Chapter 40
I don’t exactly hear the words.
I feel them.
I feel her.
Theo.
It’s as though she’s close, but how is that possible?
I’m lost in the dark. She can’t be here.
And it’s so cold in here; there’s a weight, a suffocating weight that presses against my chest, pinning me into the silence.
Theo.
Her name is the mantra that keeps me tethered. Without it, I fear I’ll float away.
Am I back in the airless land? But it’s so dark here, no white sand.
There are moments when I can almost feel her fingers on my skin. The touch of her breath on my flesh.
The ghost of her words.
Words.
Concentrate, Wes, concentrate.
There’s something I have to remember.
What were the words?
A flicker of comprehension in my brain.
I think she said…
Did she say…?
I’m going to kill your mother.
Panic floods my body. It’s the first thing I’ve felt in months that isn’t just a dull ache.
No, Theo, no.
Some part of me knows there is a warning I have to give. This dull brain of mine has a secret that needs to be shared.
What is it?
There’s something... something she doesn’t know.
Move.
Wake up.
I try to scream, but I have no lungs.
My body tries to fight the bonds that have it tied to the dark. I pull and thrash but it just makes the knots tighter.
She’s in danger. Theo can’t do what she thinks she can.
Because of my mother. The image of mother’s face looms over me, and I see a red and black swirling mist pour from her eyes, her ears, her mouth.
Why is that so dangerous for Theo?
A trap?
Something waits for her in that mist, but the knowledge of ‘what’ slips through my fingers like sand.
Theo.
I focus everything I am into movement.
Open your eyes, Wes.
I’m so tired but I can’t stop.
Please, Gods, help me.
The darkness pushes, trying to force me into a retreat.
Theo.
Theo.
—Theo—