Painful Memories
(Cythistia POV)
I'd been out scouting when all of a sudden there was this horrifying shrill scream that sounded out throughout the whole forest.
"AARRGHH!!" I screamed in pain. It was so loud that I think my ears started bleeding.
I quickly covered my furry ears and pressed down upon them to help drown out the noise that grated against my eardrums.
It soon stopped so I let go of my ears and tried to stand back up but I apparently got up too quickly and ended up nearly tripping.
I barely managed to even stay standing. It clearly had a greater impact that I had previously thought.
I had to wait for a it before I could control my body again, before I rushed straight to the campsite, as that's where the sound came from.
I was worried for Traytora as she was the only one that I could think of who could even make that sound. And the fact that she would make it was worrying as she was supposedly a mute, and screaming like that would definitely damage any chances of her voice returning.
I soon made my way through the foliage and the hanging branches and stepped into the clearing, only to see Traytora sprawled up against a now broken tree.
"What did you do?" I shouted as I turned towards Dorrak with anger prevalent in both, my voice and on my face.
"I didn't know what else to do, it to mention that I couldn't even think, so I just did the first thing that came to mind and that was kicking her." He retorted.
"Did you have to do it so hard though!?" I shouted back again.
"First of all, she was in the fire, a place I where I can't stay for long else, I might burn to death. Second, if I hadn't done it as hard as I did, the she might have just kept on screaming, or worse, it would have gotten more ear piercing." He retorted once more.
"You…! You…" I stuttered, wanted to be angry at him for harming her but I knew that he was being reasonable and that I was just angry he harmed her, but deep down I knew he had no other choice.
In the end I just went back out into the forest to hunt for no real reason other than to stave off my anger.
_
_
_
(Dorrak POV)
I watched as Cythistia walked back into the trees, likely off to hunt her anger away.
I just sighed and looked back to Traytora, sighing again, knowing that this task I had taken upon myself would be a long and arduous one, filled with difficulties.
I went over to the unconscious snake and examined her wounds, she should be okay minus a few bruises here and there as her body seems to be very strong, at least from what I've seen.
Thankfully I was right and she wasn't too badly injured, just a few bruises and some scrapes from the tree.
I picked her up and brought her back over to the fire so that she wouldn't get cold again. I wasn't sure what else to do so I just sat there, watching over her and the camp.
_
Hours passed by and Cythistia soon came back with a small hunt, even though I know she should have easily gotten more than what she brought.
In the time between when she left and came back the sun had begun to set and I had made the bonfire into just a regular fire pit.
We ate in silence for a while, occasionally glancing at each other and at Traytora, just to see if she was okay, or even coming to.
Sadly, she remained asleep, not even the slightest movement at the smell of the food. She was alive and breathing, just no reaction to anything.
We finished our meal and I offered to go on watch for the second half of the night and she agreed.
And so, I went to sleep.
_
_
_
(Traytora POV)
My eyelids stung and felt like they were burning while my throat felt like it was bleeding from being scratched at by a tiger trying to get out of a vertical hole, scratching the walls to try and get a grip so it could climb out.
I couldn't quite remember what happened recently but as I tried to recall it, a sudden burst of pain assaulted my brain.
I cliched my head in my hands, or at least I tried but my arms barely moved. I did manage to grab a hold of my head but it took a while as my arms didn't respond properly.
I tried again to recall what just happened but each time I did the pain just got worse and worse every time I tried to do so.
At that point I gave up trying to remember and focused on making the pain go away, which took a while.
I then tried to open my eyes but instead felt a burning sensation that felt like my eyes had actually been set on fire. I naturally started to release tears to help alleviate the pain but just hurt more. I moved my hands down from my head to my eye sockets.
Instead of feeling the wetness of tears, I felt the thickness of some other liquid, not much thicker than liquid but still something with an ever so slightly more solid substance to it. And soon, I could smell it.
Blood.
Tears of blood. That was what was coming out of my eyes.
Blood.
'Oh...'
I now know what happened.
'I had THAT nightmare again...'
This was the only time such a thing ever happened, was when THAT hell of a memory replayed itself inside my sleeping mind.
The blood started to come out at a faster rate as actual tears started to mix in with the blood pouring out of my eyes.
'I hate it...'
'I hate that memory...'
'Why?'
Why does it keep coming back?'
'I hate it...'
I cried for a few hours before hearing someone saying something, though I couldn't quite hear what they were saying. I huddled up, or tried to at least, as anything that came into my ears just hurt, and I hoped that they would get the message to be quiet.
Unfortunately for me, they only got louder. I could vaguely recognise that one was male and one was female.
Oh right, one was from that minotaur guy, uhhh... what was his name again? I can't remember. Then there was that female voice, which came from... uhhh... that futa stag woman... I can't remember their names.
AH!
I think one of them touched me. I know I should tell them I'm alright but my voice doesn't seem to be wo- Oh... right. I broke it, screaming nonstop for two months...
...
...
...
'Why...'
'Just why?'
'That's all I want to know, just why?'
'Why do I have to go through all this? Why me? Why everything?'
'My mother, my father, Shirayaa, two months in hell... Why do I have to go through all of this?'
'Just...'
'Why?'
I kept asking why through my tears of blood as my body shook, probably weak from not eating in a while, which normally isn't enough to make it so weak, but combined with my bleeding eyes and THAT nightmare, I was just tired.
Tired because I have THAT nightmare every few years, and every single time, without fail, I get the same symptoms. Bleeding eyes and a weak body. The only difference is my extremely sore throat, which seems to have been made worse.
Oh, that scream at the end, before everything shattered, that must have made me scream in real life. A sleep scream if you will. And coupled on top of being traumatised physically for two months, which left me physically and psychologically scarred for life.
All of that just doesn't help. None of it does.
Nothing helps...
Nothing...
...
...
Why?
...
Just why?