𝐈𝐧𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝

Chapter Seventeen: Nightmares

"Nora?" I heard someone call out from behind me.

I whipped my head around to find the source of the noise but was met with nothing but darkness. I looked around to see that I was in a room with dark lighting. It seemed as if the space around me continued to stretch infinitely. I couldn't make out any walls or where the room started and ended - all I could see in every direction was darkness, yet somehow when I looked down I could see myself clearly.

"Hello?" I called out, hoping to reach the voice that said my name moments earlier.

"Nora?" I heard the voice called out louder this time. I whirled around to face the direction it came from. It was a familiar sound - a voice I recognized.

"Raine? Is that you?" I asked the voice who was speaking my name, slowly walking towards it.

"Nora?" the voice called out once again. I could hear it clearly now. It was Raine. But something was wrong. Raine's voice didn't sound as chipper and happy as it normally did. I could sense fear and hurt in her voice as she kept calling out my name.

"Raine? Raine! I'm coming!" I cried and picked up my pace, breaking out into a quick jog.

"Nora! Nora!" I could hear Raine's voice start sounding from multiple different directions. I skidded to a stop as I frantically whipped my head around to the voices calling my name.

"Raine! Raine, where are you?" I shouted. I could feel the panic start to seep into my mind and infect my thoughts. My eyes grew wider and my breathing became heavier as I desperately searched the room, looking for any sign of Raine.

"Nora! Nora! Nora! Nora!" Raine kept calling out my name, her voice growing louder every time and coming from different parts of the room.

"Raine, I can't find you where are you?" I cried out, anxiety and fright filling my stomach like a tight knot as I helplessly circled around the voices calling to me. Suddenly, the chanting of my name stopped and I froze in my tracks.

"Nora," a voice whispered from right behind me. I whipped around abruptly and stumbled backward, falling to the floor. When I looked up, my gaze softened. Raine was standing above me with bloodshot and puffy eyes. She had tears rolling down her face as she looked down at me, still on the floor, frightened and confused.

"It's all your fault, Nora," Raine hissed through heartbroken eyes. "You're hurting everyone around you, Nora. You're hurting me." She shook her head at me. "You're not my real sister, you never were."

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out in the dark room. I frantically looked around the room to find where it came from or where it had hit but couldn't find anything so I turned back to ask Raine. I inhaled sharply when I saw her stumbling backward and holding her stomach.

"Raine?" I questioned. She removed the hand on her stomach to reveal a cloud of blood forming in the middle of her shirt. Before I could react, I felt a cold and metallic sensation take over my hand. I looked down to see my fingers wrapped around a gun.

"No, no, no!" I cried, throwing the gun aside and scrambling over to Raine who collapsed to the ground of the dark room.

"Raine! Raine! No! C'mon, please Raine!" I shouted, tears relentlessly streaming down my cheeks, as Raine started losing consciousness. I cried hysterically and shamelessly over her body, trying to keep pressure on her stomach wound to stop the blood loss, but it was no use.

"Nora," Raine whispered, catching my attention. I met her heartbroken and dying eyes. "It's all your fault," she said and I watched as her eyes closed for forever because of me.