Blood and Wrath: Chapter 2

Love is something we all hope to feel at least once in our lives. It’s an emotion so vast, so vivid and bright, it can make your entire world feel brand new, brimming with possibilities and new adventures.

You notice more beauty around you because that’s how you feel.

It’s a feeling of being whole and complete, of finding those missing pieces you didn’t realize you needed.

We all fear the loss of that love, of the happiness and hope that comes along with it.

So, when it’s ripped from you, your entire world shifts and you’re left with nothing but darkness.

A haze drifts over you, making you feel heavy as you try to push through the sludge that is your every waking moment.

Days grow longer and nights become never ending, and that fullness that you once felt becomes so empty, so hollow, you start to wonder if it was ever there to begin with.

Or if it was all just a dream.

Was any of it real? Or did my fractured mind make up a fairy tale to help me push through King’s endless torture?

Kai. Jax. Luka. Rion. Axel.

Each of their faces flash before me, something deep inside me telling me it was real, that every moment I spent with them couldn’t have been faked.

But that also meant their last moment was real, too.

They didn’t deserve this. They didn’t deserve their lives ripped from them, all because of me. I should have been the one to pay that price. Not them.

Never them.

How was I supposed to move on from this? From them?

A little voice in my head and heart told me, .

My life was tethered to theirs the day they walked into it and stayed that way until they found me once more.

With my ability, there was no way out, not until I grew old and left this world to join them. If that was even an option.

I can’t feel anything, my mind the only thing aware right now, which is something I’m grateful for.

I know that if I wake up, the pain from their loss would be felt in every inch of my body. And so I welcome the darkness and numbness that comes along with it, craving the silence it brings me.

My mind has already been awake for too long now. I know it’s only time before the darkness pulls me back under.

I wait and wait, but it never comes. My mind slowly becoming more alert as each moment passes. And instead of succumbing to the void, my body also starts to wake.

Cold is the first sensation to hit my body. It wraps around me, dulling everything else while also making me feel heavy and weak.

So weak and tired, but not enough to drag me under.

Sound comes next, with a ringing that lessens the more that time passes. It’s followed by a hum and soft whirring noise somewhere close by. The buzz of a fan clicks on and off every few seconds, and once the ringing completely leaves my ears, I hear… screaming.

The scream is loud, so loud I don’t know how I missed it to begin with.

It’s raw and broken, and I can hear the pain inside it as it bellows out around me.

I want to cover my ears, but something sharp and heavy clamps around my wrists and ankles, holding them in place.

A gnawing pain eats away at my stomach, making me want to curl into myself, except I can’t bend over. I can’t move much at all. I’m lying on my back, and there’s something heavy around my waist, holding me in place.

Tightness wraps around my chest, making it hard to take in a deep breath. I try to breathe through my nose, but the scent of bleach assaults my senses.

Peeling my eyes open, the harsh light above burns. I close them instantly and squeeze them tight, the sensations of everything around me too much, too overwhelming. The smells, the sounds… the heart-wrenching scream. It’s all too much.

My mind and body catch up to one another and memories flash through my thoughts like blades. They slice down my body, shredding and slashing every piece of me until the pain is all I can focus on.

It soars over me in waves, building up before crashing down on me and carving out one more piece of me each time.

The agony feels more physical than anything King or Morana have ever done.

Time becomes an endless series of repetitive cycles, one filled with agony, loss, and despair.

My mind finally shutters to a stop, the overload of pain too much to bear. My body shuts down next along with it, and I welcome the quiet numbness.

Seconds later, the darkness takes me under.