Hidden Faces [Discontinued]

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Her face contorted into shock and fear. She quickly masked her features but I already saw it.

“Are you sure?” she asked to confirm the truth. Her face was serious and solemn.

“Yes. The first sign happened to me while I was walking home,” I said masking my feelings with an emotionless voice.

There were signs for when they are coming close. The first sign was a strong headache and my eyes flash back to their original dark orange color for a few seconds. This sign happened when they are within 75 mile radius of me or my family. It sounded pretty farfetched to get worried but these people—no they couldn’t possibly be human, these monsters worked fast. These signs were a blessing and rarely a curse. Sometimes my eyes would bleed and stay orange the whole day.

Her face turned into a pained one. I looked away. I hated when she has that expression because I knew all the pain and anguish was because of me.

“Are you okay?” she asked softly.

“Yeah, this happens all the time. I used to it now,” I replied and gave her a forced smile.

Her eyes brows furrowed and wrinkles creases on her forehead.

“Why did they choose to come now? Why so early? They didn’t even wait a year to approach this time.” she asked.  She grimaced at the ceiling as if the ceiling would give her all the answers.

“That’s what I’ve been asking myself too,” I thought dryly.

“Maybe I should—“ I began to suggest.

“Nope, don’t even think about trying to leave us,” she interrupted. She knew what I was going to propose. I was going to leave them behind so I wouldn’t put them in danger.

Dammit. I clenched my teeth together. I wished I could protect them. Now that I thought about it, it was a really dumb idea on my part. They’d simply use Mom and Dan as bait to lure me in. God knew what they’d do if they found me again.

**Flashback**

I woke up and found myself strapped to a cold metal table in a darkly lit room. An ache was nagging my head and I was blindfolded.

Where the hell was I?

Was I going to be murdered?

Was I going to get raped?

Was I going to be sold in human trafficking?

I began struggle against restraints. The more I struggled the more my wrists burned. It seemed like the restraints got tighter the more I moved. I stilled myself and tried to calm down.

I heard a door creak open and some light steps heading in my direction.  My body tensed as the footsteps came closer. The footsteps came to an abrupt stop and so did my breathing. Suddenly, laughter rang through the room. It wasn’t a happy cheerful laughter it was sinister laughter.

It stopped abruptly and I began to feel the hem of my shirt being lifted up and the cool air made goose bumps instantly rise. I wiggled around, my arms grinding against the metal chains. My body was shoved down by callous hands to the cold, steel table. I turned my head around and tried to speak but I couldn’t open my mouth. Why couldn’t I open my mouth? I didn’t feel any gag in it. Why wasn’t my voice working?

I felt a sharp blade run along my upper half. Then, a sharp pain cut through me and I tried to call out but my voice wasn’t working. He laughed as my body lurched again in pain and agony. His swift swipes slowed so he could make it more agonizing. It came to the point where I was almost unconscious. I didn’t remember how many hours he spent gutting me like a fish.