METANOIA | Eddie Munson

Papa, Part 1

3rd Person's POV

It's like the sound of his voice knocked all the guilt out of her body in one go.

The past year, she wanted nothing more than to take it back. But now, she wanted him to be lying there instead standing behind her, with each sentence calculated to push a specific button.

Is this how she felt that night? Is this why she killed him?

She turned around to face him, a gasp escaping her lips when she did. There was glass coming out his face, and his blood soaked hair clung to the side of his cheek. But his eyes were open. They weren't supposed to be open.

He started walking towards her, never once bothering to hide the disgust in his voice, "Only been a year, and you've moved on with that freak?"

"That freak..." she let out a shaky breath, "would never hurt me like you did."

"I'm the one who hurt you?" He let out a bitter laugh, walking around her. She felt his cold breath on the back of her neck, it made her feel disgusting.

That's when both the windows to the living room were forced open, blood gushing through them.

She took a few steps back until her back crashed into his chest.

"Don't you remember what you did Valerie?"

The voice that just whispered in her ear, that wasn't Josh.

She didn't have to look back to know who it belonged to, she just ran for the door.

"I keep trying to make you remember, Valerie."

The doorknob was jammed, but she wasn't going to take no for an answer. She took a few steps back, then ran straight for the door and banged her shoulder against it. Then again. And again.

"When I kill someone... I never forget."

She kept pounding the door with her fists, she could feel she was starting to hyperventilate.

The door suddenly opened, making her stumble forward and fall to her knees on a stairway.

She stood up and took a look around. The same ticking of the clock, the same old pillars holding up the bodies of those who died.

On second thought maybe she was better off home. When she looked back, there was no house. She was stuck inside Vecna's mind, again.

She started making her way down the stairs.

"You and your friends have been looking for me everywhere, Valerie. And you were so close. So close to the truth. How was old, blind, dumb Victor?"

Valerie saw the door in front of her, the door to Victor Creel's house.

"Did he miss me? I've been meaning to check back in. But I've been busy, so very busy."

It was as if the door came to life in front of her eyes, no longer weary and floating mid air.

Her surroundings began to change, the normalcy of the Creel house a stark contrast to the red nightmare of a mind she was trapped in seconds prior.

But it was all an illusion. Or perhaps, memory? Because she knew she wasn't out yet, but only being delved even further.

The door opened to let in a man, woman and two of their children which she presumed to be the Creels.

It sent a chill through her spine, seeing the little girl excitedly run up the stairs, and the mother smiling at her.

Valerie knew their end was near.