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━━ THE BREAK IN
THE GLASS ROOM IS COLD and bright.
I never realized the goosebumps raised on my arms, or the way my breath clung to the air. I guess when this really happened, I wasn't focusing on the little things. Despite living this nightmare over and over again for the past month, I still haven't learned how to break free of his grip. His hands hold my body close, mouth close to my ear, metal helmet pressing up against the back of my head.
And I am lost. I am frozen, guts twisting, nausea rolling through me. I can't move, I can't fight, all I can do is let Shaw pull me into the mirrored room. That freezing, bright room. I whimper, even though I should be strong. I shake, even though I should stand my ground. The man in front of us still hasn't turned around, looking for signs of the one that has captured me again. I can't think straight, my mind tearing me apart. In the corners of this nightmare, black tendrils snake around the world, soft wisps of power clinging to the sides of my vision , as cold as ice.
It's always cold.
Shaw is whispering into my ear, but I can barely hear him over the roar of my heart. My mind screams at Erik across the way. Look at me, Look at me, Look at me! But that's the cruel irony of these nightmares. Everything is a little different. A little worse.
Erik never turns around. He never turns to see me in the clutches of Shaw and try to help. Instead, he simply walks away. Out of the submarine. Out of my life. He leaves me screaming and gasping as the doors to the mirrored room close on Shaw and me. The vile man starts to laugh, and I can feel his sick smile on the back of my head.
I thrash and scream, trying to break free, trying to escape this man with his smiles and sweet words. Honey tinted and full of menace, his aspirations swim through my head, breaking down the borders of my mind, the shadows dissipating until everything comes flooding through me. It's a tidal wave of everything I've tried to push away these last ten years, come back to break me down fully.
When the shadows swarm around us, Shaw finally lets go of me, and I fall down to my knees, screaming, only my voice is gone. It's always gone. I scream again, but the silence roars in my wake. The darkness that overtakes the room chokes me, dragging me down. I'm suddenly falling, my body heaving, weightless, as I go down down down. I don't know if there is an end. All I can do is drop, my body twisting in the air, not a single sound around me.
My body hits the tough ground with a sickening crack, my bones creaking under my flesh. Pain flashes through my mind, bright and as brilliant as fire. It licks at my flesh as I deflate, body shattering one part at a time. I can do nothing, only endure the numbing pain of dying. Death. That is what Death feels like. An unquenchable thirst for life takes over me as I slip away. A numbness that feels like everything makes it's way through my body.
