Amiriah Pov
The first thing I registered was warmth—a familiar embrace I hadn't felt in years. Through the haze of disorientation, my mother's scent surrounded me, that distinctive combination of jasmine and vanilla that had always meant safety in my childhood.
"Mama?" I whispered without thinking, the word slipping past my defenses before I could stop it.
The fog cleared instantly, reality crashing in as I fully awakened. My mother was holding me, tears streaming down her face, and we were surrounded by... everyone. My entire family stood around the bed, staring at me with expressions ranging from disbelief to joy.
My bed. My old room. The realization hit me like a physical blow.
I pushed Amara away, perhaps more roughly than I intended, scrambling backward until I hit the headboard. My hand flew to my face, searching for the mask that had hidden my identity. It was gone. They could all see me.
Panic rose, a tidal wave threatening to drown me. I lunged from the bed, searching wildly for an escape route. The faces around me—once so beloved, now so dangerous—blurred as I tried to focus.
My old room looked exactly the same—the lavender walls, the white furniture, the bookshelf filled with my childhood favorites. It made me feel sick, like I'd been thrust backward in time to before everything had shattered.
I pushed past them, stumbling toward the door. My legs felt like jelly beneath me, the drug still coursing through my system. I leaned heavily against the wall for support, desperate to put distance between myself and these people who claimed to be my family.
They followed, of course they did, all of them talking at once, reaching for me. I ignored their hands, their voices, focusing only on escape. This can't be happening, I whispered to myself, over and over, a desperate mantra as tears threatened to fall. I wouldn't cry. Not here. Not in front of them.
Somehow I made it to the front of the mansion, to the massive doors that had once represented the boundary between our private world and the outside. I grabbed the handles, pulling with what little strength I had left—but they didn't budge.
Some kind of barrier. I was trapped.
Panic surged anew. I pounded on the doors, searching frantically for another way out. I tried to summon my darkness, that faithful shadow that had protected me for so long, but it remained dormant, suppressed by whatever drug they'd used on me.
I turned slowly to face them, my back pressed against the unyielding doors, feeling like a cornered animal.
"I can't do this right now," I pleaded, my voice breaking. "I'm not ready for this. Please, let me out of here."
Xavier—my father—stepped forward, his expression grave. "It's safer if you're here with us, with your family."
I shook my head violently. "No, no, this can't be happening."
Hayden moved closer, his analytical eyes assessing me. "Where have you been all this time? Why didn't you come back home to your family?"
I couldn't answer. The words stuck in my throat as my eyes darted around the room, seeking any possible escape. And then my gaze landed on Lenna.
My twin. My mirror. She was studying me with that intense look she'd always had, the one that made me feel transparent, like she could see straight through to my soul. For a heartbeat, I was transported back to our shared childhood, to the wordless understanding that had flowed between us.
"Miri," she said softly, using the nickname only she had ever called me.
Something cracked inside me at the sound of it. I stepped backward instinctively as she moved forward, not realizing there was someone behind me until I felt arms encircle me from behind—Amara, trying to embrace me.
The sudden touch triggered something primal. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" I screamed, wrenching myself away from her, genuine terror coursing through me. The look of hurt on her face barely registered through my panic.
Xavier approached carefully, hands raised as if I were a wild animal that might bolt. "You don't have to be scared of us. We're your family."
"We love you and care for you, Riri," Amara added, using my childhood nickname. "Just trust us."
Their words, their faces, the familiar nicknames—it was all too much. Emotions I'd kept locked away for years burst free in a torrent I couldn't control.
"YOU CALL YOURSELVES MY FAMILY?" I shouted, a bitter laugh escaping between sobs. "THAT'S SO FUNNY! STOP LYING! YOU DON'T LOVE OR CARE ABOUT ME! IF YOU DID, YOU WOULD HAVE BELIEVED ME AND LOOKED INTO WHAT HAPPENED!"
My voice broke on the last words, memories of that night with Lenna flooding back. The family watched a video How they had saw us, my twin bleeding, me with the knife, insisting it wasn't me who had done it. My mother was the only one present at that time that was just before the doctors took me away.
