Chapter 5

SCARLET'S POV

'Damn it! There's a bunch of junkies. What if someone says something to me? What will I say back?' During my search for my mother, I somehow wound up in a dodgy area. I occasionally try my luck in the quieter places but so far, nothing. I feel like an idiot getting my hopes up that I'll find her.

As I walk, I feel everyone's eyes on me. I guess it's either because of my reputation, or the fact that I'm the only young female here. Suddenly, I feel someone grab my wrist.

"Well well well, look who we have here.

Scarlet King." The guy's breath reeks of alcohol and drugs. I can feel my anxiety rise. I calm myself down and get rid of my emotions to become the cold, angry person my reputation says. I then turn to face the wanker, and glare at him.

"What would someone like you be doing out somewhere over here," he asks in a sick voice.

"It's none of your business," I reply, my voice filled with coldness. I pull my hand away from the bastard's grasp, and cross my arms around my chest, narrowing my eyes and gritting my teeth.

"Damn, it's true what they say. You really are like your father,"

'I am nothing like him!' As per usual, the anger bubbles inside of me.

"Would you be so kind as to go back to what you were doing? I'm a very busy person, and you're getting in my way," I complain. I glare at him a little while longer, then I can sense his fear.

"Of course, Miss King. I shall let you get on with your duties. Have a good evening." I roll my eyes and walk away. I guess this is a perk of being the daughter of a feared businessman. You can also scare people.

***

I enter my dorm and see Mathew chilling on the sofa.

"Mathew?!" I exclaim in shock.

"Hey, Archie wanted me to check on you. He said your voice was shaky on the phone,"

"I'm fine,"

"Where did you go?"

"Searching for my mother. And as per usual, I found nothing," my throat feels tight as I say this. Mathew can sense my distress, then walks up to me to take me in his arms.

"Don't stress yourself too much with this. It's not good for you,"

"But she's my mother. And this happened because of me,"

"Not because of you. Don't blame yourself." I can feel my sadness overwhelm me and threaten to escape all over again. If it weren't for Mathew hugging me, I would flop to the floor like a dead body and ponder over my existence.

"I'll stay here with you," he reassures.

"You don't have to,"

"I want to. Come on, you should get some rest now." I take a deep breath and Mathew guides me to my bedroom. I feel like a zombie as I'm walking.

Once we're in my room, I flop on the bed. I don't have the energy to move. I just feel so exhausted.

"You go to sleep. I'll be right here in case you need anything." I listen to Mathew and he helps me put the covers on.

"Where's my teddy?" I shyly ask, feeling like an idiot. He hands it to me and I hug it tight. I turn away from him so he doesn't see my watery eyes. I squeeze them shut with the hope to suppress my tears. I hug my teddy and bring it close to me. I can't seem to get to sleep. My mind begins to wander.

I hear Mathew's light breathing. How is he already asleep?! I toss and turn, but my mind doesn't want to shut down. I start to think of what happened these last few days. The new kid, Adam, wants to befriend me. My anxiety makes me overthink our interactions.

'Does he find me scary now that I almost choked him? Does he not want to be my friend anymore?' Despite the fact that I want nothing to do with him, I can't help but overthink everything. It makes me feel all the more shitty about myself.

My head aches and my eyelids are heavy. It's late at night. Going on my phone for a bit has done nothing. It usually makes me feel more tired. I look around the room. I'm thinking of doing some school work to make me fall asleep, but I can't be bothered moving. I try to clear my mind and think of happy stuff, but there's barely anything happy in my life. After what seems like an eternity, I finally fall asleep.

All is dark. I look around trying to find something, anything, but it's just empty space. I walk ahead, trying to sense for something. But I sense nothing. Panic overwhelms me. Where am I?! That demon is nowhere in sight, so what is going on?!

I hear footsteps approaching me. I turn around and feel a cold sweat run down my face. Silas is walking towards me. As always, he is wearing a black business suit. He's got his hands in his pockets, and an evil smirk on his face. I freeze as he comes to a stop right in front of me.

"Looks like you still can't handle my presence. Just as I thought. Weak!" He spits. I can't do anything but stare at this man in fear. His tall figure towers over me.

"I-I'm not weak..." I finally manage to splutter out.

"You can't even talk to me properly, little girl,"

"...You're scary..." Silas chuckles. He lifts his hand close to me and my survival instincts kick in. I grab his wrist and grip it tight. My eyes bleed red and I bare my fangs to show him in not in the mood. Judging by the look on his face, he's finding the situation entertaining. Typical Silas! Always amused by someone else's struggles and pain.

