Empty Shells (reader insert)

Chapter 8

A soft knock on the door interrupts you and you lift your head. "(Fn)? Are you ok? It's Clare. I heard from Mimi about the trick Marel and Michael played on you. That was cruel. Please, let me in?"

You ignore the voice and stay on the ground silent.

"Mimi's very upset. (Fn), can you tell me what happened?" Clare's voice keeps going. "There's no need to be scared. Mimi knows not to touch your skin so you're not going to get hurt. There's no reason to be scared."

You almost choke on her calm words. No reason to be scared? You've been kidnapped by beings that can kill you with a touch. How can you not be scared? You would have to be crazy to not be scared. Why is Clare, no, the wraith even saying that?

"(Fn), please come out. Mimi's upset and won't stop crying. She thinks she did something wrong." Clare's voice carries through the door. You can almost detect a hint of minor annoyance in her tone. "She won't stop until you say she did nothing wrong. Please (Fn), Mimi won't listen to anything we say."

You glare at the door. Nothing wrong? Do they see life as having absolutely no value at all? You put your head back down on your knees and close your eyes trying to tune out the voices behind the door. They don't care. They eat people. That alone is proof that they don't have any real morality. It's all just an act, isn't it? So they can blend in and hunt. They were just using you as practice. That was the reason some of them were nice to you. And once you had served as a practice 'human', they would probably kill you too.

You assume that Clare must have gotten frustrated with your silence and left. You don't know how long you sit there but you just keep staring at the door in front of you, tears rolling down your cheeks. You keep staring at the door with wide eyes watching for any sign of one of the wraiths coming. You can hear them passing by the door and some muttering but no one tries to talk to you or open the door.

As time passes your eyes start to get heavy. You turn to the window and see that it's already dark outside. It feels like only a couple minutes ago that you were outside in the snow with Mimi. You turn and lay your head on your knees. Your eyes slowly blink and eventually, close. You wish that you could fall asleep and wake up with this whole situation being a dream.

You're asleep for only about an hour before the sound of someone trying to open the door wakes you. You quickly stand up and stare at the wiggling door nob. The door gets a small weak push and then eases off. You hold your breath and back up slightly. Did they give up?

Your question is answered when the door gets shoved roughly open pushing the table to the side. You back up until you hit the wall and stare at the door. What now? What are they going to do with you? Which one of them is it?

The door opens partially and someone steps in. It's Tom. He looks first at the table that was blocking the door and scowls. He pushes it back with one hand easily into place. He looks up at you with an annoyed look. "Are you done acting like a bratty kid?" He says roughly at you and takes a step into the room. He walks forward towards you picking up the glove you had thrown on the ground along the way.

"No! Don't come any closer! I'm- I'm warning you! Stay back!" You whimper trying to shuffle along the wall away from him but there's no where to hide from the dark haired man.

"Stop acting like a kid." He says slamming his hand on the wall beside your head effectively freezing you in place. "Since that stunt earlier, Mimi hasn't stopped crying. It's getting really annoying." He stares down at you coldly and annoyed. "Or are you really just some dumb kid? I gave you these gloves for a reason and you take them off? Don't be dumb. You could get yourself killed if you don't wear these you idiot."

You just freeze staring at him. He's got you trapped at the wall with his hands blocking any way out. You feel that if you look away from him for a second it'll just make him angrier. This is wrong. All wrong. You shouldn't be here in a situation like this. You can't stand it anymore. You can't!

"I'm the idiot? I'm The Idiot?" You say raising your voice from a whisper to full shouting. "All of you are idiots! With a touch any of you could kill me and you think I shouldn't be scared? Being scared means that I'm normal and all of you guys are crazy!"

"We're the crazy ones? If you don't touch us and wear gloves you won't die." He closes his eyes and sighs heavily. "Why can humans never wrap their heads around that simple fact?" He opens his eyes and leans towards you until you feel his breath. "You're nothing special. You're just like any other human. I can't see now why I've kept you alive. If you're so scared of dying I can fix that for you easily by getting it over with." As he speaks he lowers his voice. He inches closer and closer towards you.

You squirm as his face starts getting closer and closer, the fear starting to rise even higher. He's not going to... Is he? "No. Get back. You're getting too close to me." You say pressing even more into the wall.

"Any physical direct contact does the trick." He says ignoring your words. "How about a kiss? Most human girls get flustered before the pain kicks in and they die. It's an amusing expression to watch actually."

Is he serious? He's playing with you like an animal. He's enjoying taunting you. You've had enough. The image of the man dying in the parking lot fills your eyes and the fear increases but this time you react differently. You feel an intense anger boil up and fill you. You swing your arm and hit his face as hard as you can.

The force is enough to make him freeze in his tracks and back up a couple steps. You feel a flash of success at having fought back before an intense pain shoots up from your arm. You grab the now shaking hand and start to slump down against the wall. You can't stay awake as your eyes start to close and blackness fills your head.