Remember

Chapter Thirty

Colette stared at the mass of thorns that now thrived on her nightstand, Prissy's words ringing inside her ears. She didn't believe anything Prissy had said. How could she when she had this blood craving destruction dwelling inside her?

Anger welled up inside her as she took the plant and threw the whole thing, pot and all, at the wall across from her bed. It exploded in a mass of pot shards, dirt, and thorns that scattered around the room. Colette let out a cry of frustration as tears started to pour uncontrollably down her cheeks. What had she done that was so bad that she was cursed with this power?

Lorhan was right, she was going to kill everyone. Even now, sitting in this stranger from another world's bed, she could feel the darkness stirring restlessly inside her. She had let it out and now it was never going to leave her alone. It was going to beg and beg and beg to be let out over and over again until it completely takes her over.

The worst part was; there's no stopping it. The darkness had a mind of it's own. It was merely a parasite that had attached itself to her.

She continued to stare at that hellspawn of a plant splattered on the wall and floor. Hellspawn, that's what Colette was. The devil himself had spawned her pathetic self up from hell, gave her a taste of paradise, and then ripped it away from her and created this monster she now was.

Her body shook as she slipped out of bed and walked over to the destroyed plant. She should probably clean it up before someone came in here and saw the mess she made. Colette didn't need to give the villagers any more reasons to hate her. Though after what she had done, she wasn't sure if they could hate her anymore.

"Where are you going?"

"I thought I heard a crash. I was just going to make sure she was okay."

"Keep your voice down boy. You're a damned fool if you go in there. You don't know what state she's in, she could unleash that darkness again and kill you if she so pleased." The whispering voices of a male and female paused for a moment.

"I'll take my chances." A pair of heavy steps retreated away from Colette's door as it creaked open. She didn't look up to see who it was, instead focusing on cleaning up the mess she had made.

"What did the poor plant do to you?" Jordeen awkwardly chuckled as he bent down next to her to help clean it up. She said nothing to his words, her red tinged eyes stayed focused on the disaster in front of her. The only thing that could be heard was the scrapping of pot shards against the wood floors. At least the wood floors make the clean up easier. "Okay... bad joke. I'll, uh, go find a trashcan."

Jordy returned moments later with a rather small trashcan in his hand. "This was all i could find. I'm sure we can make it fit though.. Sweep the remains under the dresser or something." Colette managed to scoff as she picked up a few pieces of pot shards and dropped them into the trashcan.

Her hands shook again, red spreading across her skin to match the color of the broken pot. The images of the darkness attacking everything in it's sight flooded back to her mind in flashes of red and black. She could hear the blood curdling screams and innocent souls calling for help. She could see the fear on everyone's faces, fear that she caused.

When she snapped back to reality her eyes met with Jordy's. "Hey..." He tried to reach out to her but she flinched away from his outstretched hand.

"Don't touch me." The words came out as a whisper at first but quickly turned to yelling. "Don't touch me!" Colette was the face of insanity. Her hair and clothes were still an utter mess, her body shaking, and her eyes looking around frantically for a way away from Jordy. She reached up and grabbed the dresser with her bloody hand and winced as she pulled herself up on shaky legs. "Don't touch me." She repeated the words, backing up into the wall behind her and away from Jordy.

"I won't touch you." He stood up slowly, his hands up and close to his body in a mock surrender. He took a step closer but this only caused Colette to press into the wall harder. "I don't want to hurt you."

"But I want to hurt you." Hurt crossed Jordy's features and Colette realized what she said. "I-I mean... I could hurt you. I can't control th-this thing inside me. It wants to hurt you. Please don't let me hurt you." She was sobbing again, choking on the words stuck in her throat.

Jordy didn't know what to say or do. He wasn't good at these kinds of things -- calming someone down, tending to crying women. Usually he would just walk away. Well, usually girls didn't run from him like this, rather chased after him. "You won't hurt me. I'll be fine. Just take a deep breath." He took another small, cautious step towards her.

Colette's breathe hitched in her throat with each new step Jordy took towards her. He was insane and he was going to get himself hurt or even killed. Neither of which she wanted to happen. Not to him. Not to anyone else again. But the darkness felt like it was rushing to the open wound on her hand so it could escape from under her skin with the dripping blood.

"Jordy please." She begged and begged but he didn't stop. She was trembling now, every part in her body shaking. It felt so much like the sensation back in the forest clearing and it terrified her beyond measure. Your power should never be used. It should stay locked up inside your mind where it belongs. She should have listened.

"Breathe Colette. You can control this." Her eyes were squeezed shut, she didn't remember shutting them but maybe if she kept them closed she could shut out the entire world too. She tried to listen to Jordy's words, take his advice.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat.

It sounded simple enough. It should be simple but it wasn't. Not when the only thing Colette could think of was hurting Jordy. She just needed to clear her mind. Colette managed to shut everything out and focus on her breathing. Seconds. Minutes. Time passed and it felt like an eternity had passed before she slid down the wall and hugged her knees to her chest.

The trembling had finally stopped but she didn't dare open her eyes to face the world in front of her. Colette didn't want to see the look on Jordy's face. She couldn't take any more pity or worry. She didn't want to be looked at as some sad, lost puppy.

Jordy slid down the wall right next to her just like he had done on the abandoned highway. He said nothing, did nothing but sit there with her in silence. Colette could feel his shoulder brush against hers with every intake of breath and she leaned into the simple touch. In return, Jordy wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to him.

They sat there in silence. Calm. Breathing. And for just a moment the world didn't seem so broken.