Trigger Warning - Violence, blood. It might get a little murderous, please read with caution.
___
___
Her heart raced with fear, but she refused to run this time, instead, she tried to search for this person who was terrorizing her.
The low chiming of a bell could be heard and just like that, the dog ran towards her.
Stupid Aniya!
This dog would rip her into pieces because of her stupidity.
But the dog didn't do that, instead, it ran past her, and like the most stupid person in Ignas, she chased it.
Chased it!
Why?
Well, because she knew where it would be headed or rather, who it would go to.
Today, she would discover the owner of this beast.
Today, she would silence the one terrorizing her with the knowledge of her secret.
The cloud darkened with heavy rain and within the shadows of the trees, she disappeared.
The weight of her sacks became a burden, an obstacle in her chase, yet she pushed through the struggle (they were worth too much for her to just throw away), chasing the dog that became smaller and smaller as the distance grew wider between her and the beast.
She was out of breath.
By Ignas, it was too fast!
Finally, she got to where the dog had led her to but then, it was nowhere to be found.
Her legs ached and her heart was beating so rapidly in her chest it felt like it would explode.
She blinked, looking around as the trees above danced to the direction of the wind, telling the tales of a coming rain.
It was getting darker and darker.
She looked around quickly, but it seemed she was alone.
Saying a curse under her breath, she decided to turn away and return home. The market woman might be wrong after all, maybe today, it would actually rain.
But just at that moment, something happened.
There was a smell coming from a tree, it commanded the attention of something deep within her, something she couldn't control.
Her legs moved on their own accord towards the sweet-smelling tree, her sacks slipped away from her grip, the contents of it spilling on the ground. She tried to turn back and pick them up but her body jerked forward instead.
No, no, no, no!
It was happening again.
It was taking control again!
This hadn't happened in a long time.
She couldn't let anyone see her like this. She couldn't let this happen.
Tears welled up in her eyes and her throat tightened but it was obvious that she no longer had full control over her own body.
Finally, she got to the tree.
Something had been carved into it, using a red liquid that dripped from the tree, hopefully, it wasn't blood, it looked very much like it though.
This was fresh.
That person had been here.
She stepped closer, and the message came into full view.
I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE.
She felt a presence at that moment and her heart raced.
That person was still here.
Her heart drummed louder.
A trap.
She had ran right into a trap.
The wind became stronger and she turned to see another tree where a message was waiting for her.
SAY YOUR LAST WISH.
It was the last thing she saw before a rope from nowhere snatched itself around her neck and yanked her upwards into the sky, stealing life from her lungs.
Her body jolted and fought, till it stilled and her eyes rolled back.
Thunder clapped, lightning flashed and the rain poured from the sky, upon the veiled woman that dangled from a tree.
___
___
Flashes.
Flashes of violence.
An attack, blood, claws, and pain.
Then darkness.
There were too many images, for a time too short that she couldn't even make sense of it.
It was more like she remembered nothing.
There was blood everywhere. On the walls, on the floor, and on this mirror that Aniya stared at through her black veil.
Rain dripped from her dress forming a poodle around her. It was still raining outside.
The market woman was right about one thing. The rain had an attitude today.
She raised her hand to wipe the mirror attached to the wall, but the blood on her hands only smeared it red.
Her hands trembled, just as her lips were quivering not from the cold but from fear, consuming fear.
This was more than it had ever happened before, this was too much!
She didn't know who she had killed, she didn't know how she had escaped from where she was, she didn't know anything.
She couldn't even remember!
All she knew was that now she was in her room, with blood everywhere and it was raining outside.
I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE.
The words flashed in her mind.
Even she didn't know what she was.
All she could remember was that after the fire, she had felt like she would actually die. She had been desperate to survive for her son's sake, and a voice had asked her if she would sacrifice anything to live.
She had said she would.
She lived, but at the expense of this strangeness that lived within her.
This strange entity!
At first, she had tried to tell someone, Zesika at least, but she was afraid they would lock her away and keep Arlo from her.
So, she had kept quiet. Besides, back then, it had seemed nothing but a dream.
Everything had seemed so normal.
Until recently, when her wounds started to heal rapidly.
That had been easily containable, but this?!
This was a nightmare!
Whose blood was this on her hands?
Who had she murdered?!
Was it just one?
Were they more?
She didn't know, and she didn't have the time to think about it.
Because there was a knock on her door.
"Aniya! Are you in there? Tell me all about the plan, I'm here with Arlo!"
She wanted to move, but she couldn't. All she could do was stare at the blood-stained mirror through her veil and weep.
What was this?! What had she become?
I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE.
What was she?