Injured
Chapter 40: Avalyn’s POV
I stopped in my tracks wondering what happened to the light. Since I have been living in the castle, this was the first time that a power surge would happen.
Everywhere was pitched black. I could barely see the jug of water in my hand. I knew my way back even with the lights off but it was best I waited for the light to turn back on. It couldn’t take too long.
I tried to count out the seconds as I waited for the power to return but I got to three hundred and nothing was happening.
“Maybe it was a major fault,” I whispered to myself.
I couldn’t keep waiting here. I decided to find my way to my room. I took the first step forward and my feet hit the first riser of the stair.
I smiled as I found it. I started taking them one after the other making sure I took my time to calculate before letting my balance shake.
Suddenly the air changed around me and the air at the back of my neck stood on edge. I felt someone’s presence but it was too dark for me to see anyone.
I tried to push it away as my imagination and continued my journey on the stair but this time, I felt a shaky breath right in front of me.
“Who… is… there?” I stuttered as I clutched the jug of water to my chest. There was someone in front of me but I couldn’t make them out.
Goosebumps appeared on my skin as the cold air hit me again. Whoever was there was not saying a word and I started to imagine it was my head playing tricks on me again.
I clutched the jug with my right hand and used my left to feel ahead of me. My hand waved into empty space and I was already letting out a sigh when I touched clothes.
My breath seized and I made to open my mouth and ask who was there for the second time but the air got knocked out of my lungs as I felt a hand push me backward.
“Ahh!” I screamed as my right hand released the jug and I felt myself falling off gravity to the landing.
The jug landed first and the shattering sound merged with the sound of my scream before I landed on the stair and my body rolled to the floor in a heap.
My head hit the side handrail and a blinding pain filled my skull. My eyes became heavy and I fought to stay conscious.
Whoever had pushed me was still around for I could still feel the cold air around me, indicating the presence of danger.
Adrenaline pumped in my veins and I crawled blindly on the floor as I tried to find my bearing.
“Help…” I croaked as I felt a stinging pain on the side of my waist.
I tried pulling myself up with the help of the guard’s rail but my knees scratched over the broken shards of the jug and the pain pricked my very heart.
“Aah!” I cried out as instinctively moved my bare knees away from the spot.
Just then I felt the person’s presence a second too late as they grabbed my neck.
“Hmmm… I- help-” I tried to choke out but it was of no use. Their long bony fingers were too strong around my neck for me to let out enough air to cry for help.Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.
I struggled trying to get my body to resist but my attacker had only one thing in mind to kill me.
My body went limp and my struggles were reduced to nothing. The pain in my head returned and my eyes fluttered, as my body slowly went into darkness but just when I thought I was going to die, the light came back on and my assailant immediately panicked.
I tried to see who they were but my body was already given into the darkness, the only thing I saw before my body completely submerged were pale blue eyes.
I felt my body being moved and the distant screams and calls of my name but my eyelids refused to open. It was like I was locked up somewhere and all I got were the sounds of what was happening around me.
The beeping sound of machines filled my ears and I wondered where I was. I tried to open my eyes but they stayed close no matter what I did.
They were too heavy for me to lift. They felt like two elephants on my face and no matter how hard I tried to move them they just refused to leave.
When my eyes finally snapped open, I found myself in my old room in my house.
“Avalyn, you are awake!” My father called as he came to me.
I flinched back in shock. How was he here? How did I get here?
Where was Dawn? Where was Talon? Sara?
My head moved around as I searched for the people that have come to love me.
“I am sorry my dear child. I shouldn’t have let you go playing there!” My father said as he held my hands and placed kisses on them.
My eyes were almost falling out of their sockets as I watched him wearily.
“I should go call your mother!” He suddenly said straightening up. There was a smile on his face as he spoke and he spoke of my mother like she was here.
How?
“My mother?” I repeated and he ran his finger on my cheek.
“Let me go get her.” Before I could ask any more questions. He ran out of the room and a few seconds later, he returned with a woman that looked very much like the picture of my mother he gave to me when I was ten.
Tears rolled down my eyes as I watched her step into the room.
“Mother?” I sobbed.
She ran to my side and embraced me. “I am here now my child. Nothing bad will happen to you…”
She whispered and my heart broke as I cried even more into her chest. I knew that this was a dream. A twisted part of my brain but I didn’t want to let go.
I have spent several nights crying and praying my mother returned to me. I had begged the universe to give me a chance to meet her even if it was just once.
And now that I was on the brink of death, she came to me.
“It’s okay, Avalyn. You need to be brave. Your pain will go away very soon…” she said as she patted me on the back.
“I don’t want them to go away. I want to stay with you…” I cried. I knew that going back meant she was going to disappear from my life forever and I was going to return to my reality but I didn’t want to.
“I will always be with you…” She whispered as I looked up at her. She started fading and darkness covered my face.
“Avalyn?” Sara’s soft voice called and my eyes fluttered open.
I was in the clinic just like the first time I was brought here. Her glasses were crooked to the side and her eyes looked smaller than usual.
There was a numb pain at the side of my head as I tried to move and then the pain in my side flashed through me, making my heart jump.
“How is my baby?” My hands went to my stomach and I looked at her with fear in my eyes.
‘God, please do not let something terrible happen to my child…’ I prayed in my head as I held onto her arm.
She gave me a small smile and held my shoulder. “Your baby is fine. You don’t have to worry about it.”
I felt like a huge weight had been moved from my shoulders and my heart slowly returned to its usual pace.
“Avalyn, what happened last night? Did you see anyone?” Sara asked and I looked up at her.
I tried to think of what happened to me but I could only remember how I left the room to get water and the rest remained blurry.
“I… I don’t remember,” I whispered as I reached my fingers to feel the side of my head that kept hurting.
“It’s okay. Do tell me if you remember anything at all, okay?” Sara whispered and I nodded.
I looked down at my body and I saw the scratches on my knees. I remembered how the jug had fallen off my hands and I somehow scratched myself.
“I broke the jug. It must have scratched me…” I said as I looked down at my legs.
Sara took her notepad and scribbled down the words I said before she returned to my bed.
“Is that all you remember?” She whispered.
I closed my eyes and tried to conjure the images of the previous night but all I got was my journey to the kitchen and my waking up on the clinic bed.