Her

Chapter-14

Mortem

He immediately rushed towards her and held her body in his lap and began crying loudly.

"Mom! Mom!" He wailed as his heart sank in pain and sorrow. He couldn't and didn't want to fight back his tears at the moment.

He cried endlessly and after a few moments, he saw his mom's skin drying up and withering away right before his eyes. He kept watching as his lifeless mother disappeared into oblivion, tears rolled down his cheeks as he screamed. Somewhere deep inside him, there was a little hope that he might get his mother back, but it was painfully extinguished. He wanted to give up and accept his fate.

"Seth..." He heard a voice echo across the room.

"Huh? Who is it?" Seth asked in a whisper-like tone.

"Seth... It's me. Joseph..." The cold and frail voice replied.

"Jo- Joseph, where are you?" Questioned Seth.

"Right here..." Joseph replied. Seth looked in front of him and saw that there was a human-like figure in the dark corner of the room. He couldn't completely recognise the figure but he believed that it was Joseph.

"Jo..."

"You did this..." Joseph said, his voice suddenly becoming harsh and monotonous.

"Wh- What?"

"You did this. You started this. You destroyed everything..."

"No..."

"You destroyed everyone's life.... You ruined everything... You killed me. Peter died because of you... Your father, your mother and Amelia.... They all died because of you..." Each and every word uttered by Joseph was hurting Seth more than anything in the world ever could. His heart kept sinking in sorrow and pity for himself. The guilt of everything he had done overcame him.

"You... You're right... It's all... all my fault..." Seth admitted with an inexplicably deep remorse hurting him from the inside.

"You should've died... Not me. I had a life, unlike you... You are selfish. You acted like you intended to save everyone... but in the end, You were the only one left alive. You don't care about anyone except yourself...." Joseph whispered in a harsh tone.

Seth couldn't believe what Joseph was saying. He has never said anything like this ever before. For a moment, he doubted that if it actually was Joseph. Everything was jumbled up in his mind as he tried hard to search for an answer, an explanation, a reason for everything that has happened. All his attempts failed and were pushing him over the edge of sanity.

"Seth.... No. Don't..." A voice echoed in his head "Don't give up... It's not your time yet... What you're seeing isn't real." Seth immediately recognised the voice, it was Peter's.

"Pete... I thought you..."

"Believe me... Go on... Fight this... End this." Peter's voice slowly became louder inside Seth's mind.

"This isn't real.... None of it is..." Seth murmured, trying really hard to convince himself, "Nothing here is real!" He finally shouted out loud.