Only Mine

Chapter 13

-------UNDER EDIT-------

I was in a forest and the sky above me was pitch dark. Not a single star shown in the sky. I  was running as fast as I could from something. Or maybe I was running towards safety? I wasn't very sure. There were trees all around me as I ran with all my might. I would occasionally trip over thick roots or slip over foliage but nothing deterred me. I needed to get to the other end. My heart beat against my rib cage as I tried to muster all my stamina towards making it out of this maze alive. I kept looking back to see if the boogieman were catching up to me, but there was nothing there.

I didn't encounter a single animal or sentient being within the jungle. Nothing but endless trees that occupied every inch of the land. I had been running for miles, my adrenaline pushing my body to its extremes. I was out of breath but I continued to troop towards safety. I heard a snap of twigs behind me and turned around. I looked through the darkness to find the source but could find nothing. Maybe it had been a rabbit or rodent. I didn't pause long enough to solve this mystery and instead double downed on my efforts and ran faster. I kept running amidst the thick darkness when I suddenly seemed to loose ground and started falling. I had run off a cliff and now I was being sucked into the darkness. I kept falling and falling endlessly with no end in sight.

My body jerked awake and I found myself in a bed. I looked around. I was back in my room in Jean's home. I was wearing a white robe that in patients wore at hospitals and I had an IV drip attached to my arm. I was no longer falling or in the forest, yet my heartbeat hadn't ceased thumping. Memories of the car accident slowly entered my mind. I remembered Alessandro's injury. My leg had been badly crushed. I tried moving it right now and shards of pain pierced me, although it felt a lot less agonizing. I could move it around and I sighed in relief. This momentary joy didn't last as I remembered the strange man in black gloves callously shoot down Alessandro. 

I woke up from my bed and recklessly ripped out the IV from my arm. I changed into a comfortable pair of sweatpants and a shirt and made my way to Anna's room. The room was dark and uninhabited. I made my way downstairs in search of someone. First to the dining room and then to the common areas. The house was eerily quiet and devoid of a single human. Even Francis was nowhere to be seen. I had never realized how chilling an empty mansion was capable of being. The shadows in the house toyed with my darkest imaginations. If asked whether I believed in the supernatural, I would scoff at the mere suggestion of it. But it was times like these, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of forces beyond human understanding and imagination.

I decided to make my way through the hallway past the living room and towards Jean's private study. I hoped to bump into someone along the way but was met with deathly silence. My thoughts were my only company. I knocked on the door of Jean's study just to make sure I was alone. A few light taps reverberated strongly in the stillness of the night.

"What are you doing out of bed?" a voice behind me said.

An unattractive shriek left my mouth at the sudden disturbance. I turned around to find Jean at the doorway of the room, his blazer hanging in the crook of his arm. His eyes were swollen due to lack of sleep and his suit had been crushed. He looked like he had had a long day.