Blood memory
866 Words
The weight of the night pressed down on me, heavy and unrelenting.
I hadn’t slept in days.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw it:
A body.
Blood.
The cold press of steel in my hand.
And the worst part?
I couldn’t remember how it happened.
The blank space in my mind was loud.
Louder than the screams I imagined.
Louder than the guilt I wore like skin.
The soft click of my bedroom door snapped me back.
I didn’t turn. I didn’t have to.
“Eve, you need to pull yourself together.”
Cassian’s voice—calm, firm, always half a command, half a comfort.
He stepped closer, his presence a familiar warmth in a room that had gone too cold.
I wanted to collapse into him.
Let him carry me. Save me. Tell me I hadn’t done what I feared.
But I couldn’t.
Not when I already knew:
I was cracking.
And something was waiting in the dark to take my place when I broke.
“I can’t do this,” I whispered. My eyes stayed on the untouched glass of whiskey beside the bed. “I feel like I’m falling apart.”
Cassian didn’t flinch. He was used to my spirals—used to holding me together without asking too many questions.
“Your father’s officially taken over the murder investigation,” he said.
My stomach twisted.
Of course he had.
“He’s going back to the crime scene tonight. Personally.”
My breath hitched. I couldn’t hide it in time.
Cassian stepped closer. I still didn’t turn around.
“They found something,” he added carefully. “At the bridge.”
No.
“They haven’t released the details yet. But… whatever it is, your father didn’t look calm when he left.”
My chest constricted. My vision blurred.
“I can’t breathe,” I whispered. “I keep replaying it. Trying to remember. But I can’t. I see flashes. Red. Screaming. Him calling me Eve. And then... just blood.”
“Hey.” Cassian touched my arm. “Don’t spiral. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
But he didn’t know that.
Neither of us did.
And that was the most terrifying part.
The next day, the entire palace felt colder.
As if something had seeped into the stone walls overnight—something sharp, watching, whispering secrets I couldn’t hear.
I was summoned to my father’s office just after dawn.
The moment I stepped in, I felt the difference.
The air was tighter.
The light harsher.
The man behind the desk no longer just a father.
He was the Commander again.
“You’re late,” he said, eyes hard.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured, bowing slightly.
He didn’t look up. His fingers tapped against a folder on the desk—its corners frayed like it had been opened and closed a hundred times already.
“The case has escalated.”
I stood frozen.
“The body had no ID,” he continued. “But there were… other traces.”
He looked up then. Right at me.
“Hair. Dark. Long. Female.”
I said nothing. Couldn’t say anything.
“We’re running DNA tests. Full sweep. Palace staff. Guards. Extended royal family. Just protocol,” he added.
Just protocol.
Except it wasn’t.
Not with the way he was watching me.
“Something was missing at the scene,” he said. “Something personal.”
“What was it?” I asked, barely able to get the words out.
“We’re still determining that,” he said. “But whatever it was... the killer either took it with them or dropped it somewhere else. Sloppy.”
I didn’t move.
“You need to be careful, Evelyn,” he said, voice dropping. “There are people who would use this to smear the royal family. People who would point fingers—whether they have proof or not.”
“Are you saying someone’s going to accuse me?”
Silence.
“I’m saying... stay in line. Stay quiet. Stay safe.”
Stay innocent, he meant. Or at least look it.
I nodded.
But inside, something was unraveling.
That night, sleep never came.
I sat by the window, watching the city lights flicker below like distant fires.
The moon hung above me like a blade.
And all I could think about was the body’s face—soft eyes, a scar on his cheek, lips that had formed my name.
Eve.
He had known me.
And I didn’t even remember his name.
Around 2 a.m., my phone buzzed.
Cassian.
His message was short.
Be careful. They’re watching you. Don’t trust anyone.
I read it once.
Then again.
Then stared at the screen until my reflection blurred into the glass.
Don’t trust anyone.
Not my father.
Not the staff.
Not even Cassian?
Was he protecting me... or surveilling me?
I didn’t know anymore.
I didn’t know who I was anymore.
And that’s when I heard it again.
That voice.
The whisper in my head that didn’t belong to me.
You did it. You know you did.
It was louder this time.
Clearer.
And I didn’t argue with it.
Because deep down, I was starting to believe it too.
- Writer
