Because I Love You✔️

Chapter 85: Post Traumatic Shock

Chapter Eighty-Five: Post Traumatic Shock

It began with a scream.

Shrill, high-pitched, deafening... it shredded through the room and made every single person lying clustered together on the furs leap to their feet and dance away. Sinmir and Gus scrambled upright, Vrael got tangled up in his blanket, and Amelia let out a screech of her own.

Floundering around in fright, all of them jumped away from Ella, who was lying frozen with her eyes wide open and screaming at the top of her lungs. Xaphile, lying directly beside her, was the only one who didn't budge: eyes closed, he merely lay where he was on his side.

"What the blazes is wrong with her?!" Sinmir squawked, bloodshot grey eyes half open. "I've never seen her act like this before!"

"Why is she screaming?!" Vrael squawked, dancing from foot to foot with pure anxiety on his sleep-addled face; when she let out another piercing wail, he snatched his ears and pulled them down against his head. trying to block it out. "What is this?!"

"Ella!" Gus barked, tearing back over and roughly clutching her shoulders. "Calm down!"

"NO!" Ella shrieked, bolting upright and thrashing around. "No! No! No! Let me go!"

"Ella! Shhh, shh! Ella, it's okay!" Amelia whimpered, scurrying over and attempting to help Gus pin her down. "Ella, calm down! You're fine! Everything is fine!!"

"NO! NO, NO, NO! Get away from me!" Ella screeched, bursting into tears and struggling against them until her limbs bulged. "PAPA! PAPA! NOOOOO!"

Gus stiffened in shock, eyebrows rising in horror.

"Ellameira, your father isn't here anymore! Snap out of it!" he cried, struggling to keep a firm hold on her arms as she flailed around; her cries were so hysterical that they were practically unintelligible to listening ears. "ELLA! WAKE UP!"

"Octavius!" Vrael squalled. "What's wrong with her?!"

"I don't know!" Gus exclaimed, holding onto her arm with tense eyes. "She's screaming for her father! She's delirious!"

It was then that Sinmir stepped forward.

"Get outside," he growled, eyes shadowed with something unpleasant. "All of you. Now."

"Excuse me?!" Gus scoffed, turning and casting him an affronted glance. "Who do you think--?"

"DO IT!" Sinmir barked, turning a rather threatening expression on him. "NOW!"

With great hesitance, Amelia and Gus slowly let go of her and stood up. When they made their way outside, Vrael let go of his ears and hastily followed them. The moment they were out of earshot, Sinmir turned to look at Ella, who was still screaming loudly.

"I know you're conscious, Xaphile," he finally growled, "and although I don't know what happened to the two of you the previous evening... I'm fairly certain that you're the only one who can snap Ella out of whatever funk she's in. So do it."

Without another word, he turned around and walked outside, slamming the door. Xaphile's eyes slowly slid open and he stared at the Ella's bucking form.

Her face was full of delusional terror and agony.

Finally, he shifted his arms and pushed himself upright, being careful about his wings. He looked down at her with a blank expression.

"Ella," he murmured, leaning close to her face and touching her burning cheeks with both hands. "Ella... can you hear me?"

"PAPA!" Ella screeched. "PAPA!!"