His Bloody Bride

Chapter 14: Weakness

CHAPTER 14: Weakness

“Monster,” spits a voice.

“Demon,” calls another.

“Burn her.”

“Stake her,” demands an unknown source.

“You are a menace, Mary.” Recalls one.

“You are Maria.”

 “No,” I cry, my voice bubbling with unease. “Please stop.”

“You are truly your mother’s daughter, a useless witch.”

I double over. My hands are a beacon of warmth around my ears, and I press my palms tightly against them. With each symbol, each fabrication of a letter, their tones and volumes grow louder and louder, to the point where they are thunderous in my ear drums and are tickling like spiders against my brain.

Voices. So many voices. They’re all contributing to the bubbling amount of self doubt weighing me. One of them I recognize as Eva’s voice. Her last few words to me echoing with the words being said. I am not a menace. I am not. At least, I hope I am not.

They hurt. I don’t know why but they hurt. The words feel like daggers, probing and prodding the sensitive flesh surrounding my ears, spiking and burning the flesh connected to my heart. My body feels weaker and heavier with each word being spat.

I will not allow myself to close my eyes because I know that if I do, I will see it. I’ll see those dark tendrils, reaching out, racing to grab me and drag me deeper into the unknown. I’ll feel the chills it sends to freeze me to the bone. And I can’t,

I can’t, let that happen, because if I let them take me, then I’ll no longer be me. I’ll become that monster they want me to become, and for self worth, I refuse to satisfy them.

Why me?

Of all kids why did I have to be born so broken like I am right now? Why did I have to have these nightmares? Why did I have to see them? Hear them? Feel them touching me?

Why did I have to be that weird kid? Couldn’t I have been chosen to live a normal life? Couldn’t I be normal?

Was it so wrong to ask for some normality in my life?

Of course it was. Because somehow, I’ve been cursed to be a freak for the rest of my miserable existence. I couldn’t fit in with the cool kids, or even with the outcasts. I was doomed to be a ghost wandering through my humane life because the universe had in store for me a life of supernatural occurrences, and trust me, it’s hard fighting the universe.

I close my eyes, trying to focus on something. On someone. On Frost.

I focus on his voice. I let it block the bitter feeling the voices leave inside my ears. I focus on his touch, the way he makes my heart flutter, on the way he makes me feel loved and cared for. I let my mind go back to memories of Frost and I. It filters through countless of moments shared between us, and I hope to go back to the moment when we first kissed. I smile thinking about it. I want to go back to it because things were so different back then, his lips are still as warm and comforting and full of love that he still shares with me until today.

But the only memory that comes up, surprises me.

I feel a warm sensation wrap around my body. “Oh my goodness, I thought I lost you.” A male holds me, and it feels familiar to be embraced in his arms.

“I’m fine. I told you I would be. You worry too much.” These words escape my lips but I don’t remember saying them. This feels like a memory on it’s own. Like I have no control of what I say or do.