Different | ✔️

22 | Strangest Dream

I clamped my eyelids to block the jarring screams escaping my mother's lips as Scarlett continuously hit Alora's knee with the sledgehammer causing blood to gush out but she still didn't stop.

"P-please stop! It's my fault, hurt me not her, please..." my voice trailed out as I noticed I gained her attention as she stopped and turned to me.

"Your fault? No honey, it's all hers. It's your mother's fault this is happening. I never had any ill feelings towards you. I almost accepted you as my sister but I snapped out of it, I couldn't afford to befriend the daughter of the woman that killed my mother."

I was confused by her statement. Alora killed her mother? Despite my mother not being there most of my life, she was still my blood. Deep inside me, I knew my mother would never take another person's life. I shoved the doubts that bubbled up in me.

"That's a lie." I said.

She chuckled wryly, "My father divorced my mother because of this vile woman! My mother found out that he has been cheating on her even after they had me. S-she was so torn apart that s-she ended her l-life. I was shoved into an orphanage home, my father had no longer had any business with me after starting a new family with her. I was wrecked apart, I vowed I will return the pain she caused me and my mother. I gained adequate knowledge and inherited my mother's company and got to know that my father and your mother worked in her company. How utterly shameful they both were. I couldn't stand seeing how he smiled at another woman completely forgetting the woman he had killed. I knew the substance I developed, there was a 5% chance of survival, that's why I made sure his family took part in the experiment except her. I wanted her to suffer the same pain I felt of losing my family, but to my surprise you survived but her husband-my father died. I accomplished one goal and it was honestly exhilarating."

"Y-you killed my father?!" Raw, painful tears spilt from my eyes, everything was getting clearer by the seconds.

"That makes us step-sisters." She smiled as she ambled towards me. "I could have spared your life, since there was no grudges between us. But you just had to capture the heart of the person I loved-Shane, and had him killed also. He told me he'd rather kill himself than to hurt you and he actually did that!" She poised the hammer above her head and brought it down into my knee, a shrewd shrill eluded my lips as the pain shot up to my head. The thought of the last words Shane said to me brought fresh tears to my eyes.

"Who knew the substance I developed would give you abilities. One of it was the ability to regenerate your body tissues and it also gave you abnormal strength which you didn't tap into sooner. At some point, the rate at which blood rushes through your vein will cause an excruciating pain, your skin will begin to crack, your hair will grow grey but you still won't die, only after a thousand years living in immense pain would your body wither away. Interesting, isn't it?" Her signature smirk was back but much more irritating than before. "Don't even think about breaking free from those ropes, I injected a little something that'll prevent your abilities from surging." I followed the direction of the hammer she pointed at me, blood oozed out of my kneecap and there was no sign of it healing any time soon. I groaned as she pressed the heel of her foot on my dislocated knee.

"Y-you're a maniac. H-how could you murder your own father! And it isn't my mum's fault that your mother killed herself. That doesn't make up for all the innocent lives you took!"

"You just don't know when to shut up, do you?!" She repeatedly bashed my knee, a roaring squall bounced through the four corners of the factory, piercing through the midnight air. She stopped, huffing for air, moving back to Alora. She harshly ripped the tape off her lips and knelt in front of her.

"Cat got your tongue?"

My mind scrambled for more questions to raise that'll save us time and distract her away from Alora. A glint of hope lingered within me. Please, let's get out of this alive.

"J-just admit it! You're a serial killer! W-was that how your m-mother raised you? Or perhaps she was the same-" before I could complete my statement, the hammer rippled through my cheeks, my jawline shifted as pain vibrated through my skull. Dark sticky red liquid spilt from my mouth onto the ground.

"Ha! If you think you could stop me from hurting her, then you thought wrong."

The ringing in my head intensified, my vision blurred, I slumped sideways on the chair, I pushed my body up, trying to snap out of the pain and the bell that reverberated in my head. "A-aspen, y-you killed her, didn't you?" I managed to say. A hazy figure walked towards me and held my chin. She sealed my lips with the same tape she used on Alora.

"Innocent people die for justice to be served. That's just how the system is, so now shut your mouth before I make you." She snagged the knives on the ground and plunged it into Alora's knee, again and again. A muffled sound escaped from my lips, tears rushed down my cheeks like rainfall, the puffiness of my eyes limited my sight but couldn't block the screams coming from my mother's lip.

The putrid stench of coppery blood wafted through my nostrils. My eyes burned with pain and fury. She plucked out the knives from her knee and plunged it into her left chest.

I yelped.

No! Mother!!

My eyes went wide open, blood trickled down her mouth as her eyes watered, staring directly into mine. I muffled the word, mum but doubt she made sense of what I said. I shaked my head violently, refusing to face the reality right in front of me. My continuous movement somehow tipped the tape to one side and I bawled my lungs out.

"Mum!! Stop! Please, Scarlett. Please!!" I cried out as I watched my mother's life slowly slip out of her. Blood spewed from her chest and mouth as Scarlett pulled the knife out.

"I-I love you, my pretty daughter." Alora said in a breathless tone, struggling to keep her heart beating. She stopped fighting it and relaxed, brushing her gentle and pained gaze at me. "Please free my daughter. Please. I sincerely apologise for what happened to your m-moth- '' She forced the remaining words out and gave up. Her head fell to the side as a teardrop escaped her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

"Ahhhhh! No!! Mum!! Please don't leave me. Please!" I wailed, pleading, as if I could revive a dead heart by my words. Once again, my hope crumbled before my eyes. Another precious soul departed and I couldn't do anything to prevent it.

I no longer have a reason to live. I'll reunite with you soon, mother.

"Oh please, don't make me shed a tear. What's the use of apologising now when my mother was dead years ago-" She paused, surprised by the tears streaming down her cheeks. "Ah." She gripped her chest as she fell to the ground, sobbing.

Perhaps an apology was all she needed to set her grieving heart free. It was already too late for regrets now, countless souls were lost. She has to pay for it, no matter what.

She hastily wiped the tears off her face, picked up the knife and walked towards me. She raised her hands mid-way in the air and was about to plunge it down into my chest until the sound of sirens halted her actions.

The sound of police cars scuttling outside of the factory sent a bolt of relief through me despite the fact that I was ready to die a few seconds ago. The urge to live still beckoned on me. Dozen armed cops raided the building, pointing their guns at Scarlett. "Hands where I can see them." A female cop stepped forward and yanked the handcuffs around Scarlett's wrist. "This isn't over." She mouthed before the cop pulled her outside.

My tense body relaxed. The paramedics arrived not too shortly and attended to my mum and I. "P-please save her. Please." I said in between my whimpering. I held her palms softly as I thought of her smile, the meal she cooked for me, her worried gaze, her dazzling eyes, all gone. My heart ached for her presence, to see them again, especially her smile-always had a way of warming my heart.

"A-aurora." A girl in her teens with dark long hair hovered above me, her features resembled that of Alora. She bent and enfolded me in her arms. "I'm sorry I didn't get the cops here sooner. Maybe she would have lived."

"Amira?" I asked, confirming my thoughts. She nodded. I heaved a sigh as my eyelids slowly fell shut. I lost a lot of blood and felt lightheaded. I blinked trying to keep my eyes back open but couldn't. I could hear Amira calling out my name, it was getting dimmer and dimmer until it all went pitch black.