Chapter 3: Relief
Nancy's head was buzzing. Her vision was hazy and the faint ringing that surrounded her would not dissipate. She felt as though she was lucid dreaming, stuck in a reality with no escape. She pushed herself off the tiled floor, stumbling as her legs gave out from under her. She gripped the edge of the sink and steadied herself.
Sink?
Nancy couln't remember anything from the previous night. Images danced at the back of her mind and every time she closed her eyes. The more she thought about it the more her head hurt. Nancy's grip on the sink tightened as she tried to maintain her balance. She looked at herself in the mirror that sported a huge crack down the middle. It distorted her already appalling form. Nancy stared at herself, unable to recognise the girl standing in front of her. Her head was bruised and her eye was swollen. No wonder her vision was hazy and her head throbbed. Tears streaked her face amidst the rust coloured stains on her face as fresh ones had begun to well up in her eyes.
It was overwhelming. Nancy remembered running up the flight of stairs. She remembered tripping and hurting her knees. She looked down at the knees that had turned blue, which was when she noticed her hands. They were covered in a thick sticky red liquid. She took them off the sink, leaving red imprints behind. She tumbled to the floor, her legs unable to take the weight. However, Nancy's eyes never left her stained hands that had a strange metallic smell to it.
Dread had begun to set in. Her stomach dropped when she realised what it was as she tried to wipe off the stains on her shirt. She pushed herself on the floor, trying to get away from the stains on the sink and from the girl on the other side of the mirror. Nancy's movements were erratic. The tears had started to flow quicker as her thick curly hair fell over her face. She pushed it back smearing the red stains all over her face. The girl's head was swimming with unanswered questions and her body quivered all over. Images from the night before strengthened. She remembered a face. Her mother's. A chill ran down her spine as her back hit the tub behind her with a soft thud.
Nancy's face turned pale when she felt a white hand hit her shoulder as it hung off the ledge. She slowly turned around. The shock had shut off the waterworks and had switched on something a lot more terrifying. She saw her mother lying in a heap in the previously white bathtub that now was flooded with her blood that pooled out from the different stab wounds. Nancy stared at her mother's dead face. The pale face that held nothing but contempt and hatred for the girl that she was left with, was now lying in a tub in a pool of her own blood. Nancy's eyes ran along the woman's body, fixating on the knife embedded in her stomach. The images in her mind had gotten clearer, the knife sticking out of her mother, it unlocked the memories, reminding her of the horrible things she had done.
She remembered the distinct voice of her mother yelling at her in the kitchen while she did the dishes. Nancy remembered the strong smell of alcohol that radiated from the woman as she made her way to the kitchen.
'I told you I do not want to see you today.'
Her mother's voice rang in her ears, as the memories got stronger. She remembered the woman lifting her fist and then the stinging pain in her left eye. She remembered cowering against the counter as her mother pulled out a metal rod. Nancy remembered grabbing the knife and shoving her as she ran up the stairs. She remembered tripping and falling to her knees when her mother caught up with her, landing a blow on her head. Nancy remembered crawling into the bathroom, her mother following her. She remembered shoving her in a last fit of rage. She saw her mother tumbling into the tub. She remembered the feeling when she drove the knife through the intoxicated woman. Every stab for every time the woman had hurt her. She remembered the look her mother had as the life drained from her face. She remembered the feeling of relief that flooded through her body after she was dead. She remembered her vision growing dark as the adrenaline ebbed out.
Nancy sat up straighter on the floor. Her cocked her head to one side and looked at the woman in the tub. The feeling of dread and fear had completely vanished and was replaced with an eerie sense of calm. The ringing in her head had almost dissipated and her hands had stopped shaking. She glanced at her mother's hand that was hanging over. She wrapped her own stained hand around it. she turned around and slumped against the tub. Nancy shut her eyes, the sense of clam enveloping her as the rays from the rising sun filtered through the shutters on the window fell over her face highlighting the faint brown in her curly hair.
Nancy sat on the floor, clutching her mother's hand as she drifted off to sleep. The first peaceful one she had had in years.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone