I did not wake up the next day.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ67WK5WIsqP
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For a very long time, I was dragged beneath a heavy veil of senselessness. A wintry breath whispered across my limbs, easing the numbness on my skin. In the darkness of my coma, I heard only my own sharp inhalations; deep, sporadic. Echoes of distant visions blurred my mind, drowning me in its icy embrace. 278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2BE9GgTSaz
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They were as cold as frost. 278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKO2IVjVM6H
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I remember standing in the backyard of my house. The last whisps of faint summer wind brushing against distant trees. I remember the cobalt blue of the sky. Ushering a tranquility as deep as the evening ocean. 278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGF9VICoP0G
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I recall staring at my own shadow, trying to hide the countless wounds that I knew I would never forget. A smoky sky grumbled coldly above me, bringing forth a state of numbness.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ9WRSpTiCq
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In the distance, a lone light from a cigarette shone, its smoke trailing the wind. Then, long, slow exhales twined through the air, accompanied by hoarse breathing. 278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzoDtPSv0w8
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I don't really know when the nightmare truly began.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt8w75DRujP
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Perhaps it was when I heard the resonance of that cold, embittered laugh, one that seemed to twist through my flesh and into the inner heart. 278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmxS9tWAoZT
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Perhaps it was when I heard her screams. 278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzcqlC1BbUJ
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I felt terror, like the dreadful Arctic cold, sear me like blistering fire. They crippled my body, etching and coiling deep within my chest. At that time, I still wasn't used to this kind of fear. I remember convincing myself that everything would be fine, although I knew that wasn't true. My mother never screams. 278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzjg6yqnBak
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The next thing I knew, I was rushing desperately towards the front door of the house. It was bolted shut. 278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Kf4OUPsbf
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My body was drenched in cold sweat. I would never forget stumbling around the locked house, crying out my mother's name. Dread melted and thawed within my heart with every step. When I finally lurched in from the back entrance, scanning the dark interiors of the household, everything had become strangely quiet again. It was almost if I had imagined those screams.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfP9qMDV7m1
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A sudden, bitter feeling gushed to my heart. The living room was drenched in a murky gloom, one that seemed to replace the air of normality previously prowling in its expanse. Something was bizarre about the house, making me instantly nauseous. I scanned all intersections of the living room, yet nothing was amiss.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCHu9BJWGow
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And then I turned to my mother's bedroom. And I see---278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYVYLhY59x
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Crimson. Writhing across the grey carpet. It was a familiar shade, almost too familiar... I closed my eyes, tried to convince myself that it was just paint, paint I used to create illusions of----278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSgLzVJtbNe
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Blood.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgSQDUvUTO
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It was a dimly illuminated room. My mother was curled up by the bedside, shivering. Blood spurted wildly across her hair, threatening to spill across the apron she wore across her chest. As I entered, she looked up, her eyes entrapped with a look almost devoid of feeling. It was the same feeling that punctured my mind now; paralyzing, drowning, suffocating me. 278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡghXWdhwKFV
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Nothing.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu3ZvlTjlWh
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Her arms reached towards me unsteadily, her fingers involuntarily grasped mine, as she benumbed me with that similar unfeeling gaze. I knew that look. It was the remnant of an empty shell, one crippled raw by terror and hopelessness. My heart raced as she slowly touched her tender lips to my cheek.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV1X0zpkwVh
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"What happened?" I urged, terror creeping upon me again at the ghastly sight of blood. She didn't reply to my urgent cries, and only brought me closer towards her, until we were in a stiff embrace. I trembled at her warm touch. I was so close that I could smell the fiery scent of her blood. It was creeping down her own soaked clothes, and dripping onto mine.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPGzfdG2XGg
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"Lily," she whispered feebly, clutching me against her chest, "just tell me one thing. Promise me that you'll be silent about this. Please." She embraced me tighter, and an acidic premonition rushed to my heart. I wiped the tears streaming down her cheeks, as she attempted to draw out those last, despairing words. "Get away from here, Lily, and tell no one."278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE8u9w5S5UV
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I gazed, perplexed, at her curled composure before me. She suddenly seemed so strange and distant. It was almost as if she had left me. I wanted to reach out and touch her, but something held me back.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIOhSW6zzn2
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I endeavoured to protest, but she only shook her head, terror scintillating in the deep ocean blue of her eyes. "Go," She whispered."When they come, just say that I've killed myself. You can do that, can't you?" 278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJPLqBsYjKZ
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I remember staring fixedly at the growing cascades of blood, immobilized by shock and desperation. The curtains in the room were drawn; my surroundings were blanketed in gloom. It was so dark I could almost convince myself that the gory lines feathering across the blotched carpet could've been nothing but paint. Nothing but an illusion.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqDGFrILCpO
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The next thing I knew, my mother was quivering in an excruciating, breathless state. Her lips were trembling rhythmically, yet I could tell she was trying to say something beneath her breath. But before she could finish, a terrible spasm constricted her mouth, and at last, a lonesome tear slithered out from her eye. I was able to make out the final sentence she whispered, although it was stifled in pain.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNWq0IqHIC
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"I... I love you, Lily."278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXx8GE5Nptt
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After that, everything ended quickly. The spasm that clenched her body died away, and her tremulous breathing drained into silence. I was sitting cross-legged on the floor, facing away from my mother, yet I could envision everything that had happened. Her painful, despairing struggle, which soon ceased into ice-cold lifelessness. I was scared to look back at her figure one last time. Outside, the ambience of wind and growing rain thrummed against the roof of the house, indifferent to the tragedy that had just left a blotch in my heart.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbOQdJ1HeBA
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Very soon, after my mother's tragic death, I heard ear-splitting sirens resonating outside the house. I recall standing in the backyard with my father, gazing coldly at the sun that was now shrouded by dark, intimidating clouds. At the rain that now pummeled down a smoke-grey sky, like all the tears sealed inside me. My father's eyes were drenched in sombre darkness, yet I could interpret a hue of bitter insanity clouded behind his stony expression. I ignored his dazed look, and buried myself in the dreary shadow of the clouds. 278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrZnHfsketx
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It was only at the last moment that I registered my glistening apparel, now snaked and doused with crimson blood. My mother's blood. A voice inside me screamed and mocked and hissed, as though rising from the ashes and attempting to swallow me whole.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPSu4SA4hK
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You left her there to die.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvxfDYPP3SI
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You killed her.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEYiUvwyp4B
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I feared that it was true.
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