Chapter 2- Nightmares Are Constant (Part 2)
Chapter 2- Nightmares Are Constant (Part 2)
Her body hung limply, arms pinned at her sides like a broken doll. Her legs dangled, swaying gently, unanchored by anything solid. Blood dripped in steady rivulets from her wounds, staining the bed below in a grotesque pool of deep, arterial red.
The heavy scent of iron hit Zane's nose like a punch, sharp and unmistakable. It dragged him out of his daze, but his mind refused to process what he was seeing. It simply couldn't.
He took a hesitant step forward. Then another.
"M-Mom?" he whispered, voice fragile and trembling. "What's wrong... Mom?"
His arms stretched out toward her instinctively, his fingers twitching mid-air like they could pull this nightmare apart if only they could reach her. But what he felt inside—the deep, strangling dread—was unlike anything he'd known before. Something primal told him this wasn't just wrong. It was impossible.
His voice cracked in a nervous chuckle. "Mom... this isn't funny. Haha... You can't just hang up there like that."
He forced a shaky grin to his lips, but it withered the moment he got close enough to see her face.
Her head was slumped forward, chin buried against her chest. Her hair was matted, soaked in blood, and the moment he saw her eyes—
"Heh..."
The breath was locked in his lungs. His entire body stiffened, paralyzed by the sight of those lifeless orbs. Her eyes were empty. Hollow. Blood had clouded them, forming a macabre mask that wiped every hint of who she'd once been.