Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 140940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
Huh?
Her words caught me off guard.
I almost dropped the glass. My heart boomed in my ears. “O-others?”
Max muttered under his breath, “Fuck. No, man. There’s more?”
I turned to him. “I-it can’t be.”
Terror decorated Max’s face.
Shaking, I put my view back on Delphine. “H-how many? W-who? What are their names? How fucking crazy am I?”
“Emily.” Delphine raised both of her hands in the air. “Calm down and drink.”
I swallowed hard, the realization hitting me like a ton of bricks. My eyes watered. “M-more?”
She gave me a sad smile. “Drink.”
The word hovered between us like a chilling echo.
I lifted the glass to my lips and drank the red liquid.
It seeped down my throat like hot lava, filling me with a blazing sensation that was simultaneously sweet and tart.
Heat boiled in my veins.
Unbearable agony erupted within me. It was a roaring beast of pain that gnashed its teeth against my insides.
“Ugh!” I dropped the glass.
It crashed to the floor.
I gagged and gripped my throat, but nothing came out. “What the fuck?!”
Suddenly, I felt as if my insides were being rearranged, then ripped apart, as though that red liquid was a poltergeist wreaking havoc within my body.
My vision blurred into a terrifying kaleidoscope of distortions.
Please no!!
I trembled as my head spun, and every cell in my body screamed in protest.
“Yo!” Max’s voice registered from somewhere far away, as if spoken through a wall of thick fog. “What’s happening to her? What did you do?!”
Delphine’s response was calm amidst the storm, her voice steady and unyielding. “She’s going into herself. You must stay calm.”
“N-no! No!” I shook my head and screamed. “I don’t want to do this anymore!”
“Em!”
“Max, you need to sit back down!” Delphine’s command cut through the chaos like a knife. “It’s already happening. You can’t help her now.”
“Delphine! Stop this!” My chair tipped over as if caught in an earthquake.
I lost my footing.
Beneath me, the solid ground gave way to an abyss of black nothingness.
And this wasn’t the darkness of a starless night or the comforting shadows of a room with the lights turned off.
This was an all-consuming void.
An endless expanse of emptiness that swallowed light, sound, and hope with an insatiable hunger.
And then I was falling.
Not a gentle descent, but a harsh, ruthless plunge into the void.
Like I was being sucked into a vacuum.
No!!!!
Terror—cold and relentless—seized me. It clawed at my insides, icy talons raking over raw nerves, setting my every sense on fire. My heart pounded like a war drum in my chest, its rapid rhythm the soundtrack to my horrific experience.
And I knew right there—as I tumbled through the darkness—that I would never be the same after this.
Chapter fifteen
Lunita
Emily
The little girl led the way and kept that stuffed lion close to her.
Following, I climbed out the window and stepped onto the narrow fire escape. To my surprise, the metal of the fire escape felt cold and real in my hands.
I looked down.
The view below was a black, endless abyss.
I put my gaze back on the little girl as she went up. “Are you afraid of her?”
“No.” She giggled and began to run up.
“Hey.” I picked up my pace. “Wait for me.”
The clang of our steps echoed against the brick building as we ascended.
Each rung swayed under our weight.
A growl sounded, pulling my gaze down to the darkness.
I shivered. “What’s that?”
“Demons.”
“What the fuck?”
The little girl’s voice was eerily calm. “They can’t reach us up here though.”
“Why not?”
“They just can’t.”
Her confidence should have comforted me; however, it only deepened my unease.
I shook my head. “How do you know that?”
“I just do.”
“But where the hell did the demons come from?”
“Us.” The little girl turned back. “They are born from our fears.”
I halted midway on the cold rungs. “Fears? Oh. Wait. I get it.”
Calm stilled me.
“It’s fucking. . .demons like. . .we all have demons inside of us sort of thing?”
“I don’t know, but. . .” The little girl gave me an odd look. “Each time you’re scared, you feed them, you give them power.”
“But, they’re just a metaphor.”
“They have sharp fangs.” She turned and started running back up the fire escape.
“Demons with fangs.” I hurried after her. “No. They’re just. . .personal shit. Just focus on that. Don’t get lost in this. . .illusion of a reality.”
Up and up we went.
Once we reached the top, the sound of jazz filled the air.
I got onto the roof. “Wait.”
Last time, the place had just been a roof, but now it was a breathtaking garden on top of the building. Rows of flowers in every shade imaginable filled the space, accompanied by luscious, swaying trees. Blooming vines climbed up trellises and spilled over the building’s sides.
I took it all in. “How did this happen?”
The garden was a mesmerizing display of color—from the deep purple of the dahlias to the bright pink roses.
“We can grow stuff up here now. We couldn’t before the gardener. Now we can.” The little girl skipped around yellow sunflowers. “Isn’t this cool?”