Celestial Heartbeat (Book One) COMPLETE

Chapter Thirty One - Tears

This was what it felt like to die.

My strength was sucked from me, I felt as though the whole side of my body had been ripped out and the gaping hole was exposed to the elements. But no matter what pain I suffered it was next to nothing compared to the pain I felt as the pain inside of me faded and so did the light behind Ren’s eyes. At first I thought for sure that he’d just passed out from the pain. But his face was so white, and his chest was not rising and falling the way that the unconscious Cosmo’s was beside him.

“NO.” I screamed. The ceasing of physical pain allowed me to scrambled forwards, picking up Ren’s hand, holding it delicately in my own. I pressed my finger against his wrist to feel for a pulse. When that came up flat, I checked his neck too and finally pressed my ear to his chest. I was only met by silence.

“H-he’s…n-no” I stuttered in disbelief, my head spinning around in circles. “No… no he can’t be.”

I lifted up Ren’s head, resting it upon my lap, running my fingers through his hair with one hand, and stroking the side of his face with my other.

“Please wake up Ren.” I whimpered. “Please.”

“Guess you should’ve let me kill this stupid one.” Rebecca mused, staring down Marcy. “Y’know, she just stood there and watched the whole thing. She didn’t try to run. Heck, she barely even blinked.”

She was right, Marcy stood wide eyed and gasping for breath, looking down at Ren and me on the dirt. She was in shock and her body refused to move an inch.

“It’s a shame too.” Rebecca laughed. “For her at least.”

Rebecca leaned over me, reaching down to where the dagger dug into Ren's body. I wanted to fight her, to keep her away from Ren, but I could not will myself to move my arms from around him. She had done all the damage possible. I refused to watch as she yanked the blade from his body - the same one that we had used to start this mess. Why had I been so stupid as to agree to any of this?

This time with the dagger in her hands, without hesitation or interruption Rebecca plunged it straight through Marcy’s chest. Marcy gasped, staring desperately from me to the blade lodged right in her body.

“No.” I sobbed. "Stop it... just stop it."

Marcy fell to her knees, gasping for breath and gripping at the handle of the knife.

“While I appreciated your boyfriend trying to be a hero and all…” Rebecca leant over, pushing Marcy’s hands away from the blade so that she pull the blade out of her once more, letting Marcy fall face first to the ground. “His efforts were… how do you put it… in vain?”

How dare she talk about Ren like that.

“SHUT UP.”

“It was sweet. Naïve, but sweet. He thought he could save her. But she was always going to have to die.”

“SHUT UP.”

My powers should have been bursting out of my hands by now, I was so consumed by anger and sadness. But there was no strength left in me. Rebecca was free to roam because in this crucial moment I was weak.

“But now that wolf boy is gone… it’s just one more reason for you to join me, right? Cutting all your ties for you.”

I shut out Rebecca’s words, looing upon Ren’s blank face. He didn’t look like he was sleeping, he looked empty. My tears fell free onto his face, wetting his cheeks. I did my best to wipe them all away.

“I’m sorry.” I sniffled. “I’m so sorry, Ren.”

I hugged him tighter and started to bawl. I felt hollow. My insides had been ripped from my body, and all I was left with was a mound of sorrow. It hurt to think, it hurt to breathe, it hurt to cry, it hurt just to be alive. Every breath was harder to take in and became nothing more than short gasps. I was beginning to fall into fall blown panic and all I wanted was for it all to end. I had had enough.

Rebecca sighed irritably, still hovering behind me.

 “Are you still upset that I killed him? I’m not sorry.”

“Why did you have to come back?” I sobbed quietly, moving my eyes away from Ren to glower at her. “What do you have to come back to?”

Rebecca kept the smirk on her face, but the shine in her eyes had faded. Although she was doing her best to hide it, I had touched upon a sore spot. That was exactly what I wanted, I wanted to pour salt into any wound she had.

“Crystal came back to be with her mum. I wanted my dad back so we could be a family…” I held Ren’s head closer towards my chest. “Why did you come back?”

Rebecca exhaled lowly.

“Because everything was taken from me in my past life. Every shed of goodness was stripped from me. This is my new family, my new life.”

Rebecca gestured to the wolves that surrounded her. The wolves that should have been with me, mourning Ren, their family. Their own flesh and blood. But instead they stood at her feet, like traitors. I hated it.

“They listen to me. They do what I say.”

“That’s not family! That’s having servants.”

“One day you’ll come to be my family, too.”

“I won’t.”

“You say that a lot.” Rebecca gave me a smirk. “But the funny thing is, when you’re dead a while, you get to see a few sneak peeks of the future.”

My forehead furrowed in confusion.

“And, spoiler alert, you will join me. I already know you will.” She gave another small laugh. “I’ve seen it.”

“NO.” I growled.

She was lying. She had to be.

Rebecca shrugged.

“You’ll see.”

She gave a final smile and disappeared into a cloud of mist, leaving me with two dead bodies and an unconscious Cosmo who was beginning to stir.

END OF CHAPTER

Sorry it's pretty short! But this was all that needed to be in this chapter!