A Flurry Of Crimson

Chapter 17 | An Unraveled Truth

I did mention screaming. Well, not only because nightmares are making the edges of my brain fuzzy... this is more than just a nightmare...

I don't know which is more of a terror- the information that just got thrown at me like a bucket of ice-cubes -or the scene preforming before me.

It is the corporeal shape of the abstract 'terror.'

My body aches its way out of unending cramps. Colours of gold and red pang at the door of my eyes that twitch from side to side with a rapid velocity.

It stops. The Cruciatus Curse finally stops.

I let time erase the shades of black floating in front of me as I stay on my knees. I stay stiff in place, with no moving limb.

"Your attention, Bellatrix, happens to be extremely phenomenal," his voice is mingled with a python's hisses.

'My honour, lord," pride hides behind her tone of meekness.

I slightly turn my head over my shoulder, not daring to look any fraction longer. Since my sight is lingering its way back to normal, I was able to see his face and black suit blemished with stains of dark red.

His eyes paint that one imagery in my mind... it is the imagery of Death teasing him. His torturesome shadows encompassing his soul. The procedure of anguish was taunting him, mortifying him by his vices and mistakes, and telling him that he deserved death.

Death never took him away... Draco seems to be a bondsman for his pain, with no freedom. His only escape is to be terminated for good.

Today, there is one person to blame since the case has become crystal clear. Bellatrix has wiretapped us through extendable ears she'd placed in every corner of the estate. She'd heard everything and informed the Dark Lord about Draco telling me the truth. I confessed what I'd done to him, thinking I would release him from a terrible punishment... instead, I got penalized too.

Even though all the good that came from Malfoy to me was just a duty, and not from good intention, I never understood why anyone deserves such torment. I didn't want him to be punished for something that was out of his hand.

I knew that I was going to pay many times if I was going to retrieve what has been concealed away from me. And here I am, paying for my deeds.

"It wouldn't have been too bitter if you'd agreed on our deal, my treasure,"the Dark Lord says. That's when my skin begin to trace the outlines of the droplets of sweat on my back.

He looks down at me. I look down at the floor under me.

"As I call you my treasure, I shouldn't destroy you," he pokes the tip of his wand into my cheek.

I swallow my heart that seem to arise in my esophagus.

You already destroyed me. I want to say it badly, but I shouldn't.

Death teased me hard, yet Death never took me with him. I thought.

"I'm utterly abashed by my mistake, lord. May you forgive me," I stutter. Saying something rebellious won't go to my benefit.

I know I'm kneeling to the wrong lord, and asking for redemption from the wrong lord. But I have no other choice.

"It's not just your fault, my dear. This handsome man has a hand in it too," he causes Malfoy's ghastly body to come into better view.

I summon the courage to merely look at him from the corner of my eyes.

He's all bloody.

It's all my fault. It's all my fault. It's all my fault.