34. The Binding
1273 Words
Sally-Anne
Moonlight. It was the first thing I saw when my eyes flashed open. It was on the back of my hand, gleaming, shining, impossibly pale and warm.
"I'm sorry." The words sang out soft and ethereal.
That was new.
I struggled to get to my feet, surprised by the change in the replay. Stranger still there was another version of me at my feet. Her hair was damp and forest debris were clinging to it. Part of her neck was exposed coated in blood. I put my fingers to my own neck in the same spot and they came away red. I took a shaky breath. The other Sally-Anne climbed to her feet rather ungracefully. Her head snapped around unnaturally looking across the clearing. She looked through me with cold unseeing eyes. A shiver ran through me and I couldn't help but be afraid.
I called out to her but she was gone moving with unnatural speed. The look of her wild feral face stayed with me.
I didn't know what to do and I couldn't fathom why I was suddenly given autonomy in my nightmare. Finally resolving to follow my doppelganger to the house I took one step toward the same path only to stop again when Ricky silently stalked into the clearing. Hope swelled in my chest as I raced towards him. I couldn't understand how he was here. I thought this was my memory being replayed by my poor traumatised mind so how could I be seeing something I hadn't been witness to?
Ricky stood in the middle of the clearing. I moved around to see what he was doing. His eyes were shut tight and his brows knitted together with concentration. It looked like he was listening.
"Ricky?" I called softly. His eyes snapped open and a wicked grin slid across his face and then … he ran through me. Turning on the spot I looked in the direction he had gone. Ricky had followed after Sally-Anne. The other Sally-Anne. A tear slipped down my face hot and wet. Gently I scooped it off my face and stared with amazement. I could cry?
Another tear rolled down my face mirroring the trickle of relief that dripped onto my soul. Falling to my knees I began to sob with abandon. I cried all the tears that were drowning me. They had welled inside me rising like the tide until I was ready to burst but finally I could let them out, so I did. They poured down my face, each one making me feel lighter.
I cried for my Ma, for my Pa, for my beautiful baby Brother and I cried for my Aunt and my Uncle. I cried for Nancy and the cheeky twins. I cried for myself. For the person I thought I was, for the life I wanted but would never have. The home that I would never call my own, the Husband I could never have; the children I would never carry.
I was so busy crying I didn't notice the pinch on my arm as a tattoo grew on my skin nor did I notice how cold it had gotten until my hard breathy sobs turned to icy clouds in front of my face. A frost had crept across the ground making the forest floor sparkle. I pulled my arms around myself freezing in my flimsy summer dress. The wind picked up cutting across the clearing and biting my exposed arms and legs. The calm still night that I had lived thousands of times was changing.
Dark billowing clouds rolled across the sky consuming the moon. Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed, its brightness refracting off the frost on the forest floor. Not that you could really call it frost anymore, the light dusting that had sparkled and gleamed only a moment ago was growing into plains and shards of ice. It began to snow. Huge heavy flakes swirling and dancing in the air making my vision a wall of white static. I shivered, my muscles clenching painfully with the cold.
Teeth chattering, I rubbed my arms with vigor trying to gather even the tiniest bit of warmth. Desperately I looked around for an escape. I thought if I could get to the trees I might be able to escape some of the snow and ice but I could see nothing bar the blizzard that raged around me. Lightening flared once again followed by a deep rumble. It was so bizarre; lightning snow storm? I’d never heard of such a thing.
Just when I didn’t think things could get stranger, a soft chanting began. At first it seemed to be one voice but the voice multiplied every few words layering out of sync over one another until there was just one great frightening hum. Fear sliced deep making my icy breath come in pants and my heart pound in my chest. The hum rose in volume and as it reached a crescendo there was a sharp violent creaking as the ice split apart and thick chains lifted menacingly into the snowy air.
The chanting stopped. The snow stopped. The chains waited unnaturally still in the air. Terror ripped through me as the air turned electric. My hair stood on end and there was a low buzz. Lightning crashed through the air striking me. I could hear it crackling in my skull and feel it shooting fire down my spine. My mouth tasted like blood as a scream burned its way up my throat.
The lightning abated and a voice boomed.
“YOU ARE BOUND.”
The chains that had been poised in the air now pounced, clanging as they came. They spiraled around my body tightly crushing against my stinging flesh. I couldn’t move. The storm cleared as quickly as it had come and the ice receded folding itself away like some incomprehensible origami. Only the chains remained.
Unable to move I stood bound in the clearing waiting. Time dragged, pouring by like syrup while I screamed and screamed against my bonds begging for help. No one heard me and if they did they did not help. On the third night the world shifted, it spun with sickening ferocity reversing till another me lay face down in the dirt. The cycle started again with a wild, ferocious Sally-Anne storming off, Ricky hot on her heels and the forest calm and serene. I still hated it and it seemed much longer than it seemed when I actually participated but it wasn’t as horrific as when I was forced to relive it.
For what seemed to be the millionth time Ricky had just dash out of the clearing when a familiar voice reverberated around me.
"GUY SAYS,” A chain that tapered to a sharp point hovered in front of me, waiting, “you will not cause me harm, ever, intentionally or otherwise." The chain moved in a blur, driving at speed through my shoulder. I heard it thud as it hit the ground behind me. I whimpered from the pain.
"GUY SAYS,” A chain like the first appeared summoned by the words.
“No, please.” I begged, “No more.” Tears streamed down my face.
"you will not leave this room without my permission." Another thud as the chain slammed through my pelvis, cleaving flesh and bone as it went before meeting the earth.
What fresh hell was this? I didn’t know. I tried to tell myself I deserved it. I was a monster, an evil, murderous abomination but no matter how many times I told myself I just couldn’t quite believe it.
- Writer
