Sinned Blood

CHAPTER 26 ~ The Past Part 1

After the indulgent session, all three lie in bed, basking in the afterglow of satisfaction. Sky, drained of energy, lets go of her shyness, focusing on regaining some strength after the substantial blood loss. Her clothes, now half-ripped and stained with blood, leave her almost fully exposed. Jaxon, enjoying a cigarette, chuckles at the scene.

"Well, that was something," he remarks, looking to his left with a satisfied smile directed at Sky. Meanwhile, Carter, on the other side of the bed, runs his fingers through his hair, a contemplative expression on his face. The room lingers with a mix of sensations, heavy and charged with the echoes of their intimate encounter.

Carter, observing the rhythmic rise and fall of Sky's chest, realizes that she must have either fallen asleep or lost consciousness. Concerned, he props himself up on his elbow and gently shakes her. "Sky? Are you okay?" he inquires, his voice carrying a tone of genuine worry. "Hey, can you hear me?"

Feeling disoriented, Sky's head throbbing, she groggily tries to make sense of her surroundings. The concerned voice of Annabelle reaches her, pulling her back to awareness.

"Sky, can you hear me?"

Opening her eyes, Sky finds herself on the floor, the familiar room around her, but with a subtle shift – a glimpse into another timeline. Annabelle's caring touch on her cheek brings a sense of reassurance. In Annabelle's hand, a glass of water awaits her.

"Here. Drink this."

Sky takes the glass, her mind still tangled in the haze of confusion. As she sips the water, questions linger about the reality of her experiences, wondering if it's a tangible reality or a figment of her imagination.

"How did I get back here?"

"The only way I could bring you back here was for you to be in a weak state of mind." Annabelle's words hang in the air, leaving Sky in a state of astonishment. Memories of Carter and Jaxon draining her blood resurface, and she tries to shake off the unsettling thoughts, focusing on the pressing questions at hand.

"How is this possible? How do you know me? And WHO are you exactly?"

"The picture you saw of me was made not a while ago. You could say I was a friend of the family and... I was supposedly the mother of Ryan's child." Sky is left utterly perplexed, grappling with the implications of Annabelle's words and the mysterious connection she seems to have with those around her.

Sky, puzzled and confused, struggles to reconcile Annabelle's description of Ryan with the person she knows. The idea of Ryan being a caring and kind individual seems inconceivable given his current behavior.

"Ryan... as a... father? Who I'm their right mind would want that?!?! Are you sure we are talking about the same Ryan?" Sky questions, her skepticism evident.

Annabelle giggles, finding Sky's incredulity amusing. She nods and proceeds to unravel a tale of a Ryan from a different time, "The Ryan you know is not the one I've fallen in love with. He was once kind, sincere, loving, caring, charming, a beautiful young man who wanted nothing but a crumb of what could have been a decent human life." —a stark contrast to the man Sky has come to know.

"Again. We talking about the same Ryan?!" Sky can't help but express her disbelief, caught in the dissonance between the two versions of Ryan.

"The Ryan I know is long gone. I was able to see his dead eyes through yours. I was able to feel the pain he inflicts on others through your body. After everything he's made you go through in such short amount of time, I understand that you cannot think of him as the man I just described to you."

"Then what are we talking about?" Sky questions.

Annabelle's gaze holds a depth of sorrow as she responds to Sky's inquiry. "We're talking about a man lost to the shadows of time, a version of Ryan that once existed but has been eclipsed by darkness. The man I loved is entwined with memories, memories that have been tainted by unforeseen circumstances."