Seduce Me ~ The Path To Forgiveness

Path Three, Step Thirteen: Freedom

The robed womans hurried footsteps, accompanied by the eerie rattle of her chains, fade down the hall as I stare down at the blade in my palm, its handle cold and heavy in my hand. Though I try to weigh my options I know I don't have much time and I'm only delaying the inevitable; there is only one right choice. I bring the knife to my neck, pressing hard enough to feel its bite against my skin, as I attempt to gather my courage. I close my eyes, bracing myself for the pain to come, before drawing back and slicing with all the force my shaking arm can muster.

'No, no, no!' I struggle, fingers digging painfully into my scalp as I watch the blood flow freely from my butchered flesh. I squeeze my eyes tightly in denial, though it doesn't block out the vision before me, the sight of an unnatural violet glow that stems the scarlet river.

'NO!'

The illusion shatters, my mind falling blank and vision black, and I sigh in shaky relief, though it's short lived as I chance opening my eyes.

I stand in my bathroom, the web like cracks spread along the glass before me almost completely obscuring the creature on the other side who smiles sweetly. Wider and wider the grin creeps along her face, silent giggles rising to a crescendo of manic cackles that echo through my mind, as she crawls onto the counter, her motions feral and sensual in equal measure. She taps her polished nails delicately on the glass, as she's done many times during her imprisonment, and it shatters into a silver cascade. With my back pressed to the wall I sink to the floor as I watch her crawl through, a hopeless sense of dread rising in my chest as she slinks from the counter and crouches before me. Her eyes are as wild as the heart of a tornado, reaching out to me with manicured nails as I squeeze my eyes shut.

Her fingers graze along the side of my throat, forcing me to meet her gaze as she firmly grips the back of my neck, and my body trembles as her eyes meet mine. While a dangerous rage simmers in them it's held back, only just, by a calm at their center, a faint glimmer of hope.

'You're wrong.' Her voice drifts through my mind, a restrained edge to her biting tone, and she watches me with barely maintained patience for several seconds as I stare in shock and horror.

'What?' I manage, barely daring to breathe, and I see the flash of irritation that crosses her face, watching quietly as she struggles to temper it.

'You accuse me of being a monster, but are you not one yourself?' She straightens, taking a step back, and her form flickers in time with the dim lights.

Her eyes are darkened and hollow, the faintest glimmer hiding in their haunting depths, pleading for mercy. Her face is sunken, her skin gaunt and pale, and the hair that tickles her face as brittle as autumn leaves. The flesh of her wrists are raw, the manacle shaped wounds seeping a viscous pink liquid, and an obscene number of wounds, old and fresh alike, litter her battered body. I flinch at the gruesome sight, my eyes darting to the floor and remaining even after the visage fades.

'I.. I don't understand.' I stammer and though something in my mind tells me I do, I understand completely, I push the nagging thought aside.

'I refuse to allow you to deny me any longer. Every moment you've suffered by their hands you've repaid me in kind when my only crime is beating through your veins.' Her accusation is laced with pain, a desperate plea in her tone, and her words are enough to break the weakening dam holding back the haunting memories. 'How long must I suffer for anothers sins?'

I remember that night, at a loss at how I could ever have forgotten it. There was so much blood. My hands, the knife clutched between my fingers, the floor around me all splattered in crimson ichor. I remember the awe I felt as my life began to drain, the irritation on my captors face as the door swung open, and the warmth that filled me as the woven cage in my mind broke, violet seeping from the gash in my throat. I remember the days I spent chained tightly as my wound struggled to repair itself. I remember how hard the demon within me fought, lashing out against me as I slowly forced it back into its cage, ignoring the starved creatures desperate pleas for its freedom.