Page 7 of Beautiful Nightmare
A smashing of glass catches my attention, and my head jolts toward the sound.
Trembling fingers cover my mouth as a gasp exits. My moms are here.
They are just as they were on that fateful day, perfectly beautiful and captivated by their craft. Both are wearing black lab coats. Mom is barefoot like me, with her toes sticking out from under her long black dress. Mommy is wearing lounge pants and a tee, and she is giggling at something Mom must have said.
Looking down, the vial that smashed to the ground appears to be empty. A wave of relief strikes me.
“Darling, should we try for another? Give Royce a friend to play with?” Mom asks, looking up adoringly at Mommy.
She is quick to reply. “Absolutely.”
My shock transforms to grief for the sibling who never was.
They stay silent, looking at one another as two true soulmates would. Their love could fill a room with a single look, just as it is now.
I’m jolted forward, my breath taken from me as life speeds by; time is fast-forwarding.
Nausea ripples through me, and just as I think I am going to get sick, it all abruptly stops. My heart races as my eyes adjust and my body shakes. The room is unchanged, but my moms are now in the middle of an experiment, and my heart immediately sinks into my stomach.
With plastic safety goggles covering their eyes, Mom is bent over, her long black hair hanging over her shoulders as she steadily clamps a glass flask with purple liquid bubbling inside. Mommy is whispering a mantra repetitively with her hands over it. Her voice becomes more commanding with eachword, and I watch eagerly in anticipation. What are they brewing?
As I wait for it to be revealed, tiny footsteps echo in my ear. They are getting closer and closer. My eyes move to the stairs, and a little girl with half white and black hair hops off the bottom step with excitement nearly bursting out of her. Following behind is her familiar, my familiar.
My head turns, and dread creeps up my body. I’ve seen this story before.
The pads of my feet against the tile break my moms’ concentration, and the spell is interrupted as mom’s hand loses its grip on the tongs that are holding the flask, and in slow motion it falls to the ground.
No, no, no.
I am being forced to watch my younger self watch my parents die.
Purple flames take over, flickering violently and engulfing my moms. As quickly as it appeared, it evaporates as if it were never here at all, and calmness enters.
Squinting my eyes out of confusion, I see both of my moms are frozen still.Why aren’t they moving?
Looking over to my younger self, I see her screaming, and she is fucking scared.
My body tries to move. I want to protect her from what’s to come, but I am stuck in place.
No, no, no.
A faded voice, one I don’t recognize, enters the room. A slight wind follows, and my brow wrinkles in confusion. I don’t remember this.
“And your time here is done,” is whispered, and all the air feels like it is being sucked out of the room as I watch them turn to ashes, then dust floating away one more time.
Time fast-forwards; my body travels through the many vortexes and lives, bringing me back to the present and standing before the open floor, looking down.
“What did you do?” I shout, unable to move.
Hisheels click once more behind me. A deep voice murmurs, “Nothing.”
And I believe him. He would never lie about torturing a soul. It’s been his primary objective since arriving in my life all those years ago, because he openly tortures mine daily and fucking loves it.
Their headstones stand in the graveyard, but no remains lie under the earth. Their ashes blew away, leaving me with only memories and regret, with the tiniest bit of hope that my moms will one day visit me.
Was thisthem?After all the years I have come here, why now?
Lost in thought, I don’t even realize Prince has gotten closer to me until I feel his breath dancing across my bare shoulder as he speaks. “Theybroke you for me; I should thank them.” His hand covers my mouth. It’s his hand with the scratchy mouth tattoo and XO eyes.