, which I did, using only one elbow to prop myself up, putting the knife down on the table beside the bed with pictures of me when I was young. All around me were boxes and suitcases that had been emptied and are now lying on the ground. The room was pretty bare, and although the window was open, there was nothing out there except trees.
Until the memories from last night's encounter rushed in on me, and I let out a loud gasp as I scrambled to get off the bed and quickly ran towards the door.
"NICK!" I mumbled as I flitted through the short hallway outside the room and down the wooden stairs.
"NICK!" I called again, hoping he was somewhere in the house. My legs started growing heavier by the minute as panic gripped my chest as I remembered how badly he was hurt last night.
Based on how lame and weak he was, he could barely survive the attack, but I wanted him to survive. I want him safe and alive. I ran past two more doors, trying each one in the hopes he'd appear somehow, but he was nowhere to be found. Eventually, I stopped running as I realized that this house was too large for me to ever go around to check the whole area, and then, suddenly, I heard a faint noise and immediately came to an abrupt halt.
"Nick! Are you here!" I said, turning left to see another door, but there was no one. However, a loud laugh soon followed behind me that I instantly knew belonged to Cavin.
"CAVIN?" I took a quick turn to see him half-naked and comfortable as hell.
"Yes?" he answered, and that was when I noticed he was drinking coffee.
I rushed to him, grabbed the cup from his hand, and threw it outside. "You know you can die from being so careless, right?"
"Woah! Are you concerned about me?" Cavin tried to sound joyful, but his mockery dripped from every word, and I wasn't fooled.
I crossed my arms over my chest as my mind flashed images of Nick getting attacked and bleeding out in the muddy forest, badly gasping for air and the idea that I could not do anything about it.
"Of course I do! I need you to get out of this place and find Nick. In unfamiliar places, having someone as bait would be a good help to buy me some time," I snapped, raising my voice a bit.
His lips curled downward a little. "You are so rude! You should be taking time to say thank you for saving your lives back in the forest!"
"What?"
"Whatever!" Cavin snapped at me turned his back on me and continued to walk around the house as if he knew the place very well.
"Cavin, I need you to..."
I immediately stopped talking when I realized that we had walked into the other side of the house—a living area to be exact—and I saw Nick sitting on the couch with bandages all over his body, but it wasn't him this time that was the reason why my heart wanted to explode for a moment.
It was the woman walking to Nick while holding a plate of food.
"Good morning, sweetie!" the woman greeted me.
My whole body quivering in shock, I was stupefied. I could not understand the emotions rushing inside; so many different thoughts and feelings raced through my brain that I didn't know which to think about first and which to act on. But one thought kept repeating itself inside my head: 'What the fuck is happening?!? '
I slowly stepped forward, taking in every detail of the woman's appearance. My heartbeat sped up, and my palms started feeling sweaty. She didn't resemble the woman I loved. The woman I used to know was as cold as ice; she'd never greet me this way or smile like the sweetest human being. She could not be considered a human being, but I loved her toughness.
Instead of responding, I quickly ran to grab the knife and charge towards her. My anger and confusion were overwhelming.
The woman's smile grew into a grin, and she gladly dodged my attack just by using the food tray without even breaking the plates on it.
She still had the moves and reflexes just like in the old days.
"You are making me proud, my darling," she grinned again before swiftly putting down the tray on Nick's lap, then stood in front of me, her eyes gleaming with amusement as I raised the knife, my hand shaking violently in my grip above my head, ready to throw it, but she simply moved in time to dodge the attack by pushing me forward, hitting me on the shoulder.
"How dare you!" I growled as my anger got the better of me and once again attacked, aiming directly at her.
The woman easily avoided the knife with her hand, and before I knew it, her other hand came into contact with my cheek and sent pain shooting throughout my whole face as it collided hard with the wall.
"Oh, this is interesting!" I heard Cavin say excitedly, sitting on the stool at the kitchen bar while Nick looked as if he was going to die.
I went straight to combat against the woman, attacking her again and again. She blocked every single blow from me and pushed me away as I attempted to reach her again, only for her to step backward and swing her leg, hitting my stomach and causing the breath to leave my lungs in a harsh puff before I fell to the floor.
When she kicked the knife away, I was already back up on my feet, breathing heavily. That was when the woman grabbed hold of my left arm, locking it in her grasp as she forced my right wrist behind my back, rendering my entire upper arm immobile.
I felt my eyes burn as I fought for every ounce of strength to fight her off, until finally, after a long battle with her, the pain became too much and all of my energy drained from me, and my knees buckled underneath me, allowing my opponent to take full control and pinning me down on the dirty floor as she kneeled over me.
She held both of my wrists behind my back with one of her hands, and the other hand wrapped firmly around my throat, squeezing harder than I'd ever felt before.
With all of my might, I struggled to free myself, but she held firm, forcing me to take a deep breath as I struggled. "Just calm down, sweetheart. It's alright."
"Why are you alive?" I almost choked out, struggling to speak.
"I'm sorry, Heureu! I'm sorry, I had to leave you so I could save you! It took some time, but I'm here!"
I could not hold my emotions anymore as tears swelled in my eyes, and I broke into loud cries. "I hate you!"
"I know, sweetie! But I'm here now! I'll do everything in my power to help you out of this shithole your father gave you; just let me make it up to you as your mother!"
Her grip loosened, and she helped me up while we were both gasping for air.
"You better be!" I hissed and launched myself into a tight hug.
"I will, sweetie!" She said and threw herself on me with a tight hug.
"Is everything alright now?" Nick gasped, and I quickly rushed to him, breaking from our hug.
"What happened?" I asked them while scanning Nick's body.
"He got wounds from running in the forest; he just lost consciousness because of too much fear," Cavin smirked before grabbing a new cup of coffee.
"That's it?" I exhaled and returned my sight to Nick. "You, what did you do?"
Nick looked at me in terror, and I knew that he was innocent. "I went to Ferine as usual, but when I got a hold of her, she freaked out and hurt herself. She stabbed herself!"