The Recall Trials
Chapter 89: Bleed Me Until I Forget Him

Chapter 89: Bleed Me Until I Forget Him

Zaara’s POV - INSIDE THE MAZE

I held Vincent’s hand tight as we walked into the fog.

I don’t know when... but somewhere along the way, his fingers slipped out of mine.

I turned.

He was gone.

Just like that.

Gone.

Like his warmth had never been there to begin with.

"Vincent?"

No response.

I turned in the white mist, spinning in circles, reaching out nothing. The fog swallowed everything.

It was humming—this low, vibrating buzz that made my bones itch.

The fog parted.

Ahead of me stood a screen.

It flickered.

Glitched.

And then...

My mom.

She was in hospital gown. Her hair thinner than I remembered. Her eyes sunken.

Crying.

"Zaara, where are you? Baby, please... they said you left me here."

I couldn’t breathe.

"Mama?"

I reached for the screen like I could crawl through it. My hands trembled as her face blurred, but her voice kept cutting through:

"They said you left me."

I took a step back.

"No, I didn’t. I didn’t....I’m trying to come back. I’m trying to survive."

The walls around me shook violently, like the maze didn’t like my answer.

And this time, it wasn’t my mom.

It was...

Me.

But different.

Pregnant.

My hands clutching my belly. Tears running down my face. My eyes looked empty.

Standing on the other side of a shattered mirror.

"You chose danger over life," the reflection whispered. "You chose a killer. You chose a wildcard."

"I didn’t choose this—" I backed away.

"No."

"You chose the monster. The wildcard. The mask."

"Stop—"

"You hated the elites, remember? You wanted to burn them down. But now? You’d die for one."

The walls pulsed red.

"Or have you forgotten what they did to you?"

I stumbled back.

The walls shook.

But the reflection wasn’t done.

"You think he’s different," she hissed. "But he’s one of them. The mask doesn’t change the face beneath it."

I stumbled backward.

Images spiraled around me now. Walls forming screens—Vincent with the mask, standing over Ella’s body, dagger dripping.

Vincent choking Asha.

Vincent slicing Jojo’s leg.

"No," I gasped. "No. That’s not him anymore. He didn’t choose—"

"He always chooses wrong," the reflection spat. "And so do you."

"You forgot who the real enemy is."

"No," I said, shaking. "I didn’t forget."

I clutched my ears, fell to my knees.

Tears were streaming now.

I blinked, and suddenly the walls collapsed outward

"You left everyone for Vincent."

"You’re so desperate for love you let yourself become one of them."

My eyes lifted.

Back to the screen.

It showed me at thirteen. Stealing food. Running from soldiers. My brother bleeding beside me, holding my hand.

Then another video—me dancing at the party. In leopard print. Grinding on Theo.

Then—

Vincent.

His hand around Nomi’s throat.

"This is who you chose," the reflection snarled.

"The one who kills. The one who lies. The one who hurt your best friend and stabbed your friend in the chest."

"STOP!" I screamed.

The mirror cracked.

My voice echoed across the maze like a siren.

I ran toward it.

SMASH.

Glass shattered around me, slicing my knuckles open. Blood dripped down my fingers as I panted on the floor.

I curled in on myself.

I was breaking.

I was broken.

All I could hear was my own breath and the endless whispers of the maze:

"You left her."

"You betrayed your brother."

"You loved the enemy."

"You are the enemy."

My sobs choked out of my chest.

My heartbeat echoed like a drum in a coffin.

And somewhere far away....

I thought I heard Vincent screaming my name.

But I didn’t know if it was real.

Because in this maze...

nothing ever is.

I thought the mirror breaking would end it.

But it didn’t.

It just made everything worse.

The shards didn’t disappear.....they began to float. Like glass caught in slow motion, suspended midair.

And behind them...

A face emerged.

Asha.

Her eyes weren’t warm like they used to be. They were bloodshot. Streaked with red tears. Her lips twisted into something inhuman.

She took one step forward and the glass around her followed like a crown of blades.

"You chose him over me," she said. Her voice was cracked, trembling...not with fear. With rage.

I stumbled back. "Asha...?"

But she kept coming.

"You let him in," she hissed. "You let him win. The same hands that held you...killed me."

"No....." I whispered, shaking my head. "I didn’t know, he didn’t remember....he wasn’t himself."

"And I’m not myself anymore either," she snapped.

Behind her, more shadows began to form.

Kai.

Aaron.

All the people Vincent had hurt.

They weren’t blurry or illusion....like anymore.

They were Real.

Their skin pale and cracked. Eyes black like obsidian.

"You want us forgive him?" Kai asked. "Then you have to forgive this."

He lifted his shirt to reveal the brutal stab wound Vincent had given him during the hunter’s Trial.

"You want to love him?" Aaron said. "Then you carry the weight of all of us."

Their eyes weren’t just looking at me.

They were looking through me.

They knew everything.

And then...

The whispers began.

Dozens.

Hundreds.

All the same voice. All speaking at once.

"She betrayed us."

"She chose him."

"She’s no better than him."

"She left us."

"Let her bleed too."

I tried to run.

But the maze twisted.

I turned left.....ended up back at the screen.

Turned right....back at the mirror.

Spun around.....Asha again.

She stepped closer.

Her hand lifted, and in it...was the same dagger Vincent used. The same one from the Hunter’s Trial.

It dripped.

With blood.

"You should feel what I felt," she whispered. "Only then will you understand what you chose."

"No—" I said, backing into a wall. "Please, Asha... don’t..."

She grabbed my wrist...her touch ice-cold!and dragged the blade across my left shoulder.

I screamed from my throat.

Blood.

Real blood.

The pain was so real, I collapsed.

"Asha, stop," I sobbed. "Please...please, I didn’t mean..."

Her eyes flustered. There was this expression. "Save me." She whispered and dropped the blade.

Then vanished.

Kai stepped out now. Then Aaron.

Kai grabbed the blade.

Aaron stood behind me.

"Make her feel it again."

The blade sliced again.

My other shoulder.

The blood poured down both arms.

The whispers grew louder.

"She deserves it."

"She loves the monster."

"No!" I screamed. "I’m not! I’m not!"

I ran again.

But the maze never ended.

Every turn led me back to them.

To the ghosts.

To the grief.

To Asha’s eyes.

I collapsed in a corner, sobbing, clutching my shoulders.

Blood soaked through my shirt.

It wasn’t just hallucinations anymore.

I could feel it.

It was real.

Or maybe my body believed it.

My mind didn’t know the difference anymore.

And neither did my heart.