Chapter 99 Strange voice
Strange voice
Milo POV
Everywhere hurts,
When I opened my eyes, the first thing that registered in my mind was pain.
Where was I? I tried to recall, seating up, but a jolt of pain that felt like my skin was being pulled from the inside stopped me. My throat was raw, my lips dry, like I had screamed until there was nothing left of me.
My head, my chest, my arms all of it hurt,
But why…
It was then that the memory of what happened hit me.
The party, the furnace.
The heat on my skin.
The smell of burning skin, then my scream. That tore through my body.
My eyes widened in alarm. My hands immediately went to my side, grazing over the rough, bandaged skin over my chest.
It was all true,
I have been branded!!
A small gasp caught my attention, I turned to see a nurse at the corner of the room. “Thank God, you are awake, I will go inform…”
Her words faded in my ears. I couldn’t concentrate on whatever she was saying. Even as she scrambled out of the room, my thoughts were somewhere else...
On the bandage on my chest region.
Hot tears spilled down my cheeks before I could stop them. Damon did it. And just like that, my dream of ever getting my freedom shattered the same way my heart shattered when the person I grew to trust thrusted a hot iron on my body. All those nights I thought I mattered, thought I was different, thought maybe… maybe Damon wasn’t like the others.
How mistaken I was.
I applied a little pressure against the bandage, expecting an excruciating pain of the wolfbane, the rumored unbearable burn that was supposed to linger for days. But there was only soreness, a sharp sting that faded too quickly. My eyes furrowed in confusion.
That wasn’t right.
A flicker of doubt stirred in me.
Had he…?
No. I shoved the thought away. I couldn’t afford hope. Hope was something I couldn’t afford to have now.
Branding a pet was the most excruciating pain, even more painful than drinking wolfbane, this is so because the burnt wolfbane sinks into their bloodstream. It was so bad that some pets didn't survive the ritual. But I didn’t feel any of the horrors I had heard. The only proof that I have been branded was the bandage on my chest.
The door creaked open.
I whipped my head toward it, and there he was, Damon. His silhouette covered the door frame, his eyes dark, and they were unreadable. For a moment, he just stood there, watching me. Neither coming inside or saying anything.
“You branded me,” I rasped. My voice was broken, hoarse, but the words bled out anyway. “You… you swore you wouldn’t…
“I didn't promise anything, milo.”
“But you did it anyway.” My voice cut back, looking at him with all the hate and poison I could muster.
His jaw tightened, a muscle twitching in his cheek. He clenched his fist, but his mouth remained shut.
The silence cut deeper than any wound. I looked away.
I want to hate him. Gods, I want to scream at him, to claw at him, to spit on his face, god help me, i want to rip out his neck for destroying my life, But when he crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed, pressing a hand on my forehead, my body betrayed me. To my horror, I saw my body leaning slightly towards his touch, desperately embracing his heat.
I stared at him as he continued to check my body, acting all caring, and unlike Damon, I know.
Why was he doing this? Why do you care? I screamed in my head.
“Why?...” I didn't know when the words came out as a whimper.
“Because he wants to dominate us, he did it for your blood, Milo, give me the permission to kill him right now, and I will give him a merciless death.”
I froze.
Damon had not talked, but a voice just answered my question.
“I am you, dummy… well the other you” the gritting voice answered again. It took me a moment to realise that it was coming from my head.
A gasp unconsciously flew from my mouth, catching Damon's attention.
“I am so sorry, Milo, did I hurt you…” Damon quickly removed his hands, I fought the whimper that wanted to escape my throat from the lack of his warmth.
“You are pathetic,” the voice mocked, filled with disappointment.
Fear ran through my body like electricity.
A strange voice was in my head!!
“Who are you?” I asked quietly in my head to make sure Damon, who was nervously still looking at me, wouldn't hear.
“Like I said, I am the other you, the one your anger, hate, and strong disgust gave birth too… I am the real you”
Nooo,
My body shuddered uncontrollably. Damon became even more troubled. His face etched in deep worry, but I didn’t care to correct the wrong impression.
“I am so so sorry, milo, I had to.” Damon murmured. His face was etched with guilt, worry, concern, and one other I could not decipher, no matter how hard I tried to.
Was that regret I was seeing on his face?
“I had no choice, but to do this if not…”
His voice droned out again. The strange voice was not making it easier to concentrate. It kept on blabbering and screaming ways to easily kill a man without raising suspicion. Damon didn’t realise that i was literally going through an internal hot monologue with a strange voice than to pay him any attention.
“Y…you are from the dream world.” I asked, desperately praying that the answer would be negative.
“Yes, fool, I am from the Dream world.”
My blood turned cold. My chest constricted as his words echoed inside my skull.
“Yes, fool, I am from the Dream World.”
“No… No, that’s impossible,” I whispered, clutching at the sheets with trembling fists.
Damon’s head snapped up in concern. “Milo? What is wrong?”
The walls seemed to tilt around me. My brain failed to process the fact that the thing haunting my dreams was suddenly inside me, breathing, and alive.
“You are just in my imaginations …you are not real…” my voice broke halfway.
My vision swam, the room twisting and warping like smoke. The ceiling swayed, Damon’s face blurring into shadows as he leaned forward..
The last thing I saw was his lips moving, “NURSE!”
And then, the warmth that came from his arms that wrapped around me, strong and desperate.
I wanted to lean in, to let it carry me, but before I could, the darkness swallowed me whole.