A Touch of Scarlet

28

[ Back to Lydia's P.O.V ]

My heart pounds against my chest, my temples pulse rhythmically, my stomach clenches and my throat burns as if I've choked on liquid fire.

When will these feelings pass?

I need to scream for help but every time I open my mouth all that comes out is a silent, painful croak.

Images flash through my mind;

Carter. Jordan. Reece. Nate. Valentina.

Please don't let this be the end I plead silently.

My head spins.

My drugged body continues to lay weakly on the cold concrete floor.

I silently plead and pray for either Jordan, Reece, Nate, or Valentina to push through the door and tell me to snap out of it.
To wake up. To tell me that I'm having a terrible dream and I need to snap out of it and plunge myself back into reality where I belong.

"Lydia" a deep voice says,

A shiver runs down my spine at the familiar voice, my body shakes.

"Lydia" the voice comes again,

All of a sudden the room goes white and then slowly morphs into the same room but now brightly lit.

I slowly turn my head to see Nick, he stands above me by the door his hand moving away from the light switch.

A pang of treachery pierces my heart as I take in the knowledge of what he's done.
He looks exactly like he did hours before, he wears the same grey button down with a pair of black jeans, and his brown hair is effortlessly jelled back.

I hate him.

"It'll fade soon" he states,

I use the little energy that I still have to raise my brow in question.

"The vervain it'll fade soon"

Vervain. The purple plant that he'd had earlier at the restaurant, that must've been vervain.

He poisoned me. The realization bitterly runs through my mind.

I open my mouth slowly,

"Y-your the s-suitor" I croak.

He flashes me a morbid grin,

"My name is Aaron, but I'm sure your so called friends don't give me the pleasure of using my name",

"Aaron?" I murmur quietly.

Of course he wouldn't use his real name.

"Yes, Aaron Nicholas James"

How clever.

"Lydia?"

I don't respond, I don't even acknowledge him.

"Lydia!" He yells,

I continue to shake nervously.

"You don't have the right to hate me" he growls.

"I have every right" I snap weakly,

"Rose" he states all of a sudden, his voice distantly.

"W-what?" I ask,

"Her name was Rose, she was my everything; my betrothed, my best friend, and my family".

I try not to listen but his distant, sorrow-filled gaze draws me into his story.

"We were beyond happy, but one day she began to feel distant. Our friends told me that their were others, others competing for her heart but I didn't believe them, I was too wrapped up in my feelings" he pauses,

"After weeks and weeks of hearing rumour after rumour about my Rosie I went on a hunting exposition with all my mates. On the last day of the expo we were in the forest, it was already nightfall and all of a sudden their was this noise.
Then next thing I know is I'm standing in the blood of my friends, their bodies are all carelessly cast around me.

And then I saw them, two men they stood in the shadows but I saw their faces. One with hair as white as snow and the other hair as black as coal" he talks me through the story as if reliving it.

"After that night I fled back to town as quickly as I could but even so the travel back was still a day's journey.

When I finally got back to the town I went straight to Rosie's house to tell her what had happened and to protect her, but when I arrived outside her home there was already a carriage outside.

I had entered unannounced to find my sweet Rose dining at her families table with two men, both wearing black silk suits.
One had hair as white as snow and the other as black as coal, and before they even turned around I had known it was them.
They'd fled town within the next few days but even after they'd left my Rosie was never the same.

A few months later we were wed, however she was completely distant. It was not long before she developed cancer and passed away" he says, all emotion drained from his voice.

"And from then on I've spent decades searching for the two creatures that stripped my beloved from me"

I sit up slightly, my strength starts to return but the sickening story makes my head throb even more. Im unable to even attempt to break the shackles that bind my raw wrists off.

The thought of Reece and Nate doing those terrible things shocks and sickens me.

They were completely different back then.

"Im sorry that you chose for those two creatures to be a part of your life" he says.
"It was an obvious mistake from the start".

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Authors Note:

Hey everyone, I'm sorry that this is such a short chapter.
What do you thinks going to happen next?