Page 20 of Beautiful Venom
“Really?” I sniffle between tears.
“Yes, but not more beautiful than you?—”
“John!!!” Mom screams as blinding white light flashes through the car and a loud crash echoes in the air.
The last thing I see is a red mist and vacant, lifeless eyes.
I’m huggingmyself on the damp ground, my sweaty fingers shaking, my face full of tears as I watch the video on the screen on a loop.
“Why did you kill us, Dahlia?” Mom’s sad voice asks. “Why?”
“I didn’t mean to… I…I… Mom…I didn’t know.”
“You disappointed me, Dahl,” Dad’s voice speaks so close to my ear, I shiver all over.
“Dad…” I whisper and turn around, but there’s no one there.
All of my surroundings are filled with projection over projection of the accident. In front of me, behind me, on the walls, on the floor.
My nightmare is repeated in grotesque, vivid detail. Every time the crash echoes in the air, I scream. Every time, I smell the burning rubber on the road and taste the tangy, metallic blood of my parents.
My doll is bent, stained with my own blood. The beautiful tulle dress I made is torn and smudged with red.
I hug my knees to my chest, hide my face in them, and slam my eyes shut to ward off the gruesome images.
But I still can’t block out the haunting sounds from my darkest nightmare.
The crash. The screams. The sirens.
The distorted medics’ voices.
Make it stop.
Someone make it stop!
Please.
No one does.
My whole life, I’ve learned that if I want something done, I have to do it myself.
Knights in shining armor don’t exist outside of fiction.
Luck has never been on my side and never will be.
The psychological torture repeats in a cycle of despair that erodes my sanity. I stop feeling my limbs as the shadows of the past stretch and contort, turning into new cruel whispers each time the scene replays.
You killed your parents. Why are you alive?
You should’ve died, not them.
If you weren’t a spoiled brat, none of this would’ve happened.
You’re the reason they’re gone. Why do you feel sorry for yourself? You’re not the victim here. Stop the main character energy.
Murderer…
Murderer.
