Free Feral Passion by Avery Duncan

her breath, only managing
to let out a whimper. “Ulrich. . .”
    “Mary? Mary, what’s wrong. Are you okay?
C’mon, tell me what’s wrong.” No longer sleepy, but alert and
awake. The sound of rustling clogged her senses, inanely making her
wonder what the hell was going on.
    “I had. . . Please come get me. There’s so
much blood. . .” She took the phone from her ear, staring down at
her hands. Faint ghostly tendrils of blood streamed down from her
hand. It touched nothing but her, nothing but the hand that she had
killed the man with.
    “I’m on my way, okay, honey? Just stay there,
don’t leave the house. I’ll be there in five minutes, promise.”
    Her eyes widened, voice cracking when she
begged, “No! Ulrich, please don’t hang up. Please don’t, I can’t. .
. Just. . .” Mary broke down into crying.
    With her eyes closed, all she could see was
the dead body of the man. It felt as if the knife were still in her
hands, and the woman’s open mouth flying at her seemed all to
real.
    “I won’t hang up, Mary,” he promised her
soothingly, obviously starting to panic himself.
    “Please. . .” The ashy smell was coming back.
Streams of the blood were just floating around her like string in
the air.
    The phone fell from her ear, and she was
shaking too much to get enough strength to pick it up. The memories
of the dream held her in enthralled horror, re-plays going on and
on. She swore that she was transported back to that demented
world.
    It barely registered to her that the door had
opened, that her brother had barged in so violently that the whole
house seemed to vibrate. “Mary, oh my god. . . Honey, Jesus, what
happened?”
    He strode to the bed, his voice worried. When
his hands come out to touch her, she flinched before she was even
aware of it. The shaking got worse; she wished that she could stop
long enough to get a word out to Ulrich.
    “What. . . happened ,” Ulrich asked, sounding horrified. She
heard him walk to the bed again, and this time he ignored her
flinch and gathered her into her arms. Mary could feel the small
tremor that ran through him and only wished that she hadn’t
panicked and called him.
    “I. . . Blood. . . The man. . .” Mary started
to get frustrated when she realized she wouldn’t be able to explain
through all of the endless shaking.
    “Shh, it’s okay. Just calm down, Mary.”
Through the soothing sound of his voice and the light pat of his
hand on her back, she could hear the faint emotion of fear.
    Finally, she forced her head up and somehow
found the will to speak through her choked throat. “Kevin. . . He
was there. I killed someone,” she said, terror lining her voice as
the words quietly slipped past her lips. “I stood above him,
holding the knife. Ulrich, I killed that man,” she said, voice
cracking brokenly.
    His head shook, hand clenching on her back.
“No you didn’t. I know you would never do that, Mary. It was a bad
dream, okay? Just a bad dream and it’s okay now.” There was a
forced sureness in her voice that she couldn’t help but notice.
    “No, I killed —”
    “Mary, you didn’t,” he said, the back of his
teeth grinding.
    “Yes, my hands are blo—”
    “No you fucking didn’t,
Mary .” The bark of his voice made her wince, her eyes
dropping to her hands. No longer was the ghostly faint blood
dripping from her hands.
    Climbing off of him, she slowly shook her
head and turned from him. “Don’t talk to me like that,” she
whispered, opening the door with a shaking hand.
    Ulrich stood, hand coming out imploringly,
his face lined with regret. “I’m sorry, I just. . .Don’t say things
like that, ever. I’m a cop, I can’t be hearing my own sister
talking about murdering people.”
    A humming sound started in the back of her
mind. She wished she hadn’t have called him, hadn’t have rejected
his offer to stay with him. God, she was fucked up in the head.
    “I’m tired, Ulrich. Thank you for coming over
and