Treading Water-Part 2
Slowly she became aware of the brightness around her. Opening her eyes she squinted, the light stinging her retina until she couldn't bare it any longer and was forced to shut it once more.
Phoebe pulled herself up painfully slow. Her muscles were protesting against this unscheduled movement. They ached with stiffness. She had not moved properly in weeks. Preferring to stay in the one spot, journeying only from that site when it was necessary.
After a few moments she tried again, carrying out the action of opening her eyes even more slowly as if testing the water. This time it didn't hurt so much and Phoebe glanced around herself. The truth of where she was, yet again, hit her with the force of a hurricane blasting the shores of Florida.
She was back. Back in that awful white room, where her sisters were no longer with her and she was doomed to a life of solitude. She hated it here. Being here, being aware of her situation gave her too much time to think. Too much time to be alone with herself, alone with her thoughts, alone with the part of her mind she dreaded.
Why? Phoebe asked herself. Why must she always come back here? Why couldn't she stay in her world? It was perfect. But it seemed some part of herself would not allow her to achieve that perfection.
Suddenly she felt something warm running down her face. She pulled a hand away from her cheek and saw it was wet. It was then she realised she was crying. Looking down she saw a tear hit the floor. Phoebe watched with fascination as more tears began to drop and hit the floor with a faint splash. Watching this phenomenon she questioned why she had begun to cry. Soon she came to the conclusion it was because she had woken up again. Phoebe wished, hoped, prayed for the moment where she'd never have to wake up again. The moment she'd never have to face what she had caused. The eternal darkness was her dream.
Turning to face the door of her 'room' she began to rock back and forth a little. It was then that Phoebe allowed herself to surrender to her emotions. She let out one long heartbreaking sob, burying her face in her arms which were sitting horizontally across her knees and cried into them She cried for having to think about that day again and her now miserable existence.
When would this nightmare end? She thought. "When!" Phoebe screamed at the top of her lungs before shrinking into a weeping wreck on the floor.
~ ~ ~ ~
Laris appeared in the darkened penthouse in the same crimson vale he had exited the asylum in. The windows had the curtains drawn over them so there was very little light entering the room. The floor was a mess as was the place overall, it had not been tidied in a long while. Laris almost jumped out of his skin when a voice from behind him spoke.
"What did you see this time? Was she... did she go back to that... place again?"
Laris whirled around and saw that it was Cole whom the voice belonged to. His 'boss' looked as though he had been dragged through a bush backward severl times. His hair was dishevelled and his face had not seen a razor in a long while. 'This obsession has become unhealthy' he thought to himself darkly.
"Well?" Cole asked impatiently narrowing his eyes slightly at Laris.
Laris sighed, "To answer your question; yes she did go back to that little world of hers. She was there when I left I suppose."
Cole let out a breath angrily. How dare she create some other place for herself? How dare she. Phoebe was meant to be suffering but instead she had found a way to temporally escape this. He grabbed the nearest thing to him, which happened to be the vase on the glass table and threw it. The vase narrowly missed Laris' head, shooting past him and shattering on wall above the mantel, taking the mirror with it.
"Hmm that's seven years bad luck, " Laris thought aloud and looked at Cole who was breathing heavily a little way from him. "Well... that is if you believe in that sort of thing." He shrugged lightly.
Still enraged from the revelation about Phoebe, Cole surged forward grabbing hold of Laris by the collar. He spun him around, lifting him slightly from the ground and shoved him onto the table.
Cole leaned forward, so his face was almost touching Laris'. "Do I have to remind you why you are still around? The only reason I haven't turned you into a pile of dust is because I need your power."
Laris looked into Cole's eyes and saw madness, instability and a passion for revenge. There was no doubt in his mind that if he wasn't actually still useful Cole would've torched him a long time ago. He sighed tiredly. He'd been through this routine with Cole countless times before and it was becoming tedious. The slightest thing would send the former Source over the edge. So he wasn't going to risk his neck by pointing out to Cole that he had in fact just reminded the demon of the reason why he was, indeed still breathing. "No, you do not have to remind me. I know full well the reason you are keeping me around."
Cole loosened his hold on Laris a little but kept the closeness of their faces. "Good. Now don't make me have to remind you yet again" With that Cole stood up, taking Laris with him and then pushed him roughly away before turning around and taking a few steps forward.
Now released Laris fixed the collar of his shirt and then looked at Cole once more "when would you like me to start?"
A smile spread across Cole's lips and mused at the thought of what he was about to have done "as soon as possible. The quicker I can make her suffer again the better." With that he walked over to the single seat. Sitting down he began to chuckle a little. He was most looking forward to causing Phoebe pain again. "Serves the bitch right" He muttered to himself viciously.
At Cole's sudden outburst of laughter Laris felt a little uneasy. 'He's almost as crazy as she is' he thought shaking his head a little. "I'll get right on it" He then disappeared in that same crimson vale leaving Cole to muse over what was about to happen.