MONICA.I undo the straps binding Roman to my body. I didn't realize how heavy he is and how much strength it took me to carry him until he's finally off my back. Anais moves over to me and covers me up, and August stays back.He's standing at the bottom of the stairs, staring at us like he can't believe what he's seeing. And I don't blame him. It must be a weird sight seeing us pull up like this, especially when he probably doesn't have a clue that Roman has been out for a while now."I have so many questions and I don’t even know where to begin," he states, kneeling next to Roman and inspecting his face. "I want to start with this. Why is he out and how did he...."He trails off when he touches the side of Roman's neck. "What's going on?" Anais asks, approaching him. "Is he...."She also trails off and my heart jumps. I rush towards Roman and cup his face. His skin is burning. It almost doesn't feel like I'm touching a person. He almost feels like pottery fresh off the kiln, when
ROMAN.With that, my body collapses. The coldness is gone, replaced with a fever-like heat that lashes at my senses when the voice gives me back my control. I start to convulse, screaming in pain, my throat raw from the fire consuming me from within.I clamp my lips together despite the need to scream for help. I refuse to draw attention back to me. I refuse to have Monica turn back so I can have the opportunity to hurt her again.This voice inside me… it’s dangerous.“For some time I have allowed you to seize control,” it tells me menacingly as it cranks up the pain in my mind. “For weeks I tried to do this nicely. But you left me no choice.”“Who are you?” is all I can manage to ask. “What do you need from me? What do you need from my family?”“I want what was taken from me,” the voice says. “I want my birthright. I want the bride that was promised to me. I want the life I was always destined to have. I was forced into the shadows by your kind, but that’s over now. In fact, one of y
ROMAN.My whole body stops functioning for what feels like hours. I just stare at Anais, my heart crawling into my throat. The delusional part of me is hoping that she would just move on and ignore me, but of course she reaches for Monica who stops walking and follows her line of sight.The expression on Monica’s face will forever be burned into my mind.“Roman?” she splutters, shaking her head like she wants to get rid of a daze. I don’t know if she’s thinking this is some sort of joke or not. “What… what are you doing here?”She starts to walk towards me, but Anais holds her in place. “He tried to kill you. Don’t just walk to him!”Monica stops like she only just remembered.My heart sinks. I tried to kill her?I open my mouth to try to apologize, but how do I even say sorry about something I don’t remember? The voice in my head has gone completely quiet now, but I can still feel its presence in my mind.“I just….” Monica tries to say, but she just starts to trail off. “We need to….
ROMAN.I’m losing it.The conclusion tastes strong in my mouth. So strong that I just stare at myself in the mirror for a long time.There are so many moments where I remember nothing. The past couple of days is an example of that. No matter how hard I think and try to remember, I come up with nothing. No one has come to see me, which is something that I did ask for, but I really thought someone would try.All I can think about is Monica.“Your time in the bathroom is up, your Grace,” the guard outside the door says. “You’re not allowed to linger in there.”Yeah, I almost forgot about the guards watching my every move. I see them looking at me sometimes like I’m volatile. This particular guard is doing exactly that, staring at me like I’m going to go ape-shit any moment. I just head out into the bedroom area, sitting close the locked window.He still watches me.“You can go,” I tell him. “I’m not going to hurt myself just because my wife doesn’t visit me.”My words seem to shock him.
MONICA.The wind whips around me, my moist hair lashed across my face. Panic sets in and I try to step back, but it’s as though the void is calling to me. Gravity is taking ahold of my body and I’m nearly giving in, looking at the lush green ground below and hearing its call louder and louder.I don’t even know if these are my own thoughts anymore.I take a deep breath and push myself to look away. Only then do I realize the intensity of the situation. A small yelp escapes my lips and I quickly take a step back, landing on the floor of our bedroom with a thud.My legs are suddenly weak, folding under my weight. My heart is loud in my ears, the rush of blood making my skin hot. I collapse on the floor, shaking even though I’m sweating, still under the light of the full moon from the window.Images from my dream are still flashing in my mind, like it’s playing right inside my eyelids as I close my eyes and block it all out. All I can see now is the strange face that morphed into Roman’s
MONICA.My whole world stops at those words. It seems like they're traveling at super low speed, whirling around my head and lingering in the air, refusing to have a touch down and land right where they belong.But when the words finally start making sense to me, I just stand there silently."Do you mean to say that. . . ." I falter. There's a lump in my throat that no swallowing can hold back. Still, I take a couple of deep breaths and look at Anais. "Do you mean to say that there's someone or something else inside his body right now? Someone who is taking control?"Anais shakes her head. "I don't think so. At least, not right now. I think they’re still trying to get ahold of him.”"What do we do now?" August asks in horror. “I have never heard of such a thing before. This has to be some kind of dark level. I don’t understand how that was even possible. We need to get him out of that state. There has to be a way to jog his memories and make him remember.”“We can do that, right?” I s