By Ouanessa Nana
The fetters are tethered to my neck, cutting wedges of red welts in my skin.
My heart sinks beneath me like a curtain raiser, ticking down the minutes. Each breath is a whip thrashing, fastening itself against my lungs, I’m surprised I’m still standing.
When my hands reach for my chest, my body seizes, it knows I’m on the brink of faltering, that no one will ever understand what it’s like to feel like this. With so much intensity my body thinks it’s failing.
Further along the trail is an ice sheet of snow, the frost snapping, twitching. I blink when the malice hits.
A demon, large and dripping blue. Its malevolent entity plunges into me and I rise. I don’t fight it anymore as it crawls through me.
They always find me.
It feels like a plunge and when I splinter, they scatter the pieces of me under their feet.
Afify, Five laughs darkly when he looks at me, running his fingers through his light brown hair. “Running yourself ragged again,” he comments, noting my discomfort as fresh memories bruise my skull.
I ignore him, waiting for another thrashing but it doesn’t come. He slips his arms around my shoulders without asking and helps me to my feet. Five wraps his dirty bandages around my chest and I stare down at his fingers, remembering the way they would erase all my wounds with just one touch. His hands are battered and bloody.
I swallowed, my mouth dry, air cutting my throat. I tossed my head toward his palms where gaping lesions threaten to burst.
“Looks like you need it more than me,” I say, avoiding his gaze.
I was scared to look up at his searing brown eyes. I was slow enough as it is and I don’t need him to see me falling apart. His easy smile reminds me of my family back home. The mom and sister I abandoned when I found Kit’s body under the floorboards.
He shrugs, his lips brushing against my skin when he whispers in my ear.
“Your mind places tricks on you,” His voice is washed through hastily, seaming into the deeper corners of my heart and I gasp, trying not to tumble over and let my mind wreak havoc on me.
Somehow without trying he always sees me at my breaking point, at the cusp of my shattering. My wings flare, their talons twisting and sharply reaching for him. I blink at him, not daring to speak.
“I can’t remember the last time I picked and peeled at the fragmented daze,” he finally says, releasing his grip on me.
Trepidation is a basin leaking in my chest and all I can do is scoff and blink back tears. He didn’t seem to be fazed by the dark inside me and offered me a mischievous smile.
A cold breeze nips at my skin and I shudder, bringing my arms around me. He jerks his head behind me and I freeze.
“Be careful Lai, there’s been a cyclone warning,”