Asphyxiate

Chapter 6

"Miles, you don't have to do this..." Ashie's voice said from behind me... I looked up from the ground... I could have sworn I did it already, but the town was fine... There wasn't any flames... There wasn't any smoke... Nothing... I turned to look at her... Her dead eyes staring back into mine...
"No, if it wasn't for them, none of this would have happened... Let me do this!"
"Ashie! Let me do this for you!" I cried... She stood silently before me... Her hair gently flowing in the wind... Her dead eyes looking back into mine...
"Kit, I already love you... You don't need to do anything..." She said as she held her hand against my face... What was once warm, now just felt numb...
"Ashie..."
"No... I need this, I need to watch them suffocate!"
"This is retribution! This is my legacy! My unfinished story, forever unfinished!"
"They all need to die..." I cried out as I fell to the floor... The town burning behind me... The smell of the smoke filling my lungs...

"I... I did it... This is it... I won..." I said as I looked over my masterpiece... Everything was gone... All of it...
"But... I hurt the only people that I loved..."
"Ashie... You betrayed me... But... Is THIS, really what you deserved..."
"Jack... You didn't need to die... You were innocent in all this..."
"This town... It didn't need to burn..."
"Kyle... You didn't need to be involved in any of this... I could have let you be happy..." I said aloud... Visions of him flickered faintly in front of me...
"You really loved her? Didn't you..." I asked... The hallucinations didn't answer... They just taunted me...
"Why... Why couldn't I have just accepted this..." Visions of everything that could have been... Everything I did wrong... Everything... I saw me and him... Laying on the grass, looking up at the fireworks... The brightest colours... It hurt my eyes... But I wanted to be with him, so I just ignored it... Staring up at the night sky... Leaning in closer... His arm around me... As I began to cry into his chest... The smoke blocking out the stars... As I watched him suffocate...
"I... I hurt the only people I care about..."
"I'm dispicable..." I rolled up my sleave, admiring the blood flowing down my arm... The crude shapes of hearts decorating it...
"Kyle, you once said you wanted me to be happy?"
"Then promise me..."

"I've always loved this forest..." I said as I stared up at the twisting branches of one of the trees... The blood red light of the sunrise shining through the yellow leaves... The wind howling through the leaves... The pure silence...
"See you soon..." I whispered beneath my breath...

Everything's so bright... The blinding, white light is all I can see... All around me... Its so quiet... So... This is it? This is the end? No... There's a figure in the distance... He's waving to me...
"Miles!" The figure called to me... I started walking closer... The void began to take shape as I walked... I was in the forest... The faint sound of birds chirping in the distance... As I got closer, I realised who the figure was... It wasn't death... It wasn't the devil... It wasn't even god...
"I love you"

There was a loud bang. I rushed outside to see what it was... Huge, roaring flames... What happened here... I cried out for help... But no one answered... I ran through the street... But everyone was dead... I covered my mouth to avoid breathing in the smoke... I kept crying out for anyone... Eventually someone answered... A boy ran up to me...
"Please, you need to help me!" He cried, I recognised him now... This was Kyle's little brother, James...
"What's going on, what happened!"
"Miles, he... He blew it all up... He said he was going to... But... I didn't think he'd really..." Miles... Miles did this? No... No, that's not possible...
"W-why are you laughing?" He asked... So, this is what you wanted? Miles? You wanted it all to burn? This, this is your masterpiece? Your legacy? Well... If this is what you wanted... Then I'll finish what you started...

"H-help, anyone!" Those were my last words... I tried to scream... But I couldn't even breathe... Her hands around my throat... I tried to fight back... But everything went dark... Full blackness... Silence... I tried to call out, for anyone... But not even my screams made a sound... I saw a bright light in the distance... And a distant cry for help... I tried to run to the light... But no matter how long I ran... It never got any closer... Never...

"Hello?! Is anyone there!?" I cried... No one answered... I ran into my sister's room... There had to be something... Something had to say where she went... Under her pillow... A piece of paper... And an map...

I run through the forest... I try to find the building marked on the map... But there's nothing here... Just trees... I keep running... But there's just more trees... I run for what feels like days... But there's no escape... All I can do is cry... Ash... I'm sorry...

There was an explosion... I woke up in my hospital bed... I tried to stand... Smoke filled the room... I felt a sharp pain in my stomach... It still hasn't healed... Why... Why did he spare me... I forced myself to walk... Slowly exiting the building... Miles... You did it... Its all gone now... Are you happy? You got everything you wanted...

"I did it... Miles, its complete..." I said aloud... I heard his voice echo in my mind...
"Thank you..." As I walked through the ruined town... I saw someone... I took my knife from my pocket and started slowly approaching the figure... As I got closer... I realised who it was... Jack... Miles' little brother... He was calling for help... I threw the knife aside and ran to him... Catching him before he fell...

"Who, who are you?" He asked...
"I'm Amelia, I was your brother's friend..." I explained... He looked slightly confused before continuing.
"I need your help, there's an abandoned warehouse in the forest, I need to go there!" He explained... I didn't understand, but he was Miles' last piece... The only part of Miles I still had... I helped him with no hesitation...

We walked through the forest... Even with the light shining through the leaves, it was still dark... After walking for what felt like hours... We reached a rusted, ruined warehouse... The door was baracaded from the outside, after moving the baracade, I forced the door open... Jack limped through the door... I followed behind him... Its too dark to see anything...
"Miles?" Jack called into the darkness... No one answered... I found a chain by a wall... I pulled it down, a metal curtain fell to the floor with a loud crash... The light from the massive window shone through the room... At the other side of the room, there was a balcony with a set of stairs, but I couldn't quite make out what was on it...

We walked up the stairs, my arm around Jack's shoulder... On the balcony, a charred corpse, completely unrecognisable, and a corpse tied to a chair lay before us... Jack nearly threw up...
"Miles... You didn't..." He mumbled under his breath...

We exited the warehouse through the back door, the light was blinding... But once my eyes adjusted... I saw something in the distance... Hanging from a tree...
"Miles..."