Edited by Stilldreaming85 and Banshee69
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Anthony Cullen.
Physically, I knew my body was here because the throbbing pain in every part of my body felt too real to be a dream. Mentally though, mentally I didn't know what world I was in. I didn't know if I was here, there, or anywhere for that matter. But there was one thing that stood out, one voice, one face.
That angelic face, her sweet aroma, her beautiful presence was staring back at me. She was my happy place, my life, and my home.
"Anthony, come on, you have to stand up." A sweet voice said. But I saw no one, only her, my angel.
I didn't understand what was happening to me right now. None of this could be real, could it? No, it wasn't; none of this was. Kate was dead wasn't she?
I heard her voice so clear. Her laughter rang out and filled the room, it brought a smile to my face. The light around her shone so bright. But I knew none of this was real. My Kate was dead. I had killed her myself.
"Look at what you did to him." That same sweet voice spoke.
"He deserves far worse than what he received." Someone answered.
"He could have brain damage, Edward."
"Or he might just come to his senses."
Their voices slowly tuned out. They became nothing but a low humming in the background. My eyes and my ears were only focused on her now. I took her all in. The way she looked, wearing nothing but my shirt. The way her loose red curls framed her face and her bright blue eyes.
"Kate," I called out, yet she ignored me as she moved about in our living room as if I weren't even there.
"Kate." I tried again.
She turned around and looked straight at me. I took the few steps towards her until she was only an arm's reach away.
"I missed you so much," I said, bringing my hand up close to her face, wanting, longing to feel her again, but she moved out of my reach as the doorbell rang..
I followed behind her, and watched as she opened the door. I watched as she leapt into another man's arms.
My blood boiled. My hands balled into fists. "What the fuck are you doing?!" I yelled out, but they carried on as if they hadn't heard me.
I watched as his hands went under the shirt Kate had on, revealing her backside. She was naked underneath.
I reached into the back of my pants for my gun, aiming it at this motherfucker who had the balls to come into my house and touch my wife.
I pulled the trigger and yet nothing happened. There was no noise and no bullet was fired. I tried again and again, only to be unsuccessful each time. I let the weapon fall from my hand onto the floor. The noise of its decent rang out in my ears and echoed through the room, but it did nothing to disturb them.
"Are you sure he won't be back?" He asked her.
My head snapped up as he spoke. I knew that voice, I knew that accent.
"No, he's in Florida, and don't worry about anyone else. I slipped Matthew something and put him out for the night," Kate said. She had drugged my man; the person I entrusted with her safety so she could walk into the arms of the enemy.
I wanted to kill them both all over again. I wanted to put my hands on her, hurt her and make her suffer the same way she was making me suffer. The same way I have suffered all these years because of her.
However, there was nothing I could do now except watch them. I couldn't scream, I couldn't kill them and then I realized what this was. This was hell, my own personal hell where I would be forced to watch, forced to relive my wife's - the only woman I have ever loved - betray me over and over again.
I guess my brother had succeeded after all. He killed me; he put me here in this nightmare.
"I love you." I heard Kate moan out.
Those three words escaping her lips, hearing her declare her love for another man, it tore me, it broke me in half.
I stayed and watched them from my pitiful spot. I watched him fuck my wife in my house while she still wore my shirt. I watched it all. I let it all sink in, every moan every scream, the way her fingers scratched down his bare back.
"Did you notice anything, something that stood out about him?" Someone asked.
"Like what?" That sweet voice I'd heard earlier replied.
"Tattoos, a birthmark, anything."
"He does have tattoos."
"Where?"
"Everywhere, but the one on is back stands out the most. It's unusual; I've never seen anything like it."
"How so?"
"It's a tree, or at least I think it was tree. All the branches are twisted and mangled together with words, names mixed in-between. The trunk goes down his spine with strange looking roots at the bottom. There's something written there, but I couldn't make out what it said though. He said it was Celtic."
"Was there any color?"
"No, it was all black."
"Dolcezza, did he... did he... on the top of that tree, behind his neck, was there a green spot like a four leaf clover with an initial in the middle?"
"Yes!"
Everything that sweet voice had described was staring back at me. Liam's tattoo, their family tree, the Celtic verse at the bottom and four leaf clover at the top. It was all Liam.
I couldn't handle this anymore. I couldn't handle watching them, hearing them. I wanted to escape, but I didn't know how. The pain was too much and even after all these years, it was still too raw. The pain felt as if it were setting me on fire, burning me alive, yet at the same time it felt ice-cold.
I had to escape from here, somehow I had to. I closed my eyes for a brief moment. I felt hot tears as they slid down my face. It had been a long time since I had shed any. There was nothing I could do to stop this, to make it go away; so I did the only thing I could do, I let it take me over. I fell to my knees and closed my eyes, letting the pain and the betrayal rip me apart.
-MINY-
Something had shifted around me. The air was different. I could no longer hear Kate. I couldn't smell her nor feel her presence anymore.
I could hear the low hum of an air conditioner and the repeated beep, beep, beep of a machine somewhere close by. I was almost afraid to open my eyes, wondering what new hell I would wake-up to.
"Anthony?" I recognized that voice, Isabella. But why was she here in my hell?
I slowly opened my eyes, thankful someone had dimmed the lighting. I recognized where I was immediately. I was in our underground's clinic room.
"Hey," Isabella said from somewhere beside me.
I tried to turn my head. I tried to sit up, but instantly regretted my decision. There was a pain that shot through my head; I could feel right down to the tip of my toes. I let out a frustrated groan as I lay my head back down on the pillow.
"Don't move. The doctor said you would be in a lot of pain," she said.
"Am I dead?" I had to ask.
"Nope."
"Fuck!" I said, bringing my hands up to my face only to feel the sting of the IV drip in one hand as I accidentally tugged at it and a cast on the other. "What the fuck happened?"
"You don't remember?" She frowned, coming around into my line of sight. She held a glass of water with a straw to my lips and before either of us could blink, I had finished the entire glass.
"I'm not sure of anything right now," I admitted.
Seeing Kate had felt far too real for my liking. Hearing her, even inhaling her scent still lingered on my mind.
"Edward may have overreacted after you took me out that night," she said.
"That night?"
"It's been almost two weeks, Anthony."
"Motherfucker. He actually tried to kill me," I mumbled.
"Are you in a lot of pain?" She asked. "The doctor left some painkillers to give through your IV if you were to wake-up before he got back."
"Keep that shit away from me," I said, almost yelled. The sound of my own voice caused that throbbing in my head all over again. But I would gladly accept this pain over the one that would overcome me if I were to sleep again.
"Don't be a hero, Anthony."
"You come next to me with that and believe me, you'll be the one taking a nap," I said.
"Alright then," she huffed. "Suffer," she said, placing the syringe back on the table.
I heard the door open but I didn't dare move my head to look up and see who entered.
"Finally," I heard my brother say. He came around to my bedside and leaned over me, placing a kiss on the top of my head. "Good to see you're finally up."
"I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you," I said.
"You shouldn't have pushed your fucking luck. Although I'll admit, I'm glad I didn't kill you."
"He won't let me give him the pain meds," Isabella said.
"He doesn't look to be in pain to me." My brother shrugged with a smirk tugging at his lips. "You need to get out of that fucking bed anyways. We've got work to do."