⚜Guardian⚜

Chapter Thirty Two- Beginning of the End

Her chest heaving, heart broken, Lacey ran outside. Where could she go? If she left, it would destroy the purpose of their argument. If she remained, she would have to remain within 500 yards of Asher, the argument replaying over and over vividly in her head. She decided she would leave, but she wouldn't go far- just far enough to clear her head. She stormed off in the general direction of town, trying to rearrange her jumbled thought processes into something less painful and more tangible.

Town wasn't anything interesting, especially because it was only six in the morning. She decided to go to a coffee lounge, which was generally open to people who liked to mope. She ordered a pumpkin latte and sat in the back, where no one would see her. As she stared blankly out the window, everything that had just happened seem to reoccur to her in slow motion. Tears leaked out of her eyes, salty and stinging. Sitting here, completely immobile, was probably one of the hardest things she had ever done, especially when it felt like the world around her was crumpling to bits. She got up and walked outside, mostly because she couldn't handle sitting still any longer.

Lacey was walking past a parking lot when she saw a thick purple mist rolling around her ankles. It was very low to the ground, and it seemed to be curling around the entire town. Her eyes burned suddenly, and Lacey coughed. Tears leaked from her eyes, her eyes growing red with irritation. It was as if the mist was messing up her insides. Lacey tried walking faster, but it was as if her entire world was slowing down. Someone shoved her sideways, and she found herself inside a big black car.

"What..." Lacey tried, unsuccessfully trying to decipher the situation. Someone slipped into the driver's side and blasted the air conditioning before jumping out again and locking the doors. It wasn't until Lacey saw the words Ford Explorer on the dashboard did she realize what was happening. She pounded on the window, seeing Asher's unsteady form outside.

"NO! Asher, don't!" She yelled, banging in vain on the window. She tried yanking the lock open, but he had rigged the car somehow so that it didn't open. Asher was coughing loudly into his elbow, but he was clearly trying to make it look less painful than it really was.

"Asher! Let me out! Let me OUT!" She screamed, pounding on the door. He shook his head.

"Its okay," he mouthed to her.

"NO IT'S NOT! GODDAMMIT ASHER, LET ME OUT OF THIS CAR!" She screeched.

The purple mist coiled around Asher’s body with the slow, curling visual of a slithering snake. Lacey pounded at the window to no avail. Asher’s back lurched, and a loud snapping sound ensued. Lacey let out a gut wrenching scream, unable to tear her eyes away from the window. This was all her fault. Asher was being tortured, slowly and cruelly, all because she had to throw a fit and run to town. Asher roared, but it didn’t sound like him. It sounded almost like a beast. Lacey’s eyes burned so badly it felt like they were on fire, but that didn’t stop her tears. The purple mist morphed into a large purple cloud, enveloping Asher so Lacey couldn’t see him any longer. What seemed to be an eternity later, the mist evaporated. And Asher wasn’t there. Leo, Aida, Jeffers, and Ari came to the scene soon after, finding Lacey in a heap inside the car, but she was beyond fighting. The scene of Asher being snapped like a pretzel replayed over and over inside her mind, up until the point where she slowly began going insane. Three words remained continuous in her loop of internal torment- Asher was gone.