He turns the tables. He grabs my wrist. I instinctively kick him in the stomach then run for my life. I'm a fast runner, so it should be easy to escape from him.

I look over my shoulder then I bash into something rock solid. I fall on my ass and look up to see Silas. How did he get over there so fast?!

"You think you can escape me, little girl? How wrong you are." He kicks me square in the face and I fall back. I feel blood trickling down my nose. I throw myself back up and face him. If it's a fight he wants, then it's a fight he gets.

I charge at him, ready to throw a punch. He catches my hand before it reaches his face. He spins me around and pushes my arm up behind my back. I grunt in pain. I scan the place for any objects I can throw at him, but I see nothing. I use my telekinesis to throw Silas backwards. Once he's on the floor, I run up to him and leap in the air before landing on his stomach. I wrap my hand around his neck and repeatedly punch his face.

I stop to catch my breath, and glare at him. I am surprised to see no damage on his face.

"What-"

"Hm hm hm," he chuckles. "You think you can harm me? Think again." He grabs me by the shoulders and uses his powers to mentally torture me. I enter through flashback among flashback. I scream at the pain these memories inflict on me, and the fact that Silas has full access to my weaknesses. Soon, everything slowly fades out of view.

"No more! NO MORE! STOOOOOOOPPP!! SILAS GET OFF MEE!!" I scream with all my might and start thrashing around.

"Scarlet, it's okay! Silas isn't here! He's dead!" I hear a familiar voice console. My eyes shoot open and meet Mathew's concerned gaze. I realise that I had been sleep fighting again, and Mathew had fallen victim to it. His arm is bruised - probably from blocking my punches. Panic seeps through me again. I'm hyperventilating. I'm sweating. I'm shaking. I'm scared.

"Big deep breaths! You're okay. You're safe," Mathew's words do nothing to reassure me.

"Silas!! He hurt me!" I run out of my dorm - disorientated, and in fear. Tears sting my eyes. They're sitting at the corner of my eyes, waiting to burst out.

I run at full speed through campus. I bump into someone and land on top of them. Thinking it's Silas, I frantically apologise.

"I'm so sorry... for standing up to you. Please, forgive me." I sob onto his chest, the tears leaking down my face at a rapid pace. I don't want Silas to hurt me anymore.

ADAM'S POV

I lie there in shock. Mystery girl is crying onto my chest. I don't know what to do, I'm so confused. Her breathing is irregular, she's frantically sobbing, she's as pale as a ghost. I hesitantly lift my hand and rub her back to comfort her.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

"D-don't hur-hurt m-me..." She splutters out.

"I won't hurt you. What's going on? Why are you crying?" She doesn't answer. She grips onto me tightly.

I sit up and place her in a sitting position, before resting her against me. I wrap my arm around her shoulders and rub her upper arm.

"Scarlet?!" Someone comes running over to us. They've got the same pale skin tone and jet black hair as Scarlet. However, the eye colour is different. He's got green eyes.

"Scarlet, you're safe!" He gently takes her in his arms. She looks like she's coming to her senses. She looks up at the person who's hugging her - judging by the similarities, I'm guessing a close family member. Her glossy black eyes look at me, and she panics all the more. She starts hyperventilating, looking at me in fear and embarrassment. I give her a kind smile. I don't know what she's going through, but I want her to know that it's going to be okay.

She gets out of her relative's grasp then dashes away. I'm in shock for a moment at how fast she can run.

"Thank you for helping my cousin, by the way. I'm Mathew,"

"Adam. What was going on? Is she gonna be okay?"

"To be honest, I don't know. She's going through some personal stuff right now,"

"Ohh. That explains her moodiness,"

"You've already met?"

"Yeah. By the way, could you give me her number? I wanna make sure she's okay,"

"Sure." Mathew lends me her number, then goes in the direction she went in.

I stand there, thinking. Looks like I finally know her name - Scarlet.

'That's a cool name,' I smile to myself. I can't help but hope she's okay. She seemed panicked and disorientated earlier. I was scared she was going to faint from lack of breath. I make my way to my dorm, then lie down on the sofa, before taking a nap.

SCARLET'S POV

I run through the forest at full speed. I'm having a panic attack. I'm struggling to breathe. I'm freaking out about seeing Silas in my dream. All the fear I feel for him resurfaced. Just like every time I see him in my dreams. As I run, I lose my balance and fall to the ground, clutching my chest. Tears stream out of my eyes as I sit up, struggling to breathe. I try to focus, but my mind makes me focus on Silas and all the horrors he put me through. The forest becomes blurry and starts spinning. All I can hear are the sobs escaping me.

