Celestial Heartbeat (Book One) COMPLETE

Chapter Thirty Two - Meeting My Maker (REN)

My legs felt like lead, it was an effort to just keep putting one in front of the other and keep moving. I didn’t know where I was, or what my purpose was but I knew I could walk, so that’s what I’d done for the past fifteen minutes.

It wasn’t the way that it was always described in books of movies, there was no bright lights around me, there was only darkness. I couldn’t quite eliminate the possibility that I was either in limbo, or in hell. It’s not like I’d been that good during my life so that I’d be deserving of heaven, if it existed, that was.

But I didn’t feel dead.

I was breathing, although admittedly, not well.

Whatever spell Evie had protecting me had faded and the pain of the wound in my side was beginning to stretch its filthy hands over me. I wanted to rest. I wanted to lay down on the ground and give into the pain, but I wouldn’t allow myself to let go easily. I had the ability to keep walking and surely that meant something.

It would’ve been a lot easier to keep going, too, if Evie’s screaming and tear-stained face hadn’t entered my mind, intent on haunting me.

I gripped at the side of my head, trying to get it to leave my mind. How was anyone supposed to have peace in death if they got stuck with such horrible things in their minds?

If it had been any other image of Evie I could have remained blissful, but I was stuck with the most heart-wrenching of the lot.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered to her, hoping that she’d somehow be able to hear me.

‘Sorry’ didn’t sum up just how I felt. It barely even scratched the surface. My life just seemed to be one mistake after another.

“R-Ren?” a timid voice echoed through the darkness and my heart caught in my throat. I’d assumed this was my own sort of personal hell, but it appeared that someone else had joined me. At first I was just glad that it hadn’t been Evie’s voice, but upon recognition of who exactly the voice belonged to, I wasn’t convinced it was a whole lot better.

“I swear to God.” I grumbled, digging my fingernails into my head. “That better not be you Marcy.”

“I’m sorry.” The voice sniffled.

For the first time since I’d arrived in the darkness, I stopped walking. I fell to my knees and held my head in my lap. Everything was starting to sink in. I was dead. And it seemed that Marcy, too, was dead. My sacrifice had been for nothing. I had died for nothing.

“After you jumped in front of me I sort of just froze.” Marcy was crying now. “Where are you Ren?”

“You tell me? Is this hell? Because it sure isn’t heaven and correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think this is the place that Rebecca just came from.”

I heard Marcy’s footsteps in the distance, she was running around wildly, attempting to follow my voice. She only ever stopped to catch her breath from all the crying that she was doing.

I was crying too. The tears rolled silently down my face while I did my best to not acknowledge their existence, but they were definitely there.

“Ren, we have to get out of here.” Marcy sounded closer, or possibly just her blubbering had groan louder in the passing moments.

“What part of dead don’t you understand?” I snapped back.

Marcy let out a small gasp in fright of my voice.

“Rebecca got back out.” She protested. “Maybe we’re not quite dead yet. Maybe we just need to break through.”

“Or maybe you just need to shut up.”