Clapping thunder echoed across the near darkened skies, looming over as the cold rain heavily cascaded down from the heavens far above us all. The ground became drenched in the familiar liquid called water as it fell from the sky, creating a chill so cold one may think it was winter. The skies were a dark shade of grey, blocking out the summer sun's vibrant rays, and it swarmed the skies like a fire spreading through a forest. The sun could no longer shine its beams of light throughout the nearly deceased Haven City. The only sounds that could be heard was the heavy pitter-pattering of freezing rain falling from the sky, mindlessly clattering to the ground. In a way, one could say this was all peaceful and calm. The embrace of the soothing waters would relax a person who was so stressed out with everything to even care Even though it felt like that for some people, this particular moment was not the best time to be worrying about the calming sights, feelings and sounds of rain. Instead, it was something else, something different from the calm sanctuary called rain. This moment, this...horrifying nightmare, could not compare to anything else, not even the rain as it fell from the sky. At this moment, only one could hope and pray for that sanctuary to come.
Azure blue, deep set eyes suddenly started to turn dull by the passing minute. Small black dots appeared before me as I stood there, hunched over in pain and wondering how this could have happened. My vision began fading at an alarming rate; not doubt due to the pain that swarmed my body. In that instantly, I could see everything that took place in the recent history, wondering if what I did was worth it in the end. Did I really make all of these mistakes and not even think that the end would be my downfall? Thoughts like that and others passed my mind for only a second before it faded, returning to me to reality and making me face the pain that coursed through my veins.
When a moment of contemplating my life passed by, my gaze slowly moved up and glared at the figure before me with clenched teeth, an enraged aura surrounding me as if my looks could kill the first thing I saw. Due to the rapidly fading vision, I could no longer see or make out the figure standing before me, yet deep down I knew who it was. However, with the fact of no longer being able to see eminent in my mind, I chose to look downward again, taking notice to a blur of red pooling out and protruding in front of me. In that instant, the pain began coursing through me, spiking every nerve in my body even more than before. It was as if it was letting me know something was wrong and whatever was wrong needed to be fixed. My mind became dizzier and dizzier at the mere sight of it, the lightheadedness keeping me partially down to earth for a good amount of time.
I knew what it was without having to make out the shape. I could tell simply because of the sight, the touch and even the smell of it. The red blur was the dark and eerie color of blood, but it was not just anyone's blood pooling out in front of me. It was my blood, blood coming out of in injured inflicted upon me. It poured out of my abdomen and bled out as fast as my fading vision, causing my lightheadedness to increase with every passing minute, or in my case every passing second. As I had seen before, the redness of the blood was protruding out and away from my abdomen, which only meant an object was stabbed into me, causing the enormous pain I felt from both the abdomen and out from my back, where blood still trickled and stained my clothes. The torment lashed all around my body, and if I moved it would escalate for just a second before subsiding into nothing at all. A gasp escaped my lips as I attempted to catch my breath for just a second before looking back up at the figure, a death glare forming in my eyes. There was no use to it, though. Looks could only go so far, and in this case it was all it was: just a look.
However, the look made it seem as though I wanted to say something, anything at all, to show just how upset I was - both at the figure in front of me and myself. Unfortunately, I could not find my voice anymore. It was as if someone just stole my voice and kept me from saying a word at all. Not only that, but the amount of pain I was in left me speechless altogether. It came to me as a surprise, as if the incident I was in was unexpected. It was one of the reasons I found myself cursing at everything about myself and about the decisions I made.
Suddenly, a small, fading voice entered my ears, calling my name and trying to grab my attention. It sounded as though the voice was floating away from me or just passing by, like the wind brushing by and sounding as though it whispered in my ear. Immediately upon hearing the sound, I slowly looked over toward the direction that it came from, trying to figure out who or what it was that was speaking to me or at least trying to grab my attention. I did not even need to turn my head completely to notice a small blur of orange running across the ground seconds before it leapt onto my shoulder, standing up to be around two feet tall give or take a few inches. I could not make out anything else about it, but I did recognize it as the voice who spoke before. It started speaking again, its small voice sounding muffled and echoing in my head. At that point, it started to feel like I was being held under water as someone spoke. Even though it stood on my shoulder and was close to my ears, I was still unable to decipher what it was trying to say. Instead of answering as I would have liked to, I simply stared at the orange blur for only a moment, a look of sorrow and guilt filling my eyes.
