Aeris
Everything was too bright. Too quiet. Too clean.
For a moment, I thought I was dead.
Then the pain hit me—bone-deep and unforgiving.
A sharp sting bloomed in my side when I tried to move. My lips were cracked. My throat, a desert. My body, a cage of fire and glass. But I was breathing. Somehow.
Where am I?
I blinked, fighting through the haze.
White sheets. A large room. Soft beeping. Medical gear. An IV.
And then—I saw them.
Ronan. Silas. Kade.
Sitting. Watching.
Waiting.
My lungs seized.
"No—" The word was barely a whisper, but it tore through me like a blade.
I tried to move. My body refused.
I tried to scream. My voice snapped in my throat.
And then came the panic—dark and choking, like drowning in a storm you can't see coming.
I clawed at the blanket. My pulse thundered. Vision tunneling. Oxygen burning. Their faces blurred—monsters, shadows, tormentors.
No no no no—
I threw myself sideways, ripping the IV from my arm. Blood splattered across the pristine sheets.
"Don't touch me!" My voice finally came, shrill and raw. "Don't—don't come near me!"
Silas jumped to his feet. "Aeris, it's okay. You're safe now—"
"Liar!" My scream cracked the silence like a whip.
They flinched.
I saw the flash of horror in Ronan's eyes. Kade stood, towering but frozen, his fists clenched at his sides like he wanted to punch a wall—or himself.
I scrambled backwards until I hit the headboard. Every muscle trembled. My chest rose in short, shallow gasps. I couldn't get air. I couldn't think. The room was spinning.
You have to get out. Now. Run.
But I couldn't run. My legs wouldn't work. My body was too broken, too heavy with betrayal and fear and confusion.
"Please," I whispered, sobbing now. "Don't hurt me again. I didn't do anything wrong. I swear I didn't... I swear I didn't—"
Silence.
Then a voice. Low. Pained. Ronan.
"We're not going to hurt you."
A pause.
"We never meant to."
His voice cracked on the last word.
It should've sounded like comfort. It didn't. It sounded like guilt wrapped in silk.
"Just give us one chance to explain," Silas said quietly. "Please. That's all we're asking."
I shook my head, biting down on the scream that wanted to claw its way out of my throat. My body curled in on itself, defensive and shaking.
They didn't move.
Good.
If one of them had taken even a single step, I would've lost it.
I buried my face in my arms. I didn't want them to see me like this. Fragile. Wrecked. Unraveled.
I didn't want to be real in front of them.
Minutes passed. Or hours. I couldn't tell. But eventually, I realized they hadn't left.
They were still there.
Watching.
Waiting.
Not speaking.
And not moving an inch closer.
I hated them for what they'd done.
But I hated myself more for the part of me—small and traitorous—that wanted to believe them.
That wanted to ask: Why?