Lights | A Forever Fanfiction

Chapter Seven: Flawed Returns

"What do you mean?" I demanded for the seventh time in the past minute as I wiped away my tears. "What do you mean?!"

"The bomb was a decoy," Hanson panted. "It was a fake, and the actual stuff is still out there. The lieutenant thinks that the terrorists were just buying time, trying to distract us."

"Wait! Was that woman's name - the woman from the basement - Persephone Reid?!" I shrieked. Hanson exchanged a glance with Jo and then nodded.

"Yes, that was her name," he said. "Why?"

I glanced at Dr. Morgan, and I saw his eyes had widened a little. I sighed and lowered my head. "We should leave Jo and Hanson alone for a bit, so he can brief her, Dr. Morgan," I said. He opened his mouth to protest, but Jo cut him off.

"No, he can stay. He helps us with our cases, a lot, and this is top priority," Jo stated.

"I, um, I'll wait outside, then." Hanson moved aside and I passed by him. He glanced back at me before entering the room and closing the door behind him. I ran to the reception desk.

"I'm Persephone Reid's daughter, I need to see her," I told the nurse fervently. "Please."

"Room Two-Oh-Three," she replied terrifiedly. I dashed off in that direction, until I stumbled right into the room.

My mother was staring vacantly at the ceiling when I arrived. She glanced at me, her eyes wide, glassy, and doe-like. And then she saw me. A smile spread slowly across her face, and she reached for me.

"Lights," she cooed. I stared at her emotionlessly. "My precious daughter! Why don't you come here?"

"Why did you leave?" I demanded harshly. "Why were you consumed by such cowardice, that you had to fake your death?"

"I did what had to be done," she said, the pitch of her voice swooping and swanning. She sounded as if she were on the edge of insanity.

And then I realised that she had only one hand. The other arm ended in a stub at the wrist, and was bandaged in white linen.

"Oh my god," I breathed. "Oh my god, did she- did you do that to yourself?"

"I did what had to be done," she repeated. "I did what had to be done."

"Did you kill my father?" I whispered, shock and panic rising with the bile in my throat. "Did you kill him?"

"I did what had to be-"

"You killed him!" I screamed hatefully. "Oh my god, you killed my father? You killed him?!"

"I only wanted to make a better world for us," she cooed. "Mother and daughter deserve to be together... forever." The last word came out as a chilling hiss that snaked down my spine. Tears full of hatred and rage seeped forth, and I fell forwards. I caught the edge of the hospital bed to steady myself, and my mother grabbed my face with her hand. I stared at her in terror, paralysed by fear, too afraid to tear away.

"The light will purge us all," my mother chanted. "The light will purge us all. The light will purge us all. You will purge us, Lights. You!"

"You are not my mother," I whispered. "And I am no part of whatever insane plans you have concocted." I moved to pull away, but her hand closed around my throat. Fear seared me when she pushed me down onto the bed with surprising strength. White cotton was smashed down onto my face, the thin cover of the pillow moulding around me. A strangled sob managed to break free from me before I started to fight back, scratching and clawing at her arms. No, no, no. I needed to breathe. I needed to breathe.

Just as the world began fading to black, gentle hands pried me away from my mother. A thin needle slid into her arm, and her eyes rolled into her head. The last thing I saw as I was pulled into the abyss was the reflection of Henry Morgan's face in the cold, white tile floor.

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