Thanks for all the encouragement! It helps me to keep writing!
Sorry for my grammar and vocabulary mistakes, English is not my first language.
She hadn't been feeling well that week. The high fever made her spend all little time she had to be awake in bed, her head hurt as much as every bone in her body, her nose was congested and her eyes were teary all the time. She hated being sick, when she was sick she couldn't play with Rubén and Laura, she couldn't read, she couldn't eat properly without throwing up all the contents in her stomach. Being sick was horrible.
Rubén and Laura hadn't been allowed to visit her, since their father banned them from doing so because he thought her sickness was some kind of God's punishment because her father had begun to practise modern medicine instead of a more traditional one that was approved by the cult who ruled the land with an iron fist. But that didn't bother her, frankly, she didn't want them to catch whatever she had, and though she would never admit it aloud she felt really embarrased at the thought of Rubén seeing her like that.
Her Daddy took great care of her, making her feel better with cuddles and kisses; and everytime she asked about if he wasn't scared of becoming sick like her, he would smile and tell her he had a secret potion that would make him immune to any sickness. If only it had made him invincible against other things.
Now she felt much better, running through the sunflower fields, with no special direction in mind, feeling the freedom that had been taken away from her a week ago. She was full of energy and health, and ready to play again.
The sound of masculine voices made her stop dead on her tracks, and hid among the sunflowers that where big enough to cover her small body. Those where the villagers from the town, what were they doing here? They had no use of the sunflower fields as they were property of the Victoriano. She probably was the only one that was allowed there, and as long as Rubén and Laura liked her it would continue like that.
"Rich bastards, think they can buy up all our land"
"They need to be shown who really owns these parts"
"Stupid Victorianos. I hate them."
She froze when she saw the top of what seemed to be a burning torch, and her heart stopped when she saw pitchforks accompanying them. She didn't know what to do, should she stay hidden? Should she run until she reached home and tell her dad about what she had seen and heard? Taking a step back her body stepped on a small branch, and though it seemed quite a little thing, the crunching sound was enough to catch the attention of the villagers.
"What was that?" One of them asked.
"Maybe some stupid animal. Come on, let's keep going." The man with the torch said.
Margarita held her breath and didn't dare to move until the footsteps drew away. She sat back on the ground, pulling her knees towards her chest. Those men had really scared her, but what scared her the most was when she smelt that something was being burned and when she heard a child's scream.
She didn't think twice, she ran towards the source of the noise, the only things she could see were the sunflowers' stalks. She could easily get lost, if she hadn't already got lost. Her shoes and socks were getting covered in mud and leaves, she fell to her knees twice, her legs covered with small cuts and bruises. The more she run the stronger the smell of woodsmoke got.
She was starting to see the source of the fire, a few steps more and she'd be able to escape from that sunflower prison. Exiting from the camp, she froze when she saw the Victoriano's barn being engulfed in flames.
"Man, nobody told us there were going to be kids inside."
Her heart stopped beating as cold fear took hold of her body.
They have burned the barn.
With kids inside.
Probably the Victoriano's kids.
Rubén and Laura were inside. They were burning.
She screamed in fright at the sudden realisation and the villagers turned sharply towards her, a mixture of fear and surprise on their faces. One of those villagers tried to grab her while the other four ran, she went in the opposite direction, hoping to lose herself among the sunflowers while the man gave chase to her. After a couple of minutes, the man decided she was not worth the effort, and ran away to reunite with his colleagues.
She peered through the stalks and approached the burning barn. She didn't hear any noises, so she supposed that there wasn't anyone left. Margarita fell to her knees, and let the tears fall while the fire warmed her face.
"Hgnggngnnnnn..."
She snapped her head up so fast she hurt her neck. What was that? She massaged her neck while getting up. She shook her head as new tears formed in her eyes, for a second she had thought... she had just thought... That somehow they were safe and sound. What a stupid thing to think.
"Hgggghhnn... hhh... helll... heeeelllp..."
No matter how weak that voice had sounded, she had heard it. It was faint, at the verge of completely disappearing, but still strong enough to fight for avoiding humankind's greatest fear: facing death.
Margarita ran towards the source of the noise. There, laying nearly unconscious in the cold ground was Rubén Victoriano. She managed to contain an horrified gasp when she saw his face. Almost all of it was reddened by the barn, just like several parts of his hands and legs. He seemed to be in great pain.
"Rubén, please, please stay with me." She begged him, kneeling down with him and taking his hand. She kissed the burned side of his face, his eyes started to close.
"Please help! Somebody help us! PLEASE!"
Margarita blinked a few times only to realise she had been crying, again. Using her jumper's sleeve she brushed her tears, hoping Sebastián hadn't noticed. Luckily, he was reloading his gun. Looking to the front, she saw that they were really close to the barn were Laura and Rubén had been trapped.
They ran through the sunflowers, it was weird for her to be there again. They seemed so real, yet they didn't have any kind of smell and were rough to the touch, however they looked like they seemed to be real sunflowers.
"I suppose you've been here before." Sebastián told her quietly, while walking around the barn. She followed him.
"How do you know that?"
He pointed towards his eyes. "Your eyes are red and there are tear tracks on your cheeks. Never try to fool a detective."
While walking her hand caressed the wooden walls. It was cold and old, but it wasn't burned, it was just like it was before that accident. Seeing that there was nothing of interest around that building, they approached the frontal doors.
"Laura, where are you?"
