(18+) RED (Complete)

Ch. 78: Warm

"You ruined everything, you pathetic bitch! You deserve to die! "

The voice echoed in my head while I felt two strong hands squeeze around my neck. It was the man. The horrible one with red, glowing eyes, and his mouth was spitting the most dreadful things that etched like acid inside my head. Descriptions about the ways he wanted to hurt me. Torture me. To twist that knife after stabbing my chest. And Veronica's wicked laughter sounded like a shrilling cry from a beast in the forest at night time. Then a gun went off and my head hurt so badly it felt like glass exploded and pierced through my brain, until it crashed against the inside of my skull. But I wasn't the one who was shot.

"MICHAEL!"

The sight of his body falling limp to the floor made a horrible scream tear through my vocal chords and hurt my ears. He was bleeding. There was blood everywhere, and my hands could feel the thick, red fluid warm against my fingers, even though I didn't touch it. I couldn't even get near him no matter how hard I tried.

"Look what you did!" Veronica grinned and laughed again. And somehow I could feel her nails tearing the skin apart on my back.

"MICHAEL!" I cried again, and I could see him move a bit. My hands were dripping with blood now and I didn't understand why. All I knew was that I needed to get to him. I tried walking, but failed. I tried crawling, but failed that too. It was first then I discovered the abnormally large body that weighed me down and held me back, while it slowly choked me with arms like stinging tentacles. Not only around my neck, but they pressed themselves through my lips and down my throat too, tearing my airways apart from the inside.

"Mia..."

Michael's voice was low and raspy, almost whispering, and I knew his lungs were about to collapse.

"Please don't die. Please..." I prayed, but the words were unformed by my tongue and stuck in my brain. Then there was more gunshots and I could see the bullets disappear into my flesh. One into my arm and one into my stomach, and I screamed.

"Mia? Babe."

His eyes shut closed, even though he tried to keep them open. And then he stopped fighting.

"No! Don't die, Michael! I love you!"

I could barely talk. My lungs stung and it felt like I was drowning, while the man's unnaturally long limbs forced their way into my nose and out through my eyes. It hurt more than words can ever explain.

I was warm, so terribly warm. Scolded by the flames of hell that opened underneath my feet.

"Mia!"

It was Michael's voice, but I knew he was already dead. I could see he had stopped breathing and his stretched out hand that had been reaching out for me, wasn't even grasping the floor boards anymore. But I still heard him calling.

"Mia!"

I tried to call his name, but it was useless.

"Babe. Wake up. You're having a nightmare."

My eyes finally flew open, and I gasped for air like it was the first time I breathed in years. Then I sat up so fast that you'd believe my pillow just exploded.

"It's okay, babe. You're safe," Michael said calmingly and sat up too, so he could cradle me in his arms. My heart was racing so fast I was almost convinced I had a heart attack, but the realization that Michael was here and alive made me relax. Then I clung around his neck like a baby and started sobbing.