Forbidden Knots (Shadow Duet #1)

24. TWENTY FOUR

TWENTY FOUR

Storm

I don't remember falling asleep. I don't remember sleeping, and I don't feel like I slept at all. I turned around in my bed and all I saw was a clock that already ticked seven. The door slowly creaked open, and I pulled the sheets over me, my body shaking in fear.

Grandma sat down next to me, her hands slowly pulling the sheet from me and holding a cup of coffee in front of me. "It's just me, bambina. "

I didn't want to move. I just turned to the other side, not saying anything, not able to say a single word.

"I took care of everything," she said. "No one will ever know."

She wrapped her hands around me as I sat up, my back leaning against the wall, her hands dry like bark gently gliding through my hair.

It hit me like a ton of bricks.

What did she mean by it?

I didn't dare to ask, my lips sealed like a puppet, smiling but motionless.

She got up, her palm now on my shoulder. As she rose, she said, "She is resting with the others."

"Others?" It shot right through me, my lips finally finding a reason to speak.

"Oh, Thalia," she said, coming closer, and placing her palm on my cheek. "You remind me so much of your mother. She didn't know better either."

"Mom?" I got up, moving her hand from my face. "What are you talking about?"

She grabbed me under my arm, moving me away from the window and pushing me to the wall, whispering, "You killed that girl, Sophie."

"No," I shouted, pushing her away. "No," I said silently. "I followed her. She was with a man."

"So you didn't?" she asked, her voice trembling. "Oh, no, no, no," she continued, shouting.

"You will stay silent."

"We have to call the police," I said, moving away from her, and heading toward the door.

"No," she shouted again, pulling me back inside. "I protected you. You will stay silent."

"But I did nothing," I said, my voice cracking, turning around.

"You've been a bad , bad girl," she said again.

I could feel her behind me, then suddenly I felt a buzzing in my ears. The back of my head hurt, a piercing pain shooting through my whole body. I placed a palm on the back of my head and touched it, but when I removed my hand, I saw blood on my fingers. I slowly fell to my knees, my vision blurring. I tried to keep my eyes open, but my whole world started to spin.

A lamp fell next to me, hitting the floor, breaking into millions of pieces, just like my whole body as it hit the ground. As I slowly closed my eyes, I could feel her arms on my wrists, and my whole body scratching the surface of the wooden floor. She was dragging me back to the basement.

My body was burning, my head was hurting, and my whole universe was spinning. I screamed inside, breaking apart. I prayed for Shadow to come, any moment, any time from now. I prayed that he would save me, that he would come and magically erase all the bruises from my body and be the salvation for my dark mind. But no one was coming. It was just me.

She slammed the door behind her, leaving my body in a pool of blood.

My eyes slowly opened, the distant hum in the background and cold hands placing cloths on my skin. In the corner, a black music box began to play, its melody a slow, haunting whisper that crept into the silence like a secret yet to be told. It turned slowly, emitting a faint, rhythmic clicking that echoed through the basement like the ticking of a malevolent clock, reverberating to my bones.

"It's the sound of silence," the woman said. "It keeps us sane."

She giggled. "My voices like you," she whispered. "They say you are different."

This time I didn't escape her touch. My mind played tricks on me, thinking it couldn't be worse than it already was. Instead of running away, I sat down and whispered, "Thank you."

"You are hurt? I can smell your blood from a mile away," she said, licking her fingers and giggling as she moved away. Then her face would appear again in the light from the shadow.

"She took care of her," she whispered. "Didn't she?"

I nodded, a tear falling down. "Do you know where they are?"

I asked, trying to get as much information as I could. I didn't have any clue who she was or why she would help me, or if my grandma even knew she was here with me, but I had to know as much as I could. I needed to gather strength to save myself.

At this point, I knew no one would save me; no one would even know.

She nodded, smiling. "She found them and kept them," she whispered.

"You like stories?" I asked. "Can you tell me their stories?"

She nodded, kneeling down, and took my palm. With her fingers, she walked up and down my arm. "Itsy bitsy spider running down your arm, itsy bitsy spider went down the drain."

