Our Last Dance [ONC 2021]

Chapter XV ~ The End of Life

I returned home in a state of total panic. My mind was a mess, overflowing with thoughts, each one worse than the other. It had been a bad idea, such a bad idea. Icarus had been right.

Without being able to think clearly, I ran up to his room. 'Icarus!' I screamed, even before opening the door. The clock struck one, but I couldn't find myself to care. 'Icarus!' Forcefully, I swung open the door, causing it to slam into the wall. 'Icarus, you won't believe...'

The words got stuck in my throat as I looked at the scene in front of me. Icarus was standing in the middle of the room, a black cape flung over his shoulders, a Venetian mask clutched in his hand.

'Icarus? Icarus, please tell me this isn't what it looks like. Please tell me you didn't...'

He just stood there, his eyes still wide with shock. The very same eyes as the person who had tried to kill me only moments before. Icarus. It all made so much sense now. The killer had never followed me, I had followed the killer.

He was silent. Why didn't he say anything? He just kept staring at me, as if he had just discovered some horrible secret of mine.

'Tell me, Icarus!'

'I—I did it for you? All of this was for you, Ophelia.' He sounded hopeful, as if that would suddenly make everything okay. He had done it for me. The thought sickened me.

'Ophelia?' In one hand he was still holding the mask. With his other he was reaching for me, his palm only inches away from my face. Did he honestly expect me to reach back to him? I pushed it away.

'Don't. Just don't.'

We stood there in silence, neither of us knowing what to say or what to do. Neither of us recognising the stranger in front of us. We were back at the beginning, it seemed. Only now, we knew so much more about life than we had in Venice. I couldn't help thinking about the rules I had once had. Don't get too close to someone. You will only regret it later.

I should have listened.

'Icarus,' I tried to reason with him, 'why don't we just forget it? Why don't we just move on, and you won't kill anyone anymore and I will see you in the future?' I knew I shouldn't give him an easy way out, but what else was there to do? 'Just stop the killing and everything will be okay.'

Slowly he walked backwards, as if he were scared of me, but the grin on his face betrayed him. 'Who's going to stop me, Ophelia? You? I will keep you alive, for as long as I live. We will have eternity, whether you want to or not.' In one swift motion, he opened the balcony doors behind him and leaped down. The roses broke his fall and soon he was on his feet again. He was running, but I followed him, as I had always done.

It was late, but never in my life had I felt so awake. You should never have trusted him. You should never—. I knew I shouldn't have, but how could I have done anything else? I had been alone, every single year of my life. I had been alone until he showed up. He wasn't the first to appear by my side, but he was the first to stay. And then... then he offered a solution to all my problems. 'You won't have to live your life in pieces anymore, Ophelia. I have found a cure.' How could I have ever known what he was planning? How could I ever?

And now, even after I knew what he had done, I still couldn't let him go.

I screamed his name a thousand times as we ran through the streets of London. It was a foggy night, but the black of his cape split the air in two, forming a clear path. I had no idea where he was running to. I had no idea if he would ever stop. I had no idea why I ran after him, but I did.

Finally he put an end to the chase and as I caught my breath, I looked around. We were standing on the Tower Bridge. I remembered how he had longed to see it before we had gone to London and yet, this was the first time I saw it from up close.