Heritage (Under Revision)

Chapter 39 - Leon

Waves of grotesque and obscure images play in my mind like a slide-show of photographs playing to an audience. They move so fast it’s near impossible to comprehend them. What I do manage to decipher within my mind, is that a little girl is responsible for the infection that I now carry within my veins.

I decipher images of gunshots, terrified victims, and events on the levels of genocide. These images flash for what seems like an eternity in my sleep. I slightly remember flashes of being awake, only to be enraged instantly and subdued.

The dream sequences this time, however, were different. The image flashes stopped on a little girl. The same one I saw on the Zeus, only she has normal toned flesh and gore no longer covers her hair, face, and clothing. She slowly makes her way directly in front of my mind’s eye and looks up through her hair.

I watch as she ages in an instant to my age. She smiles and, from what I can tell, kisses me from within my dream. The kiss seems to last for a moment and then she pulls back, no longer displaying a woman of beauty, but a grotesque creature. I feel as though my eyes widen in the dream and I scream in horror as she screeches a shrill, ear piercing sound and lunges at me, tearing me to shreds...and that’s when I snap awake.

I see a woman I can’t quite remember, my mother, and Stella standing over me.

“Quick, flip him on his stomach,” the mysterious woman says.

Mother and Stells turn my limp body over and I feel as if all the energy I possess has been drained from my body. I feel a series of metal clamps press down on my body, completely immobilizing me. I begin to feel the rage overcoming me again, causing me to grit my teeth, trying to hold it back. But as the blood lust overcomes my thoughts, I find myself not able to make any attempt to get out of my restraints. The woman I don’t know bends down to my eye level and looks me in the eyes.

“Don’t worry, we’re going to cure you. It’s going to be painful, but you’ll be okay,” she says with a reassuring smile.

I can’t even muster a reaction at this point, so I’m forced to just stare at her. She stands back up and I hear a couple clinks of metal and glass and then I feel an intense shooting pain enter the back of my neck. I want to scream in agony, but I’m unable to from sheer exhaustion.

I feel tears stream down my face and I grit my teeth. The object is removed from my neck and I feel as if a fluid is seeping from within my body at the point of the object’s penetration. I feel it quickly run through my body and rage, murderous intent, and absolute hatred courses through my veins. I can no longer keep contained and I explode in rage, screaming and trying every method I can to break my restrains.

The metal is just too strong for me to break so I’m forced to stay where I am. I hear talking in the background and the only words I can manage to make out are ‘make antidote’, and ‘stay restrained overnight’.

My body calms and fatigue overcomes me once again. In my near comatose state, I find myself flipped over on my back and see Stella and mother standing over me, tears pouring down their faces. The strange woman says a few more words that I can’t make out again, and then ushers them out of the room.

The lights are turned off and I’m left to lay alone. The hours feel like years laying there. Staring into the dark makes me see strange visions. At random moments anger and hatred return to my mind and subside after a spurt of five minutes or so. I try to sleep for a while, but only manage to catch an hour or so. Finally giving up on the attempt I sigh in frustration and look to the left and see something strange in the corner.

“Is...someone there?” I ask.

As my vision clears, a figure comes into view. My eyes widen and I start to tremble in fear as I realize it’s the little girl, standing from in the corner and making her way to me. She stands directly over me and returns to the state she was in when I was dreaming. She pushes the hair in front of her face back and smiles at me. I watch as the metal restraints seem to vanish into thin air, but I’m still unable to move from my position.

I watch the little girl, who is now a woman, climb on top of me and smile a sinister, darker smile. I want so bad just to reach my arms up and throw her off of me. I grit my teeth and try as hard as possible to move my limbs, but to no avail. The girl bends down until she’s right in my face and continues smiling.

“Now...I will take Ethan’s most prized possession...his beautiful son,” she says in a dark tone.

Her voice echoes in my ears and no matter what I try, I can’t fight her. She kisses me against my will and all I can feel from it is emptiness and contempt. The kiss she gives is near painful from the darkness that protrudes from her vile lips onto mine.

She sits back up into a straddling position and giggles. Fear overcomes me as I watch her clothes dissolve before my eyes. I clench my eyes shut and look away from her, having no desire to look at her wretched body, no matter what form it’s in. I feel no pleasure as she begins her act on me. I clench my fists until they bleed and continue to look away. With an evil tone she laughs and moans, piercing my thoughts.

My head feels as if it’s going to explode as the minutes pass. I feel my mind starting to slip into darkness...I start to give up. And as I just begin letting go, a light in the dark appears.

Thoughts of Stella flood my mind. Her smile, her face, her eyes, everything. My father comes after her. I think of how he fought until the bitter end and never gave up. He refused to let her have him. My father hung on to his mind with all of his being and kept a death grip on it, never letting it go.

Anger shows itself once again within me, but this time, it’s not for blood, it’s because I’m determined to keep fighting. I’m so close to being cured, she will not have me now.

“You...will not...have me!” I scream.

I feel will return to my body and I leap into a sitting position, my knife in hand, and I plunge it into her chest. I snap the blade off of the handle and throw her off of me. She lays there, her breathing labored and then, nothing, she’s dead. I feel relief overcome me and I smile.

“I...won,” I say to myself.

I fall back down on the table and my eyes open to see the strange woman, Mother, and Stella, standing over me. The woman flashes a light in my eyes and then smiles.

“Well, I do believe he is cured,” she says. Stella smiles wide and starts to cry as she kisses me.

“How do you feel?” Stella asks me.

I can only smirk and say, “I feel like it’s over...”