Haunted || The Chronicles Of Narnia

You don't know what it's like

Peter watched sadly as Edmund clung to Lucy as though he'd never let go. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he buried his face into her hair, pulling her as close as he could.
"I'm so sorry." He choked out through his tears.
Lucy sighed as she hugged Edmund tightly. "It wasn't your fault Edmund." She said quietly. "You don't need to apologise."
Edmund sniffed and eventually pulled away, only to immediately look down at the cut going across Lucy's eyebrow. His face fell the second he saw it, only now remembering what he'd been told to do.
"Ed." Lucy said firmly, catching him looking. "It's fine."
Edmund shook his head slowly, unable to stop the tears that continued to make their way down his cheeks. "I hurt you." He said, his voice cracking.
"Jadis hurt me Edmund." Lucy said, trying to get her brother to just listen. "Not you. You don't have a choice but to do what she tells you."
Edmund hesitated but eventually nodded, even if it was only to get Lucy to be quiet.
Edmund sighed, leaning back against the pillows. "She'll tell everyone." He mumbled after a long while.
"What?" Peter questioned.
Edmund moved his head so he was looking at his brother and sighed again. "The faun, the one that watched it all." He choked. "She'll tell everyone."
Peter bit his lip. "Maybe, we should tell them-" Edmund's eyes went wide so Peter quickly finished his sentence. "And then I won't let you out of my sight for even a second, so then Jadis won't be able to make you kill yourself, because I'll be there - and I won't let that happen."
Edmund hesitated but in the end shook his head. "She'll find another way." He choked, rubbing the tears from his cheeks. "Please don't tell anyone." He said.
Peter stared into Edmund's eyes and his heart broke at the pain and worry he saw. He found himself slowly nodding his head, agreeing to his brother. "I won't tell." He mumbled, sighing to himself.
Edmund gave him a thankful nod.
"But-" Came Susan's hesitant voice a few seconds later. Everyone turned to face her and she shifted slightly so she was more on the bed. "We went after Edmund before half an hour was up."
Edmund took a deep breath. "And I'm glad you did." He said.
Lucy's eyes went wide. "But - The witch said-"
"I know what she said Lu." Edmund sighed. "But I don't think she'll kill me."
They all stared at him, eyes wide in shock. "What do you mean?" Peter asked.
Edmund took a deep breath. "She won't kill me because you came after me before half an hour was up." He said slowly. "Because she obviously needs me for-" He paused, he couldn't say anything about the plan. "For whatever she's planning."
Peter thought for a moment. "Then she won't kill you if we tell the Narnians what's going on." He said, frowning.
Edmund sighed. "She will." He said. "Because if we told them then he plan would be ruined, and therefore she might as well just kill me then."
Peter nodded slowly, as did Susan. "I suppose that makes sense." She muttered.
Peter ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Why can't she just leave you alone?" He said angrily. "After everything she's put you through!"
"Pete." Edmund sighed.
"No Ed." Peter said quickly. "The first time she put you through absolutely hell! Then she ordered her followers to find you and torture you before killing you! And then to top it all off she managed to bring herself back to life and torture you even more!"
Edmund bit his lip. "She wasn't exactly alive." He mumbled.
Peter's mouth fell open. "That's not the point Ed!" He said. "The point is I've just about had enough of this bloody witch!"
"Peter." Susan said in a warning tone.
Peter sighed. "I've had enough of this awful witch." He corrected himself.
"And you don't think I haven't!" Edmund replied, finding himself raising his voice considerably. "You don't know what it feels like! None of you! T-To be tortured for information on where somewhere is! To have to sit at the foot of her sliegh for hours, getting colder by the minute! To be forced to push her sliegh for so long you can't even stand because you're so weak! You don't know what it's like to try and save someone's life only for them to end up dying by her hands anyway! You don't know what it's like to get hit over and over again until you fall unconscious. Or what it feels like to be tied to a tree for hours upon hours, the gag so tight that you can hardly breath!" Edmund took a deep breath before continuing, finding himself unable to stop. "You don't know what it feels like to be told that someone's going to sacrifice you on the stone table. And none of you know how it feels to be stabbed! And then there's the nightmares. None of you wake up screaming every night, drenched in sweat! Unable to fall back to sleep for ages afterwards. I've had enough of this bloody witch! And I just want it ALL TO STOP!"
Everyone stared at him, their eyes wide in shock and horror.
Edmund took deep breaths, tears rolling down his cheeks as he swallowed hard. He was in a state of shock himself. Not only had he just shouted at all his siblings, he'd just told them over half of what had happened when he was with the witch. His mouth fell open as he panted, trying to calm himself down.
After a few moments of silence he slowly looked to Peter, who's blue eyes showed pain,  worry, love, shock and even guilt.
The look in his older brothers eyes was too much for Edmund to handle. He quickly pulled the blankets off of him and jumped out of bed. He was across the room within seconds and flung open the door before dashing out of the room.
Peter jumped up from where he was sat. "Ed!" He shouted after his brother, but it was too late, Edmund was gone.

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