Mei's footsteps echoed the roll of thunder outside as she bounded down the stairs. A flash of lightning painted the empty house a blinding shade of electric white, but although she flinched, heart in her throat, she didn't stop. Running faster still, the taste of salt on her tongue was overwhelming as the tears kept falling, burning the flushed skin on her cheeks.
"Mom!"
Bare feet met cold marble as she finally reached the bottom of the staircase and raced down the hallway. She could almost feel the familiar touch of slender fingers combing through her hair, longing for the way her mother's lips would shape every word as she told her that everything was going to be alright. Just a little longer, and then she would tell her that there was nothing to be afraid of. A few more steps and she would tell her just how brave she was.
Shaky hands found the handle as she tore the door open and slipped inside the bedroom only to freeze as she was met by an eerie wall of silence. Dead silence. The door slammed shut behind her and a flush of cold air pierced her very skin as something foreign settled at the bottom of her stomach. She didn't dare move.
"Mom," she whispered, her voice barely more than a breath as it left her lips and her eyes trailed from the open window across from her to the bed. Something was wrong.
"Mom-" Mei began, but the word caught in her throat as lightning struck again and, in what felt like the span of a single second and an eternity all at once, Mei's entire world came crashing down upon her.
Her heart sank, and she felt all the air leaving her lungs as she took in the scene before her; the rain pouring through the open window and soaking the floors, turning them into mirrors in the night. The leaves fluttering throughout the room like fugitives trying to escape the scene. Gusts of wind tearing at the curtains, forcing them to twist and dance. And the bed.
The pristinely white sheets wrapped around her mother's body were covered in feathers, and the sight made Mei's brows furrow as she searched her face which was set in a peaceful mask that could be mistaken for sleep had she not known better.
Regretfully, she did.
Her feet were glued to the floor as a heartbeat passed, and then another. There was blessing in the moment after terror and before confirmation. But then she realized that the sheets were darkened around her mother's chest where her hands were wrapped around a fuzzy black shape. It was too dark to make out what her pale hands were clutching, yet the sight sent a chill down Mei's spine.
The urge to step forward, to step closer, was overwhelming, but when she finally found the courage to do so, rough hands seized her shoulders. Reality found her all at once as a horde of dark-clad shapes and men in suits pushed her backwards and she stumbled towards the door. Away from her mother.
Mei knew that as soon as she was out of sight she would never feel her mother's touch again. She would never be able to lose herself in her stories or secrets again. She would never see her again. And so she fought it, fought the people dragging her away, tearing and screaming until the roll of thunder outside drowned out her crying, and suddenly all she could see was her father's dark eyes.
"It's okay," he shuddered, cupping her face as the lie settled between them. "You're okay. Everything is going to be okay."
Her teeth sank into her bottom lip in an attempt to stop the tears she knew will never cease to fall, registering the way the skin broke and allowed a cut to bloom. Horror settled at the bottom of her stomach as her breath quickened and her vision blurred.
Because Mei understood that were this a dream, she would not taste blood.
⌭
