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“Twenty bucks says he’ll flip.”
I shook my head, grinning at Mat’s stubbornness. “I’ll take that bet.”
Suddenly, a strong gust of air blew past me, flinging my hair into my face. I looked up, still clutching the phone tightly to my ear. The window wasn't open, nor was the door. My eyes widened at the realisation, and a lump instantly formed in my throat. I heard Mat saying something into the phone again, but I didn’t pay much attention to him, scanning the room around me for anything out of place.
This was ridiculous. It was my mind playing tricks on me again, just like it had back in Blade Rock when I thought I couldn’t hear the rain anymore. I swivelled on the bed, listening.
Mat was talking on the phone, saying my name and asking if I was still there. When the hair on the back of my neck started standing on end, quickly spreading to the rest of my body, and a wave of goosebumps erupted, I knew I couldn’t possibly have imagined it.
“Shit,” I whispered. The air around me grew cold and thick. The temperature fell within seconds and my breath came out in bursts of vapour against the chilly air. I felt my heart stumble as a deadly silence enveloped the room, muffling Mat’s voice.
I stared at the phone in my hand, “Lily? Lily, can you hear me? Answer me,” I heard him saying, but he sounded far away, too far.
“I- Mat, he’s here,” I managed to force out in a whimper, my limbs frozen in fear.
“Lily, listen to me carefully,” I heard Mat saying before the call was cut off completely, my ears closing up like something had shoved its way inside my head.
“Mat? Mat, are you there?” I yelled, realising I couldn’t hear my own voice either. The world around me spun, the phone in my hand becoming too heavy and I dropped it, watching it fall to the floor, landing on the carpet without making a single sound.
No, no, no. I felt like I was swimming and drowning at the same time. I couldn’t breathe. The past came barrelling back into me; the sound of his voice, the utter quiet before he took me, the time I’d lost. My hands came up to my ears, clamping over them. This couldn’t be happening, not again, I wasn’t strong enough.
Bile shoved its way up my throat as silence dawned. I couldn’t hear. I couldn’t hear. My heart wailed and my mind screamed as the wolf inside of me begged to be let out. But I dropped to the floor, still in human form, crawling as tears began to spill. I couldn’t hold them back. The carpet beneath me moved, no, it swayed, as did I. Like a drunken sailor caught on deck, I crawled towards the door, stumbling over my own limbs as I went.
When I reached the door, I tried to grip the handle, but ended up only grasping air. My hand moved, reaching for it again, but I couldn’t even feel its wooden surface beneath my fingertips, let alone locate the handle. I was falling over, the room tilting onto its side. The carpet met my shoulder, my cheek as the ground slammed into me. Winded and dizzy, I blinked, trying to make sense of it all.
The ceiling moved; Raiden’s bed and sheets too. I was alone. He was going to take me again. A dull ache grew within my head, inside my ears. Pressure built slowly. I cried and screamed, clawing at the carpet through blurry vision, but nothing came out. Not a single sound made its way past my lips.
My heart beat rapidly while nausea gripped me firmly around the gut. I was going to be sick, right here on Raiden’s floor.
“Little Wolf,” I heard a familiar voice whispering, and my racing heart stopped dead in my chest.
