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"Gracie!"
I was running. I didn't know where to or how long I'd been running, but I couldn't stop. I was much too scared to ever stop running again.
The voices in my head told me that I should just die, I should have perished on the island, I should have let my brother's best friend take revenge for our mother. They bragged that in the end it was all my fault and Jamie was going to pay the price. Then they said something unexpected.
'Jamie should have already died.'
What... what did that mean. I froze in my tracks, blinking as the wind kicked up sand and dirt into my eyes. When I finally got a good look at where I was, I recognized it immediately. I was in the field at the top of the rocky cliff that dropped down to the ocean where the slowly decaying Iranian Embassy still stood, but just barely.
"Jamie should have already died?" I repeated slowly and carefully. I would have to remember this later, keep it stored away and never forget it. I hoped I was wrong in the direction my twisted mind was moving, but something told me I was exactly right.
"Gracie!" I heard Jamie behind me chasing after me. He'd probably gotten a bit lost in the pursuit. I don't remember Jamie ever coming up here before.
I didn't move from my spot even when I heard the crunch of footsteps behind me before they came to an abrupt stop. As the wind rushed by my ears, I was unable to hear Jamie's next steps, but then I heard it.
"Gracie! Where are you?" It was Jamie of in the woods calling for me.
I felt myself tense, bracing for whoever was behind me to push me off the cliffs edge, but they didn't.
"Gracie..." I heard Alexei before I felt his warm arms wrapping around me and pulling me back from the stories long drop awaiting me, "Gracie, let's go home. I don't like you up here."
"Why? The breeze is nice. It smells like the sea. I miss the sea, but going there now, the feel of the sand makes me think of-"
"Don't say his name."
"Is he Voldemort now?"
"He may as well be. I never want to think about that bastard ever again."
I took a step forward reaching my hand out to the horizon that hung low on the water beyond the cliff.
"She's out there, Alexei." I reached for the mirage of hers, the blond hair that shown like gold in the sun's rays, the pink sun dress flying in the wind, the tears too that she shed every time she finished a good book, mourning the story she would read again and again despite the sadness if would bring her.
"She's not." he reached up with one hand and grabbed my hand in his. Mine seemed so small and frail compared to his. He brought our intertwined hands back toward us, resting them on my chest just below my chin, "She's right here, Gracie, she always has been. She'll stay there too, forever."
"I should have followed her."
"Where to? The afterlife? She never would have wanted that."
"It's not right that she isn't here. It won't be right until I'm gone too."
"Then it will be right in about 70 years when the two of us and Jamie all pass together."
I scrunched up my nose, "Why is Jamie there too? That was almost romantic."
"We both know your brother is never going to leave us alone, Gracie."
"Point taken." I smiled and pulled his hand up to my lips leaving a kiss, "Thank you."
"You don't need to thank me for wanting you in my life forever. I am just lucky that you agreed."
I turned around and held him tight in my arms. I could barely wrap them all the way around his muscled waist, but I still tried, I still squeezed him with all my might. I still looked up at him, despite all the hurt and pain, despite all the obstacles of the future that I didn't even know of yet, despite everything, I told him, "I love you."
Or I wish I did. Jamie found us and cut me off before I could even begin.
"Strike two, Volkov."
"Buzz off, Jamie!"
"No."
I gave him a look.
"Don't say it." he glared back.
"I'm gonna say it."
"Don't you dare!"
"Semper Fi."
"Damn it, Gracie!"
