After our last meal of the day,everyone went separate ways.
The Stronghold was silent, the kind of heavy silence that felt like it was pressing against the walls. Everyone was in bed. The "Midgets" were safe. I should have been happy, but my room felt like a cage.
I stood before the broken mirror, the jagged cracks splitting my face into a dozen different people. I looked to the right, just trying to see if the black veins had reached my ear yet.
CRACK.
My neck didn't just turn; it kept going. The sound was like a dry branch snapping in a storm. My vision swiveled until I was looking at the wall behind me, my chin resting over my shoulder blade at an impossible angle.
I flinched, a cold jolt of electricity shooting down my spine. "No!" I gasped. I grabbed my own head with both hands, my fingers digging into my skin, and violently snapped it back into place. Thud. The world straightened out. My neck throbbed, a dull, wet ache that told me I wasn't human anymore.
He's coming for them, a voice hissed. It wasn't in the room. It was inside my skull, vibrating against my teeth. Why do you fight the hunger? They are just meat. Warm, soft meat.
"Shut up!" I whispered, leaning my forehead against the cold glass of the mirror. I was trembling so hard the shards rattled. "They're my family. They're my Midgets. I'm fine. I'm fine!"
Like your mother was fine? the voice mocked.
The memory hit me like a physical blow. The smell of the smoke. The way she had looked at me before the shadows took her. Mom. Mom. Mom. I started to cry, the tears feeling thick and hot against my pale skin. I thought of Seth. I thought of Arthur. They were gone. Everyone leaves.
Except Jay.
"Jay Jay Jay," I chanted, his name a prayer to keep the darkness back. "He's my closest friend. He's mine. I only need my midgets and I'll be fine. Right? Yes! As long as I keep them close, I'm still Leon."
I crawled into bed, pulling the thin, scratchy blanket up to my chin. But my eyes wouldn't stay shut. My brain was a hive of buzzing hornets. Thinking. Thinking. Thinking.
The meat.
I thought about the stew I'd served. The dark, stringy texture. I tried to remember where I got it. I was in the back of the lab... or was I in the woods? Did I find it in the freezer, or did I...
"Wait," I whispered, my heart freezing. "Am I losing my memories? No. I remember. I got it from... from..."
I squeezed my eyes shut, searching for the image of a butcher shop or a storage crate, but there was only a black void. A hole in my mind where the memory should be.
"AHHH! I can't remember! No, no, no, no!"
I clawed at my hair, pulling at the strands until I felt them snap. If I couldn't remember where the meat came from, then who was the one who went out to get it? It wasn't Leon.
I stared into the dark, terrified of the person I became when I wasn't looking.
I can't…this is not happening,they are my babys…my…pets
Oh really,pets?
"Shut up..!"I hiss under my breath.i just got to stop think about this and I'll be alright!.
Tomorrow I'll show them the Leon they all know and love!..