𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 (𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞!𝐚𝐮) 𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐙

CH. 14 ~ Sweet dreams

"It's her fault," they all seem to whisper, "She's guilty." My heart drops in my chest when I hear those words knowing exactly what my punishment is. I'm soon dragged away from my three friends. They shrink away getting smaller and smaller until I no longer see them. It's only then my invisible box comes to a stop. I turn around to find my brother Mark and Baekhyun standing before me, staring at me blankly. My father is standing behind them with the queen as she whispers into Mark's ear. When he finishes Mark raises his hand and I notice the gun he's pointing at me. The fear holding me in place is so strong, I don't even notice when he fires. I feel my body fall backward into a thick liquid. My body becomes a heavyweight as I sink deeper and deeper with an aching in my chest. Then, I notice a small crack of light above me. I reach for the light, a tear rolling down my cheek. I blink slowly to get rid of the other tears when I feel everything rushing past me almost as if I was flying. When I come to a stop I refuse to open my eyes. Although I sense warmth, I'm scared to be fooled again.

A soft hand brushes away the tear on my cheek, cupping my face. The hand caresses my face for a brief moment before moving down to hold my hand. I open my eyes to find myself in a garden. Flowers of all kinds flourish around me. The sweet smell of the honeycombs and the buzzing of the working bees soothe me. The hand holding mine pulls me along and it's only then that I notice Yeosang pulling me away. He takes me to where the crew is enjoying themselves. They all salute me with such merriment and joy. I notice San giving flowers to Iseul and the brunette giving flowers to a girl I recognize from the picture I found in some boxes on the Aurora. I smile softly at the sight when I'm approached by Seonghwa who offers me a single white rose. My heart skips a beat and I take it but when I do, the scene around me swirls away and mixes into a blotch of colors like a watercolor painting left out on a rainy day.

I look down at the white rose and hold it dearly feeling a big hole in my chest. When I look back up, I'm face to face with a reflection of myself. I'm in torn up clothes with multiple wounds covering my body. I have a shackle around my neck, wrists, and ankles, but the scariest part is the look in my eyes. They are dead just like Isuel's mom's eyes were. They held no glee, no hope. They only look upon me with sorrow and envy as I pity this torn-up reflection of myself. I move forward to touch my reflection's cheek to comfort it but when I do, the same inky blackness from earlier begins to seep into my skin. It crawls and spreads through my veins like a disease suffocating me. I let out an ear-piercing shriek as it moves under my skin staining it black.

~

My eyes flutter open and I feel the light coming in through the window. I shield my eyes from the sun. My body buzzes and I check my skin with much panic that it's not stained. Luckily it's not, it was just a dream. I try to sit up in bed and that's when I feel the pain. It feels like an electrical shock was sent through my whole body, burning my skin from inside out. The sensation moves through my body in waves starting from my tattoo. I fall back on my bed biting down hard on my lip to muffle my cries of pain. I don't wanna alert anyone near me.

Each part of my body begins to pulse as the pain reaches its max. I try as best I can to not move and to relax so that the pain can subside faster. I focus on my breathing, slowly inhaling and exhaling even though it feels like I just ran a marathon. Why am I so tired? My head hurts like crazy and there's a loud ringing in my ears I can't shake off. I look around the room staying still when I remember in quick flashes the events of last night. The burning in my body has definitely calmed down but I still feel numb and drowsy. I attempt to get up once again and it doesn't hurt as much. My body just feels sore and exhausted. I try to come up with reasons why I might be so drained, besides the fact that I just tussled with San, but I can't think clearly. The burning still remains strong in my wrist but it won't last for much longer, I hope. I stand up feeling unbalanced and lurch forward. I feel disgusting and sticky from bleeding and sweating so much last night. The smell is just intensifying my headache. I need to bathe. I make my way over to my bag slowly and with much struggle. My limbs feel so heavy I don't even know how I'm managing to move them.