THREADS OF THE BROKEN FUTURE

CHAPTER SEVEN - The Awakening of Evil

Her father was resting.

Resting was something that he did more often these days.

She sighed sadly. If only they had never stayed, there would have been help for him. But she had always known; he would never leave Psychon. Her mother's tomb was here, and he would never leave her.

She walked around the room, glancing around. The soft material of her long skirt swirled around her legs, her soft slipper shoes making no noise on the floor beneath her. Psychon had become even more silent, with her father taken to bed so much of the time. Psychon grew more silent with each passing day. Psychon had become an even lonelier hell.

Psychon had become a cage.

A warbling sound suddenly pierced through her thoughts. She moved quickly, curiosity and fear filling her. Another spaceship had emerged from the nearby wormhole. An unstable point in space that captured from the other side and warped them from lightyears to here.

The craft was impressive. Massive. Damaged.

And there were life forms on board. Hundreds.

Without another thought, she bolted from the room and raced down the corridor to her father's bedroom.

"Daddy," she whispered, reaching out. But he didn't stir.

"Father," she tried again, firmer now. "Please Daddy. Wake up."

Finally, his eyes opened, his gaze cloudy until he focused on her. "What is it, my child?" His voice was soft, but she caught a weary undercurrent.

"A damaged spaceship," she said in between trying to catch her breath. "Just came through the warp. It will reach us soon."

A look crossed his eyes, a look that she couldn't comprehend.

"Survivors?"

"Hundreds."

Another look crossed his tired face. His eyes darkened. She had expected concern, what she saw was closer to pain, sadness. She moved to sit down on the bed beside him. She was surprised when took her hand in his. Then he sighed.

"You were never meant for this, my daughter," he said, bitterness threading through his words.

"Meant for what?" she asked him.

He shook his head, closing his eyes for a moment. "I never meant any of this for you."

He looked at her and, for a moment, his eyes were filled with the tremendous love of a parent. "I never wanted to hurt you," he said, his voice filled with regret. "But, you wouldn't leave when I begged you to."

"I don't understand," she whispered. Something about her father was scaring her and she had no idea why.

"Psyche is growing weak," he said in a low voice. "And she has needs."

Her heart sank as she tried to comprehend the weight of his emotions, as she struggled to comprehend his now foreign, almost terrifying expression.

A chill ran down her back as she struggled to make sense of his words. "What do you mean?"

Her father inhaled several times before finally speaking again.

"Bring me my chair," he instructed with a heavy resignation.

Like the good daughter that she was, she wheeled the chair that he now relied on to move long distances. She watched with concern as he lowered himself to sit in it.

What happened over the next few hours was a rapid series of events that would forever change her.

She did everything that her father asked. She had stood beside him, despite a growing unease that filled her.

She had watched, helpless and appalled, as she saw the truth that was Psyche revealed before her in stark, horrifying detail.

Glass tubes, rising levels of liquid bubbling throughout them.

Frightened souls.

Shrill screeching noises that intermingled with a chorus of horrified screams. Over and over, until none…none were left.

Tears streamed down her face as her heart shattered. This was no nightmare. It was far worse than anything she had ever imagined. The danger she had been sensing in her dreams had never been from the outside. It had always been…here. Here, in her home.

And she knew there was no stranger coming to save her, to pull her away from the darkness of evil. And the man that she had loved, in her dreams - he was lost to her.

Forever.

Now, it was too late.

Like her father, she was trapped. Forever ensnared in the dark, inescapable web that was Psyche.

Psyche. Psyche was evil.