The Haunted Memories (Forgotten Series, #4)

Chapter 29

My world felt hazy... disjointed... broken. I wasn't sure where I was or what was going on. I remembered the nose bleed and then nothing. There was nothing in my head other than that sharp, unending pain that seemed to crack and crumble the foundations of my mind. It had made it feel broken and unsteady. I wasn't sure how much time had passed, it was all blank, all empty. Just a blank space in my head that I couldn't figure out.

My head felt hollow but at the same time unbearably cramped, confusing and contradicting emotions swirled around and around inside of my skull. I wasn't sure what was real or what was me. There was something within me, something or someone else. It wasn't like my wolf, this was different. It was unnatural and forced. It didn't belong.

Everything felt white. It was an odd feeling to have but it did. It felt white, blank, unmarked, empty. Almost like an unpainted room that had never been lived in, never had furniture in it to scuff up the floor or the walls, to have the paint fade around its shadow. There was a wrongness to how it felt.

There was just white emptiness inside my mind that I knew was too cramped. There was something else in there that didn't belong. I wanted to fight out of that whiteness but I couldn't find the energy or the strength. It felt like I had been stuck for hours, unable to move or talk or scream. I wanted so hard to push through but I felt like I was stuck in a sort of mental traffic jam, something was blocking me from waking up.

I didn't know what to do when I felt something near me. I knew I wasn't seeing anything but I was aware of a dark figure, it was made up of something like black smoke. Its edges were wispy and little tendrils seems to wave off of the edges of the figure as it moved closer and closer. I couldn't move away, couldn't close my eyes because I wasn't really seeing.

The figure seemed almost aggressive in its move towards me before it reached out. Its hand looked strange and I felt the touch like a hot brand as it reached my chest. I inhaled, wanting to scream as it sunk into my chest, grasping at something within me, something that made my head pierce with agonizing pain. The feeling of being cramped became completely unbearable.

The figure yanked backwards and I felt like something within my body was yanked forward with it but it stopped short and the figure didn't seem fazed as it yanked again. I wanted to scream, wanted to move away but I was stuck fast in a body that was completely immobile. The black smoky figure shifted, grabbing my shoulder with a searing hot grasp before shoving its other hand deeper into my chest. It seemed to be seeking something out before it yanked back hard as if victorious.

I felt like all the air had been yanked from my body at the same time my chest had been crushed in a giant grip but the figure didn't relent and yanked again. I felt like something was being torn from my chest and my head as the figure gave a mumbled sounding roar as it pulled back on its grip. I couldn't see what the figure was pulling out of me but I could feel it.

It tugged on the edges of my soul, a hot and searing pain that radiated out from my chest. It felt like it was tearing something out from inside me. The pressure in my head grew worse until I felt like there were two forms of consciousness within me. I could almost hear echoes of another voice inside me, echoes of thoughts that were not my own. Similar to my own voice but it wasn't me.

There was a faint give in my head, something shifted, moving away just a fraction before it tore from me completely. I inhaled as my back arched, my body finally moving as pain roared through me. Tear sprung into my eyes at the harshness of the searing pain rolling through my nerves. Something had been ripped from my soul. It reminded me of the day I lost Maggie, it wasn't as intense, more like an echo of it.

"That had to hurt like a sonofabitch." The voice sounded slightly winced as hands grasped my shoulders, holding me down. I wanted to move away, to curl up by myself. I felt completely alone in my head, that heaviness, that cramped feeling had disappeared.