(Mara Luther)
Sometimes I wonder how the fuck I ended up in this twisted situation. I mean, a week ago I was a rich girl with zero worries and a platinum visa. Now I'm a fucked up orphan in a facility for the 'criminally insane'. No really- how did I get here?
I sifted through the crowd and glanced down at my grey overalls. I was bound to lose my sanity eventually. Not to mention, I'm the only person in this hellhole who looks like they can hold a two second conversation without stabbing someone or biting off an ear.
Or whatever it is psychos do.
Anyway - I've blabbered enough. Let's rewind a few days back shall we?
•~•~•~•
We were coming back from the summer home - Sandbanks, Dorset, blah blah blah money - and by the time we hit the motorway, I was already halfway to a padded room. Well, obviously I had no idea yet.
Still don't know why my old man decided to drive that day. Last I checked, we had like twenty chauffeurs on payroll at each building.
I was curled up in the backseat, comfortable in my hoodie and binge-watching Wednesday because... why not?
Mom, sweet as ever, kept scrolling through elite high schools she thought I should consider for senior year.
You know - the ones with legacy dorms and Latin mottos no one understands.
I nodded along to everything she showed me.
Eventually, I'd have to actually choose one- but I still had a few more weeks to pretend I had time.
Somewhere between the fast-passing trees and the humming of the engine, I fell asleep.
In the distance, a soft tune playing on repeat - the kind meant to soothe a baby.
I scanned the room. The walls were painted bright baby blue, covered in a lot of hand painted drawings. Many of them looked like the ones mom had drawn in my nursery.
That's when I realized - this was my nursery.
In the far corner, I spotted my old crib. A woman sat beside it, maybe in her thirties, humming along to the lullaby playing from a cassette. A baby cooed in the crib clearly enjoying her company.
Then - without warning -, the temperature in the room dropped. Immoderately. Not naturally.
My breath caught, and my heart sank.
This wasn't just a dream. It was a memory flashing before my eyes.
Something I wished to never recall.
Something I so deeply regretted.
The walls flickered- hand-drawn giraffes turning skeletal.
My mom's voice - distant, laughing- twisted into a scream.
A bottle hit the floor with a soft clink.
Blood dripped from the tip.
Then... Silence
Everything snapped back into place, like a memory rewinding on its own.
The nursery looked untouched.
The cassette clicked, rewound, and started again.
The same line. Over and over.
Hush little baby, don't say a word...
She was still humming. Smiling. As if everything was fine.
Suddenly, baby me started crying loud and desperate.
Sweet, soft voiced , Angela, that was my nanny's name. "It's just a dream," She whispered, "shhh..."
As my baby hands reached toward her, she froze.
Her face shifted... Confused, then afraid.
A flicker of heat shimmered across her.
It rose rapidly, dancing up her sleeves, her neckline, her hair.
She vanished in a blur of light and smoke.
I sank to the floor in dread.
The baby had stopped. No more cries.
Just eyes - red and glowing - locked onto mine.
And then... she smiled.
The scene fractured like glass. One blink later, I sat in nothingness.
I got to my feet, still trembling from what I'd just seen. I remembered having a nanny - kind, warm, always there - but I never remembered how she left.
Not until now.
I took two unsteady steps forward - and slammed straight into a mirror.
Confused, I stumbled back, staring.
My breath caught in my throat.
It was my reflection... but it wasn't me.
Her skin was pale, her expression colder, crueler - and her eyes glowed bright red.
I took a shaky step backward, my eyes never leaving the mirror.
My reflection didn't move.
That's when I froze.
She tilted her head - slow, deliberate - like a doll coming to life.
Then suddenly-
"Oh my gosh, just quit pretending already!" she snapped, stomping her foot.
I flinched. The sound cracked through the silence like a gunshot, echoing in every direction.
Her eyes locked onto mine. I couldn't move.
There was something in her gaze - not anger, not hatred. Power. She was made of it. Radiating fear like heat off asphalt.
She sighed, rolling her eyes with venomous boredom.
"You're acting like she was your first kill," she said through gritted teeth.
I just stared, my mouth open. Speechless. Because the worst part was...
I wasn't sure she was wrong.
After studying my expression, she smiled - slow and crooked - a satisfied grin that slithered down my spine.
"Anyway," she said, casually brushing imaginary dust off her shoulder, "just thought it right to remind you of your most recent accidents before we note down your next one."
My heart skipped. I furrowed my brow, searching her eyes - looking for any flicker of sarcasm, any crack in the madness.
Nothing.
Then, like she could hear my thoughts, she nodded.
Once.
Twice.
Then again, faster - until her head was practically shaking.
And she burst out laughing.
The sound was unhinged. Cruel. Familiar.
Tears blurred my vision.
Her voice dropped to a whisper, thick with venom.
"Yes, love," she chuckled darkly. "You killed them."
"No."
The word fell from my lips before I could think.
Soft. Small. Pointless.
I shook my head, slowly at first - then faster, desperate to erase her words, her voice, that face.
"You're lying," I whispered, even though a part of me wasn't sure.
Her smile widened.
"Am I?" she said sweetly, mockingly - like she was talking to a child too slow to catch on.
"Go on then," she purred. "Prove me wrong."
I took a step back. My knees were trembling.
"I didn't- I couldn't-" I couldn't even finish the sentence.
But the images flashed again:
The flames.
The screaming.
The blood in the car.
Their eyes.
A sob caught in my throat. I pressed my hands to my ears like that could stop her voice from drilling into my skull.
She tilted her head and watched me fall apart like it was the best show she'd ever seen.
"Poor thing," she said, voice syrupy and cruel. "Still pretending you're the victim."
Something inside me snapped.
I lunged at the mirror- but hit cold air. She wasn't there anymore.
I was alone.
Or at least, I hoped I was.
Out of nowhere, a wave of nausea crashed over me. The world spun, and everything around me felt wrong.
In the distance, I heard the screech of tires.
A woman's voice screamed.
Then a man shouted my name - "Mara! Wake up!"
And then-
Silence.
Heavy. Still. Final.
My eyes snapped open.
Everything was upside-down.
The blood rushed to my head in a dizzying wave. My seatbelt was pressing tightly against my throat - too tight. My chest ached as I struggled to breathe. I fumbled with the buckle, my fingers shaky and clumsy.
Click.
The seatbelt released, and I dropped suddenly, landing hard against the car's ceiling.
I gasped, disoriented. My vision blurred. The world around me felt warped and wrong.
"Mom?" I called, voice trembling. "Dad?"
I pushed myself up, squinting at the inside of the overturned car. Everything looked smeared, the windows cracked, glass scattered across the floor. Panic began to rise in my chest.
"Mom? Dad?!"
Nothing.
I blinked through the haze, vision swimming. Somewhere in the wreckage, something moved.
Not glass. Not smoke. Something... slow. Subtle.
A shape - hunched and watching - just outside the shattered window.
At first, I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me. But then... it tilted its head. Too smooth. Too still.
I tried to focus, to really see it - but my limbs were too heavy, my body giving in. The edges of my vision dimmed, curling like burnt paper.
The figure remained. No sound. No breath. Just those eyes - glowing faintly in the dark, locking onto mine.
And then-
Darkness.