Lightning and Starlight

Naomi Bridge

Neera's eyes opened, burning slightly from her tears. The room was dark. She sat up, looking around. She was in her bed. Koen was gone.

Neera took a deep breath, sliding her hands up and down her face. She slowly pulled the covers off her body, exposing her bare skin to the cool of the room. Her arms ached with the movement. Neera slipped out of bed and walked to the bathroom, neglecting her clothes that laid on the ground by the bed.

Neera clicked on the light, waiting as the bulb flickered on.

A tall, lean figure with Spanish features stared back at her in the mirror. The woman had olive skin covered in scars. Red blood not yet dry sat on her skin like thick paint. Her long, red-brown hair was still sticky with her blood. Purple and yellow bruises covered her face and arms, and handprints and nail marks dotted her cheeks.

Neera trembled as she moved her gaze from her injured body to her eyes, a light brown color that almost resembled Koen's.

Koen.

Neera pulled a shaky hand to her head, trying to shut out the pain she felt there. She was tired. She hated herself in that moment. When did she not? She was worthless.

She should have left Koen when she could. Before he was skilled with his powers. Before he could purify and create pure water. Before he started growing icy and more calculating and my psychotic.

She should have left the first time he hurt her, but she had loved him then. She didn't love him now. She dreaded every second he was with her.

Neera felt sick. Her body was tired. Her mind was tired. Everything hurt, mentally, emotionally, and physically. She couldn't go on any longer. She looked back to her body in the mirror, her eyes moving over each of her new scars and bruises from just a few hours before.

She deserved it. Maybe that's why she hadn't left yet. She was a horrible person. She had killed too many times to count. She had hurt other people. She had done too many terrible things. The pain Koen dealt her was well deserved. The energy hero she had killed had been speaking somewhat of the truth.

But could she even leave? Koen would find her. He would kill her for trying to escape, but he would torture her first. He would make her suffer even more than she already was. It would be so much worse.

He had friends. He had connections. He could find her.

She was better off not trying to escape.

Neera stared back into her brown eyes. They slowly morphed into Koen's amber eyes. She jerked away. It was just her mind. He wasn't here anymore. Just her imagination. He had left. He was gone.

For then.

He would come back, though. Soon. He would be back, and she would have to endure.

It was hard. She didn't want to keep fighting. She was tired. She was too tired to keep going. She needed peace.

Neera paced the bathroom, her thoughts running wild. She tried to push the worse ones away, but they seemed to speak the truth. She was unwanted. She was unloved. She was worthless. All she had was Koen.

She had to get away from Koen. She couldn't live how she had been any longer. She had to get away from it all. She knew what the only way out was. She hadn't even considered it months in the past when the idea first surfaced in her hurting mind. She thought it had been an insane thought, but she didn't care anymore. She was too numb to care.

It was peace. She wanted peace. It would bring her peace.

She would embrace death.

Finally, she would have the peace that she craved.