𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐀✔️

TWELVE|FIRE

Slight fingers trembled idly, struggling at the knots. Sore and bloody yet I couldn't stop.
I needed a distraction.
And it came in the form of a small piece of string I found under my pillow.

What was this place?
A red headed woman had come to change my sheets and invite me down to breakfast.

Cold feet touched against colder floor, who knew stairs could be this scary. A grand marble stair case leading down to where I was suppose to be.

"The others are all waiting," The lady had said without sparing me a glance, "Just go down the stairs, take a left and it's the open plan room on your right, you can't miss it."

All too soon I was at the bottom of the stairs, my mind fumbling over the woman's words, "Take a left,"

She was right, I couldn't miss it, because there, sitting around a large table was close to ten people, everyone's eyes focussed on me.

Heat raised in my face, and my fingers wrapped tighter around the string, I could feel tears begin to well in my eyes.

That was until I recognised one of the faces at the table. Jack. I ran forwards, wrapping my arms around the man in a tearful embrace. I looked up into his smiling eyes. "Amora! We're so glad that you could join us."

"Jack, what is this place?..I need to go home," I said, my fingers coiling absentmindedly around the string.

"Oh Amora, you can't go home." Said the old man sadly, "I cannot allow it."

"Why not?" I frowned, my face scrunching in confusion. Had something happened to Daniel? Was he hurt?

"Because..." He began carefully, as though with every step he took he was so much closer to falling through the ice and  into the darkness, "It's too dangerous."

Hysteria bubbled up deep within me, a laugh escaping from my lips, "What could possibly be dangerous?"

But Jack did not smile, his face remained austere and unwavering, and though his response was only one word, one name. It awakened a beast deep within me, a beast of great anger, of pain.

"Daniel."

Something snapped inside of me.
"Daniel is not a danger!" I shouted, well aware that all eyes at the table were firmly fixed on Jack and I.

"Amora, calm down," Jack began.

"No! How dare you! Daniel loves me, he would never put me in any danger!"

"He hits you!" Jack growled, "He puts you in danger every time he lays his hands on you."

Several gasps sounded from around the table, followed by quiet mutters.

Tears welled in my eyes, they didn't know.
They didn't know that I deserved every hit and every bruise. Jack was making Daniel look bad and I wasn't even capable of defending myself, let alone Daniel.

I had let him down, I had let everyone down.

I ran from the table, from the people, with their judgemental eyes and worried glances.
It was all just an act.

I had no clue where I was nor where I was going. I stopped when I reached a dead end, choosing instead to sit on the floor in front of two large oak double doors with my knees pulled close to my chest.

A sob escaped my lips, and from the other side of the door I heard what sounded almost like a low growl. The scent of pine surrounded me, almost like a warm embrace. Then suddenly a shooting pain in my neck.

The bite.

I had forgotten all about that.

The pain grew further, intense and searing and I cried out. A snarl ripped through the air, and I heard something smash in the room behind me.

Something bad was happening. I had to get away.

I stumbled at first, my legs buckling beneath me, but somehow I managed to find my way back to the room I had woken up in.

I walked to face the large mirror that hung on one wall. The pain in my neck had faded, and I had not yet seen the bite, that was until now. It was red and raw, a vile shade of scarlet with violet spider veins branching out. A truly ugly thing.

What would Daniel think if he saw it?

***
Sorry for this chapter😬😬 it's quite shit
Anyways...
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