Page 12 of Ethereally Tainted

“Just fucking run.”

Something aches inside me as I listen to her desperate pleas. I’ve never heard her curse, but her gaze is like a thunderclap, paralyzing me and making me want to flee. Time stops as I have to choose between saving Everlee or running for my life, and those few seconds leave an emotional scar I will always carry. Before I have the time to react, she is seized by a tall and well-built man in seconds.

“Everlee!” My screams of terror ring out as she kicks to free herself, yet something stops me from running to her and saving her.

“We need to run!” a male voice tells me, and I glance up to see the same person who took me to the master earlier that day.

Taking one final, devastating look at Everlee, she nods and whispers something that sends blood rushing to my ears.

Thank you.

Before I turn around to run after the boy, I give Everlee a heartwarming smile, trying to ease the pain in both of our expressions. I’m not sure why she’s thanking me. A heavy feeling fills my ribcage, as if someone tore my heart out of me, crushed it with their fists, and threw it away as if it had never been there.

The terror thrums through me like a hurricane, ready to destroy me from the inside out, an exploding bomb waiting to be triggered and unleashed. I run until my legs cannot take it anymore in the hope of a future, while crying from the loss of the closest thing I ever considered being a friend.

When a huge mass of muscle sends me flying to the ground, I let out a wild scream and tumble toward the earth, where the roots of the trees are sinking deep, making my knees feel like they’re on fire. Desperate to comprehend my surroundings, I utter a quiet whimper, when a rough, masculine voice suddenly greets me from behind.

In spite of my desperate attempts to look at him, escape, or do anything at all, I feel someone grabbing my neck and plunging what feels like a needle into it, causing my muscles to spasm until all I see is endless darkness.

Like the lull before a storm, everything fades away, leaving me in pitch-black terror where my breathing is restricted by depressing silence.

Chapter 4

Naya

Darkness.

The only thing my eyes can see is pitch-black darkness, but I cannot possibly tell if it’s because my eyes are closed or if the room is simply that dark. Whatever the case, the darkness remains a vast and imposing void regardless of whether my eyes are open or closed. It feels as if I’ve completely lost it, and I’m incapable of perceiving what’s real or not.

Maybe if I pinch myself hard enough, I will wake up at my grandparent’s in my warm bed adorned with several pillows. I let out a deep sigh, and the sound bounces off the walls.

Home no longer exists.

At least not for me.

The pain I’m feeling in my head and neck is stronger than ever before, like a searing throb that makes me want to bang my forehead against the wall, anything to stop the pain.

Fuck, it hurts.

If I didn’t know better, I would have thought someone was standing inside my head with a hammer and hitting my skull. There is an ache in my neck, making it tense and stiff to move, but I cannot recall what happened. Everything is a distant blur, and I have no idea where I am. I don’t know if I’m still at Grimhill Manor or not.

The darkness within the room is overwhelming, and it’s filled with the smell of urine and sweat, a mixture that I cannot escape because no matter how many times I try to get away, I always end up trapped inside the room. Despite the pins and needles sensation that has taken over my body, I can still move my toes and fingers.

Rather than simply being the absence of light, the darkness in the room is much more sinister, as if a monster will crawl out of its hiding place when I least expect it and stick out its long, crooked fingers with way too long nails and scrape them all over my body.

Where the hell am I?

With frantic movements, I use my fingernails to tear the skin from my heel in an attempt to calm the surging overwhelming feelings. It’s a terrible habit, but one that always calms me down no matter the circumstances. Pain is a welcome distraction because whenever I find something to do, my mind silences and leaves me alone.

I cannot hear anything from where I am, but given that there are no windows here, I’m assuming I’m inside some sort of basement, especially since it gives that cold sensation.

Is this Grimhill Manor’s basement?

No, it can’t be. I’ve been inside that darkness far too many times to count, and it’s something I would easily recognize. My fear here is a child’s game compared to what I felt then.

Where the hell have I ended up?

I cannot bear the fear of not knowing how long I’ve been unconscious, and I feel something trying to wrench my heart from my chest from the terror of the unknown.

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