The Unexplained

-Abby-

There are knives in my blood.

Scrapes littering my skin.

Bones shattered within my still working body.

All of these things is what I'm currently feeling. The fire in my veins has gotten worse since my mother left. She left with me still in this tank, still stripped to nothing more than my undergarments, and still being pummeled with the water raining down from the showerhead. The concentration of holy water was increased automatically a few minutes ago, without my mother here. It makes me wonder and worry whether or not it'll do it again.

I don't know how much more I can take.

Trying to distract myself from the constant pain, my mind drifts elsewhere. I start to think about my mother since she's relevant. I start remembering her cruelty to Cas and me as a child as well, trying to get us to push the limits of our abilities. She beat us, shouted at us, and consistently told us that if we couldn't do this one thing, she'd never love us. She still doesn't. We were only five, a short time before being sent to Facility 9 for a few years. At the time, what we were trying to do was impossible. A feat that requires a massive amount of power and strength. When we escaped her and found Facility 9, we thought that was our miracle. We thought it couldn't get any better. We hadn't tasted true freedom until we left the facility. Today, the two of us can become as one like there was no problem with it in the first place. Our abilities strengthen the other person's. Our minds work together as one. I suppose this is why Lilith thinks she can force me to do this. Force me to activate my powers while being soaked to the bone, which not only shuts off my powers but since there's holy water mixed in, causes an enormous amount of pain.

A shock of holy water goes down my spine and I flinch back to the present. I glance around the room to see my mother standing at the control panel. She lets out a disappointed sigh.

"You were spacing out, my dear. That is the opposite of what you should be doing," she tells me, spinning back around to the opposite end of the control panel, the sultry, free-flowing skirt of her dress spinning around with her. "I just upped the concentration of holy water, but if you're not focusing on what you should be doing, maybe I should bring it up a little more."

Immediately, I am off my ass and I crawl to the side of the tank that is closest to her, flinching as I scrape my knee against the drain on the way over. I press my hands to the tank and I shake my head frantically. "Mother please, please, don't increase it anymore!"

"And why shouldn't I?" Lilith asks as she spins back to me. "You haven't made any progress since I last visited. Nothing. No flames."

I quickly try to defend myself. "But that's because you haven't given me the chance to yet!"

"Then show me," she says, frowning deeply. Deep creases form between her eyebrows.

The hole I've dug for myself only starts to get bigger. Damnit, why do I do this to myself?

My hands drop from the glass of the tank. Even with the sharp stabbing of the millions of tiny daggers that are being pummeled against my skin, I start to focus. I imagine the violet flicker of my flames dripping from my fingertips. That's all I have to do. Make my flames appear. I imagine the water around me being evaporated off my skin because of the radiating heat of my powers. In fact, I can almost feel it now. I can feel the roar of my demonic heritage shooting through my nerves. I can feel the bubbling boil of power in my blood aching to be shot forth. I can feel every attempt to do this before fade away as I feel my determination replace that feeling of failure.

God, it feels good. This rush of energy.

My surroundings almost seem distant now as I clench my fists. Despite the water rushing over me, I can feel beads of sweat well up on my forehead in my efforts to pull this off. I feel my powers fire up, charge through my nerve. I shoot my arms forward and...