I knew just who it was despite my fading vision; there was no one else that I knew who was two feet tall and orange. It was someone who was very close to me, someone who probably wanted to make sure I was okay. Yet, I did not have the strength to let it know that because I did not know if that was true or false. Besides, not only was I unable to speak in the first place (probably because of the pain), but even if I wanted to I would not say anything. Deep down, I felt so ashamed for what had happened. The memories of the recent events played in my mind and kept repeating as if it were a broken record. Everything that lead up to this moment - meaning what caused the object of interest to enter my body - was all my fault. I felt horrible to know I let my small friend down all because of a small mishap, a small screw up, a minor moment of hesitation; however, that was the only reason why I felt that way. Everything I once that was real, everything I saw, was all false, yet I was in so much denial I refused to believe it. I wanted to, but at the same time I did not. I feared the truth, in a sense; I was scared to go back to the way things used to be because I knew for a fact that I would no longer fit in. I was stupid, and I let this figure get to my head because of it. Because of that moment of hesitation of thinking about everything that has happened, it lead to the object protruding from my stomach and through my back, forcing the pain to be inflicted on myself.
The small voice continued to speak to me, as if trying to grab my attention, but I still refused to answer it. I was in my own little world, plus I just could not speak to it anymore. What was the point of speaking to it if I had nothing to say in order to explain myself for my actions of recent? It was all my fault, and I could never take it back.
After a moment of staring at the small figure, my azure gaze looked past it and noticed another blur of orange. This one, however, held hints of crimson red and appeared much taller than the one standing on my shoulder. At this point, I realized my vision almost blinded me, but I could still see hints of the figure in the distance. I recognized the figure just like the other one, but was unable to say anything at all. It was not because I chose not to due to feel guilty, but I was unsure as to what I should say. I knew the figure was staring right back me with an unreadable expression, which brought me to my own emotions fumbling around in my head. My mind was filled with mix emotions that it was hard to tell which ones stood out the most to me. However, instead of piecing together the rather odd puzzle, I chose to do what I did best with them and simply let them go altogether.
It no longer mattered to me, not when death was drawing closer and closer to me, so much that I could feel it pulling on the last threads of life within me. What was the point in attempting to figure out the emotions when my time was so close? Maybe it would give me some relief before passing, but I would never get to figure that out. Instead, my eyes narrowed briefly before looking away from the figure. It was as if I could no longer look at it without thinking on all the feelings forming in my head, knowing that I had caused so much trouble in his life as it was. Even though I tried to push away the emotions, it was difficult to do when I thought on the very figure I laid eyes on moments ago. Nothing could describe how I felt when it came to that particular person, and it was because of him that made me hesitate for the first time in years. It was too much to bear, and looking at the person right now made things much worse than I could have ever imagined.
The object, suddenly, pulled out of my abdomen after what seemed like an eternity, forcing me to take in a deep breath of air before staggering backward, gripping my wound in pain. Panting began to take place of my breathing as I tried to move away from the creature, but to no avail. The figure on my shoulder tried speaking to me again, as if trying to ask me something, but I was unable to respond once more. Then, something took a hold of my throat, blocking any air that may have found its way into my body. It felt like talons had latched on me, preparing to decapitate me in an instant. I gasped immediately out of shock and lack of air as it lifted me off the ground, its grip on my neck tightening the further I was off the floor. It caused the orange figure on my shoulder to leap off almost reluctantly, but I did not react to it. Even when more voices started to appear in my head, I made no sudden movements. The black dots continued to form around my eyes, verifying that death was still growing closer. My body was numb from the large amounts of blood being lost, and it got to the point where I could no longer move my limbs to fight back and attempt to free myself. I felt limp, useless, and ready for death to take me away.
Before anything else could happen, though, I took another glance at the second orange blur from before. It felt like my body was just shutting down on me, but at the same time I felt as though I wanted to look. Pain struck my chest as I watched said figure, and I could feel my eyes welling up with tears - a first, much like my fear, in a long time. I sensed he was staring at me still, but the expression was unreadable due to my lack of vision. After a moment, a single tear rolled down my cheek before I mustered whatever strength I had left to look away, a sense of shame falling over me for allowing all of this to happen.
I'm sorry... I thought to myself just before I felt myself being tossed like a rag doll and falling into the unknown darkness. The rain started to collide against my face, hiding the now free falling tears that had formed in my eyes. My eyes closed completely as I heard my name, but much more clearly, for what I believed was the last time...
"CIARA!"
