Page 8 of Splitting Secrets
This has to be a hallucination. Some trick my mind is playing on me after so much time innothingness.
She sighs, and I can sense the irritation wafting off her in waves. I certainly have that sound down in my mind. “What have you been doing in there? Ignoring me?”
Anger quickly bubbles into my chest. Who the hell does this imaginary person think she is? As if she has any right to be angry with me forsleeping.
“What do you want?” I say each word with equal venom. She put me here. She let them lock me away in this fucking dungeon for crimes I haven’t even committed.
My own family.
“I don’t have a lot of time, so you need to listen to me carefully...”
“Doesn’t seem like I have a choice either way, now does it?” I scoff.
She ignores the snarky response. “They’re going to try to offer you a deal in exchange for your freedom,” she rushes out. “They’ll promise you something impossible. Something they’ll never be able to deliver. You can’t take it, Sonny.”
“Why wouldn’t I? No one else is coming to my rescue.” The accusation is clear in my voice.
“This isn’t the rescue you think it is. You have to promise me, Sonnet.” The use of my full name has a brand new wave of angry flames burning through my body. A hurricane of embers that light their way to my core.
How dare she speak the name she mocked for years?
How dare she ask me to promise heranything?
How fucking dare she ask me not to take my only shot out of here?
“Get out of here,” I growl, my voice low and feral.
When I get out of this hell, she’ll be the first person I come after. The first victim hunted down like prey to pay the price for centuries-worth of rage. There will be no fucking mercy for what she’s done.
Her words come out in rapid-fire, faster than I’ve ever heard her speak. “You have no reason to trust me. I know that. But please, Sonny. Do it for your mother. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Don’t fall for any of it.”
Mymother?!
“Get out. Getout! Get OUT!” I scream, my voice raising to a harsh, broken timbre that echoes back into my ears until they ring. I cover them, squeezing my eyes shut and repeating the command. I hear her try to talk over me between breaths, but refuse to listen any more.
I refuse to take her abuse any longer.
I stay like that for a while, curled into a ball with my arms over my head. So long, my muscles stiffen in the position.
Once I settle back down, my ears ring louder against the silence. I can’t hear or sense her any longer. I hope that by some small mercy, she’s left me alone.
“You should have listened to her,” a new voice startles me.
This one sounds closer. Possibly inside my cell.
I spin around in a circle. Searching for what? Who even knows? Someone could be standing an inch away, and I wouldn’t know.
“Who’s there?” I call out into the black abyss.
“You can lower your voice,” the intruder replies agitatedly. Then I see a flash of something in the corner across from where I stand. “I’m right here.”
An apparition appears, casting a soft glow onto the stone walls and floor.
I gasp, my hand slapping over my mouth as I openly gawk at what’s standing before me. Or rather,who.
An aged up version of Finley Landry stares back expectantly. “She was trying to help you,” he finally says.
“You’re Finley,” I stupidly inform him.
