End
Immense pain pulsed through Seth's body. All he could hear was his heartbeat and the sound of rain, which had then turned into a storm, destroying the house. Seth struggled to breathe, he knew that that was his end, that was how his story ends. Everything he suffered to get till there was in vain. He tried to pull the knife out once but wasn't able to do so.
He felt dizzy and confused. At last, he closed his eyes, waiting for the end to come, believing that it would take him away into a world of oblivion.
"Can't give up. Not now... Not now... End this..." Seth whispered to himself almost breathlessly.
He quickly opened his eyes and sat up. He saw that he'd stabbed himself in the upper abdomen, that was the reason he was still alive. Putting in all his might, he pulled out the knife and grunted in pain. He stood up and covering his wound with his left hand, walked towards the girl. The storm intensified, but he didn't stop. The girl lifted her hands in his direction and Seth felt a strong force stopping him.
He still didn't give up and kept pushing harder and slowly closed in on the girl. The girl raised her other hand and he experienced a force grab him and lift him up. He struggled to get out of this invisible hold, he shouted and screamed in pain. Suddenly, he was thrown up towards the remaining part of the roof, he hit it and came crashing down.
Seth got back up on his hands and knees. He heard the sound of something cracking and looked up, he saw that the part of the roof was going to fall on him. He jumped out of the way to dodge it but his legs were crushed by the falling roof. He screamed in pain and tried to get his legs free but his wet hands were slipping due to the heavy storm. The deafening thunders and the blinding lightning strikes were increasing his anxiety and throwing off his comprehensive abilities.
Seth saw dark figures, standing all around the room as he desperately tried to free his legs. Their presence made him feel weaker and tired. He felt something pressing him down, suffocating him. He fought back and after a long struggle, he finally managed to free his legs.
Seth couldn't stand up as his right leg was completely fractured.
He grabbed the knife lying beside him and started crawling towards the girl. The figures were chanting some words over and over again. Seth felt a force suffocating and hurting him. He kept crawling, even a few feet felt like miles for him. As he neared the girl, the chants were getting louder the storm became wilder and everything was getting violent.
A feeling of dizziness overcame Seth and he fell down. He struggled to breathe and pain ripped his strength apart as the force was getting stronger and stronger. Weakness, exhaustion and pain were slowly killing him. Blood covered the floor in its crimson red colour as it gushed out of the wound. Seth clenched his teeth and got back up.
"I... am... ending this.... Now!" Seth screamed the last word as he put in all the might left in his weakened body to crawl towards the girl, the anomaly which destroyed his life.
Seth saw the faces of everyone he had lost. His father, his mother, Amelia, Peter and Joseph. He cried as he remembered them, this brought strength to him. Seth was almost at the girl's feet. The force was unbearable and his breathing had almost stopped. The time had come for him to end it, to end the nightmare.
Seth held the wheelchair, barely managed to stand up and lifted his knife in the air. He screamed like a wild man as he drove the blade right into the heart of the little girl.
The girl screamed in an unearthly voice and a humongous force threw Seth back. Seth hit the wall, broke through it and fell outside the room. His head throbbed in pain and as he touched the back of his head, he realised that his head was bleeding. Still out of breath, Seth's whole body started convulsing as he started going into a shock. He started taking quick sharp breaths and his body began shaking involuntarily and violently. Seth saw the storm bringing the whole house down and he slowly closed his eyes as he drifted away into darkness.
Seth felt that he was losing himself to the darkness. Suddenly, he saw his mom standing in front of him. Her warm smile and motherly face made him feel calm.
"Mo-Mom..." Seth barely managed to speak.
He slowly went closer to her, believing that she was real. She hugged him and he hugged her back. She ran her fingers through his hair. Seth never wanted to let go of her ever again. He didn't want his broken heart to suffer anymore.
"Wake up... Open your eyes, my boy." Seth's mother said in a soothing voice.
Seth watched with wide, teary eyes as he saw his mother fade away. He tried to say something but struggled to utter even a single word. Seth's eyes gently opened and the darkness around him slowly cleared away. His vision steadily sharpened and he saw that he was in the same place. The walls were not broken, the entire house was in a perfect condition and the storm had stopped.
He touched the back of his head but there wasn't any blood. His hands, which were bruised earlier, were okay now and the stab wound wasn't there anymore. He still could feel a little pain in his right leg although it was fine too.
Seth was still lying down on the floor, he looked around him and realised that he had killed her, the horrible nightmare was over. He slowly started laughing, his laugh increased until he was laughing like a maniac, then he started crying. He put his hands over his face, confused as to what he should feel. He had finally ended it but lost everyone he loved.
Seth kept crying for a few minutes, he moved his hands through his hair and screamed in agony. After calming himself down, he got up and shook his head, forcing himself to get some consciousness back.
He looked ahead and saw the door, the exit.
Seth slowly limped towards the exit. He looked out a window and saw that the sun was shining brightly, the whole place was lively and beautiful.
He turned his gaze back to the door, all the memories of everything that happened came flooding into his mind but he didn't feel weak or feel the need to cry. He had been through too much, suffered pain and agony beyond his limit and hurt his heart way too much.
"Is this real or just a hallucination? Is it really over? After everything I've gone through... This... just doesn't feel real. Hell, I don't know what is real anymore... I'm glad that this nightmare ended... Why did it happen to me? Now I have to live with this pain forever..." Various thoughts crossed Seth's mind as he walked through the dark hallway.
Finally, he stood before the door and lifted his hand to turn the knob and open it. His mind hesitated for a moment, thinking if another lie awaited him on the other end. Pushing this thought aside, he opened the door. A gentle, refreshing gust of wind washed over his face. Everything seemed calm, almost too calm. Seth stepped outside, the feeling of happiness and accomplishment moved through his body but so did the feeling of sorrow and regret.
Still partially dizzy, he was afraid that he'd fall unconscious and die even after surviving the worst he could possibly imagine. He slowly started walking out, taking deep breaths, holding anything for support. The stone pathway was now covered with a dark brown, thick layer of mud. The flowers in the garden seemed fresh and healthy and there wasn't any fog covering the surroundings of the house.
All Seth was thinking about was his traumatising losses, his heart hurt much more than his body, he stepped on the mud, gazed around, looked back at the house and gave an unhappy smirk. He looked up, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"I did it..." He exhaled.
He opened his eyes and walked forward. He knew what he had to do, he was going to surrender himself to the police, he'd confess that he killed Joseph and would accept whatever comes his way. He knew that everyone would see him as a bad person and hate him, but he didn't care.
The sun shone on him as he made his way out, happy and content with everything then.
Suddenly, he stopped.
Seth looked around and understood what was wrong. He never thought about that, he never thought about the possibility of it happening, but it did.
Seth didn't have a shadow or any footprints.