Painful shouting wakes me from my sleep, the noice bursting into the air. It's almost deafening. My eyes shoot open. Although my vision is cloudy I see the outline of my mother standing above me. My sweet, kind, loving mother.
Like a child looking for comfort I reach for her, my hand floating it's way towards her, as I touch her skin there is a burst of fluorescent light and my arm is thrown back down into the damp grass. I give her a look of confusion; but she is not looking at me her eyes are staring straight ahead. What's wrong with her? I try to pull myself up but I can't move, my whole body is numb. I look to my mum for help, screaming at the top of my lungs but nothing comes out of my mouth.
My eyes focus on my mum as I start to see her head tilt downwards so slowly it's sinister. Her head continues to fall slowly. Unnaturally slow. It's like someone else is controlling her, she is a puppet being used. My lips are pulled shut by the image, I focus on her eyes. Watching as her humanity drains from them. Watching as black pools of poison fill them instead. We are staring at one another now but neither of us move. I feel the fear building around me like a wall and I'm sure she feels it too.
I blink. She lurches forward. Throwing her head at mine, twisting her hand around my throat whilst the other stabs into my arm pinning me to the grass. Her head makes contact with my face sending a wave of dizziness through my brain. Whilst also managing to draw a trickle of blood from my nose. The air starts to become thin but I can still see clearly. It's like all of my senses have been heightened as my life slips away from me. The shouting that woke me fills my ears again, I squirm trying to turn my head and see who or what it is. I jut my head out just enough to catch a glimpse of a boy with burning, red hair violently shouting in emotional agony. He's trapped but I can't see what's holding him. I try to turn again but my mums grip around my throat is too tight. Too painful. I don't think I can keep my eyes open for much longer, so instead I listen.
The shouts seem unclear, unorganised, as if he isn't shouting in English at all. Slowly the words start to make sense, and I can finally piece together what he is screaming.
"Fight Jo ! Fight her! You can do it Jo, don't give in"
A rush of adrenaline swarms my veins and I start to breathe better. Why has this man stirred such a reaction within me? My mums grip loosens. I look back at her eyes still dripping with evil, I pull my arm from her grip and latch my fingers onto her hands like a cat. Scratching. Clawing. Fighting for breathe. I suddenly become aware of my legs just laying their motionless, I put them to use kicking in every direction. Squirming and wriggling away from her. With one final kick I manage to push her away and scramble backwards my hands digging into the slimy mud. My breathe staggered.
She makes a run for me but I'm standing before she reaches me. She pauses unsure of me and what I'm doing, she doesn't know what to do next and I can see her thought process churning in her brain. The screaming has stopped. I look back to the boy from before but he seems more like a man now. A strong, handsome man, trapped in a tangle of thick weeds. I stare at him but he is looking in front of me, curiously I follow his gaze. I see her just in time as she lunges for me. My hands just catch her face smearing wet mud and torn grass onto her cheeks. I squeeze my eyes shut waiting for the impact of her fists...
But I never feel them. I cautiously open my eyes to find my mother frozen in front of me like an ice sculpture. Her skin even feels like one. I move my stained hand from her face carefully, scared to break her fragile state. Questions race through my mind. Where am I? What's happening? What's wrong with my mum? Is that even my mum? Who is that strange shouting man? Hoping for answers I look to the red haired man and find him already staring at me. His brown eyes grasping for emotion or a reaction from me. Almost like we know eachother. Do we know eachother? Our eyes make contact my green pools of uncertainty searching his brown eyes for answers to all my questions. The look we share is one of fear or confusion but the connection is quickly broken by an enraged Echo traveling from somewhere deep in the trees surrounding the grassy patch we are stranded on. I rapidly scan the trees around me, hoping that the voice is coming from somewhere far. That it's not looking for us but I know it is. I feel it deep inside me. My feelings are confirmed when I hear the raspy voice of the trapped man grunt the word "RUN!"
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