The Freaks | Sally Face

Chapter 41: Agreement

River's POV:-
A protector? A protector of my soul that I have been repressing for years? I don't understand this at all. All I've ever known, being a shy and frightful child is now being challenged by this so called protector of mine. What was it talking about when it said about surfacing in the toilets... I needed answers and I needed them fast.

"A protector you say? How on earth could I possess a protector? Does everyone have one?" I ran my ripped fingernails under the cold tap, gritting my teeth tightly as the pain ran through my fingertips.

"Hm, not everyone has one. People may sometime call them guardian angels.. but that's so not my style" the reflection replied deeply. "You see, you possess a huge power that you do not fully recognise. It started a long time ago, long before you were born..."

"You mean, others possessed this power before I was alive?"

"Precisely. The power is given to those most deserving, those who are so vulnerable, so broken that they need someone to... let's say help them out" the reflection smiled.

"So when was I given the power?" I raise my eyebrow not fully convinced I was dreaming.

"When you found out your Mother died, recount those feelings to me..." it whispered and came closer to the mirror again, a devilish smirk on its face.

I thought for a brief second, recounting all the emotions that ran through my younger self. Pain, hopelessness, anger, devastation to name a couple. It wasn't just my own pain I could feel, it was my Dad's, the officers, everyone who ever knew her, hitting me hard as the realisation was that she was never coming home. Never going to mess around with my Dad and I again, never ask me to clean my room or paint her a picture again. The detestation of the loss of a parent.

"Exactly River, those feelings only grew though didn't they..."

"How did you know what I was thinking?" I shoot a look back at the mirror to see the reflection was gone.

I quickly brushed myself down, drying my damp blood stained hands and sorting out my hair. As I leaned closer to the long standing mirror to tuck my loose hairs behind my ear, the 'protector' approached me from behind in the mirror.

"Run your fingers across your scar River..." it snarled and placed its long, skinny fingers onto my shoulders. I shuddered at its touch, coldness entering my veins and all my hairs standing to attention.

"I would rather not..." I spat back and made eye contact with her. "What even do I call you? You've never surfaced before..."

"Oh but I have. Those marks on your body... it was me protecting you. Keeping you safe and showing you I am here"

The marks... flashes of being in my bedroom flooded my memory. I remember the long thick slashes across my stomach wondering where they had come from. Wondering if Red Eye had caused them but no, it was this so called figure of my imagination. I lift my top, the dark marks now faded and no longer there. The only marks being...

"Ah your scars... you've never shown anyone those have you..." the reflection pouted slightly, not patronising remotely but more of a genuine concern. "The boys saw them you know..."

"I thought they would sooner or later" I sighed knowing the significance of all the small slashes over my pale white skin. "I did my best to ignore they were even there, to ignore the marks they made"

"They didn't stop did they..." the reflection replied softly. "I remember your screams, your pain, your begging for it all to end. Not one person stopped did they..."

"Not a single one.." I press my ruby lips together, trying not to remember.

"River, you cannot allow these thoughts to continue to write your future you know?"