'Murderer' He Whispered

16

Megan felt as though she had been bashed over the head with a brick as Keyla's comforting face that was illuminated by the fire burning in the fireplace began to separate into won't pieces, slowly at first, and then all at once.

She watched with fearful eyes as each section of the woman's face peeled away like pieces of old and worn latex that floated weightlessly around her, as though the woman's body had turned into confetti.

Soon, Keyla's body had completely separated as each piece circled Megan faster and faster until it looked like she had been engulfed by a swarm of angry flies, zooming across the space so fast that Keyla's living room around her began to fade into the background until all she could see was blackness.

Blinded and fearing for her life, Megan began swatting her hands around frantically as the flies buzzed painfully in her ears.

Failing to escape from the angry swarm, Megan suddenly cried out in pain when a dozen of the flies latched onto her bare arms and began to eat away at her skin.

Panic clogged Megan's throat and lungs as she tried to free her arms from these horrific demons and escape the swarm, but none of the flies would budge as they continued to chew away at her.

Screwing her eyes shut, Megan begged for it all to stop, but it wouldn't stop. The longer she was trapped in the tornado of flies, the more that emerged out of nowhere, buzzing on her ears, drumming against her body, and matching onto her skin as they ripped into her flesh.

Not being able to do anything to stop what was happening to her, Megan felt her limbs suddenly turn numb as though the flies had torn through enough layers of skin and severed her ligaments, causing her to collapse deeper into the darkened void when a sudden ball of light flashed before her closed eyes like the headlights of an oncoming train.

Silence.

No more buzzing. No more flies.

Just complete silence.

Lifting her quivering eyelids hesitantly, Megan grimaced as the bright light shot into her eyeballs, blinding her instantly. She blinked hard, fighting against the beams of light that burned her pupils until a blurry, crimson-red rose filtered into existence before her.

Confused, Megan focused on the rose, allowing her eyes to follow the patterns that each elegant petal held until she spotted another rose next to it. Then another, and then another.

Soon, she was staring at a dozen roses all placed in a symmetrical pattern next to each other with each rose uniquely different with each of their petals dipping and bending in opposite directions of the other.

Gazing at them all in awe, Megan slowly began to realise that she was looking at her living room wall. She turned over slightly, feeling her hip press against the soft cushion of her burgundy sofa.

She was back in her living room, back in the house she once loved but had suddenly grown to hate. No longer was she the lost and frightened sixteen-year-old who desperately needed help, and was back as her forty-four-year-old self. A middle-aged woman with two young girls who she now had to look after and raise on her own. A woman who desperately needed help now, but this time had no one. Although she knew she had Christie, she longed for the help and comfort of Keyla, a woman who would never be able to help her again.

Allowing hot tears to sting past her cheeks, Megan longed for time to rewind, to be back in Keyla's house wrapped in a warm blanket in front of the fireplace while sipping on Keyla's special hot chocolate with chocolate sprinkles and marshmallows on top of the fluffy whipped cream.

How much she wanted it, yearned for it. She knew she was being selfish, but she'd give up everything just to be back at Keyla's again. A place where nothing evil in the world could ever touch her.