Children of the Dead

24| Don't Disappear on Me

Her pale face, peppered with faint brown flecks. Her sapphire eyes with shattered fragments of emerald sprinkled on top. Her fiery hair twisted into simple braids. Every detail, so lucid, so fragile.

"Enver," Her sweet voice sends a thousand daggers into my heart, "Enver, how could you? Why did you kill me? What did I do?" Tears drip down her face, yet her face is vacant of emotion.

"No. No. No!" I scream, but she can't hear me, "Hartley, no, I would never, no!" My words are stumbling from my lips. I try to scream louder, begging for her to hear my desperate cries.

My eyelids flip open to see Decklin standing over me in the dark, panic scribbled in his expression. I gasp for air, never seeming to get enough in my lungs.

"It's okay! Hey, you're okay," he says calmly. My breathing slows and I realize it was only a dream. His arms are tight around me, constricting me to his chest.

Whimpers escape my throat as he whispers in my ear. I hold him tighter. Listen to his heart beating rapidly, a soothing lullaby of thumps in my ear. I close my eyes, and listen to his gentle words. Soon enough, I've drifted off, back to sleep.

The shimmering sun is warm on my face. I open my eyes to see the White Room barren. I start to peel myself off of Decklin's chest, but a pair of strong hands wrap around me and he twists my hair between his fingers. I pull myself closer, inhaling his intoxicating scent.

The door flies open and Omar stands behind it. He stares, wary of me.

"Yeah?" Decklin mumbles, clearly annoyed.

"Oh, uh, breakfast," he replies before darting back the other way.

"Oh, okay. Come on," Deck whispers to me. I lift myself off of him only to lay back down on my bed. I can't eat, not with the guilt clawing my soul.

"You need to eat, Enver," he says with kind eyes but a stern tongue. I refuse, not moving a muscle. He lets out a breathy sigh and relents.

"I'll be back in a few minutes," he leans forward and kisses my forehead once more. As soon as the door clicks shut behind him I wrap a blanket around my body.

Snapshots of my dream fill my head, a horrific slideshow repeating over and over, burning my heart, ripping my soul into lifeless shreds. I'm subconsciously rocking back and forth, my eyes wide, my mind wandering. Every second is torture.

"Hey," Decklin calls, snapping me out of my trance. I look at him, memorizing his figure. He steps closer, wrapping an arm around me. I cherish his touch.

•••

They day drags on, every hour seeming to take a century to end. I can't stand to be alone, but I refuse to say a word. If I haven't lost my mind yet, I definitely have now.

The dark blanket of night covers the Earth, and the only source of light is the faint glow of the moon, thin and sad. I'm terrified to sleep but my eyelids seem to weigh a million pounds.

I force myself to keep them open, fighting away the urge to sleep. I can't see her face again, it would destroy me, shattering me into a thousand pieces.

•••

"Why would you kill me?" I hear her sweet voice, and my heart snaps in half.

"Hartley no, no I-" I stammer, but a change in angles stops me. I see Holloway standing to the right of Hartley with a gun pointed directly at her head. His finger is on the trigger.

"No. NO!" I shriek. The loud crack of the gun fills my ears. I see her lifeless body crumble to the floor, crimson blood spilling from her skull. I don't breath. I can't breath. Terror suffocates me with it's cold merciless hands, pressing harder and harder on my neck until it snaps.