Groggily, I was unaware of my surroundings, but I knew I had been moved again. I've tried to make sense of things but my mind kept drifting, my thoughts scattered.
I had no idea where I was or what I had gotten myself into, but one thing was sure. My hands were suspended in mid-air on both sides. I could feel being held up.
What held me up? I wasn't certain.
With a pained whimper, I struggled my eyes open. My insides twisted with an uneasy feeling but I couldn't make sense of anything, and the voices weren't helping at all.
The room around me was a blurry mess. I saw vague shapes and colors, nothing was in focus, all intertwining in my strained vision.
My first thought was of my son Oliver. Minutes ago, we were at our usual, shopping together at the thrift store. I turned away for a second, and when I looked back at Oliver, he was gone.
I had started to panic, looking around for him, when I was attacked myself.
Oliver's name ripe in my mouth, I tried to call out. The sound was a croak, my voice barely audible. My mouth felt dry and my tongue was sticky. I tried to swallow, but my throat was parched.
Again, the voices shot through my hazy thoughts, and I furrowed my brows with unease. The loud voices seemed to be coming from all around me, making it difficult to pinpoint where they were coming from.
It sounded like a heated argument between two people, and by the sound of it, the two happened to be a male and a female. I couldn't understand them, but I was able to make out a few words.
"You told me she was dead!" The feminine voice yelled. "If you got rid of her like I asked, why the hell is she still alive?!"
"How could I have known?!" The man's voice shot back angrily. "She jumped into the river. She was as good as gone!"
I heard a sharp frustrated hiss from the woman, before mumbling something like "She has to die. She can't live. Her existence….her existence is a torment to me"
The man's voice quickly calmed, as if changed by something the woman was doing. He told her "Don't stress the baby, Leira. Take a deep breath and calm down. I'll handle this"
Finally, the voices died down, marking the beginning of my problems.
Footsteps. Someone was walking towards me. And for some reason, my skin prickled with a familiar feeling of fear. Through the deafening silence, a voice rang, "Release her." The tone was firm with a hint of outrage.
Without warning, I felt a sudden loss of support as they released their grips on my arms, and my body began to crumble.
I tried to break my fall, but it was too late. I landed hard on the ground, the impact sending a jarring shockwave through my body.
I lay there for a moment, dazed and disoriented, my ears ringing from the fall. Slowly, I lifted my head, wincing in pain.
My body stung from the rough landing, and I could feel a bruise already starting to form on my hip. I took a deep breath, trying to shake off the dizziness, and began to push myself up onto my hands and knees…
My head gradually began to clear out, my vision sharpening as the haze lifted. As I stared at the cold ground, I noticed a pair of neatly pressed trousers and fine-leathered shoes suddenly appear before me.
I attempted to look up but the stranger beat me to it, crouching down to my level so that we see eye to eye.
The moment I locked eyes with the stranger, it felt as though my heart had stopped beating. My eyes widened, and memories of my past began to flood in, threatening to tear my skull apart. But I dare not move as I gazed into his cold eyes.
The haunting nightmare I thought I once escaped was now standing before me in all its wicked glory. My stomach sank, my pupils shaking. My body was paralyzed from fear, I couldn't move. I couldn't think.
The man was no stranger, but my ex-husband Anthony Hamilton.
How? How did he find me after so many years?
Inadvertently, my eyes brushed past him and landed on the woman sitting comfortably in the armchair.
A quiet gasp escaped my lips as my widened eyes sized her. I almost couldn't recognize her. The brilliant-looking woman with a noticeable baby bump was my sister Leira.
As if unmoved by my presence, she kept her eyes buried in the phone screen she held.
My expression turned grave, my heart racing. This…. It was impossible! How did they find me?
The room around me began to feel distant and unreal, my heart pounding hard against my chest. My skin was slick with sweat, my pupils were shaking like leaves.
I started to panic. I tried to calm myself down but my brain wouldn't listen. My mind was flooded, memories of my past jumbled in my head.
And then in my struggling moment, I once again remembered Oliver, making my heart beat even faster.
Like a madman I began to mumble his name, my eyes darting about frantically. My mumbling ceased, and I flinched as Anthony violently grasped my chin, forcing me to look at him.
His face was a twisted scowl, his grip so tight I could feel his fingers biting deep into my skin. "How the hell did you survive?" He asked through clenched teeth, anger evident in his eyes and voice.
I was shaken from fear, sweat streaming down my face, the corner of my eyes crinkling with tears.
Anthony's grip hardened, the corner of his lips curling up. "It doesn't matter," he said, pulling out an object from his pocket. Before I could identify the object as a pen knife, its sharp blade was already grazing my cheek.
No…Not again.