Flashback: Transition Terror: Part 2

The darkness released me with a jolt, I surfaced to the sound of screaming,  to the roar of flames and cloying scent of baby powder. I sat upright as adrenaline flooded my system, setting my emotions on edge.  A hand gently slid over my mouth and my body stiffened. Patrik leaned forward and whispered softly into my ear. “Annalee….we’re in trouble, Lessers are in the house.  We need to get out of here, can you walk?” I nodded against his clammy palm and my hand snaked around his wrist and moved it from my mouth. “Mahmen?” My voice sounded hoarse and not like me at all.  Patrik caught my gaze and shrugged. “She left when she heard the noise downstairs, uhh there was a lot of smashing glass and um she hasn’t come back. But Lee we need to go, the fuckers set the house on fire!”  I stood to my full height and swayed a little, I paused and shook it off. I didn’t have time to get over my transition, I didn’t live through all that pain to die at the hands of a Lesser.

I grabbed Patrik’s hand and guided him to the door of my bedroom,  I clasped the door handle and turned it slowly, pulling the door open gingerly and leaned into the hallway,  glancing to the left and to the right. I tugged on Patrik’s hand and guided him into the hallway. We stuck close to the wall as we headed toward the back of the house.  The noises that filled the house were terrifying. My body froze as a female’s scream echoed down the hall. I felt my blood chill and I hated that I silently prayed it was Susanna and not my Mahmen or my younger sister Katerhina.  Tears pricked at my eyes as a series of muffled thuds followed the scream. Patrik peered around the corner which lead upstairs to the attic and groaned. He turned back to me his face grim and started pushing me back the way we had just come.  Confused and terrified at his expression I pushed him back. “Patrik we need to go that way, there is an fire escape hatch up on the roof, C’mon!” He shook his head and tried to push me away but I held my ground and pushed hard as I could, seeming to knock him off balance enough to allow me to turn the corner.  I froze, my heart thundering in my chest, my blood turning to ice in my veins. I opened my mouth to scream but Patrik’s hand was already there, muffling the sound to a whimper. There at the bottom of the stairs lay the bloodied and mutilated body of my Mahmen. Her beautiful blonde hair in disarray, the luscious locks stained with blood, a gaping wound spanning her throat, a pool of blood spreading across the wooden floor toward where we stood. Patrik spun me around into his arms, shielding my eyes from the body.  

I took a deep breath and circled my arms around his waist,  we stood there breathing heavy until a small scared sound filled the air.  I started pulling away from Patrik to make my way upstairs, following the sounds of pain and amusement.  Just as my foot reached the bottom step, Patrik pulled me back and pushed me toward the back of the house to the rear stairs that led down to the kitchen.  His eyes filled my vision, his hands reaching up to claim my face. “Annalee, I will go check that out, I will find Kc and your Father and I will meet you downstairs in the bunker, ok?  You need to go…..now!” He placed a soft kiss on my lips, my first kiss. A kissed laced with love, sorrow and overwhelming grief. Tears pooled in my eyes, his thumbs wiped the tears away and he stepped backward from me,  then just like that he turned and bounded up the stairs. He didn’t look back as he ran into the attic. I stood there, paralysed with fear not sure what to do, should I follow his orders or should I go up after him. Just as that thought played in my mind, a gun shot reverberated down to me, followed by a Male’s groan a thud.  

The sound released me from my paralysis and I turned and ran, unable to make out the contours of the hall way, my eyesight blurry due to the tears coursing down my cheeks.  I had lived in this house all my life, I knew these corridors like the back of my hand.

I found the hidden door which allowed the Doggen to come and go discretely, I pushed the panel and glanced down the hallway,  laughter filtering down to me. Smoke beginning to drift through out the hall, other than that the hallway was clear. I stepped through the hidden doorway and pulled the door closed behind me and bolted down the stone stairs, pushing through into the kitchen in a rush.  I paused only to ensure no one was close by.

Down here the smoke was thicker,  the flames licking up in the main reception room, eating the drapes and furniture like a hungry animal.  I snagged a towel from beside the sink and covered my mouth. The smoke beginning to sting my eyes, I fled the kitchen through the pantry and down the stairs into the cold stone cellar below.  I pushed the heavy steel door closed behind me and engaged the locks and retreated down the stairs backwards, my eyes pointing towards the heavens. I continued down until my back hit the cold stone wall.

My legs buckled and I fell to the ground in a puddle,  sobbing silently, hoping against hope that my father, Katerhina and Patrik were safe, denying what knew to be true, the only answer that could be real. @  I was now an newly transitioned Female with no one to take me in.

I was terrified but worse,  I was alone and I always would be.