Clutching The Darkness

Chapter 8: Hatred

My leg ached with the pressure of my burned skin melding together. My face buzzed from the burn I felt, and after a bit, the pain had faded away. My nerves had been completely severed. I felt a stinging pain in my lower jaw, and I had realized that the lava had burnt completely through my face.

I walked up to her, rebar in hand, my grip tightening leaving a singeing feeling coupled with the droplets of sweat that soaked into my blisters. But it was nothing. It felt like nothing. Compared to the pain I felt up until now, it was nothing.

"I...detest you. You're nothing. You've always been a NUISANCE!"

Now standing above her, I felt bad to see this hideous creature pinned like a lab rat. The ground around her bubbled and popped as it slowly but surely began to liquify.

"Kill her. Kill her now. Do it!"

I held the rebar up high and swung on all the individual pieces of shrapnel. Bam! It roared out. Bam! It screamed. Bam! It shrieked.

"I've always...always hated you. You pissed me off. You're just like 'HIM'! So, go die in a hole!"

I know you've always hated me. I could feel it. Your stupid little outbursts, your stupid little tantrums. You're a child. You have the emotional temperament of one. You emotional infant. You're just like the others, all judging. You judge with hate though. Behind your words of aggression and your eyes of hostility, I saw through it all. You carried hate for me.

"HA! You're a real wuss. Emotional infant? Me? Look at yourself you ironic fuck! You're a PRICK! And so. Goddamn. OBNOXIOUS!"

The shrapnel around her began to slowly melt and heat with intense fire. She stirred and rumbled, like a volcano about to set off. Before she could rise up and attack, I swung with all my power. And the metal hatchet-shaped piece around her neck, sunk in. And then she fell still. My left eye began to ease with its pulsing.

"Cali?" Nasima weakly groaned out.

I shot her a surprised look. She was still alive? And back in her normal form? I felt my eye, and the veins were lethargically retracting, as if trying to evaluate if she was still a threat.

"Cali..." She started, her voice becoming hoarse and strained. "Why are you so afraid?"

My eyes widened and I felt my stance shudder and weaken. Afraid? Me— afraid? Afraid, afraid of what? Was I afraid? How long have I been afraid? Yeah, sometimes I felt afraid of her...

"I'm sorry," she continued.

"I'm sorry I made you feel afraid."

Wha-? How did she know? How could she hear my thoughts?

"I'm sorry for my outbursts. I've been angry before, that's true."

Her tan face seemed to glow in the little sunlight that reached her. My body enshrouded itself in the shade of the buildings. The fire roared near us, the flames slowly crawling.

Sorry? Sorry for being angry? Had she ever said something like that?

"You know, about the whole reality shift thing. It's a world of our own unconscious and conscious desires. I think if I ever did shift, I'd like a world where I wasn't so bothered by my frustrations. And maybe, I'd get to enjoy more time with you and the group," she let out faintly.

My knees weakened as I slumped to the floor. Her anger, was it ever truly her fault? Did she ever purposefully target me? Did she hate m-

"You must finish her."

My face froze, and I sat there staring emptily at her. Her eyes seem to glow dimly like a spark amidst a cloud of ash. She seemed...pleased? She wasn't afraid of her demise. She didn't seem in pain or suffering. And...she didn't seem enraged.