It’s cold tonight. That’s unusual because it’s always warm at this time of the month. Speaking of that, my cycle started. That’s why my stomach hurt earlier, but it’s too early, and it hurts more than it’s supposed to. I need to find something for the pain and luckily, I have pain killers and I have cloth for bleeding. I took two of them and went to lay down in my bed. I had an awfully long night. Townspeople defending me, seeing the town divide, Seth getting arrested. I feel worried that he is in jail, but he looked at me in a way stating that he will be back and not to worry before he was put in the jailhouse.

As I thought about this, laying on my pillow never felt so comfortable. I decided not to think too much about it. I need to sleep. I wrapped myself in my blanket and I felt on the verge of closing my eyes and going to sleep. The moment I close my eyes, I hear a loud crash which made me quickly open them. Someone busted my window with a rock. Now I hear banging outside my house from every direction. Then another window breaks, and men yelling outside.

“Talia! Come on out or we’ll force you out!”

That voice sounds familiar. It was Sampson Belle’s voice, and it sounds like he brought a few men with him.

“Come on out, you little bitch! You’ve been poisoning Tinton with your lies! It’s about time you’ve been disciplined!”

I don’t plan on going out there and I’m sure they caught on to that notion, I start to hear banging on my door. They’re trying to break it down.

“It’s going to be worse for you once we come in! That fucker can’t save you tonight!”

He was referring to Seth of course, which I didn’t believe. I believe he will come for me; a jail cell couldn’t hold him from what I’ve seen. Until he comes, I need to hold out. I grabbed a knife from my kitchen and crawled under my bed before they knocked down my door. Moments later, down goes my door and they came in starting to look for me. Unfortunately, my house wasn’t too big, and they will find me eventually.

“Where are you, you little bitch?!” I hear Sampson yell.

All his men ransack my house as they are trying to find me. I kept quiet as much as I could, but I know it won’t matter because now I see a pair of men’s feet in front of my face. I’m ready to cut them the moment I see their face. The moment the man kneeled down and showed his face, I slash him across his face. He screams in pain and the next thing I feel is a strong hand grabs my ankle and drags me out from under my bed. I get grabbed by my hair to be pulled up to my feet. I see Sampson in front of my face with his ragtag of pricks surrounding me.

One of his men restrains me as Sampson twists my wrist to take the knife out of my hand; it hurt like hell, I screamed. Now I wish I could’ve cut that smirk off his damn face. He looked at me as he fiddled with the knife.

“You know…” Sampson speaks. “Levi was talking to me about the “darkness” within you. Saying everything about you is dark, just like your parents. That’s why people look at you differently.”

That doesn’t make sense at all. There’s no reasoning and it’s stupid justification that everyone in this town has leaned on and I’m sick of it.

“But that’s not how I think of you. To be honest, I just think you’re a stupid brat that needs discipline. A darkie such as yourself just rubs me the wrong way.”

I forgot. Not only was Sampson vain, but this asshole is also racist. But I can’t think of his words right now. I’m feeling worried now. Where’s Seth? Sampson now has the knife near my neck. I can’t move. I’m too scared to move because his version of disciplining is him ready to kill me.

“In a way, Denby and I agree that you are a damn nuisance. It would be best if we dispose of you. And don’t worry. We’ll make sure the people who defended you will be taken care of along with that freak in the jailhouse!”

Before he could do anything with the knife, I saw a shimmer near Sampson, then another shimmer near a man next to Sampson. The hand that Sampson held the knife with fell off his arm and the man next to him… his head slid off his body. Blood spurted out from Sampson and the man whose body fell to the floor. All the men freaked out, even me. The man who held me had let me go to where I fell. I look to see the men reaching for my front entrance where my door was kicked down, but the door itself blocked the opening… that’s not supposed to happen. Some of the men tried to pry it open, but that didn’t work. One guy decided to leave out of the broken window, but something pierced through his head; it looked like a claw.

The claw sliced the man in half, but his heart fell out and was intact; the claw disappeared out the window. All the men, even Sampson who held his bloody stump, ran, or crawled to a corner in my house when they saw what happened. Black smoke came in from the shattered window with Seth slowly appearing from it. His fangs showing, eyes glowing crimson, and his claws sharp and extended. He looked down and sees the heart of the man he killed and picks it up by his claw. He retracted them, now holding the heart in his hand. Seth turned to Sampson and his men with an evil smirk on his face.

“I told all of you this would happen.” He reminded them. “You should have heeded my words and took them as gospel.”

We all saw Seth bite into the heart with the blood squirting on him as he sucked out what was left of it. His veins popped out and pulsated as he turned to look at me.

“Turn away, Talia. You do not need to see this.” He tells me.

