22 Dumbstruck

Everything skyrocketed around her, the ache not wanting to leave her brain and as she willed herself to reach the bathroom, it's then everything came flooding back to her.

Her knees buckled and she held onto the walls for support.

Voices screamed in her ears. Words. She didn't know what it meant.

She continued down the hall, but it was almost as if she couldn't walk. She stopped to hold her ears again as it continued.

'He shall come to claim what shall be his.'

'I'm only for you.' 

'You have 48 hours to save your friend.'

'I'm coming, little one.'

'Ladies and gentlemen, the great Death.'

Amber placed her forehead against the cold wall. 'Get out of my head!' She screams inwardly, telling herself not to cry and that she was only tired.

'You belong to me.'

'So what do you say, you're gonna be a good girl?"

The voices only continued, mostly consisting of the same deep and raspy voice edged with a cynical snarl.

"Get out of my head, you're tired, you're only tired." She murmured to herself, but it had stopped, she couldn't hear them anymore. 

At Least she thought she couldn't hear them anymore when she heard it again.

"And why would I want to do that? I've returned my sweet girl." 

However this one didn't sound like it was in her head, instead, it felt clear to her that this one was right behind her, in her ears.

Amber finally found the energy to move, well it was more of an adrenaline, do-or-die situation.

Her palms pushed the door open.

Her sneakers squeaked against the white tiles.

And her body pushed to the sink.

She splashed the warm water over her face continuously, thinking if sleep is the cause then she had to do her best to stay awake for now.

With her eyes closed and the water splashing over her face, she heard the voices again, but this time she made it out to be her voice, accompanied by the deep one earlier.

The dark vision from her eyelids being shut and the shadow of the water she kept splashing upon her face started to move and wriggle until she could see something else. Someone else.

Herself. 

In her head, she saw a shadow of herself with her hands on her hips arguing with someone else. However, the angle she was in she couldn't see the person she was talking to.

She heard the words though.

'Are you seriously inquiring what I want? Sal de mi casa. In case you don't understand English….or Sors de ma maison.' 

She heard herself saying, standing at the front of the door, talking to the person she still couldn't see yet.

But then the person spoke up.

"Mhm, so she knows french, you continue to amaze me, chocolate. The more you do, the more I just can't wait to get you all to myself. Have you on my lap and moan that beautiful accent of yours in my ears as well as slowly speaking those other languages."

"What—" She said to herself, took a step back, and pulled out her phone from her pocket.  "You sicko, that's it I'm calling the cops."

"And end our date. Why so short mon beau chocolat?" 

The conversation continued, Amber kept hearing the deep raspy voice. What she was seeing felt so real to her. 

Not like a nightmare but like it had happened before.

She saw everything, however herself and the man she was talking to looked like shadows.

 She saw this man cut her cheek with a scythe, sit on her bed, hold her waist telling her she belonged to him, breathe over her neck,  and give an experience that was like a living nightmare.

Though she still couldn't see his face. 

It all was coming back to her.

'I'm only for you.'

She kept hearing his voice but couldn't see his face, it was an entire scene, with her being in it but not recalling it.

Amber splashed the water on her once again, and when she opened her eyes it was like she returned to her present self, no time being passed, even though she somehow thought she was dreaming all of that.

She breathed heavily, panting while looking at the sink, her knuckles going white without noticing how hard she was squeezing it.

 It was like she went somewhere else without knowing.

Her heart thumped violently, and when she removed them from the sink, they were shaking. 

She looked down at her shaking hands before looking at her reflection in the mirror. 

She looked horrid, her under eyes dark with mascara running down her lids, her cheeks being flushed, and her hair in a mess from being tugged.

 She frowned as she continued to look at herself. 'Is this all because of sleep?' She thought but then she leaned closer, spotting something on her face.

The more she looked at, the more deformed it became, with darkness forming over her face. A shadow. 

Her eyebrow knotted and leaning closer, she reached out to touch the mirror but retreated when the shadow darkened, followed by a….

Amber stepped back, startled when two veiny hands reached through the mirror gripping the sink tightly and pulling until she could see eyes start to show.

She raised her palm to cover her mouth when she could see the thing fully.

It wore a black cloak and when it's body came through followed after, the person sat its tall figure onto the edge of the sink.

Amber backed up when the person cocked its head at her, its hooded face rested in its palms.

She stood gasping for words while the person watched her, her mouth open as well as her eyes.

If that shocked then what shocked her the most when the person spoke.

"Aw, happy to see me? You look happy to see me."  It was a man and it shocked her because he who spoke was the same huskily attractive voice she had kept hearing.

She blinked, she couldn't speak, she saw him in what she thought was a dream/nightmare. She saw herself talking to him. So then if he's here and not in her head, that means he exists which means…

She didn't know how to make sense of it all, that means she actually talked to him? 

But that wouldn't make sense. She didn't know this guy before now.

"You...I..I...I…." She stuttered, not sure what to say. He had just come through a mirror, a mirror she was sure not used in the circus.

"Miss you? I miss you, is what you're trying to say." The man chuckled, "Is that what you're trying to say?"

"Who are you? How did you, how...the mirror, h-how did you come out of i-it." Her eyes narrowed at his shadowed face, "Why do I know you? Your...voice?"

The man hopped off the sink, "Oh you're teasing me, aren't you? " He stalked towards her and Amber watched as the tall cloak man stood right in front of her.

"I could have sworn I left such a big impression that'll make you remember me, no wait…" He lowered his head so that it was directed in front of hers. She felt like he was staring right into her soul, "You don't remember all that, don't you? It seems that some idiot demolished all the heartwarming memories we had together." He scoffed, so close that Amber could feel both their beats mixed, his slow and her fast.

"I don't understand, who are you?" She stepped aside, reversing on her feet so that she was on the other side of the room, back at the sink where she watched him ahead of her. 

His face remained positioned where she had just been before he could turn towards her again.

"Another introduction, huh?" He shrugged, stalking his way to her, "I'm simply plain old Death…" He towered over, jamming her into the sink to which he then cupped her cheeks.

Amber tried moving but his body was much bigger than hers. Though she was tall herself, she looked like a stool next to him.

"Kidding, I'm only your living nightmare and…" His thigh was positioned between hers to keep her intact. 

Amber's heart hammered in her ears as he held her against the sink. Death's finger then caresses her cheek, his other making circles on her waist, "I'm that voice you just can't seem to get out of your head…your empty human brain."

She winced when his words vibrated in her ears but just as he was there, he was gone. Amber stood dumbstruck when Death disappeared into thin air, leaving only black smoke.

'I'm that voice you can't get out of your head.'

Her heart burned when his words echoed through her heart, ringing through her ears.

She was left paralysed, feeling the touch of his fingers that he left on her waist, her cheeks, and his husky voice which flooded her ears.

His warmth also disappeared from her body.

'I'm that voice you can't get out of your head.'

Before she can make sense of what happened, the bell to school being over screamed through her aching ears, deepening the pain. She had missed almost half of the classes.

She hurriedly rushed through the halls, not sure whether she should blame it all on sleep again because no matter how much she tried to convince herself, his hands and words remained on her—Death's presence was still there.