Pleasure & Pain [d.m]

𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏

Cora opens the door that leads to the outside and walks over to the wet grass. She slowly closes her eyes, feeling the cold water land on her face. The stored tears run down her cheek, unable to tell which ones were tears and which ones were rain.

She quickly opens her eyes at the sound of a twig snapping and wipes away her tears. She looks back, a confused expression plastered on her face at the sight of nobody around her.

Cora gasps at the sound of another twig breaking and hastily turns her head to the front. She spots a black cloak for a few seconds before it disappears behind a tree.

"Who's there?" She asks with a shaky voice before looking around to see if anyone is around her and returns her attention to the tree.

She takes a few steps forward before rapidly taking a step back once she sees the person in the cloak run away from her.

"Don't run away, you coward! Who are you?" She shouts and runs towards the tree the person was hiding against.

Once she gets to the tree, she stops running and looks at the ground. She feels her heart drop to her stomach the second she lays her eyes on the green, emerald ring. She quickly bends down and picks up the ring, observing it in every possible angle.

She stands back up and starts running towards the direction of the person in the cloak. With a cloudy vision, she notices the person stopped running so she slows down her pace.

"Dad?.." She spoke in a soft, tremulous voice, prepared for either despair or rapture as she slowly walked over to him.

"Follow me, Cora." Said the recognizable yet distinct voice as the person in the black cloak slowly began walking.

Cora feels her breath hitch at the sound of his voice. That same voice that used to repeatedly tell her how much he adored her. The same one that promised to never leave her side. The one that did the complete opposite of what it said.

"Where are you taking me?" She timidly asks him as she begins to increase her speed to catch up to him.

"Where have you been all these years? I've been looking for you. I searched everywhere for you, day and night, until I decided to finally let you go. After all, you were the one who told me to not chase after things or people that don't want to be found. That I should wait for them to come to me." She looks up to him, anxious to hear his voice again.

Cora springs forward and reaches for his hand. Once she holds his hand after years of not doing so, she feels her lips turn into a bittersweet smile.

"Mom's a mess because of you. She doesn't even acknowledge my existence anymore. Simply because I remind her too much of you. Not only did I lose my father that day. I also lost my mother." Tears stung her eyes and her lower lip trembled as she spoke.

"I am not at fault over how your mother decided to deal with things." He says firmly and snatches his hand away from hers.

"You are the person to blame for everything! Do you know how many times I had to witness my mother be in complete misery because of you? I was the one who made her food. The one who made sure she ate the food I made her. The one who took her to bed at a certain time so that she could wake up energized the next day." She said with a sob escaping her mouth, tears flowing down from her eyes once again.

"It should've been the other way around. She should've been the one taking care of me! You're the one who made her be like this!" She shouts at him and pushes him using all her strength.

He takes a few steps forward and turns around to face her. He watches as her face drops in complete shock once she sees his face. Face full of scars and unattended wounds scattered all over his face.