Page 13 of Morena
“Yeah!” I shouted, chest tight. “I just need a minute.”
She turned my head, covering my eyes with her hand. Her finger slowly traced the edge of my lips. “Liar.”
Her hand slid lower, down my chest, further still. Pain knotted in my groin, my body betraying me even as I fought it.
Then her hand was gone.
I opened my eyes. The bathroom was empty. The water still gurgled in the drain. My palm tore free from the mirror like it had never been bound.
“What the fuck is happening?”My whisper broke.
The sink bit into my hands. My chest heaved. The ache between my legs pulsed once, then faded into nothing, leaving me hollow and cold. Fear devoured it, so fast.
My reflection stared back at me, pupils blown wide, sweat streaking my temple. My chest was still tight, my pulse hammering against my throat like I had been running for my life.
Carlos banged again. “Matteo?”
My mouth opened, but no sound came. Her breath still lingered at my ear, phantom touch still burning on my skin. The drain whispered with water circlingdown, down, down.
I wasn’t just afraid of what she could do. I was afraid of how easily she owned me. Control was the only thing I had left, and she was already tearing it away.
I forced myself back from the sink, stumbling to the door. Carlos stood waiting, his eyes wide with questions.
“I…” My words broke apart. “I have to go.”
I pushed past him, down the hall. The walls tilted in my vision, the floor twisting like I was walking upside down, until the front door finally came ahead.
I burst outside, air hitting my lungs. The street stretched before me. I staggered down the street, weaving left and right. My body tilted like I was drunk, but there was no drink in me. My legs carried me without thought, and somehow they led me back to the house.
Maybe if I broke inside, I could rest. Even if she haunted me, I would rather face her ghost than another night on the street.
I slipped into the narrow alley behind the house. A dumpster groaned under my weight as I climbed, my arms shaking as I dragged myself to the window frame. The wood splintered against my palms, but I pushed, lifted, and tumbled inside.
The room was new to me; I hadn’t seen it before. The wallpaper hung in strips, and dust floated in the still air. Theonly thing left inside was an old mattress, stained and sunken in the middle.
I didn’t think. I just collapsed onto it, my body sinking into the rot. My eyes closed before I could even breathe.
I was so damn tired. Tired of life, tired of hauntings, tired of being hunted. All I wanted was the darkness, deep and endless, to finally catch me and pull me under its spell.
1. Handsome.
2. Fuck/ Damn.
3. But very weird.
4. Like a witch?
5. Aha.
6. No one knows.
7. Could be.
8. Fuck.
9. What?
10. My sad eyes.
