Forbidden Cravings-Chapter 284: Horror of the Moment

The night had felt perfect just minutes ago. We were walking along the narrow footpath that ran beside the main road, our fingers locked together, palms a little sweaty but neither of us caring. Aeri kept swinging our joined hands like we were kids again, humming a random tune under her breath. Every few steps her heel would click happily against the pavement, and the sound made me smile even though that strange, heavy feeling still sat in my chest. The streetlamps glowed soft orange, spacing out pools of light and shadow, and the air smelled like wet leaves and distant rain. I remember thinking how quiet everything was, how safe, how easy it would be to believe nothing could ever touch us.

I was wrong.

A sudden, cheerful *beep-beep* cut through the silence. In the middle of the empty road, a phone lay face-up, its screen flashing with a cartoon cat dancing to some notification. The light from the screen looked almost playful against the dark asphalt.

Aeri’s eyes lit up instantly. "Oh! Look at that. Someone dropped their phone!" She let go of my hand before I could tighten my grip. "Hold on, I’ll grab it real quick! Maybe the owner’s nearby."

"Aeri—" I started, but she was already moving, jogging forward with that light bounce in her step, hair swaying behind her.

Time slowed down the way it does in nightmares.

Headlights exploded around the blind corner huge, blinding, way too fast. A massive box truck, no hazard lights, no warning, just roaring straight at us like a train.

*BONG!* The horn was deafening, a deep, panicked blast that rattled my teeth.

I tried to scream her name, but my throat locked. My legs felt glued to the ground.

The truck never braked hard enough.

The impact was a sickening, wet *THUD* like a sack of meat hitting concrete. Aeri’s body lifted off the ground, spun once in the air, arms and legs loose, dress fluttering like broken wings. She flew ten, maybe twelve meters before she landed, rolling limply until she came to a stop on her side near the far curb.

One of her white heels spun away across the road and stopped against the gutter.

The truck’s brake lights flashed red with the driver running it without breaking, tires screeching as it swerved around the corner and disappeared, leaving only burnt rubber smell and silence.

I couldn’t breathe. My lungs forgot how. All I could do was stare at her lying there, one arm twisted wrong, blood already pooling under her head, dark and shiny under the streetlamp.

"Huhh!?" The sound that came out of me wasn’t even human.

Then something inside me snapped awake.

"AERI!!!"

I ran. My knees hit the asphalt hard beside her, skin tearing, but I didn’t feel it. Blood was everywhere on the ground, on her hair, soaking into the white dress that only minutes ago had been bunched around her waist while she laughed in my arms.

"Aeri... baby, please..." My voice broke into ugly sobs as I slid an arm under her shoulders and lifted her head into my lap. Her hair was wet and warm, sticky with blood. Her face was scraped raw on one side, tiny pieces of gravel stuck to her cheek like cruel freckles. Her lips were parted, but no breath came out.

"Hey, hey, look at me," I begged, brushing her hair back with trembling fingers. "Open your eyes, please... you promised we’d go home together, remember? You promised."

I pressed my forehead to hers, tears falling straight onto her face, mixing with the blood. "Don’t do this. Not tonight. Not after everything we just said. Please, Aeri... stay with me..."

The blood was warm and sticky under my palms. It kept spreading, black in the streetlight, soaking into my jeans, into her white dress that was still bunched from earlier. I cradled her head in my lap, her hair matted and heavy.

"Aeri!! My love, are you okay? Please, baby, say something!" My voice cracked, raw and too loud in the empty street. "Someone!! Please help! Anybody!!" I screamed, twisting left and right, tears streaming down my face, snot mixing with everything. The road stayed silent. No footsteps, no doors opening, not even a dog barking.

Just the stupid phone in the middle of the street still beeping its happy little tune.

The truck was long gone, taillights vanished around the corner like it had never existed.

"Aeri... please wake up... please..." I cupped her cheeks, thumbs brushing over the scrapes and the blood. Her skin was already cooling. Her head lolled at a wrong angle, one arm twisted behind her back, waist bent like something inside had snapped. I couldn’t feel her chest move. Couldn’t feel any breath against my wrist when I held it under her nose.

"No, no, no, no—" The word turned into a sob that hurt my throat. I leaned down, forehead pressed to hers, rocking us both. "You promised... you promised forever five minutes ago... you can’t—"

The stars above us looked cruel now, too bright, too calm. I tilted my head back and screamed.

"Arghhhhhh!!!! AERI!!!"

The sound tore out of me, wild and broken, echoing off the empty buildings.

"Aaaaa—"

I jerked upright, gasping, lungs burning like I’d been drowning. My hands flew out in front of me, expecting blood, but they were clean. The room was dark, curtains drawn, only the faint grey of early morning sneaking in. The clock on the nightstand glowed 5:07 a.m. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

I was in Elizabeth’s bed.

Elizabeth and Clara were curled on either side of me, both naked, both sleeping peacefully, soft breaths rising and falling. The sheets smelled like perfume and sex and safety.

But my body didn’t know that. My heart hammered so hard the headboard shook. Sweat poured down my back. Tears kept coming, hot and uncontrollable, sliding off my jaw onto my bare chest.

"Arghhh..." A broken sound crawled out of me. I folded forward, knees to my chest, arms wrapped around my head like I could hold myself together. My whole body shook with sobs I couldn’t stop.

It was a dream. Just a dream.

But the blood had felt so real. The weight of her in my arms had felt so real. The silence after the thud had felt so real.

Elizabeth stirred beside me, mumbling something sleepy, but didn’t wake. Clara just sighed and rolled closer, arm flopping over my thigh like nothing was wrong.

I sat there in the half-dark, shaking, crying silently so I wouldn’t wake them, while the worst nightmare I’d ever had kept playing behind my eyes on repeat.