My little monster | ✓

From

|5|

I spin around and run. Run until I don't feel my legs anymore. I have managed to get this far, I won't let her put me back in that prison.

That was Ivy, I know. She has never shown this side of her, maybe because she didn't need to. I don't hear steps behind me. Actually, I haven't heard anything since I started bolting; besides my footsteps and heavy breathing. I glance back, yet there is nothing. I gradually slow down, eyes still behind me.

Where did she go? Did I lose her? I have been running for a while.

While running, I went left and right in order to make it harder for her to follow me, however now I'm more lost than before. I tried to be careful and she still managed to find me so soon.

"It amusing to see." A distant voice says. I prepare myself to be faced with the monster close to me.

"Little Eva thinks she is smart enough to trick me." The voice comes closer with each word. She is here and she is watching.

"No stop!" I yell, putting my hands over my ears.

"Little Eva doesn't know how powerless she is." I can hear her in my head. "Little Eva is naive."

"Shut up!" I shout. The voice suddenly stops. I stare down. Two shadows.

No...

One of the shadows starts to move. It starts to stand up straight and become bigger, more three dimensional. It takes color and shape. Her monster form is now in front of me.

"How did you-" I'm hit right in the stomach before I'm able to speak. I blackout.

***

I go in and out of consciousness. My body is being dragged around on the ground. Branches make cuts on my skin. Rocks attack my spine. Mud and dirt cover me whole. Claws sometimes dig into my skin, making me yelp in pain.

I couldn't make it mother. I tried. But please just wait a little longer. I won't give up.

We come to a stop and I hear a door being opened. Ivy throws me in the middle of the hall and that brings me back to reality. She makes me get up against my will.

"I will admit, maybe I underestimated your will to leave." With each step, her appearance changes. The horns and claws disappear and her skin goes back to milky white. "Today I will let you think over what you did, but don't think it will go unpunished.."

She pushes me up the staircase. I trip and fall multiple times and Ivy pulls me up to walk again. We don't go to our room. This room is the first one in the hallway. I don't have a clear memory of this one when Ivy showed me around the house. Ivy takes a key from her pocket and opens the door. There is only darkness, nothing able to be seen.

Ivy snaps her fingers and a candle lights up. The walls are navy with nothing on them. There is one bed, one bedside table. No window. No way out.

Ivy shoves me inside and I fall on the floor. There is pain in every part of my body. I look up at her with hatred.

"You will stay here until you've learned your lesson."

"I will find a way. Different from you, I have people that care for me and need me and I have to be beside them." My voice cracks.

"I forgot you don't know." Her laugh fills the room.

"Know what?" I whisper.

Ivy crunches down to my level and tilts up my chin. "Your parents are dead."

"No, you are lying." I shake my head. She gets up and pouts, looking in the distance.

"So tragic. The loss of their daughter was too much on the poor woman. After her death, your father couldn't take another loss so he left soon after."

"You're making this up!"

"You yourself knew they wouldn't last long without you." She smirks and leaves the room. I get up and shake the doorknob. It's locked.

She's lying. I pull on the bedsheets, throwing them on the floor.

She's lying. I kick and punch the wall.

"She is lying!" I let out a scream.

I slide to the floor with my arms hugging my legs. Tears, one after another. I know she isn't lying. Inside I knew there was a chance.

I lost them and now I'll never see them again. Never feel the warmth of their embrace. They were the reason I wanted to get out of here. Without them, it's not even worth it to go back. Nothing will be waiting for me.

I stay on the cold floor, covered in mud and blood and tears that make cleaner tracks on my face.

I stare up at the burning candle. Such a small thing and still it sickens me, just because it's been affected by her power.

"Disappear," I mumble to the flame like it's going to listen to me.

However, the fire moves as if it's being blown. It happens for a few short seconds, until going back to normal. I jump on my feet to get closer. There is no wind here or anything that could have blown on it. The tightness returns in my chest, taking out my breath for a moment.

Is this feeling... No, it can't be... right?

"Disappear," I say again, louder this time. I wait to see if it happens again. When it does, I take steps back in surprise.

Does this mean... A dash of hope floods in me until it vanishes again. But now it doesn't even matter, does it?

I sit on the mattress and let out a breath. I don't sleep. My mind roams around for all the possibilities. After what feels like forever, I've not only made a decision but a plan.

"I might not have a reason to go back, but that doesn't mean I will surrender."

The fire on the candle is burning, but it won't stay like that for long.