The summer heat seemed to have been a haunting effect on all of us, as it came crashing after a late spring rain slowly floated on by. I groaned a small bit as I sat up on my bed, and looked at the deep purple sky, that was glowing with revealing stars. Wiping the sweat off of my forehead, I slid out from under the thin cotton bed sheets, and walked across the warm carpet of my room.
A warm breeze had slowly slipped through my open window, moments before I could step out of the hallway and unknowingly found myself in front of Paul's room. The light coming from under the door told me that he was still awake, and I slowly pushed open the door. My eyes took the sight of seeing him on the floor, doing rather quick pushups and he shifted himself into sit-up position in a fast, yet, easy movement. Entering without a single sound, I continued to watch him till he got up onto his feet and saw my reflection in the mirror. He turned around rather quickly, and he let out a small breath of relief.
"Alright, how long were you there? And what are you doing up? Because you went to bed two hours ago."
Walking over to his bed, I leaned up against his bedpost frame. My fingers grazed the scenery of some unknown forest area that was carved into the frame.
"I've been here for only a few minutes, and the heat woke me up. You know I'm not a fan of the heat."
He laughed a small bit at my words, and threw a small stone at me. I managed to dodge before it could even hit me, and it landed on the bed. Laughing a small bit, I picked up the small smooth stone that he got when he went hiking down by a riverbed, a couple years back. Playing around with it for a few moments, I threw it back at him and he caught it easily.
"Now, you're just showing off are you?"
"Not my fault that I can catch things easily. So what brought you to my room?"
"I really have no idea, my feet brought me here."
His laughed ranged out through the room once more, and he took a few steps towards me. I grasped one of his hands, and he pulled me up against him while planting a kiss on my lips. His other hand trailed down from my shoulder to my wrist, lingering across the scars that his fingers have traced over one too many times, to where he had the scars memorized.
He slowly pulled away from me, and I could see the regret that was slowly overtaking his eyes. He knew that he let me down, by not being there to defend me when the attack began.
"Paul. . . You were there before he could have killed me. . . We're all late for something once in a while, sometimes in the battlefield, an event, or being there when someone really needs you at that moment. But as long that you can still get there, everything just might turn out fine in the end."
"I – I just wish that I'd been there sooner, than later."
"Promise me, right now Paul, that whatever game Argost is playing here, we put this behind us when it ends. And we move on from it, and don't ever look back it."
'Though there a problem to that promise, Miranda. Can we really put the past behind us after it's all over? Cause we've all seen you look back at the past, and use it as examples before. Even though we say to forget it, we just don't forget it easily."
"You do make things difficult, Paul. And remember, you have as much difficulty as I do, when letting go. But I'm willingly wanting to put this all behind, the sooner the better we can just move and finally have some peace and quiet."
He let out a bit of a deep sigh, and I knew that he needed sometime to think over my words for now. Walking towards the door, I heard him say something before I could even step out of the room.
"Yet, after you passed out, I spent days on end trying to find out who did this to you. The doctors didn't tell us about the flesh until, after you were being checked out of the hospital. Doc had to convince the lab that it was at, to give us a small sample so we could analyze it. And here we are, hunting the man who began this new battle."
"But the main question is, how long will this whole thing last before it comes falling down in the end? That's what I'm really concern about here."
I briskly walked out of the room, and entered my room. My fingers activated the small lock on the door, and I fell on top of my bed moments after that. My room was still warm, but I wasn't really caring at the moment. Turning onto my side, I kind of curled up a small bit and stared out the open window.
The warm breeze grazed my skin, drying it very slowly, and hardening a small tear that slowly slipped out from my eye. The call of an owl broke me out of my stupor, and it fluttered about on my windowsill, looking at me then back to the night sky. Slowly getting up, I walked over to it and brushed it soft rusty-colored feathers. It gave out a small cry, and nearly nipped at my fingers. Laughing a small bit, I sat down a few inches away from the owl.
"You knew somehow, I was upset, huh? I don't expect an answer from an owl like you, but having you here just for now and letting me pet you, it's good enough."
It shifted a small bit, becoming a creature that looked as though it had been carved out of stone or wood, by a skilled crafter. Brushing my fingertips through its feathers, some feathers came loose and settled down onto the carpet, and it shook itself a small bit to free a few loose feathers.
A light knock filled the silence, and the owl twisted its head to see who wanted to be let in to the room. Slowly getting up, I kept my eyes on the owl as I made my way towards the door. Undoing the lock and slowly opening the door, I peaked through the small opening and saw no one standing there in the hallway. Poking my head out, I saw a folded piece of paper on the floor with my name on top of it. Grabbing it, I shut the door once more and threw the folded note on my dresser, and headed back over to the owl.
It cocked its head at me, and gave out a small cry as I merely sat down. Letting out a sigh, I raised an eyebrow at the owl.
"You want me to read what the note says huh?"
Getting up, I grabbed the note and opened it up. It didn't have many words, except that its contents caused me to become cold to my core.
We're no longer playing any more games now. – V.V.
The owl gave out a small cry from my windowsill, and I saw it take off into the night sky. Silence was all that I heard, except for the sound of the crickets engulfing the night sounds, there was no other noise came to be that night.