I clench my fists and hang my head down, crying. My tears roll off my cheeks and fall on the earth. I catch a glimpse of my reflection in the lake, and panic as I see Silas in there. However, it's just me. I feel a big sense of hatred towards my appearance. All of Silas's features, I've inherited. The bushy jet black hair, the black eyes, the same nose and face shape, the pale skin, the long legs, long slender fingers, everything. I sit in front of the lake, hug my legs to my chest and stare into the water.

I start to think about all the other horrible events which have taken place in my life. I think about my friends ditching me when I needed them the most. Even the nanny - that took care of my young self - hated me and I did nothing wrong. She always wanted to hit me. She always put me down, screamed at me, verbally abused me. I feel even more depressed as I think about them, and more tears escape my eyes. I really am a loser. Boring. Dull. Quiet. Awkward. If I wasn't all this, then they would still want to be my friend. The nanny would actually like me.

I feel flashbacks take hold of my mind. I try to resist getting sucked into them but to no avail. They consume my mind, and I'm forced to relive them as if I was actually there...

I am in the body of my fifteen-year-old self. I was feeling extremely depressed. I was sick of my friends ditching me. It had taken me ages, but I finally plucked up the courage to ask Silas to do something about it. If I could maybe move school, or talk to the teachers about it. But of course, he did nothing. I mean, can you imagine him storming into my high school and talking to the headteacher about people who are hurting me?

I spotted him walking across the hall, and I jumped at the chance. I tugged onto his sleeve to stop him. He looked over his shoulder at me and I hung my head down, afraid.

"What do you want?" He sighed, exasperated. I couldn't speak. I was too scared.

He started to leave as he saw I wasn't saying anything. I hugged onto his arm to stop him.

"For fucks sake! What's the matter with you?!" He yelled.

"I-I-I-I nee-I need to t-tell you... tell you some-something,"

"What?!"

"I-I'm having problems at-at school with my friends. C-can you speak to the-to the teacher about it?"

"Tch! Listen, I don't care about the childish problems you're having at school. Just stop being such a wimp, and deal with it yourself. Pathetic!"

I bursted into tears. I was crying really loudly, like a little child who didn't get their way. I was at my breaking point. I hugged onto his arm even tighter and begged. However, he refused. It just made me cry all the more louder.

"Whet's she crying aboot noo?! I'm tryin' tae watch the Rangers vs Celtic game!" The nanny had stormed into the hall - alcohol bottle in her hand. I hid behind Silas, afraid she was going to hit me with the bottle. I tried to calm my crying down, with no success.

"She's just being dramatic," Silas let out a tired sigh.

"A keep sayin' this over and over! Ye need tae send yer wee lassie tae mental hospital! She's no right in the heed!"

"S-stop insulting me!" I yelled, trying to defend myself.

"Don't talk back tae me ye wee brat! Yer just a stupid cow! Know yer place!"

I stormed up the stairs and ran into my room. I slammed the door shut as hard as I could. I heard the nanny yell at me for slamming the door, but I didn't care. I had other things on my mind. I looked through my drawer and found my daggers. I took one.

"Stupid! Stupid!" I kept repeating to myself as the blade glided over my wrist...

"See? You're not loved. Nobody likes you. So why don't you just retreat into darkness and it'll all be over," the demon's voice snaps me back into reality. I hadn't realised how hard my grip was on my legs. I take a look at myself in the lake. I'm a mess! My hair is a mess, my face is wet with never-ending tears and my nose is snotty. I sniffle and try to clean myself up a bit, but I still end up sobbing.

***

I don't know how long it has taken me to calm down. It felt like hours. I was stuck in a battle with the demon. I was resisting the need to listen to her and become the cold-hearted serial killer I am. The one who shows no emotions, no weakness. The one who's all-powerful, who's greatly feared and respected.

I struggle to stand up. I lean on a tree for support. I don't know where to go. I don't want to run the risk of bumping into Adam again. I've already embarrassed myself in front of him this morning as it is, I don't need to add to the list.

Having remembered that the manor is close by, I decide to trudge my way over there. I'm in desperate need to talk to my grandfather. He's always able to help me with this kind of stuff with his reassuring words and presence.

***

The walk is long. My legs don't have the energy to carry me anymore. I'm mentally drained. It's physically draining. My body feels weak. I don't know how much further I can carry it. I just hope I don't run into any vampires. They'll take advantage of my weak state with the hope to seize power.

