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Life was never the same once she'd stepped off that hellish island.
She was more aware of her surroundings for starters. So much so that even in her own home, Erin found herself unable to get comfortable. Sometimes she'd sit up at night for hours, eyes locked directly onto her alarm clock until they burned from the inside out. Hours would pass at a snail's pace, leaving her utterly exhausted: her body rigid until the sound of her morning alarm broke her free.
This particular night was the same old routine of course. Erin was pressed against the couch, nail scratching softly against the skin of her bottom lip. The sun was slowly setting, orange hues spilling through the cracks of her slightly parted curtains. It was the hour where her nerves started to kick into full gear, hairs beginning to stand on ends as her scratching got progressively more persistent against her lip until speckles of blood coated her nail.
The news was on, and talks of power cuts across her city of residence seemed to be the top story. Erin sat there, goosebumps making her rather uncomfortable as the hairs pressed forcefully against the thin fabric of her pyjama shirt. She was suddenly very aware of her heart thumping in both of her ears; the way her arms wrap tightly around herself as a form of desperate comfort no one else could give her.
A sudden crackle followed by the sound of her lamp suddenly giving out alerted the woman's attention. She gasped as her somewhat safe world plunged itself into a darkness that forced her to drag herself up. Her back met the wall, and she quickly sank down, covering her eyes with trembling hands.
He'd entered the room unexpectedly, staring at her through the thick layers of dust. He'd slowly extended his arm towards her, fingers uncurling to reveal her lifeline fitted neatly in his palm. There had been a fight in her brain, trying to consider the pros and cons of several decisions in just under a minute. There wasn't much she could do apart from try and accept what was rightfully hers, for stabbing him with her microphone would surely lead to dire consequences that could very well cost her life.
But he'd used it as a lure, grabbing hold of her by her wrist, walking her backwards until she harshly collided with the wall.
She was against the wall right now. So Erin did what any sane individual would do. She threw herself forward, clenching her fists until her knuckles turned white.
Opening her eyes, Erin screamed, choosing to crawl through the corridor before taking a quick left. She'd tried to steady her gasps: silence her cries of terror as she felt everything bubbling up to the surface inside her.
She'd sworn that she'd seen him in the corner of her eye, but in the dark, everything seemed to melt into one. She couldn't tell a cabinet from a grotesque monster whose intention was to make her suffer.
It had felt like hours already since the initial blackout. And as Erin edged herself along the wall, a wide, terrified eye peeking out from around the corner towards the kitchen, did she finally take a much needed breath of air. The thing that had startled her was nothing more than a clothing rack that hung up her winter coat and hat. The fact she'd seen Du'met amidst the coats made her feel like even bigger of a fool than when she'd cried at the office because she was convinced he was outside the door just waiting for her to step outside.
She couldn't live like this. Not only was it taxing on her sanity as well as her mental and physical health. She looked like a goddamn idiot, no.. a nut job. A nut job who would constantly embarrass herself by having panic attacks in public because a certain foul smell or sound had pushed her over the edge. Du'met seemed to rule her life, even after Mark had drilled into her that he'd seen the man with an anchor embedded in his chest. How the chain had pulled him like the spindly hands of a thousand demons ready to drag him straight to hell where he belonged. How the water suddenly had red underwater clouds spreading across, paired with odd bits of fabric and viscera floating about. How there was no way in hell that monster had survived that ordeal with that much proof floating around.
Even though she knew this; he still had her in a tight fist. He was squeezing at her, desperately hoping that one of these days Erin would pop like a sad little juice box.
She'd opened the drawer, fumbling about in the dark until she was able to grasp a… fork? Ugh, it would have to do.
Holding it at arms length, Erin passed several rooms, using the fork as some form of weird makeshift potential weapon. It entered the room before she did, as if it were a guard trying to protect her from the terrifying monsters that could be lurking just behind the doors, ready to devour her with teeth so sharp they'd definitely rival his knife.
Breath catching in her throat, Erin pauses, dropping down to her knees to narrowly miss her apartment window. She was on the first floor as a safety precaution due to both her anxiety as well as her asthma. So the thought of him standing outside watching her made her skin crawl until she had to physically scratch at her arm with the fork. It hurt. It hurt so much, but the bugs burrowed down, making her skin burn and itch red raw.
She was a whirlwind of emotions, and she could just hit herself at how the bugs seemed to resemble the masked man who'd made her life absolute hell for an entire night. The man who had plagued her for so long afterwards that it was as if she'd spent her entire life with him inside her brain. The man who seemed to never want to let her go no matter how much she begged each night to be set free.
Erin glanced down at her arm, teeth gnawing at her cheek as she'd finally felt the heat burning her flesh. She'd made a mess: loose bits of skin hanging from the gashes she'd made through her own stupid decisions.
Eyes.. her eyes were stinging, and all Erin could do was sniffle pathetically until a gasp tore its way out of her throat.
Someone had knocked on the door. It was too late for this… she wasn't prepared for him to just show up and hurt her more than he already had without so much of a single care. He disgusted her, making her want to retch up all of today's meals at once in a pile of despair and sorrow. A mixture of filth that would soon represent her entrails as he viciously ripped out of her body-
“Erin? Erin, it's me.” The voice.. Thank heavens for a voice.
One thing about strangers suddenly appearing at your door. Usually you'd be terror stricken upon hearing them attempt to reach you like this. But the monster didn't even possess a voice.. at least, not that Erin knew. Du'met had remained silent for the entire time that he'd stalked them. Plus… The voice was a woman's. Thankfully one she knew, too.
Opening the door, Erin relaxed at the sight of Jamie, terrified eyes becoming softer as her girlfriend pulled her into an embrace. The comfort was only short-lived as her arm began to sting whilst her wounds started to pulse. Erin hissed as Jamie pulled back, using her phone's flashlight to check Erin over.
“God… Erin.. What happened?” she asks softly, gently taking the woman's arm in her hand to assess the nasty cuts littering her forearm.
“I- I didn't mean to. I-” Erin's voice wavers, and that's when Jamie realises what she'd done.
“Oh Erin. I'm here now, let's get these bandaged up, then we can grab some food for dinner, on me.” Erin's hand is taken in Jamie's as the woman led her towards the small bathroom in her apartment.
So now here Erin was. Sat with her head on her girlfriend's shoulder, listening to all the harrowing stories of how badly Du'met had messed with Jamie's mind too. Her arm stung horribly when cleaned, but that was soothed almost instantly with a tender kiss planted on her cheek.
Jamie truly was everything to Erin, and that wouldn't change. The monster had tried to meddle with their blossoming relationship, but had ultimately failed to rip them apart. It had brought them closer, and no matter the situation at hand. Erin knew her bond with Jamie would last past the burdens of their trauma. And that she would forever be grateful for.