AMELIA.
As I lay on my back, my body suddenly jerked upright. My eyes snapped open wide with panic. I was choking.
At first, it was just a faint construction to my throat, but within seconds, it tightened into a vice-like grip.
My airway was closing, and I couldn’t breathe.
I tried to sit up, but my body felt heavy. As if weighed down by an invisible force. My hands flailed wildly, grasping for something-anything to cling to.
My face contorted in agony, my skin turning a deep shade of crimson. My eyes bulged, and my mouth opened in a quiet scream.
I tried to cough, but it was a weak, ineffective sound. My lungs were burning, desperate for oxygen. My chest heaved, but it was a futile effort.
The room began to blur, and my vision tunnelled; I felt myself being pulled down to a suffocating abyss.
I could hear noises, but they were all in my head; I imagined it.
But the pain was real; I didn’t understand what was wrong as I gripped my neck, desperate to breathe.
I just wanted to be able to breathe through my airways, and I would be fine, but it got worse by the minute.
My body ached, my back bending in an unnatural curve, and my legs thrashed wildly. Kicking at the bedsheets.
Suddenly, a loud guttural sound escaped from my throat. It was a harsh, ragged sound, like something was tearing loose from my insides.
And then, just as suddenly, I was still. My body collapsed into the bed. If I weren’t breathing slowly, I would have been lifeless.
I was breathing heavily; my breathing was still stuck, but I managed to get them through my airway.
What the hell just happened? I asked myself when my breathing started getting back to normal. What was that? I asked myself.
What did I do to deserve this? Then suddenly, a voice rang in my head.
“I’ll make your life hell if you don’t grant my request.”
It was the witch, Alura.
Oh my God, it was the witch. She was behind what happened, so this was one of the attacks she promised. I thought as I cleaned a tear that was trailing down.
Was this what she meant when she said I would regret not giving in to her? Because this shit hurt like a bitch.
It felt like I was dying. Like there was nothing that could be done about it, and if I didnt know that she was playing with my life, she would have killed me.
She wanted someone from me, which was why I was still alive, and she wouldn’t fail to show me that she still had power over me.
Oh lord, what did I get myself into?
I stood up slowly, looking around my room. Was this how I was going to continue living? She wasn’t going to back down until she got what she wanted, and it was obvious that I wasn’t going to give Dylan up.
He couldn’t even know I was like this now because I made a pact with a witch. What type of face would he look at me with? Disgust? Hate? Shame? Fear? I don’t know.
He would be so disappointed in me, and I also couldn’t give him up after this past week. It’s been a week since the witch threatened me. And when the week was over, and nothing happened, I thought she was bluffing. But this night just showed me that she wasn’t bluffing.
She was earnest about it, and this past week has been so good between Dylan and me.
We had gotten closer than ever before; I was initially reluctant. I was scared that this was another plan between Valerie and him, but he made me feel so special, and it was like falling in love with him all over again.
Ava saw what he did, which was also why all this happened: she told me there was no harm in it and that I missed him terribly.
I gave in, and it’s been good. The sexual tension has been off the charts, too. We managed to keep it PG, but I knew that the day we decided to indulge in it, we would be unable to stop ourselves. And it won’t be funny.
So, keeping our hands off each other now was the best thing.
I looked at myself through the mirror; I was wearing a tiny top, and I could see the swell of my breasts from underneath. I didn’t like wearing too much when I wanted to sleep. I looked trailer towards my toned stomach. I touched my tummy, and the way it used to look appeared in my head.
I looked at my outlined waist, the curves and my hips.
Was it all worth it?
Was it worth dying for or being tormented for?
I couldn’t take anything bad happening to anyone. I sighed and came to a decision. I would talk to the witch tomorrow about whether there was a way to return to the way I used to be.
There had to be a way; I didn’t want Dylan to get hurt. So maybe if she took back her spell or something, she would stop tormenting me.
Also, I didn’t want to go through another episode like the one that just woke me up. I looked at the clock beside my bed; it was just three in the morning. I sighed.
Thinking of how I was going to go back to sleep now, I got scared easily, and now I would think of the different ways that the witch would kill me before I could sleep.
Damn it.
My mum was around, but she had a stressful day. I would have loved to go to the room and curl next to her, but that might wake her.
So, I slipped into my bed against all the voices in my head. Draping the duvet over my body.
I’ll be fine; tomorrow, I’ll meet the witch, and we will find a solution to this problem.