"IF YOU REALLY LOVED ME, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE SENT ME TO THAT HOSPITAL!" I cried, unable to stop the flow of words now that they had begun.
Xavier's expression hardened slightly. "We sent you to the best hospital to help you get better."
His words made bile rise in my throat. The "best hospital." The place where my nightmares were born.
"THAT SO-CALLED HOSPITAL DIDN'T HELP ME AT ALL!" I screamed, my whole body shaking. "IT ONLY HURT ME! NONSTOP! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY DID TO ME IN THAT HOSPITAL! WHILE YOU WERE AT HOME ENJOYING YOUR LIVES, I WAS WISHING FOR MINE TO END! THE PAIN EATING AT ME!"
I gasped for breath, the memories threatening to drown me. The guards. Their friends. The things they did to me when no one was watching. The experiments. The isolation. The darkness that had been my only friend.
"YOU DON'T KNOW!" I sobbed. "EVERY STAFF MEMBER AT THAT HOSPITAL WAS EVIL!"
My breathing became ragged as visions I'd fought so hard to suppress came rushing back. The hands. The laughter. The pain. I gagged, the nausea overwhelming as I remembered how they had violated me, over and over.
Their faces stared back at me, horror dawning as they began to understand what I was saying. But they couldn't possibly comprehend the full truth. No one could.
I turned and ran back to the door, pulling desperately at the handles. "I need to get out," I gasped between heaving breaths. "I need my treasure. I need my light."
Lani. My treasure. My anchor. Without her, I was lost in the storm of my own memories.
Someone tried to touch my shoulder, and I recoiled violently, vomiting onto the marble floor as my body rejected the contact.
"Dad, open the door!" I heard Lenna shout, her voice cutting through my panic. "Look at her! She's going to pass out from all of this!"
To my shock, the barrier disappeared. The doors swung open, revealing the night beyond.
I didn't hesitate. I ran, barefoot, into the darkness. I didn't look back, didn't acknowledge their calls. I just ran, my feet bleeding on the gravel drive, until I reached the gate. There, I felt my darkness stirring, responding to my desperate need.
"Take me to Lani," I gasped, and the shadows enveloped me, a familiar cocoon of protection.
The darkness swallowed me whole, transporting me through its void. When it released me, I collapsed onto the floor of the safe house, trembling uncontrollably.
"Mama?" Lani's small voice called from nearby, followed by the patter of her feet running toward me. Her face full of panic seeing me like these I could see her mouth moving but I couldn't hear what her little voice was saying to me.
I reached for her blindly, pulling her into my arms and holding her as if she might disappear. "My treasure," I whispered, burying my face in her curls. "My light." Tears running down my face. Sobbing in her hair.
I didn't like her seeing me like these but I couldn't control it these time.
As I held her, the shaking slowly subsided. The memories retreated, pushed back by the pure, uncomplicated love of my daughter. In the safety of her embrace, I could breathe again. I could think.
Sliding down the wall with hugging Lani in my chest. I rocked side to side playing in her little hair.
They knew I was alive now. There was no going back. But they also knew—or at least suspected—some of what had happened to me in that hospital. The horror on their faces had been real.
And Lenna... Lenna had been the one to convince Xavier to let me go.
Perhaps there was more to this homecoming than I had first thought. Perhaps, with Lani as my strength, I could face the past I'd been running from.
But not tonight. Tonight, I would hold my daughter close and let her light drive away the shadows of memory.
"I love you, Lani," I whispered against her hair. "More than anything in this world."
Lani head moved from my chest and looked you at me with her glistening eyes that held tears.
"I love you too, Mama," she replied, her small hands patting my wet cheeks. "Don't cry anymore. I'm here."
I try smiling at her but the only thing came was a sad smile. And I started to wipe away a tear that had escaped down my little light face.
I look at her in the eyes and murmured "You're so brave, my little warrior," and then whispered "So much braver than Mama."
Yes, she was here. And as long as I had her, I could face whatever came next—even the truth about who I had once been, and who this mysterious Kai was to me.
Trying to stand with Lani in my arms I opened up my darkness and walked in it