Glass Houses

Chapter twenty

Her hair fell around her face and it scared him.

"Hello Sirius," she said, walking forward slowly.

Sirius squirmed, suddenly all too aware of the fact that he couldn't move.

"Mother what-"

"Shhh," Walpurga said, holding a finger to her lips, "Not a sound."

He hated that his mouth snapped shut without a second thought, the particularly large scar near the base of his neck tingling as she walked closer still, reaching a hand near Sirius' head, brushing his cheek softly, ignoring his violent flinch as she picked up the pillow lying next to him, clutching it close to her chest as she looked down at him.

"You know I love you," she said, lowering the pillow slowly.

Sirius' eyes widened as he realized what she was doing, and he tried to move, tried to thrash his arms and legs but he was paralyzed, only his neck able to move back and forth as the pillow came closer to his head.

"Stop!" he cried, "Please!" The white fabric was almost touching his nose, "Mum!" he screamed, his voice breaking as she pressed the pillow onto his face.

He could feel the tendrils of her hair on his shoulders as he moved his head back and forth with no effect. His screams were muffled, and as he went to take a breath, there was no air to fill his lungs, only the taste of the fabric and the familiar laundry detergent filling his nose.

His lungs were on fire as he lay paralyzed. He could imagine how his mother looked, she'd seen her face as she hurt him too many times to count and it was always the same. No emotion, apart from a gleam in her eyes that told him that she was enjoying every second.

His thoughts were going fuzzy, and the force on the pillow never ceased as his neck eventually stilled. Suddenly, a voice came from the back of his mind. A voice of reason that whispered to him.

It isn't real

It wasn't real.

He couldn't be in his room because he was in Dauntless, he had left Erudite. His Mother couldn't be killing him because he could've thrown her off him in a heartbeat, but he couldn't because he couldn't move.

But there were no bonds keeping him down.

Trying to ignore the pressure on his face, and the burning in his lungs, he concentrated until his foot rose slowly in the air, followed by the second. His knees bent, and his arms loosened.

The pillow wasn't real, and he could breath.

Sirius sat up all at once, back in the metal chair in the testing room, the orange tinted lights boring down on him as he gasped for breath, moving his body slightly just to check that he still could.