My eyes burned sharply as though they'd been cut and soaked in salt whilst the moon had risen to it's peak and sunk down low behind the horizon. My breath came to be in short, spastic cycles, the memories from my reoccurring nightmare all but fading away in my fragile mind. Images of darkness filled the light of reality that shone through the windows, blocking out all moral and natural thought in the process.
*
You're alone now.*
A deep, menacing voice spoke to me mentally.
*No more mommy or daddy to protect you.*
Silence.
Dry laughter.
*Oh, but how stupid of me! I forgot to mention your brother. Matt, if I recall correctly...?*
More dry heaves of laughter echoed in my mind, vibrating my heart and soul as the Devil himself spoke to me.
*Oh, your dear old brother...Enjoy what is left of him, my beautiful Brynlee, for not long from now he will fade into the same abyss your parents succumbed to.*
I shook in my very skin, restraining the shriek that threatened to escape. I clenched the thin sheets between both palms, wrist broken or whole. I knew not whether to laugh at the absurdity of the words that last came to me, or to welcome the feeling of my soul receding into the very depths of what little was left of my sanity.
*Have a nice day now.*
And with that, I fell back into the darkness alone, just as I'd grown to expect.
I returned to reality what I guessed to be two hours later. No voice returned, and for some time I wondered if perhaps it had all been a shred of my twisted subconsciousness
Feeling impure, and covered in a film of grime and fear that would not wash away, I ignored the renewed burn in my throat, the pounding of my throbbing heart and broken wrist in my head, and stood up out of bed. My legs found it impossible to support my weight as my vision flashed dangerously. I fell to the wooden floor below, rasping a breath of shock and pain as my left wrist had bent forward instinctively to break my fall, and succeeded.
I sat on the floor, leaning my head back against the mattress, my arms and legs much too void of energy to move. I closed my eyes, trying to think of a way to remedy my current predicament. I did not have long, however, because not a minute later the sound of pebbles hitting my bedroom windows caught my attention.
"Brynlee?" I heard a nervous voice ask tentatively from below, somewhere on the grass of the side yard. I groaned, having just come to conclusion of who was calling out my name in much the same way a worried loved one would.
I rolled my head to the side towards my bedside table, and felt a wave of dread wash over me as the flashing red glow of my clock informed me it was already past eleven thirty, and nearing noon. This meant that Zade had been waiting for me for an hour in the least. I closed my eyes gently once again.
"I'm so sorry, Zade," I whispered, my words slurred together incomprehensibly. My mumbled thoughts were silenced as his soothing, warm and familiar voice filled the air around me, much closer than before.
"Brynlee, what's happened to you?!"
Although I could feel my senses ebbing away as my body slackened, I replied regardless, not knowing if he understood a single word of gibberish that left my dry mouth.
"I've lost my family...I'm completely alone...And I'm so scared of living like this for the rest of my life."
As his strong arms encircled me and I could but just vaguely feel myself leave the floor, the darkness returned, stronger and thicker than ever before.