The doors opened to reveal the ghostly figures of Rubén and Laura Victoriano. Margarita's heart skipped a beat. She knew where this was going. Ruvik was going to make her remember, he was going to reconstruct the events that took place that fateful day. A sudden burst of anger coursed through her, hadn't he any respect for his sister or their friendship? Was he going to make her suffer again all those horrible moments until she went mad and killed herself or begged him to kill her? After everything he had done to her why couldn't he leave her in peace?
"I know you're in here. I can hear you breathing."
The pale images continued playing, just like she supposed they had been before the fire started, but just as they approached them, they disappeared. Margarita held her breath, and suddenly started to feel really hot, as if she was burning, everything in the room seemed hot. Drops of sweat started to fall from her forehead, and in Sebastian's shirt's armpits and chest area started to form a sweat stain. And all of a sudden there was fire everywhere, consuming the wood and straws, trapping them inside the barn, just like Rubén and Laura had been, condemned to die in the flames.
Sebastián ran towards a lever and started pulling it, even when the steel og the lever was burning hot from the fire. His palms were turning red from the burning, but he didn't stop until a platform was pulled down.
"Come on, get on that platform!" He shouted at her.
They both got into the platform but after a few seconds they discovered it wouldn't move unless there was someone pulling the lever. Cursing under his breath, Sebastián tried to pull out his shotgun to shoot at the gears of the lever. He winced and cursed even louder when his burned hands made contact with the steely surface.
"I'll take care of this!" She said, aiming towards the gear with her small gun. Her arms trembled and the heat didn't allow her to concentrate really much but she narrowed her eyes and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit one end of the gear, but it was enough to activate it and made them go up.
On the second floor, they had to move even more carefully than before. The burned woodfloors were starting to weaken and a very strong step could make them break and fall to their hellish deaths. Almost tip toeing, they approached an opened window, their only way to escape. Sebastián got on all fours and looked at her expectantly.
"Use me as a stool. I'm taller than you so I'll have no problems to climb after you."
Margarita, stepped on him and climbed to the window, which was quite hard given the pain in her forearm, if she wasn't careful, the wound would reopen. She managed to sit on the frame of the window. However, just as Sebastián was about to climb after her, the same torrent of drops of blood pushed him back to the barn, but making her fall outside at the same time.
"Sebastián!"
Margarita screamed and covered her face, preparing herself for the impending impact, which never came. Instead she was met with something soft with two slim things but that felt like iron bars snaking around her middle back and the back of her knees. Something had caught her, or rather someone.
She opened her eyes and gasped softly. Brown eyes met steely grey had saved her from the fall. His eyes roamed through her body, looking for any kind of injure or pain; his jaw clenched when he saw the cut in her forearm but in a few seconds he made it disappear. The two of them stood looking at each other for a few more seconds, before Margarita remembered who was the responsible for them to be on that situation and her anger returned.
"Let. Me. GO!" She bellowed at him while hitting his face with her bare hands while angry tears ran down her cheeks.
Her sudden aggresivity was more than enough for him to drop her to the ground in surprise. He brought his hand to the cheek she had slapped. Even if he wasn't more than a strong illusion, her slaps hurted him more than any pain he had experienced. Ruvik kept staring at her with a hurtful expression while she cried her heart out, not bothering to look at him in return. He turned his head towards the left where the ghostly representations of a younger him and Margarita were reproducing one of his most cherised memories.
"Rubén, please, please stay with me." She said while kissing the burned part of his face, the one he despised the most.
His non-beating heart clenched on his chest, he was so besotted watching them that she didn't notice Margarita, brushing away her tears.
"Why did you tuned into this?" She turned her face towards the two children. Why couldn't things be the same way they were before? Why did Ruvik wanted to cause so much pain to everyone? She didn't noticed she had said those questions aloud.
Ruvik didn't answer her. He just looked at her with a hollow expression, though his eyes reflected many of the emotions he was feeling: rage, confusion, doubt, hurt, anxiety. For the first time in his life he seemed unable to deal with all that psychological charge, it was unbearable for him. So he did what he did best, he disappeared.
Margarita closed her eyes in pain, her heart was full of mixed feelings. She should hate him, since he had abducted, raped and tortured her; but on the other hand, she couldn't bring herself to completely hate him, he had saved her when he could have let her fall and crash against the ground and had taken care of her wound, worrying if she had more injures. He was cruel, a depraved psycopath that had caused her lots of pain; but at the same time, he still was that boy who brought her flowers, held her hand when she was scared and kissed her when she was sad. She didn't know what to think anymore.
A hand on her shoulder made her jump and crawl backwards.
"Don't be afraid, Doc. It's just me."
Margarita jumped from her seat and hugged Sebastián with all her might, not caring her clothes were getting dirty with the ash that covered him. Sebastián, hesitantly returned the hug, being surprised at that sudden amount of affection. After a few seconds Margarita stepped back, a bit embarrassed for showing too much affection for someone she had met a couple of hours ago.
"I-I'm sorry. I just thought you had been trapped there." She trailed trying to use a formal voice. He smirked at her.
"Ruvik is going to have to try harder to kill me." Sebastián stopped talking when he saw her shiver at Ruvik's name.
Margarita braced herself and looked around, they weren't in the sunflower fields or the barn anymore, but in another hall. Why had he teleported them there?
As they both looked in confusion at their surroundings they didn't notice the hooded figure that looked at them from the darkness, with his eyes set only in the woman.
"I'm going to stay with you. I'm not going anywhere. And I promise you that I'll win you back. I'll gain my redemption." He whispered, low enough for them to not hear him.
"I'll prove you I'm still the same boy you fell in love with."
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