SOLO THERAPY

 If I’m dreaming, why do I feel like I’ve been here before? 

I opened my eyes to see my thin wrists with chains. I slip free because the cuffs are too big. Then I notice that everything around me is dark, and I am radiating a bright purple aura. My wavy black hair shimmered with light. I looked at my clothing. I’m wearing a dark purple ballgown. It had little flowers at the bottom and where my chest rests, creating a shield to the vital burn. I had bandages wrapped around my sore, raw arms and neck, where the rope was. Then I realized- I’m dead.

I lived in a mansion as a servant. Ever since I can remember, I was considered different. I was excluded from, well, nearly everything. I had a weird power where I could summon the dead. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true. 

Now, with me having this power meant that I had to hide it. One day, like any other OK, non-superior day, my sister Beth, walked in on me using my power to talk with Ash, my ghostly little cat. Beth, who was favored by our parents, was a sucker for gossip. Like a tick, eating out the blood from your veins. She couldn’t hold a secret this big from anyone. Especially about me. She dashed downstairs. She ran to Ms. Clarisse and told her everything. That’s how I became a slave. I didn’t eat meals with the family, I ate scraps fed to me by the cooks. But that was nothing compared to what Beth did to me next.

Another day. Lonely and…More lonely, Beth brought one of her friends over. His name was Jason, and he was the best thing that ever happened to me. He was the nicest to

me out of all the people in the mansion. However, Beth liked him. A lot. Like, obsessive. We were on a picnic, Jason and I, and we were joking about life when Jason said to me “ I like you Nyx-No, love you. Like a lot.” Then before I can respond, I hear Beth’s scream from the tree to my right. She was spying. She lunged at me and pushed me away from Jason. Her fingernails dug into my neck skin. A small, pinching sensation came from my neck. Then, panicked, she said “ You’re joking, right Jason? Like, you can’t love that more than me, right? RIGHT?” Jason looked at her like she was insane, walked up to her, and slapped her. He slapped her across the cheek, and it left a big, red mark where his rough, but gentle hand was.

That was a death wish.