I did not wake up the next day.364Please respect copyright.PENANAVp3TrveLzA
364Please respect copyright.PENANAVLiBtFEDJ6
364Please respect copyright.PENANADxaoQ3kcVJ
For a very long time, I was dragged beneath a heavy veil of senselessness. A wintry breath whispered across my limbs, easing the numbness on my skin. In the darkness of my coma, I heard only my own sharp inhalations; deep, sporadic. Echoes of distant visions blurred my mind, drowning me in its icy embrace. 364Please respect copyright.PENANA96NlSIvmX4
364Please respect copyright.PENANAGCzKa7DQlz
364Please respect copyright.PENANAKSWRAehlay
They were as cold as frost. 364Please respect copyright.PENANAmqCaPwAPLj
364Please respect copyright.PENANAf55k2bzmpI
364Please respect copyright.PENANA5CCA60wtib
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------364Please respect copyright.PENANAmwiRDgx44b
364Please respect copyright.PENANAQ5uixXzzh9
364Please respect copyright.PENANAMHN86vY002
I remember standing in the backyard of my house. The last whisps of faint summer wind brushing against distant trees. I remember the cobalt blue of the sky. Ushering a tranquility as deep as the evening ocean. 364Please respect copyright.PENANAjg8qT2Tw3R
364Please respect copyright.PENANALRPDAnMUEM
364Please respect copyright.PENANANXprBYV89S
I recall staring at my own shadow, trying to hide the countless wounds that I knew I would never forget. A smoky sky grumbled coldly above me, bringing forth a state of numbness.364Please respect copyright.PENANAIt4eStjK2T
364Please respect copyright.PENANAjj54nV61B7
364Please respect copyright.PENANA9wkmOjvsrb
In the distance, a lone light from a cigarette shone, its smoke trailing the wind. Then, long, slow exhales twined through the air, accompanied by hoarse breathing. 364Please respect copyright.PENANAiCogIiLXVX
364Please respect copyright.PENANA0UN9iYoCWn
364Please respect copyright.PENANAas98MEPNRg
I don't really know when the nightmare truly began.364Please respect copyright.PENANAIFlrenv29G
364Please respect copyright.PENANArgzmayOdTR
364Please respect copyright.PENANAW98S2oFyVL
Perhaps it was when I heard the resonance of that cold, embittered laugh, one that seemed to twist through my flesh and into the inner heart. 364Please respect copyright.PENANA4YGwJOZa5J
364Please respect copyright.PENANAw5t6yF96E1
364Please respect copyright.PENANAO7JPiFh41I
Perhaps it was when I heard her screams. 364Please respect copyright.PENANAds82uYCijB
364Please respect copyright.PENANACEj5f3eZsg
364Please respect copyright.PENANAhsTWWNTwzm
I felt terror, like the dreadful Arctic cold, sear me like blistering fire. They crippled my body, etching and coiling deep within my chest. At that time, I still wasn't used to this kind of fear. I remember convincing myself that everything would be fine, although I knew that wasn't true. My mother never screams. 364Please respect copyright.PENANAJOqcCwtFrO
364Please respect copyright.PENANAkraTLocaNH
364Please respect copyright.PENANAu0aHy78jvQ
The next thing I knew, I was rushing desperately towards the front door of the house. It was bolted shut. 364Please respect copyright.PENANALkXfLMYptb
364Please respect copyright.PENANAEhkiVNqWWv
364Please respect copyright.PENANA52k1dSGc8X
My body was drenched in cold sweat. I would never forget stumbling around the locked house, crying out my mother's name. Dread melted and thawed within my heart with every step. When I finally lurched in from the back entrance, scanning the dark interiors of the household, everything had become strangely quiet again. It was almost if I had imagined those screams.364Please respect copyright.PENANAYQrtYBtLG1
364Please respect copyright.PENANAteUpfZnqdN
364Please respect copyright.PENANATUt23gifbs
A sudden, bitter feeling gushed to my heart. The living room was drenched in a murky gloom, one that seemed to replace the air of normality previously prowling in its expanse. Something was bizarre about the house, making me instantly nauseous. I scanned all intersections of the living room, yet nothing was amiss.364Please respect copyright.PENANAvZqsYQMPn9
364Please respect copyright.PENANAFRiYehuE4O
364Please respect copyright.PENANAe3HcBP950f
And then I turned to my mother's bedroom. And I see---364Please respect copyright.PENANA4Mj3nCtzOx
364Please respect copyright.PENANAEB9QJSkxCE
364Please respect copyright.PENANATF1pf3fyQD
Crimson. Writhing across the grey carpet. It was a familiar shade, almost too familiar... I closed my eyes, tried to convince myself that it was just paint, paint I used to create illusions of----364Please respect copyright.PENANAW5Vasu7OHl
364Please respect copyright.PENANAdRlyP6B4fx
364Please respect copyright.PENANAA52VoOkstH
Blood.364Please respect copyright.PENANAnl0PXRKkji
364Please respect copyright.PENANAvKIQq6m0EB
364Please respect copyright.PENANAt9039BRRj1
It was a dimly illuminated room. My mother was curled up by the bedside, shivering. Blood spurted wildly across her hair, threatening to spill across the apron she wore across her chest. As I entered, she looked up, her eyes entrapped with a look almost devoid of feeling. It was the same feeling that punctured my mind now; paralyzing, drowning, suffocating me. 364Please respect copyright.PENANAlCLNDoG2ob
364Please respect copyright.PENANAGGursDG1JI
364Please respect copyright.PENANAtelmHtNdNM
Nothing.364Please respect copyright.PENANAXlpB4QboxH
