Page 35 of Teach Me How To Fly

Sometimes, I needed some time to recover, but back at home, I couldn’t afford to take this time as much as I needed. Yet there I was, away from everything and facing real relaxation for the first time in the last few months.

I wish I could’ve done it with Annalise because I was sure that I would’ve enjoyed it more.

The darkness embracedmy body completely, and the pungent smell of mold hit my senses instantly, making me squint and try to cover my nose so I wouldn’t inhale the oppressive air even for another second.

It was unbearable to walk into as soon as I started stepping down on the stairs, but when I reached the red door, I felt the fear creeping into my heart. I knew it wasn’t a good idea to go there by myself.

I turned around on my heels and tried to walk back, but my feet couldn’t move any other way but down. I couldn’t raise my leg to step up the stairs because it felt like there was a magnetic energy that didn’t let me do it.

I muttered something indecipherable, and then I looked up and noticed the door at the end of the stairs opening wide. From behind it, a pair of piercing red eyes showed up, and the malice I found in them cracked my spine in two, fear settling in every tiny vein of my body.

“Don’t you fucking dare come here!” I yelled, feeling how the fear entwined with anger, creating an amalgam of feelings that I’d never felt before.

“Little Maksen, you know you can’t run forever from me.”

The voice broke the silence of the basement in a terrific echo, and the faster my breathing got and the more blood my heart pumped into my entire body, the more I could hear the sound of the man’s footsteps getting closer and closer.

I looked at him, not even trying to avoid eye contact, but that was all I could see. His eyes.

The moment he reached me, I froze, waiting for him to do something, but instead, he passed by me and opened the red door behind me.

I furrowed, confused at his actions, and as soon as I let my gaze fall on him, I saw the tattoo of a bird caught up in a fire which started from his palm and continued upon his forearm.

A cry for help started to be heard and filled the whole room when I followed the mysterious man. Even though I couldn’t see his face, I had this familiar feeling while gazing at him and being near him.

With each step I took through the overwhelming darkness of the room, I felt my chest being pressured by a huge amount of weight, and the cry that seemed to be a child’s started getting even louder than before.

Why did this cry also seem too familiar to me?

I kept walking into the darkness, not caring about anything that might’ve happened. I just kept moving, fear creeping into my body as I was getting lost in the unknown. But the moment I tried to take another step forward, something pushed me away and the light of a light bulb that was about to burn out stuck to my retina, making me narrow my eyes and carefully analyze the surroundings.

When I saw the little child sitting on the ground under the light of the bulb, with his knees close to his chest and shaking like a stick, I realized it wasn’t something I wanted to see.

I tried to move, but I still couldn’t do it.

“Hey! What are you doing there alone? Come here! Let’s leave this place!” I yelled at him, trying to see as much as I could of his actions.

He raised his gaze and I froze the moment I saw myself as a child.

It was me. The little boy was me when I was five years old.

“Don’t you see we can’t move?”

His broken voice shattered me into millions of pieces, and I didn’t know if it was because I realized I was actually talking with myself from the past.

“We can, Maksen. We can move. We can escape.”

He laughed and the tears started rolling down his cheeks. He instantly shut up when a shadow came behind him, blocking the weak light of the bulb.

“Run!” I yelled at him and tried so hard to move, but I couldn’t.

It felt like I was bound to the ground by such a force that at the same time was draining me up from my own soul.

“He can’t run. He’s afraid of the dark. He’ll stay only where the light is,” the man said and I felt shivers running down my spine.

“He can run! He can run! Don’t hurt him!” I thundered again.

“He likes to be hurt.”

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