Page 40 of Forbidden Knots

"No," I said, my head shaking."No."

She shrugged her shoulders, nodding her head. "Okay."

She came closer, her head tilting, scanning my body.

"Blood," she whispered, sniffing me.

My eyes closed again, my body shaking. I could feel her finger brushing against my skin, and as I moved, she sniffed her finger and put it in her mouth, licking it and then taking it out.

"Mmm, tasty," she said, "Who did you kill?"

I shook my head, moving away from her. "No one," I whispered, my voice trembling.

"Liar," she hissed, her eyes narrowing. "I can smell it on you. Blood. Death."

"Don't be shy, it runs in your family," she said, laughing, her piercing laugh filling the room.

"Who are you?" I asked, my shaken voice barely managing to speak.

"Ghost of your past," she said, her eyes widening then closing, her face tilting as she came closer to me.

"I don't believe in ghosts," I said, my voice still shaking, my breathing heavy.

"But do you believe in stories?" she asked, her eyes flickering.

"Brrrr, what's that?" she asked herself, "Sorry, voices."

"Get the fuck away," I said, moving back.

"Stay," she whispered, her voice turning sharp, then started laughing again. "Let me tell you a story."

"I don't want to hear it," I said, retreating further, but her hands grabbed my face, squeezing my cheeks, as she spoke to me.

"You will hear it anyway," she insisted. "Once upon a time," she began, her voice dripping with mockery, "there were these two sisters. One was evil, and the other one was crazy, and together they were trouble," she laughed, "big bad trouble."

"One day, one of them fell inl-o-v-e," she whispered, "but the other sister was so jealous that she had to do a very bad, bad thing."

"She killed him," she whispered, her breath cold against my face, "and then she cut her sister's face so that no one would see her again."

"Did your sister do that to you?" I asked, my breath quickening in tempo with the beat of my heart.

She nodded, "And then she took her sister's identity."

"Is that you? Your story?" I dared to ask.

She nodded, whispering, "It's yours too."

I shook my head in denial.

"I watched him watching you," she giggled, "He loves you," her laugh pierced my ears, "but pretty pretty boys are the worst worst."

She stood up, moving away from me, shouting, "Shadow will hurt you, Shadow will hunt you."

I shook my head, "No."

"They all do," she whispered, crawling back towards me, "They will take you, use you, break you until you become their pretty little doll."

"In the dark, you go until Shadow you become," she giggled, "And he will haunt you, he will haunt you," she said, walking away.

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