Thirteen Minutes Only || Horror

Part #9

A blur. Thats what Jules felt like. It was as if the whole world but her was stuck in a forever time-lapse refusing to slow down. One moment her sight was erupting flames flooding the view. Upon blinking, the radiant orange and red was swapped out for a dim florescent white laying on every surface. Her hands rested something flat, solid.

A table. Neat polished lines ran across it wildly as if they possessed a mind of their own. She traced them with the tip of her finger until the lines drew out of range for her short nine year old arms. A nasty burn mocking her.

Someone on the other end of the table was telling her she was in an interrogation room and they were going to ask her few quick questions. She nodded, her mind refusing to process any of the words she was hearing. She just stared at the table, burning holes into the sharp, meticulous polish lines.

                                                                     "....the girl's in shock...."

     "..no more than ten years of age dressed in...."

             "....just answer the goddamn questions you little..."           

                                                                    "...fingerprints... identified..?"

                     "...stimuli unresponsive... Medical attention.... NOW!...."

"Y-yes, of course- right away!"

                                 "...only survivor....that's...."

                                                                 "....is she even stable?"                          

                                                        "...i dont get it- ....ho w    d i d    i t      e v e n 

                                                                                                                                                    s t a    r   t....?"

Start?  She thought. 

Where did it all start?

What went wrong?

Her own thoughts were eating her up alive, drying up all her reserves of energy and leaving none to fester up the energy to answer any of those. Her head hurt from an unreachable corner of her brain. 

Her palms burned and for a moment she thought she was back in that cramped room. The seating arrangement fueled her delusion and the wall between reality and fake collapsed. It was all too similar. Someone placed a cup of water in front of her and adrenalin took control of her.

She snatched herself away as she heard a scream. In the havoc, the styrofoam cup toppled over and water pooled on the table, running down at the sides. A soft 'splurt' followed by a regular 'tip tip' noise. Much like something you would hear from a leaky ceiling or a faulty water tap. Just eerily subtle enough to keep you awake the whole night.

But to Jules, it wasn't a transparent beverage spill on the table. Thin, white candle wax dripping down slowly thickening, hardening around her fingers as she touched the hot liquid. She dipped her fingers into the water to confirm she hadn't yet surrendered to her delusions. 

Cold.

She was fine. She told herself and closed her eyelids to form a barrier between the visions in her head and the ones in her eyes. A scent hit her and she felt as if her surroundings were warping in real time. The noisy uniformed officers were gone and it was deadly silent all off a sudden. Did a higher up in the police force arrive and everyone hushed? She thought.

Something soft cushioned in her hands and she opened her eyes to see what it was.

Lilies? 

What on earth did she have white lilies in her hands for. Her vision fell upon her black attire and she understood at once. She lifted her head and two giant framed portraits draped with black ribbon stared back at her. One she recognized and the other she did not. 

Her mom and a man she had never seen before. She tried to read the label on the one she didn't recognize. Her heart stopped.

In the loving memory of Jason Ford, a son, husband and father of a beautiful daughter. May your soul rest in peace.

Jules felt her blood boil. The anger she thought that had once dissolved stormed back up again and in a fit of pure rage and fury she full force threw the delicate flowers in her hands and knocked over his portrait, smashing it to bits. She heard people in the background gasp and clattering to get on their feet. A hand landed on her shoulder and she turned to face the owner and screamed into his face.

"Thirteen minutes only, it was thirteen minutes only..."