https://archive.palanq.win/bant/thread/18459957/#18488261>>18514359>>18522284>>18522287>>18522288>>18522689>>18524546For the first time since running away from the mansion, Nikki becomes aware of something other than how utterly sad and broken she feels, that being the late night chill as she wanders through a thick forest. In the back of her head, a familiar voice continually whispers for her to go home, becoming louder with every passing hour. Too loud now to ignore.
"I don't want to go back," Nikki says, finally replying. "I'm never going back."
Nikki's phone begins to vibrate, not for the first time. She's missed a number of calls now. With a frenetic intensity the voice in her head urges her to answer this one, clawing at her mind until Nikki is left with no choice but to reach for the phone.
But without even checking to see who the call is from, Nikki hurls the phone at a nearby tree with all the strength she can muster, and it shatters against the hard trunk. The voice hisses obscenities at her, then renews its pleas for her to go home.
But Nikki shakes her head. The months she spent in the Divine Mansion turned out to be some of the happiest of her life. But now, that place would only remind her of Jennifer's tragic demise. The thought triggers mortifying memories of what she saw when she fell into that crater. The exposed skull of a woman that was so powerful and full of life not long before. A woman that was her first real friend. Her real sister, more of a sister than Cassie would ever be.
"I can't go home, because I don't want to keep feeling this," Nikki whispers, as she emerges from the forest. Ahead of her is a cliff overlooking the ocean, but all she sees is a chance for relief from her pain.
