HALLUCINATING

KOOKIE:

It’s been a few days since I received the message from the Diamond Moon Pack, and God, I wish I could get it out of my mind. But after researching what is known as the “weekly virus,” the guilt keeps eating at me. I know they hurt me, but the thought of my parents dying from a virus I can easily stop keeps me up at night. And… a part of me still thinks of Levi, wondering if there’s an explanation for what he did.

I kept tabs on him, and I learned he got the virus shortly after I got the letter. Each day I count down to when he is supposed to die, and currently he has about twenty-four hours, or if his immune system is strong enough, he will live for two more days to complete a week.

“Mommy, can we get strawberry milk?” Blue’s voice pulls me from my thoughts, and I force a smile, nodding.

“Of course, baby. Go grab one from the fridge, okay?”

She grins and rushes toward the fridge at the end of the aisle. I keep my eyes on her for a second before turning to the counter to hand my card to the attendant.

“You’ll have to wait for her to—” I stop mid-sentence, turning toward the aisle where Blue had walked in, only to find it empty.

My heart flinches, but I try to push away the panic rising in my chest.

“One second, please,” I say to the cashier, then rush toward the aisle. “Blue! Come out, Mommy isn’t in the mood to play right now,” I call out, expecting to hear her cute little giggle, but the room remains silent.

Swallowing hard, I check the next aisle. Then another, and another. Three aisles later, my stomach twists in knots as reality kicks in—my baby is really gone.

At that moment, I spot a tin of her favorite strawberry milk on the floor. My hands tremble as I pick it up, my breath hitching when I notice a note attached:

“You should have come when we asked. Now, you’ll come whether you like it or not.”

Adrenaline surges through my veins, and I rush toward the counter, fumbling for my phone. I need to call Alpha Elias—

“Someone took my baby! Call security!” I shout as panic clouds my thoughts, but the moment I look up, a gun is pointed at me, causing my stomach to drop.

The cashier, who has a gun to my face, pulls out a badge. “I’m with the Diamond Moon Pack. Stay quiet, and we won’t hurt you.”

“Where is my dau—”

Before I can finish, an arm snakes around me from behind, pressing a cloth over my nose. The sickly sweet scent fills my lungs. I struggle, trying to fight, but my strength fades within seconds.

“Mummy!” Blue’s frightened cry echoes through the room, and as I crash to the ground with the darkness kicking in, I spot her tiny pink shoes.

LEVI:

Day four of my ailment, and it feels like the sun is directly in my room. Sweat gushes out of my body like a fountain, and my head pounds harder than ever.

“Can someone fucking turn up the air conditioner?” I yell, and then the door swings open.

“Yes, sir,” someone says, and I shut my eyes, only to be met with a worse heat wave that has my skin boiling. This causes me to flick my eyes open to see Kookie standing before me with an evil grin on her face.

“K..OO..KIE.” I choke out, and she chuckles darkly as her delicate hands wrap around my throat, with her nails dig into my skin.

“Shhh,” she whispers, her lips grazing against my ear. “I will make it slow and painful.”

I try to struggle, but my body is weak, drenched in sweat, burning from the inside out. My limbs are weaker than a line of thread, and I watch her as she presses down her weight on me.

Her laughter echoes in the room, and suddenly, tears of blood rain down her eyes.

“You deserve this! You ruined everything!” The more she cries, the more the room fills with blood, and soon I find myself drowning in it while she lets go, watching me from a raised platform with her laughter ringing through the room.

“See you in hell,” she says as I am swallowed by the pool of blood. My organs stop working, and I shut my eyes, waiting to embrace death when a loud bang jolts me up forcefully on my bed, causing a sharp breath to leave my mouth as my body convulses.

My body is drenched in sweat, and my head keeps pounding, but as I look around, the room is normal.

It was just a dream, but why is her scent all over the place like she was here? What if she is dead, and I am connecting more to her because I am about to die too?

The bang on the door comes again, causing my patience to snap.

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?” I yell.

Donald opens the door at once. Seeing him does nothing but intensify the fury in my chest.

“The doctor has arrived!” he announces, and I feel a flicker of hope cross my chest, but I don’t really want to live if Kookie is dead.

“She’s being held in one of the slave chambers.”

“Set up a meeting at once!” I try to sound commanding.

“We have done that, sir, and you need to get into one of these protective suits.” Donald claps his hands, and the door opens to two guards dressed in overalls, holding a new suit in hand.

In no time, they dress me in a protective suit and help me into a wheelchair. I hate what I have been reduced to, and no one will see me—not even my mother. She hasn’t forgiven me for the incident with Kookie, and I never got the chance to tell her about Amber because she left the mansion as soon as my father died, stating she has nothing to live for here. She never failed to point out how I wasn’t the son she raised.

As the guards get closer to the slave quarters, I should be met with the eerie stench of the poor living conditions of the slaves, but the sweet smell of chocolate and berries clouds the air. It is Kookie’s scent, and this makes me sure that I have only a few hours to live because I cannot stop hallucinating about her.

Soon, we get to the room, and a woman sits on a chair with her body and legs tied. Her face is covered, and on her lap is a little girl, whom she clutches desperately, cuddling her.

“There is no need to cause a scene, ma’am, because I am here for peace. You give me the cure, and I will let you go,” I say to her, and then she chuckles.

The voice sounds too familiar, and for a moment, I believe I am losing my mind.

“Still an entitled brat after all these years,” she says, and my eyes widen.

“Kookie?” I call out at once, but she doesn’t say anything.

“Take the cover off,” I say to the men with me, but they waste just a second, which has my blood boiling.

“Take the goddamn mask off!”

As the mask comes off and I come face to face with my Kookie, my mouth hangs ajar as I try to process what I am seeing. She looks different—of course she has grown into a beautiful woman. Then it hits me—she has a child, which means she is married, and she has moved on.

The pain crawls deep into my chest, and for a moment, I feel my heart stop as more dawns on me. I treated her like trash, and she probably hates me.

“Oh, Levi, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she says, and I glare at her without words.

“I have done my research to know that by now, you should be hallucinating, but I want you to know I am very much real, and I am about to be your worst nightmare.”