"Are they in the water?" I asked. "Are spiders in the water?"

She giggled.

"What's that?" she asked the air. "She should know?"

"Sorry, the voices," she spun her finger at her temple.

"Rose, Rose, Rose," she whispered. "Rose, Rose , Rose," she continued. "Rose killed them all ."

I moved from her.

"Are you Rose?" I whispered, my heart beating so fast I could see it pulsing down my chest.

"No, silly," she said, and I felt a momentary relief. "Rose is a bad, bad girl."

She crawled back to me. "Do you want to see them?"

I swallowed a lump in my throat, silently nodding, not knowing where all of this would lead me.

She held her hand out to me, and I blindly stood up, walking after her, each step heavy. All my senses were screaming that I should stay, but I followed her anyway.

She pulled my body after her, leading to a dusty shelf next to the old brick wall. She placed both her hands on the old wood and then pushed it to the side.

"Little help?" she asked.

I simply nodded, confused, and followed her motion until we completely pushed the shelf from the wall, revealing an old door. She opened the door and motioned with her finger for me to come to her.

In my mind, I wondered what could possibly go wrong at this point as she said, "I don't bite, little doll !" and giggled, turning around.

I shrugged my shoulders and followed her inside. My body was immediately cold; cold air brushed through my skin, and cold sweat formed on my forehead. As we entered, brick walls mixed with dirt welcomed us, and we continued to walk. I expected an empty room, but it was a full hallway that led to who knows where. My mind was shrouded in darkness, but nothing, absolutely nothing, stopped me from following this strange woman who looked like a ghost.

After almost five minutes of pure silence, a cold wind hit my face, and the sun brightened above us. As she opened the door even more, I noticed her pale face had a bit more color than before, and her dark eyes were hazel in the sun, just like my mom's. My mind was racing with questions, but my eyes were scanning the grass beneath us. As we stepped outside, we were already out of town.

She giggled, her knees touching the ground, then lay down and looked at the sky.

"This is my spot, and there is where Rose laid," she said as I stood above her. Her eyes were filled with tears. "What's this?" she asked, "Why is water in my eyes burning like fire while my face is like ice?"

"You mean, why are you crying?" I asked, confused.

"I don't cry," she said angrily, turning around and wiping her tears. "Your friend is there," she said, pointing towards the cliff.

My heart skipped a beat as I followed her gaze. The cliff's edge loomed ominously in the distance, and a sense of dread washed over me.

"Sophie?" I whispered, my voice trembling.

The woman nodded, her expression suddenly somber. "Yes, she's there."

The smell of rotten flesh hit my nostrils, and I immediately hit the ground, crawling away from the wall. My palms covered my face, trying to block out the stench, but nothing could mask the odor that had already infiltrated my mind. Summer and another hot day made everything worse, and all I wanted was to escape, but around us were nothing but cliffs. I crawled a few steps back, but my hand landed on something hard, breaking the skin open on my palm. As I turned around, grabbing my hand, I realized it was a skull, not a rock, peeking through the ground. I gasped, stepping back close to the doors as I noticed more than ten skulls of different shapes embedded in the ground, with a hand protruding from behind a bush of red oleander flowers.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she asked, giggling. "Mommy says that it makes the flowers even more poisonous if poisonous people lay underneath."

"Lotta?" I stuttered, the words barely escaping my mouth. "Lotta killed them all?"

"No, silly," she said, giggling. "Rose did. Mommy just uses the flesh for humus and makes a tea that makes Rose dizzy."

"Where is Rose?" I asked, my eyes watering.

"She visits sometimes," she said, touching her hair.

Somehow, she looked like she was more than forty years old, but her mind was stuck on being just a twelve-year-old girl. At this point, I started to rub my eyes and pinched my hand, trying to check if all of this was just a dream. But that awful smell brought me back to reality, making all of this real but also clouding my mind, making no sense of it all being clear.

Death surrounded us, but even though we were alive, we belonged there with them, as none of us were resting in peace.