Chapter 175: Haunted mansion

Braelyn’s POV

The water was everywhere. It was slowly filling my lungs, drowning me. The cold was swallowing me, and a sharp hold on my head kept forcing my head to plunge into the water

I was terrified, crying and screaming, if not for the fact that the water muffled my voice. It felt like a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from. My body fought, and I tried to push my head back. For a short moment, my head was out of the water, but it was shoved back inside once again before I could breathe.

My small hands clawed at the surface, fingers slipping against nothing. I was too little, too weak to fight the one who was drowning me. The hand on my head was ironclad, no matter what, I couldn’t break free.

I kicked. I screamed. But the scream only filled my mouth with more water, burning down my throat, flooding my lungs until I couldn’t tell air from agony.

I wanted to scream, Stop, I can’t breathe. Help me. Please. None of the desperate cries even made it past my throat. I couldn’t breathe underwater

From above the water, I could hear faint sobs. The sounds were distorted by the water also rushing into my ears. A voice sounding distorted, muffled through the churning waves. It kept repeating the same words, over and over, like a prayer gone wrong.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… forgive me… this is for your own good…”

The voice was familiar yet foreign. My heart twisted with pain, it was like I knew the person, yet I couldn’t recognise who it was.

“You’re evil… You have to be cleansed… this is for your own good…”

My body was slowly going numb, my chest convulsed as the fire in my lungs increased with the water flooding in more and more. Black spots blooming behind my eyes. I was sinking, limbs growing heavy, strength bleeding out into the cold.

Death reached for me with gentle fingers.

I’m sorry… forgive me… the voice grew more distant until a sharp voice barked.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING? ” The sharp tone startled the person who was trying to drown me, and my numb hand dropped into the water as the person jolted.

My body jerked and my eyes jolted open.

I gasped, choking on air that wasn’t water, lungs seizing as I’d truly been drowning. Cold sweat soaked my skin, and the sheets twisted around my legs like restraints. My heart hammered so hard it hurt.

It felt so real, I could still feel the cold swallow me and the feeling of dread and something more betrayal. That was a weird dream

It was truly a dream. I managed to sit up with my eyes darting around the room. I let the realisation sink in that it was just a very weird nightmare and nothing more.

But the way my heart raced and twisted made me feel wary. The nightmare was too vivid. I felt something wet roll down my cheeks. I reached out my cheeks..

My finger tips were really wet. I was crying. The realisation rocked me hard and gave me a feeling of dread. I thought the tears would stop, and my hand reached out to wipe them off. The more I wiped the harder I cried.

A worse feeling was that I didn’t understand why I was crying, but this strong feeling of loss tightened in my chest. I didn’t know how long I cried for a lost in didn’t understand

My eyes and nose were red by the time my tears dried off, my throat so hoarse I could barely make a sound.

The room was dim, morning light filtering weakly through heavy curtains. The bed beside me was empty, and the sheets were cold to the touch. Lucien had left long ago, which made my heart ache. I was craving to hold.

It was just me.

I sat up slowly, pressing trembling hands to my chest, trying to force breath in and out. The dream clung to me like damp clothes.

I swallowed hard, throat raw as if I’d actually swallowed half a lake.

Forgive me.

This is for your own good.

The voice echoed in my skull, soft and pleading and utterly terrifying.

I pulled my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around them, and stared at the empty side of the bed trying to piece together whatever was there.

The feeling of suffocation lingered. After a while, I couldn’t stay still, I wanted to find Lucien. I left the room barefoot on the floor as I made my way out of the room.

“Lucien!!!” I called at the top of my lungs. There was no reply. That made me more disappointed.

Where was he? I stopped at the top of the stairs, contemplating whether I should go downstairs to ask Agnes about his whereabouts.

“Forgive me…” I heard a whisper next to my ear. A chilling presence brushed past me. My head so fast that it almost broke.

Heart racing fast, with my hand over my chest. I stared wide-eyed at the empty space. My fist clenched, I was certain I heard something worse, someone or something with a chilling presence was behind me.

My hand freed and started to twitch. Was this villa truly haunted? The thought haunted me but I shook it off. That was just absurd.

I wrapped my hands around myself. My gaze darted around the corridor, trying to find something that wasn’t there, until it fell on the door leading to the attic.

That gave me a bad premonition. My legs started moving towards the door like something was really calling me. I couldn’t ignore it and continued that way until I got to the wooden door.

Before my fingers touched the handle, it creaked open itself. That was a bad sign, like hell I should have bolted the opposite way after that, but I still foolishly continued walking up the old stairs, which creaked under my feet.

The attic door was pushed open and I stepped into the strange room that seemed so familiar. For a second I saw a female silhouette standing by the bed but as soon as I blinked it was gone

If I claimed I wasn’t scared that was a big fat lie. I was scared to shit, and maybe I was starting to believe Lucien. I swallowed back a hard lump and continued. My gaze darted around the room searching for something I didn’t know

I instinctively moved towards the old side drawer. My hand reached for the handle to pull it open as if I knew what I was doing.

The drawer was locked. My eyes went wide at the realisation. The drawer didn’t even bulge. Was something hidden there?

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