Seth is right. I didn’t need to see this. I’ve never seen a hand get cut off, a head cut off, a person getting sliced in half, and also getting the wits scared out of me. So, I crawl back under my bed with my back turned. I hear the screams, the blood splattering, everything. I then felt a hand around my ankle which made me look behind seeing Sampson covered in blood, stricken with fear.

“TALIA! Please!” He pleads. “Call him off! I’ll leave and I’ll leave you alone! PLEASE spare me!”

I’ve never seen him plead before, and I have no need to help him. Also, he really thinks I control Seth. I saw Seth’s hand grab Sampson by the back of his neck and push his face onto the floor.

“Why should you be spared?” Seth asks him. “Is it because you want to forget this ever happened? Is it because you do not want to die? Or… perhaps you would like to report this to Denby?”

Sampson couldn’t respond due to him bawling his eyes out and holding on tightly to my ankle which started to hurt.

“Let Talia go, Sampson.” Seth tells him calmly.

Sampson didn’t want to let me go and he was hurting my ankle to where I could barely feel it. Seth’s grip on Sampson’s neck tightened.

“Let go of Talia!” he demanded.

Since he wasn’t going to let go, I had to kick his hand off my ankle. The moment Sampson’s grip loosened; he was dragged out of my house as he screamed. Within minutes, the screaming stopped. After all that happened, I thought this: This is what Seth promised, they decided not to heed his warning. They paid with their lives. As I turn to see what my floor looks like… so much blood… bodies… body parts… I feel sick just seeing it, I need to look away. Also having my life threatened and fearing for it is making me feel exhausted. How would the majority of Tinton feel about this once they knew, I wonder?

Will they blame me? Will they try to kill me, too? Without a doubt, they would. I wouldn’t put it past them. God help me… Seth… protect me…

.  .  .  .  .

I wake up and it’s still dark outside… wait; I am outside, and I’m being carried. I see it’s Seth carrying me. I didn’t understand what he was trying to do, so I ask:

“Where are you taking me?”

“Some place where they can’t find you. They are going to blame you for what I have done and… they will try to kill you. I. Will. Not. Let. Them.”

He’s right. Since it happened in my home and they will notice that Sampson and the others are missing, the people will suspect me with no question. They wouldn’t expect Seth because they believe he’s still in the jailhouse. Also, he didn’t truly answer my question, so I asked him again.

“Where are you taking me, Seth?”

He looks at me.

“Look ahead.” He answers.

What I see is a massive tree and as we got closer to it, I see it has an opening. Seth carried me inside and it looks as if someone lived in it recently. I can only guess that Seth resided here because who else would be out here or know about this tree. It’s pretty far away from the town, so I wouldn’t have known a tree such as this would have ever existed. Inside was a makeshift bed made of sticks, leaves, and hay, a couple of pots and pans to cook with, and a makeshift fireplace. The tree was hollowed out to the top for the smoke to go through another opening of the tree.

“It is not much, but you will be safe here.” Seth says to me. “Also, there is something I must show you before I go.”

He waves his hand and looks behind me. I turn to where he’s looking and… I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I see… the people that Seth killed. Solomon, Sampson, and the other five men who were with Sampson. They are wrapped in chains that is burned into their skin. They screamed in agony with chains also impaling their bodies. Either Seth was showing me that he is keeping their souls somewhere, or they’re in Hell. I then see Solomon and Sampson glare right at me like they saw a ghost. At first, I assumed they weren’t really looking at me until Solomon said:

“TALIA!!” He actually says my name. “YOU! YOU DID THIS TO US!”

“YOU DESERVE THIS! NOT US!” Sampson yells.

The second he shouted at me, a chain with a hook impaled him through his shoulder, causing him to yell in pain. Seeing them chained and suffering actually… puts a smile on my face.

“How does it feel?” I ask them. “I hope it hurts. I bet it hurts like Hell, because this is the Hell that you all put me in. You all are right where you belong. In my Hell.”

Seth walked up beside me and looked at me.

“What do you wish for me to do with them?” He asks me.

I look him in the eyes.

“Make them experience the pain and suffering I felt. Let them have my Hell.” I reply.

Seth smirks.

“As you wish.”

All of a sudden, all the men began to scream because the chains were burning bright red. With the wave of Seth’s hand, the men disappear.

“Whatever comes, Talia…” Seth speaks to me. “…I will be close, even if you do not physically see me. Do not be afraid. Take back what is yours, gifted one.”

With that remark, he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Now being in this tree, I have to make myself at home. I was able to start a fire with some nearby firewood to keep me warm for the night and I laid on the bed. Surprisingly, it’s comfortable to lay on. I might as well go to sleep because I don’t know what tomorrow’s going to bring, but the question is… will I be ready?