Page 98 of Shadows in Bloom

Taking my last remaining thought with it?—

The door…

7

WINIFRED CHAPEL

This time, when I awaken, I know precisely what pulled me out of my deep, heavy, dreamless slumber:

I’m alone.

Everything else is slow to register—like the woods and soft gray light of morning, and the smoke trickling into the air and the flakes of ash raining down on me like snow.

Like the realization that I’m naked, and covered in dried smears of blood that make my limbs feel stiff as I unfurl and climb to a stand. Every inch I can see has evidence confirming what happened last night was in fact real.

Ophelia couldn’t have gone far.

She wouldn’t just leave me here… right?

A flashing image of black eyes and the ghost of a sinister smile surge forth, and my stomach drops.

Not only am I confused…

And not just because reason would have me chalk it off as a trick of light…

But because if her eyes really were swallowed up by her pupils, that should’ve been enough to stop me. How did I let it get that far…

Why…

And then I remember.

“We were brought here for a reason.”

“We need to close the door.”

Eyes wide, I whip around, chest heaving as I look for some kind of indication as to whether or not it worked. Did we put things right?

“By letting us fuck you? Is that the excuse you’re going to go with, little bunny?”

I freeze, everything in me solidifying at the crystal clear voice coming from inside me.

My breaths stutter in and out of me as I shakily grab my discarded, blood and dirt-streaked nightgown from the ground.

I tug it back on, wincing when my fingers get caught on knots and twigs in my hair.

Save for the blanket, there’s nothing else here. Where Ophelia’s clothes are…I have no idea.

But seeing as she’s gone…she probably put them back on and left.

“Sure about that?”

I stiffen.

“Who are you?” I find myself whispering, my vision blurring.

“I am you and you are me and we are she.”

And it—she laughs. Only this time it’s not slipping through the woods, or even just a whisper through my head… it’s part of me. I can feel my throat squeeze with the sound.

---