Empty Shells (reader insert)

Chapter 9

Tom blinks a couple times but what he sees is not what he expects. He's kneeling and he can feel himself being pelted with rain. In front of him is a man being forced to kneel. There's something wrong with the scene though. He's forced to hold the man's hands and can't more. The man keeps squeezing his hands and Tom can see that he's having trouble breathing. The man keeps wheezing and eventually falls over to show Marel standing behind him. She has a sick grin on her face and is rubbing her hands in delight.

That's when Tom gets slammed with an intense feeling of fear. It chokes him and he starts to pant as if all the air in his lungs is gone. He can't breath. He can't see anything. He can't hear anything. All he can feel is the fear as it chokes him. It's so strong that he can't stand it. If it continues he'll die!

Tom blinks a couple more times and he's back in the room standing. He feels a stinging sensation on his cheek. There's also a lingering feeling of fear in his chest that he can't make go away. It's odd. Wraiths can experience the emotions of the people they feed on, but they can't feel any themselves.

He feels something rolling down over his cheek from his eye. With a wipe of his finger he sees that it's water, a tear. Strange. If the emotion is fear, why is it causing a reaction to cry? Why is his body reacting like this to the memory?

Wait? If that was the memory from the night the wraiths kidnapped (Fn), why is it different than his perspective was? Was that...(Fn)'s memory?

She wasn't wearing her gloves and slapped him in the face. That means...

Looking down Tom remembers exactly where he is and why. You're slumped against the wall unconsciously clenching your arm. Thomas quickly kneels down and tries to shake your shoulder. You don't respond, but he can see you're breathing. He sighs in relief. How can you be alive? He's never heard of a human that could survive being touched by a wraith.

He remembers that you had slapped him with your hand and carefully checks. There's the spiderweb pattern reaching up your arm again, but it's thicker and goes up to your shoulder this time. He carefully puts the gloves back on your hands and carries you to your bed. After laying you down he checks your pulse again, faintly feeling it through the gloves he's wearing. Once he's certain that you're not going to die he grabs a chair and sits watching you sleep.

"That fear you felt, must be what was making you react so strongly to Mimi feeding." He realizes. That fear which almost suffocated him for a moment, was something you feel every time you look at any of them. "How did you do it? Do all humans deal with that strong of an emotion all the time?" He mutters putting his hand over his eyes and thinking. "Almost makes me want to stop trying. Trying to go back, but I can't." He pulls his hand down and clenches it into a fist. "That fear you feel, I can at least understand how much it hurts you, even if I can't feel it. But I can't give up now. I still need you alive."

He gets up and walks up to the door. He opens it and looks back at you sleeping. "Sorry." He whispers quietly before turning and leaving the room, closing the door so you can sleep.