I finally approach the manor door. I lazily lift my hand to ring the doorbell. After a while, the door opens. I meet my aunt Katherine's concerned gaze.

"Scarlet? What happened to you? Come on in! Do you want some tea or food or anything?"

"Can I speak with grandfather?" I get straight to the point. I'm not in the mood for food.

"Sure. He's in the living room. Let me make you a hot drink. You seem exhausted,"

"There is no need. I just came to talk." I walk past her and make my way to the living room.

I timidly open the door and poke my head in. I don't want to disturb my grandfather if he's watching TV or something.

"Grandfather Axel?" He looks at me and switches the TV off. He scrutinizes me, and I can sense he's sensing my current state. He opens his arms, and I jog up to him. I fall into them and let out a big sigh. We both embrace each other and I hide my face in his chest.

"My darling girl. Something is the matter," he says in a gentle voice. I hesitate, before finding the courage to speak.

"I saw him again. In my dreams. We fought, then he mentally tortured me. I saw things. I saw him carrying out his horrible punishment on me! He hurt me! Silas hurt me!" My voice gradually quickens as I confide in him.

"Sshhh. He can't do that anymore, he's gone. You don't need to worry about his punishments anymore. You don't need to go through that again,"

"He still haunts me!"

"That is to be expected. He has that effect,"

"Does he haunt you?"

"Not really. I still think about him at times though. He's my son, after all,"

"B-but he was mean to you. He spoke to you like he would speak to me,"

"I know,"

"How did he interact with grandmother Lily? I rarely saw the two of them together,"

"It was basically the same way he talked to me,"

"I remember her funeral. I saw a glimpse of my mother but didn't get the chance to talk to her. And Silas was quiet. At home as well. I didn't see him much a couple of weeks after the funeral,"

"Neither did I. Lily's passing must've shocked him. She was his mother, after all,"

"I seriously doubt that. He didn't care about anyone,"

I heave a deep sigh. My grandfather was more of a father to me than Silas ever was. Although Silas hated his presence, my grandfather came round as much as he could to make sure I was doing okay.

"What else is bothering you, my child," he asks in a gentle voice.

"My mother's disappearance. I can't find her. What if she's dead? What if we never really do find her?"

"Maybe she's taking time for herself to heal. She's still traumatised by Silas, so maybe she wants to rid herself of him before helping you. I mean, you both look the same, so it'll be hard healing when she sees his face in yours,"

"But I'm nothing like him,"

"I never said that. You have your mother's personality. You're not like Silas." I remain silent, enjoying the comfort of my grandfather.

"How's school going?"

"Fine,"

"Is there anyone bothering you?"

"No. But there's this one kid who wants to be my friend,"

"That's a good thing,"

"But he's so annoying. He's too... cheerful." Axel chuckles.

"Just be his friend and you'll see he may not be all that annoying,"

"But he doesn't know who I am. I don't want him to know. I don't want him to treat me how everyone else treats me at school,"

"That won't happen,"

"But what if it does?"

"It won't. Promise me you'll make an effort,"

"Why?"

"It's important you have friends. You can't keep pushing everyone away and remain alone all your life. It's not good for you. So, do me a favour and promise me you'll be friends with him. It's what your mother would want." I hesitate, thinking about what he said. Adam doesn't seem bothered when I'm harsh with him - he just laughs. But I did almost choke him to death. I still need to apologise for that.

"Fine. But if he bullies me after he finds out who I am then I'm going to ditch him,"

"Alright. I'll accept that. If he's mean to you then call me. I'll sort him out." I laugh, imagining Axel storm into the building to talk to Adam. It's something he would do. He used to do that whenever I told him something bad Silas did to me. He stormed into the house, made sure I was okay then got angry at him. However, Silas was unfazed. He didn't care for what anyone said. He found Axel's annoyance entertaining.

***

I stay with Axel for a while, before making my way back to my dorm. I slowly make my way through the corridor, then open the door to my dorm. I step in and see my cousins sitting there. My guess is that Mathew told them what happened, and they all came to check on me.

"Are you feeling better?" He asks.

"Yeah,"

"Where were you?"

"I was at the manor. I went to see grandfather,"

"Is he okay?" James asks.

"Yeah, he's fine,"

"Come sit with us. We could watch a movie." I decline Jaden's offer. I'm not in the mood for a movie. I drag myself to my bedroom and accidentally slam the door shut.

I flop on my bed and think about what my grandfather said. I hug my teddy and lay there for a while, staring at the ceiling. My phone beeps a couple of times, and it takes all of my strength to reach into my pocket and check the notification.

'What the hell?! Adam texted me?!'