PRETENDING TO LIVE~ {The Lestrange Daughter #2}

𝟓𝟒. Unbreakable

Valentine felt the bed dip slightly beside her. There was a definite weight and movement down by her legs.

She just laid there. Eye's closed, body rigid to the point of paralyzation.

The weight couldn't have been a person. The shape wasn't right. It shifted and she felt all the unease and panic that came with it.

Despite the panic, she didn't move. She couldn't move. She felt that even if she tried, she'd be taking her last breath.

The weight moved over her shins, stretching over the both of them. She was under the covers but she felt the muscles tense and contracting, making up whatever it was. Everywhere it touched seemed to grow cold like stone.

The urge to open her eyes was there, although she easily convinced herself it wasn't needed. She knew what it was. She knew the snake would slither it's way up her body. Other then that, she wasn't sure of anything.

Would it lunge at her violently? Bite her? Inject her with a flesh-eating venom that would have her organs dead long before it melted away her skin and veins and tendons? What did it want from her?

It coiled itself up higher, stopping across her thighs. It moved slowly, but with every shift and pull of its muscles, it never seemed to halt.

Her throat tightened, her stomach clenched, but she laid there still, at the mercy of this serpent.

The urge to look was there again. Just to take a peak. If she already knew what it was then what was the harm in looking? Surely it was just the snake she knew it to be? But the snake wasn't what was frightening her. She knew it wasn't.

She still didn't know what it wanted. What it could do it to her.

Would looking help her find out? Would it gleam any light on the darkness that settled over her mind? Could she really just lie here and let it do whatever it wanted?

Is looking worth the risk? What do you think?

~~~

Valentine woke with an audible start. Eyes wide, voice trapped in her throat. She sat half up, a hand immensely clutching at her thigh. Of course, nothing was there.

"Oh, I'm so sor-sorry, Miss!"

Valentine's head snapped up.

Haley was standing by her bathroom door, carrying what was obviously Valentine's laundry.

"Please forgive me if I woke you." The maid bowed her head lowly.

Valentine could barely hear her over the sound of her heart pounding. She flopped back down on the bed, schooling her expression to indifference.

"...M-Miss?" Haley spoke up, hesitant and timid.

Valentine's eyes flickered over her.

The maid looked at her strangely. The same fear that was always there, was mixed with something Valentine had never seen on her face before.

"Just get out." Valentine groaned, rubbing at her face.

The woman hesitated for a moment and Valentine grabbed the pillow behind her head and flung it across the street room.

"Leave!"

Haley was out the door faster then Valentine could comprehend in her drowsy state.

She laid there for a moment and then glanced over at the window. The little sunlight forced its way through the cloud cover and rain, lighting the room.