364Please respect copyright.PENANAFNbwiEMRix
364Please respect copyright.PENANAatvZEVBKGM
Her arms reached towards me unsteadily, her fingers involuntarily grasped mine, as she benumbed me with that similar unfeeling gaze. I knew that look. It was the remnant of an empty shell, one crippled raw by terror and hopelessness. My heart raced as she slowly touched her tender lips to my cheek.364Please respect copyright.PENANAmTQTpTVhhJ
364Please respect copyright.PENANAqEKXqWBKgB
364Please respect copyright.PENANAbzG6ENMxN7
"What happened?" I urged, terror creeping upon me again at the ghastly sight of blood. She didn't reply to my urgent cries, and only brought me closer towards her, until we were in a stiff embrace. I trembled at her warm touch. I was so close that I could smell the fiery scent of her blood. It was creeping down her own soaked clothes, and dripping onto mine.364Please respect copyright.PENANA3brpouVZq7
364Please respect copyright.PENANAaiYAxowkWN
364Please respect copyright.PENANAfxFhrMFCNz
"Lily," she whispered feebly, clutching me against her chest, "just tell me one thing. Promise me that you'll be silent about this. Please." She embraced me tighter, and an acidic premonition rushed to my heart. I wiped the tears streaming down her cheeks, as she attempted to draw out those last, despairing words. "Get away from here, Lily, and tell no one."364Please respect copyright.PENANAMge7ItVeWt
364Please respect copyright.PENANAKjhvlw07N2
364Please respect copyright.PENANAH8a17u5g6H
I gazed, perplexed, at her curled composure before me. She suddenly seemed so strange and distant. It was almost as if she had left me. I wanted to reach out and touch her, but something held me back.364Please respect copyright.PENANAjQqhdONNX2
364Please respect copyright.PENANA7fpreNHEOJ
364Please respect copyright.PENANA8LEZR0gu6r
I endeavoured to protest, but she only shook her head, terror scintillating in the deep ocean blue of her eyes. "Go," She whispered."When they come, just say that I've killed myself. You can do that, can't you?" 364Please respect copyright.PENANATlnTyAocLt
364Please respect copyright.PENANAvHHFgJ3PL0
364Please respect copyright.PENANAY8Zt1oqhuO
I remember staring fixedly at the growing cascades of blood, immobilized by shock and desperation. The curtains in the room were drawn; my surroundings were blanketed in gloom. It was so dark I could almost convince myself that the gory lines feathering across the blotched carpet could've been nothing but paint. Nothing but an illusion.364Please respect copyright.PENANAm5oJMrvMdV
364Please respect copyright.PENANAYJ5oP5jEsY
364Please respect copyright.PENANAiDSBYcW1Cs
The next thing I knew, my mother was quivering in an excruciating, breathless state. Her lips were trembling rhythmically, yet I could tell she was trying to say something beneath her breath. But before she could finish, a terrible spasm constricted her mouth, and at last, a lonesome tear slithered out from her eye. I was able to make out the final sentence she whispered, although it was stifled in pain.364Please respect copyright.PENANAofIXRu48hv
364Please respect copyright.PENANA5b6N96zvzi
364Please respect copyright.PENANA8YFbKLt1bE
"I... I love you, Lily."364Please respect copyright.PENANAJsJkzx0Znx
364Please respect copyright.PENANAilQ2atmNlj
364Please respect copyright.PENANAs9A2qx5L2w
After that, everything ended quickly. The spasm that clenched her body died away, and her tremulous breathing drained into silence. I was sitting cross-legged on the floor, facing away from my mother, yet I could envision everything that had happened. Her painful, despairing struggle, which soon ceased into ice-cold lifelessness. I was scared to look back at her figure one last time. Outside, the ambience of wind and growing rain thrummed against the roof of the house, indifferent to the tragedy that had just left a blotch in my heart.364Please respect copyright.PENANA9iIM5AQlvo
364Please respect copyright.PENANA1B6XcBuC2L
364Please respect copyright.PENANA68iSaINy17
Very soon, after my mother's tragic death, I heard ear-splitting sirens resonating outside the house. I recall standing in the backyard with my father, gazing coldly at the sun that was now shrouded by dark, intimidating clouds. At the rain that now pummeled down a smoke-grey sky, like all the tears sealed inside me. My father's eyes were drenched in sombre darkness, yet I could interpret a hue of bitter insanity clouded behind his stony expression. I ignored his dazed look, and buried myself in the dreary shadow of the clouds. 364Please respect copyright.PENANAhbTGc8afzZ
364Please respect copyright.PENANAYszdXqCZk8
364Please respect copyright.PENANANb06Eez6sf
It was only at the last moment that I registered my glistening apparel, now snaked and doused with crimson blood. My mother's blood. A voice inside me screamed and mocked and hissed, as though rising from the ashes and attempting to swallow me whole.364Please respect copyright.PENANAYgS2TI4inE
364Please respect copyright.PENANAt3b1RQHE26
364Please respect copyright.PENANA3qJIVBCvcJ
You left her there to die.364Please respect copyright.PENANAceuY6m6zsr
364Please respect copyright.PENANAnyDXjrz92b
364Please respect copyright.PENANA3Z492DNooj
You killed her.364Please respect copyright.PENANACsu3zRJLLt
364Please respect copyright.PENANAuVouH64O1g
364Please respect copyright.PENANAIgoalvCD09
I feared that it was true.
ns18.222.209.172da2