My eyes fly open and the first thing I notice is my heart pounding furiously in my chest. I can practically feel my brain sending signals through my body of fear and shock. Flee, flee, flee. Is what my heart screams as it thuds. I take in a deep breath of air and the smell of cooking fish and cold air floods my nose, making my mouth salivate. I lay on the cold hard ground for a while and wait as my heart rate slows. I wonder what it is I'm subconsciously waiting for. That's when I realize it. I am waiting for memories to come back as they usually do. Flooding through one by one telling me where and why I am in a place. I wait. Nothing comes. My heart rate once again jumps as I lay in anticipation but still nothing comes. In one motion, I sit up and take in my surroundings. The white dome I am in is chilly, so I try to sink my large frame further into my coat. That's what I tell myself but I am really trying to hide from the emptiness inside my head.
Wait, why am I wearing a coat? Why is it so cold? Where am I? Suddenly I feel it like a blow to the face. Someone's watching me. I swiftly turn around. A pale woman with a hood and cloak is sitting on a short oddly shaped black chair and watching me. I look at her pained expression right as her head snaps up and our eyes meet for a second. She squints her eyes at me in an angry matter, purses her lips and looks back down at her side. I follow her gaze to a small leather pouch that sits at her side. She reaches her smooth hand inside and, with movements flowing as smoothly as ribbon, pulls out a rough bladed knife. My pulse jumps again and for some reason I get the sinking feeling the knife is meant for me. Slowly her eyes move with the knife until those piercing green jewels are glaring into mine. I am in a daze when I realize her lips moved slightly. I blink a few times an ask, "What?" My deep voice breaks the silence. Her lips purse and she repeats herself.
"What is your name?" Her voice demands beautifully in frustration.
"I-I don't know ma'am" I answer foolishly because its the truth. I shake in anger. What kind of man doesn't know his own name? I slam my hand in the hard floor below me with a low growl. Suddenly, a shriek so horrifying and agonizing it stops time itself rips through the air sending my into a frenzy. I am paralyzed! I cannot move my pulse jumps again and I am in complete shock from the intensity of the noise. I've forgotten how to breathe. Then, the woman stands up and whips the good off of her head. A black waterfall of hair falls around her shoulders, swiveling back and forth as she is now making her way towards me. She grips the knife in both hands and holds it tightly to her chest as she comes closer towards me. I'm suddenly hit with another wave of terror as u realize what's about to happen. Careful not to hint to my next actions I get a stable start with my legs and jump up to my feet, but a jolt from my hips sends me back to the floor and I land hard on my tailbone with a loud thump and the scratch of chains on ice. I am chained to the ground! The woman is closer still. I scramble to collect my limbs all in one spot.
"What did you do to my son?!" I look up and the tall figure is now directly above me. Her face is expression-deprived. I look up at her.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" I beg her with my eyes not to hurt me, "What do you want with me?" I ask through a terrified mans voice. She still glares down on me and growls quietly, barely parting her smooth lips.
"Wrong answer." She says so quietly I'm not sure if she actually said it or if it was my imagination. I watch in awe as she stands in front of me, completely still. I forget my fear in an instant as I look into her deep sea green eyes that are sprinkled with flecks of gold. Perfect irises. My mind goes completely blank and I don't mind at all until suddenly a searing pain spreads from my shoulder through my right arm.
"Wrong answer." A voice ever so quietly whispers inside my head. At that moment the woman in front of me vanishes and appears at my side. Crouched over the knife that is stabbed in my arm to the hilt. She yanks down on the knife hard and I am forced to watch as the blade is pulled down to my elbow, revealing clearly blood and flesh underneath. A deep red color pours from my arm but the pain is what gets me. I double over and puke. I am suddenly screaming blood curdling noises out of the top of my lungs as my now useless right arm swings back and fourth at my side. My breath is jagged as the woman shifts to face me again. I am once again looking into her wild green eyes. I go completely numb. I forget everything. Was I just in pain? I don't care I want to tell this beautiful girl everything on my mind. I want to be here with her forever. I hear her voice break through my thoughts. Although her lips never move, I hear her clearly say calmly, "What did you do to my son, Jason?" Her voice pours through my body taking me over completely. My chest melts inside and I feel like flying. I want to tell her everything I know about we son. But I know nothing. I have no answer. Another shriek fills the air and I realize the scream is mine. I wake from the trance with blood soaking my leg now. A second pain is spreading uncontrollably through me left leg. I can't handle it. I go crazy screaming as the woman appears at my leg, her knife dug all the way into my thigh. She twists it around and around and I scream and cry. Terrible noises are erupting from my throat as I realize the blade is poisoned. No ordinary blade could cause so much agony.
"I know you killed my son you liar!" She screams over my yells of agony.
Then she broke through my mind, her lips unmoving as she stared at my and spoke calmly, "It is your time to pay." The pain in both wounds was now too much I wanted to die rather than endure this. I cried out and the creature pulled her knife out of my thigh and looked strait into my eyes. "Suffer, you son of a b****." She speaks again inside my head. Tears of blood run down her cheeks and neck. Slices and cuts are suddenly revealed to me all over her body which is also covered in a dark substance I can only perceive as dried blood. A final scream of fury and anger blows out of her throat. That's when I see dark creatures, every creature imaginable, crawling out of her mouth. The creatures keep coming without hesitation and don't stop until they engulf her completely. The woman, now creature, is screaming and crawling aimlessly in front of me. Shriveled up and making noises so terrible and horrifying I don't know how to explain them or the intensity of her pain. I look around. The igloo I was just in is gone. Flames take it's place. Suddenly I feel a new pain in my chest. The intensity takes away my breath. I look down I see the woman's knife in my heart. Thick black blood is oozing from the new wound. But there is no pain in this wound. Only a sorrow so deep it makes me forget the agony in my arm and leg. I suddenly am brought back. My memories overwhelm me as they flood my mind only adding to the pain. The young boys wide eyes as I threw him to the ground and blasted a bullet through his head. Her son. All those children I murdered all the same way. One after the other until they all turned into one. Thy were all the same. Too many to count. No reason. Then I was running. Pain. Then falling through the black. Remorse. Then I woke up here. The pain of being overwhelmed and stabbed was nothing compared to this new pain that comes as I realize where I am. I will now pay as the woman said. Yes, I will pay for the evil life I just finished living. I am in hell.