Page 59 of A Kiss From Death
I stagger backwards, slipping the covers down the bed to reach forhim. I scream at the top of my lungs when I discover Theo’s tattered, blood-soaked body lying dead in our bed. A loud sob escapes me, hysterically crying while trying to shake his body back to life like there’s any hope of resurrecting him.
There’s not. He’s gone, taken from me too soon.
His skin has long gone pale. His eyes are open but lifeless. He’s unrecognizable from the deep gashes that mar almost every inch of his body. His beautiful, torn up face that will never smile at me again looks haunting now.
I’m choking, gasping for air that is no longer there. His arm lurches up, the skin dangling in slabs of torn flesh as he tightly grips my throat, cutting off my air. I try to pull away, but he has a death grip on me.
“You let it kill me,” he growls in a demonic tone. “You failed me, left me to die alone. No wonder nobody loves you. You have no one in your life because you’re not deserving. You didn’t deserve my love. Your family realized that the day they abandoned you at the orphanage as a baby. It got me killed instead.” His red rimmed, lifeless eyes hurt to look at.
“No!” I let out a sob as I furiously claw at his hand, trying to remove it from my neck.
Gripping one of his boney fingers, I rip his hand from my neck, falling backwards and taking my first deep inhale. I turn to run out of the room but immediately stop in my tracks.
“Everything you touch dies.” The little boy standing in front of me is barely recognizable. Hudson is motionless, his skin burnt to a crisp, his eyes red and unseeing. “You are the reason I’m dead, Nyxi!” He takes a step towards me, and I scream at the top of my lungs.
They chant out truth after truth around me, riddling me with guilt that drives me to insanity. Dropping into a ball on the floor, I cover my ears and rock back and forth in hysterics.
I can’t stop screaming. “Make it stop! Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!Please.” The plea comes out weak, in a whisper.
“Nyxi, wake up!”
I lurch up in bed, gasping for air as I aimlessly flail my arms. A panic attack sinks its claws in me, thenightmarebringing back every raw emotion I’ve pushed to the back of my brain.
“Shhh, you’re okay,” a deep voice soothes next to me. “It was just a nightmare. Take deep breaths for me. I’m right here. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
The voice sounds far away, unrecognizable in my frantic state. I’m lost in a haze, trying to decipher dream from reality. My body trembles, hyped up on adrenaline. Sweat coats my skin, my hair slicked to my face. I feel and look like a mess, my disregarded emotions finally catching up to me. I’ve had nightmares of Theo’s death on and off since he was taken from me, but never were they this dark and cruel. It felt so real, the guilt of it all laid on thick for me to face.
I feel a hand start to slowly rub up and down my back. After a few minutes, when my breathing has calmed, I slowly lift my head and look into a set of concerned, deep blue eyes.
Aeron.
“What are you doing here?” I whisper, my voice hoarse and scratchy.
He gives me a soft smile, one full of pity. “I heard you screaming from my room. I ran over as fast as I could.” I give him a small nod. “Turns out, it was just a nasty nightmare. I tried to wake you, but you were thrashing around so hard. I screamed your name, and it finally broke you out of the chaos.”
I nervously twist my hands together, not sure how to respond. I’m past the point of exhaustion, and my heart sits heavy in my chest. Aeron seems to take note of my reluctance to talk about it, so he doesn’t push.
“I have nightmares sometimes too, you know. I have a specific one when I’m stressed. I will wake up in full body sweats, confused as to where I am. I’ve learned to cope with them, though. Now,each time when I wake up and can’t seem to shake the nightmare, I make myself think of one good memory to distract my brain.”
He grips my hand and nods, and I give him a small nod back in understanding. He’s trying to help calm down in the best way he knows how without pushing me to tell him the deepest darkest parts of myself.
I close my eyes, still gripping his hand as I think about my favorite place.I’m sitting at the edge of Luna Lake, the sun slowly setting in front of me, casting a warm pink hue across the flat water’s surface. The sky above me is starting to twinkle, breaking out in glittering stars. I’m chewing on a wedge of bread as I watch the beautiful man in front of me keep himself afloat in the smooth water while trying to convince me to join. I giggle at something ridiculous he says, making me choke on a chunk of bread. He launches out of the water and tackles me, drenching my clothes in the process. He pretends to do chest compressions on me, bending down dramatically to give me mouth to mouth. I playfully shove off his sloppy wet lips, making him tumble in the grass while letting out a deep chuckle. His smooth, rich laughter makes my heart flip in my chest, content on living off the sound of his laugh for the rest of my life. The heart beating inside me belongs entirely to the gorgeous man staring at me like I am the entity who breathes life into him.
Opening my eyes, I take note of my body now fully relaxed and mostly back to normal. My heart beats steadily in my chest, the clouds fogging my brain washed away. All that remains is a happy memory sitting at the forefront of my mind and a kind man sitting on the edge of my bed, looking at me with pride in his eyes.
“Thank you,” I rasp, giving his hand a soft squeeze. He smiles back and pats my pillow for me to rest back on. Sinking back into the lush pillow, Aeron drags the covers over my body, tucking me in.
I panic for a fraction of a second, scared to be sucked back into that hell the second I close my eyes. Aeron must take notice, because he slides his body next to mine, pulling me tightly betweenhis chest and shoulder. He slowly drags his hand down my hair, calming me.
He whispers down to me, “Sweet dreams, Nyxi. I’ll be right here to slay your nightmares for you.”
I close my eyes, my head rising and falling with the cadence of his chest below me. My breaths start to even out as I ride the edge of consciousness, the world around me growing fuzzy after minutes of blissful silence.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers next to me, and then a blinding pain explodes from my side.
I start convulsing on the bed, my vision blurring around the edges. I can’t breathe from the intense pain radiating from my side. Springing my eyes open, I look down and spot the handle of a dagger protruding from my side, his hand still wrapped tightly around it.
He reaches down, tucking a stay curl behind my ear while looking at me with a stone cold face I’ve never seen on him before. Gone is the playfully cocky man I’ve come to know. Placing a finger to my lips, he shushes me. “It’s nothing personal, Vagrant. I actually came to like you, but the opportunity arose, and I would be a fool to pass it up.”
