Chapter 29

This dream isn't a memory.

It's almost like a simulation to test how I respond. I know it's not a real scenario, but everything looks and feels so real. I stand in my house, a spitting image of my real home back in New York. The chairs are angled correctly, there are a few toys scattered around on the ground from the twins. It feels as if I'm right at home, even though I know I am anywhere but home. I'm in hell.

There are so many thoughts and vague memories flying through my head all so fast that I can only see glimpses. I see my father with his blonde hair, those piercing brown eyes and a laugh like none other. His hair is longer than normal, falling right above his eyes. He smiles that award winning smile right at me before his eyes flicker to something behind me. His smile disappears and his face goes slack, his tan skin turning to a shade of white.

I try speaking to him, trying to see what's wrong but my voice won't work. My hands reach up to my throat, wrapping around it lightly in a state of confusion. I need to talk to him, I can see the terror in his eyes. I want to tell him everything will be alright. I want to tell him to focus on me and nothing else. But I can say and do nothing.

My father is able to speak though, and when he does, he utters my mother's name.

"Grace..." He rasps out.

Without me doing so, my body spins itself around as if it's on a swivel chair. There I see my mother standing with her brown eyes glassed over and a bizarre smile on her face. The smile was anything but human, her lips reaching all the way up beneath her lower eyelashes. Suddenly the scene changes to completely black, all to be seen is Mom standing there with that unnerving smile plastered across her features.

"Mom?" I try to utter, but my words are inaudible.

"No one deserves to honor you." Her voice is monotone. Mom raises her hand up above her head, a butcher's knife suddenly appearing in her clutch.

"Grace, don't do this." Dad pleads. My body whips itself back towards my dad. The scene shifts again back to our house.

When my body directs itself back to my mother, everything is black again. She begins to charge towards my father before she drops to the ground with a gasp. Against my will, my body turns back to see my father. A Jotunn stands beside him, thrusting a knife in his chest from the backside until it penetrates through the front of his chest. My mouth opens to scream but silence greets me.

Once more my body turns to see my mother laying there in a pool of her own blood. While I can't make a noise, I can cry. I feel tears trickle down my cheeks as my body turns either which way to see both of my parents laying there dead. I don't know what this means or if it's significant to real life events, but I want out. I don't want this to be a reality, I don't even want this to be a simulation.

My body slowly turns back towards my mother to see her sitting up in the pile of blood, her dark eyes gazing right at me. I jump, unable to move any muscle. I can't even shut my eyes to look away from this nightmare.

"Bay, know this." Mom's voice sounds like nails grating against a chalkboard. "You have never been, nor will you ever be my daughter."

With that, everything fades to black. No more sim, no more nightmare, no more twisted reality.

Just darkness.