A Window To A Soul

Chapter 16: Cal

My eyes opened to see darkness. I don't know what woke me. I looked outside and saw that it was still dark out. Probably around midnight. There was no light in the hallway, and I didn't hear anyone.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I looked around, still wondering why I woke up. I was about to lay back down to go to sleep when I heard the creak of a door. Curiously, I got up to check out what the sound was. I had a bad feeling about it.

I expected to see a light on when I opened my door, but all I saw was darkness. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw that Della's door was open. I thought about my next move. I wondered if she was just going to the bathroom.

I turned around to go back to my room when I noticed that Malakai's door was also open. Right then, I knew I couldn't go back to my room. Something was wrong.

I walked into the hallway and toward Malakai's room first. I poked my head inside and looked around. It was empty. Malakai was gone. But what I did see was his duffle bag on his bed, open. Stuff littered the bed. I walked inside the room and looked at the contents of the bag.

I hovered over it and looked at the weapons. There were many illegal items here, probably meant to kill a Great One, and probably powerful enough to kill a god if they aren't expecting it. I felt fear rise in my stomach. A lump formed in my throat and I immediately wanted to throw up.

As my eyes landed on one more thing, I immediately bolted out of the room, into the hallway, and into Della's room, not caring about the urgent noise that I was making. I couldn't let him use them.

What I had seen was an empty box of bullets. He was going to shoot her. And I had to stop him. I felt myself almost trip on my feet, but I stopped myself. Time seemed to slow itself down as I thought of losing Della.

It's weird. I wasn't worried about losing my own life. I was worried about losing the one person that I felt a genuine connection to. And I promised myself something. If I could save her, I would stop treating her differently. I will treat her as she deserves. She wants a friend, so I will be there for her. If she wants someone to listen to her troubles, I'll listen. If she wants someone to hug her while she cries, I'll be there. If she wants to push me away, I'll let her.

I stopped in the doorway and looked at the sight in front of me. Malakai, his face covered by his hair, was pointing a shiny gun at the girl, sleeping peacefully in the bed below him. She was on her side, her hair resting beneath her cheek. Her fingers rested peacefully against the comforter.

I stopped breathing as I started running again, Malakai looking at me in surprise as I tackled him to the ground. I heard a yelp above me as I now sat on Malakai's chest, trying to grab the gun from him before he shot me.

As I did so, I thought about what I will be able to do if I survive this. And I thought about what I wouldn't be able to do if Malakai won the fight for the gun.

Our hands fumbled, but I finally grabbed the barrel of the small handgun. And then I took my other hand and grabbed the handle. I looked Malakai in the eyes as his careless eyes that once held life in them, went blank as I pointed the gun at him and pulled the trigger.

A loud bang echoed across the mansion before a painful silence rested over the scene. I breathed heavily as I looked at the lifeless and bloodied body below me. There was a hole in the middle of his forehead. My heart was pounding. But even though I had just killed someone, all I could think about was that Della was alive and safe.

I looked up at Della quickly and she looked down at me with a pale face. Her eyes darted back and forth to me, and Malakai's body.

I tried to catch my breath. I felt like I was suffocating. Even though I was breathing, it felt like I was suffocating. The only thing that now laid in my mind was thoughts of what would have happened if I had failed.

My breathing started to speed up. I was desperate to get these thoughts to stop. But I couldn't. I looked down at Malakai's body, and all I saw was Della laying there. I saw, instead of Malakai, Della's lifeless face.

Blood continued to spill everywhere and I didn't even notice when I had fallen back, staring at the ceiling as my panic attack continued. I couldn't breathe. I was trying to breathe, but every breath lacked the oxygen that I needed. I didn't go unconscious for another while. I could see that Della was above me, trying to talk to me. But even though I could see her yelling, I could feel the vibrations, I couldn't hear her. All I could hear was my own breaths. And then everything went black.

I was able to breathe. My heartbeat slowed. My head rested on something soft. Something warm rested on my hand, which was also on my chest. I was too exhausted to open my eyes, or move anything at all.

I could feel the rest of my body laying on something hard. And then I heard a voice. "Are you awake?" It was Della's voice.

I forced my eyes open and looked at the face above me. Della. My head was resting in her lap and she had her hand on my own. The memories of the night before flooded my brain as the light coming from the windows lit up the room. I sat up slowly, my body aching from sleeping on the floor. I sat up and looked forward, immediately regretting it.

It wasn't a nightmare like my mind had tried tricking me into thinking. I was right all along. Malakai's body laid in front of me, a puddle of blood underneath it.