Knife in hand, all I could do was watch in horror as Dan, my sister's boyfriend, slashed through her.
Time was but a foreign entity, as I perceived it all in slow motion. The scene kept replaying in my mind, looping endlessly until my thoughts fractured. I couldn’t think straight. Heck, I couldn’t think at all. The very concept of thinking seemed alien to me.
I didn’t realize when I started running, I suddenly met myself sprinting down the road. My legs acted independently, moving on their own accord.
My heart, pounding so violently, felt like it would jump right out of my chest at any moment. A wave of relief washed over me as I ran through familiar roads. The same roads we all drove by before Dan took my sister from me.
Two Hours Earlier
“Andra, Dan just pulled over. Go get your stuff!” My sister’s voice echoed through the house, with a hint of impatience.
“Andra!” she yelled again, more insistent this time.
I had no choice but to respond, ignoring her would have only led to more yelling. Knowing her, she would probably lose her voice at this rate.
“Coming!” I shouted back, rolling my eyes as I hastily stuffed my belongings into a bag. I wasn’t exactly careful, just eager to get it over with.
As I reached for the door, a sudden thought stopped me in my tracks.
“I’m forgetting something” I muttered, deep in thought. What could it be?
Then it hit me, the locket. The one my sister had given me on my 16th birthday. My lucky charm, something I never leave behind.
I searched frantically, checking the dresser, the bathroom, even the windows for some weird reason. Panic set in as I tipped over a vase in my haste, but just as it hit the floor, the locket tumbled out with a soft clink. Relief washed over me as I pocketed it immediately.
The vase, however, caught my attention. It was strange, it felt out of place.
“Since when did we have this? ” I wondered aloud, staring at it with a puzzled look.
There was something off about it, but before I could think much of it, my sister’s voice cut through my thoughts, snapping me back to reality.
I bolted out the door, the sound of the car engine revving spurring me on. I dashed towards the car and threw myself into the back seat, slamming the door behind me.
“We were this close to leaving you behind ” my sister teased, holding her thumb and index finger barely apart to show how narrowly I had escaped being left behind.
I shot her a glare and stuck my tongue out in response.
“What are you? Five?” she said with a teasing smile.
“Whatever” I muttered, leaning back in my seat, uninterested in continuing the conversation.
We drove off, the landscape blurring as we sped down the road. I didn’t really care where we were headed, I just wanted to get it all over with. The monotony of the drive eventually wore me down, and I eventually got bored. To pass the time, I dug into my pocket for the locket I had almost forgotten.
I pulled it out, the heart-shaped locket felt cool against my palm. Opening it felt like a ritual, even though I have done it countless times. Inside was a picture of me and a small note on the other side.
I read the note aloud: “To my lovely sister, from yours, Rachel.”
As the words left my mouth, a sharp ringing filled my ears, piercing and relentless, I squeezed my eyes shut on impulse. I felt the world around me twisting and warping in itself, like in a fever dream. I slowly gained my sense of reality as if I was waking up from a deep slumber.
But when I opened my eyes, I realized it wasn’t a dream. It felt more real than anything I had ever experienced in my life.
I called out in panic, “Rachel, something weird is going on!”
Rachel jerked awake in her seat, her eyes wild and unfocused. She turned to Dan, looking at him like he was a stranger.
"You’re not real” she whispered, her voice trembling with fear.
Dan’s reaction was immediate. He slammed on the brakes, the car skidding to a stop in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing but trees in sight, the air thick with an eerie feeling.
Not long after the car stopped, Dan violently yanked Rachel out of the car with inhuman strength, it was like she weighed nothing.
He pulled out a knife, and then it happened. That's when he took Rachel from me.
The image seared into my mind, replaying over and over as my primal instincts of survival kicked in, I was desperate to escape.
All I could think of was getting home, hoping against all odds that I would find her there, that somehow this was all a terrible dream, one I could run away from.
But as I neared the house, the last person I wanted to see was sitting there, Dan. He was waiting for me, as if nothing had happened.
My blood ran cold, but I couldn't stop myself from walking towards him. My thoughts were a mix of fear and confusion, and yet, something about his calmness drew me in like a moth to a flame.
