Sydney Sage ran as fast as she could towards the horrid scene playing in front of her under a streetlight. Three strigoi had surrounded the emerald eyed spirit user Adrian Ivashkov and were leaning forward to each take a bite out of the messy haired moroi. Sydney could hear them chuckle as they came closer and she saw the fear in Adrian beautiful eyes. She raced as fast as she could but it was too slow. She saw how they drained him and then left his lifeless body in the golden circle of light from the streetlight. When she got there she looked into his emerald eyes that were now lifeless and without their usual glow. She called his name, first to his face and when she realized it was pointless she started saying it silently up to the night sky while she cried. She couldn't believe she'd lost him. She'd lost him before having a chance of telling him she loved him. Sydney cried and hugged the lifeless body tightly before everything faded away.
I woke up with tears streaming down my face and a horrible feeling in my chest. That was the worst dream so far. Ever since I left Adrian's apartment a week ago after he'd confessed his love for me and kissed me I have been having horrible nightmares. It started off with dreams involving Adrian telling me that he didn't love me anymore but soon escalated to dreams where he died. Night after night he died. Sometimes he died of an illness and I got too visit him in a hospital room and he died in my arms after I admitted to loving him too, while other nights, like the most recent, he died before I could even get too him. I often witnessed the whole process of him dying in my dreams, whether it was from strigoi or being shot in a robbery, I always saw him die but I could never get to him in time. I know that my subconscious is trying to tell me that I need too tell him what I feel but I just can't. Telling him those three little words could ruin my whole career as an alchemist and it could also ruin everything I've done too protect my little sister Zoe. I still need to do everything in my power to keep her safe, to keep her from becoming an alchemist. I won't let her walk down the same path as myself. Glancing at my alarm clock I noted that it was too late to go back to sleep now so I simply rose from my bed and started my morning routine. When I was finished I drank a cup of coffee from my coffee maker in my room and looked through my e-mails. At first nothing too important seemed to be in my inbox but when taking a second look I nearly choked on my coffee. Ever since our kiss Adrian had been very distant towards me and we hadn't really had much contact during the last week, until now. There in my inbox was an e-mail from Adrian with only one word written in the as the subject. "Why". I stared at it for a couple of seconds like it would disappear if I looked away until I took a deep breath and with my heart pounding in my chest clicked for it to open. When it was open I just started in shock. The e-mail was completely empty. Not a word, not even a punctuation was in it. Just that lonely word up in the subject bar was staring back at me and I instantly wondered what it was all about. The single word stared at me from the screen until I couldn't take it anymore. I logged off my e-mail account and made my way down to the cafeteria for some breakfast. I put an apple and a small container of yoghurt on my tray and scanned the room for either Jill and the gang or Julia and Kristin. I spotted Jill, Eddie and Angeline sitting at a table pretty close to me so I went over there and sat down next to Angeline. Everybody looked kind of tired and nobody spoke. Eddie and Angeline were eating with big enthusiasm and Jill looked a part sad, a part longing at me but snapped out of it pretty soon and wiped out all traces of emotion from her face.
"Good morning", I murmured while opening my yoghurt and picking up my spoon. I got a nod from Eddie and a quick 'morning' from Angeline while Jill just looked at me with emotionless eyes. I tried striking up conversation but none of them seemed interested in talking so we sat there and ate in silence. The rest of the day went by in a blur even though that single "Why" was present throughout the day in the back of my head. Did he mean "Why" as in "Why did you leave?" or as in "Why can't we go back to before?"?. Not knowing was agonizing for me. And on top of that it was feeding day, which meant I would have to see Adrian. I'd have to see him giving me longing and haunted looks while we both would try and fail at ignoring each other. I missed him so much. His witty remarks. Our bickering. His eyes, oh those beautiful eyes. Emerald green eyes that almost could stare into my soul. I know I made the right choice in the alchemist point of view when I walked away but I didn't do the right thing to my heart. I seem calm and at peace with my decision on the outside but on the inside I'm a mess. My heart is broken in a million pieces and my mind is going crazy. The only thing that's keeping me from being a sobbing mess is my alchemist training that taught me too always be calm and professional. I came back to reality when a sudden knock on my door made me jump.
"Sydney, are you ready to go?", Angeline opened the door and peeked inside. "Jill and Eddie is downsta.., my god are you crying?", she looked at me with her mouth halfway open and I touched my cheek and found that I indeed had begun to cry during my trip down memory lane.
"Yeah, I guess I am.", I said while I reached for a napkin and started wiping my soaking cheeks.
"Why? Has something happened?", Angeline didn't of course know about the whole story between me and Adrian since we hadn't told anyone.
"No, nothing special. Just an emotional breakdown I guess. There have been a lot going on lately.", That was half true. After the Strigoi attack and me escaping from the Warriors of Light I think most people would've been in panic mode.
"Oh okay, do you feel alright? Do you want some time or something?", Angeline was surprisingly sweet today.
"No, I'm fine.", I got up from my chair and took a quick look at my face in the mirror. It showed that I'd been crying, my eyes were a light pink instead of white and my makeup was ruined. I quickly fixed my makeup and headed for the car with Angeline at my heels. When I got too Jill and Eddie I felt okay again, but apparently I didn't quite look okay yet. Jill let out a surprised gasp when she saw me. Eddie with his dhampir hearing spun around and scanned the surroundings for danger. When he was satisfied that there wasn't any strigoi luring in the bushes he looked at Jill with a puzzled look on his face.
"Are you okay Jill?", he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine", she mumbled while still looking at me with a strange look on her face.