Page 55 of Let It Snow
The fog drops over my mind like a thick curtain. The details I had clear a second ago blur out. A groan escapes my throat as that dull, low pain flares through every cell in my body.
Everything I knew, the past I just remembered, shades over again in gray. I let out a frustrated squeal.
"Summer," Lake calls, quickening his pace as he comes up and drops to his knees beside me.
A rush of shame hits me when I realize the air smells of my cum and Snow’s.
I catch the exact moment Lake notices. He blinks, then asks, "You okay? We were worried about you."
I shake my head a little, then force myself through the painful haze. There it is again, this damn difficulty with words, my curse.
"I’m okay. I’m sorry about the outburst."
"Honey, you don’t have to apologize. After what you’ve been through, it’s a miracle you’re coping as well as you are."
Lake’s endless kindness and patience only make me feel more ungrateful.
"I already called off the doctor. Sorry we brought him without your consent, but we were really worried, especially after what we saw in the garden."
I blink in surprise. Aiden, who usually doesn’t say much to me, forces a smile and adds, "There’s a decent little crater on one of the paths." His tone is half amused, half awkward.
What? I jump to my feet and yank my T-shirt down to hide the stain at my crotch. Then I head straight for the spot where Snow and I were when the light show was on.
By the time I get there, and the rest of the family follows, I see a roughly thirteen-by-thirteen-foot circle.
The center is a shallow hollow where the plants are completely destroyed, turned to ash, and the gravel stones are charred black.
I stand there staring at that ring of scorched earth. Snow comes up behind me and hangs back with the others. He has that faint smile again, tilting his head as he watches me. I wonder how neither of us got hurt when that discharge happened.
As I stare at the burnt patch, there’s something else I don’t want to dig into right now. Those moments when I was touching Snow’s skin lifted my amnesia and exposed something strange… another side of me.
Much wilder, more aggressive.
It raises one question: is that the real me? My true personality? Wild, untamed, predatory? And is that nervous, frightened shell I am now… all just an effect of my damaged mind?
A temporary makeshift?
The emotions that bubbled up then were intense and uncontrollable. It felt like I became someone else, not me but an alien, unrecognized creature.
What I said to Snow was utterly wild, about killing him. How did that even come out of my mouth?
Then I felt an urge to devour the little light dragon and absorb its power.
For a second I wonder if maybe Snow shouldn’t have cleared the fog, because what if the truth about me is darker than anyone imagines? What if it’s only just starting to wake up?
Like something emerging from a shell.
Achrysaliscracking open…
Maybe it never showed up as strongly before. Perhaps even my parents and brothers didn’t know. I was a kid, then a teenager. Now I’m twenty. Something new could be maturing inside me.
Something darker, more destructive.
That circle in the dirt reminds me how easy it is todestroysomething, but can you put it back together just as easily? You can cut a branch off in a second, but can you make it grow into a new stem again?
Destruction is powerful, but it’s not half as powerful as creation. And that power isn’t available to me.
Frowning, I turn and look at Lake, Aiden, and Snow standing behind me. Their eyes are fixed on the blackened ring.