He stood up as I approached, his eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that made my skin crawl. But before I could utter a word, he spoke.
“Andra, it’s time you understood” Dan said, his voice calm, almost soothing, but it carried an undercurrent of something dark, something terrifying.
I felt a strange pressure in my head, like a fog was lifting. Images flashing before my eyes, I saw Rachel, the locket, the car ride. But something was wrong. The scenes twisted in itself, and then I saw it. The moment Rachel died. But this time, it was different. I wasn’t watching from the outside; I was the one holding the knife.
"No!” I gasped, stepping back, and tripping over my own feet, crashing down onto the floor with a heavy thud.
"It was never real, Andra” Dan continued, taking a step towards me. “Everything you saw, everything you felt, it was all in your head. I made you see it”.
His words hit me like a ton of bricks. I wanted to scream, to run, but my body wouldn’t obey. It was like I was trapped in a nightmare, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t wake up.
"You see” he said, almost sympathetically, “this power... it’s a curse, I can't run from the voices. I didn’t want to do this, but there was no other way. Oh and Rachel... she was already gone before you even stepped into the car.”
Tears welled up in my eyes as I shook my head. “Why? Why would you do this to me?”
"Because I’m tired, Andra. Tired of being a monster. The only way to break the cycle is to pass it on, to make someone else understand what it’s like. Saying Rachel’s name broke the hold I had on you. It’s the only way it can end.”
His words barely made sense, but deep down, I knew he was telling the truth. I felt a strange pull towards him, like something was drawing us together. I didn’t want to fight it anymore. Maybe if I stopped fighting, the pain would go away. Deep down, I want it to go away.
Dan stepped closer, so close that I could feel his breath on my skin. “I’m sorry, Andra” he whispered, his voice cracking with emotion. “I never wanted to be a monster, but now it’s your turn to carry the burden.”
And then, before I could react, Dan slowly crouched down and placed his hands on my shoulders. His body began to shimmer, and then it started to disintegrate into a fine mist. The mist swirled around me, enveloping me in a cocoon of warmth. It was oddly comforting, like being wrapped in a blanket.
But then I felt it, I felt Dan’s presence slowly merging with mine. It was like he was becoming a part of me, seeping into my very soul. I wanted to scream, to push him away, but it was too late. He was inside me now, a part of me forever.
The world around me went dark, and the last thing I heard before everything faded was Dan’s voice in my head, a whisper of regret.“I’m sorry”.
When I woke up, I was lying on the road, the asphalt cold and unforgiving beneath me. My head throbbed, and every part of my body ached like I’d been hit by a truck. I struggled to sit up, the memory of what had just happened still fresh in my mind.
I had no idea how long I’d been there, but as I looked around, I realized I was alone. There was no sign of Dan, no sign of the car, or Rachel. It was like none of it had ever happened.
With shaky legs, I managed to stand and began to walk. I didn’t know where I was going, but my feet carried me forward, one step at a time. Eventually, I found myself in a nearby town. Someone must have seen me because the next thing I knew, I was in the hospital.
Days passed in a blur, but one thing never changed. Every time I looked in the mirror, I didn’t see myself. I saw Dan, staring back at me with those same haunting eyes. No matter how much I tried to convince myself it was just my imagination, deep down, I knew the truth. Dan was still with me, inside me, and he always will be.
I now carry the burden he desperately wanted escape from, the curse that brought endless pain. Dan finally won.
But before I could fully accept it, a chilling voice echoed in my mind, "No..."
∘◦ཐིཋྀ◦∘ ∘◦ཐིཋྀ◦∘ ∘◦ཐིཋྀ◦∘ ∘◦ཐིཋྀ◦∘ ∘◦ཐིཋྀ◦∘ ∘◦ཐིཋྀ◦∘ ∘◦ཐིཋྀ◦∘ ∘◦ཐིཋྀ◦∘ ∘◦ཐིཋྀ◦∘ ∘◦ཐིཋྀ◦∘ ∘◦ཐིཋྀ◦∘ ∘◦ཐིཋྀ◦∘
