AFFLICTION

80 ~ [Love Is Affliction]

LAST chap. Thanks a lot to every single one for reaching here <3

LEERA POV

I only knew that I had been shot cause I could feel some sort of vibration at the exact point on my chest where the bullet pierced me. I could literally feel my flesh absorb the shock waves.

It wasn't that bad at first. Being shot isn't that painful, I thought. But a minute was long enough to make me comprehend what true pain feels like. It's a kind of pain I've never known, pain I never would have even imagined.

It's like dynamite had gone straight in my chest, like I had been lit on fire from the inside out, and suddenly everything slowed down as the flames of the fire surrounded me and started suffocating me.

So this, I think, is what it feels like to die.

I was blinking and it seemed to take forever. All I could see was unfocused, blurry images.

Then suddenly, I felt as if there were knives in my throat, holes punched into my lungs, and the more I blinked, the less clearly I was able to see. Soon I was only able to take in the tightest breaths, tiny little gasps that reminded me of my past life.

It was like trying to take in oxygen by breathing through the thinnest pipe. And the pain, the pain, the pain. The pain was terrible. The pain was the worst. The pain never seemed to stop.

I watched my life oozing out of me and it made me think about how easy death could be. How short a life I lived and how little I lived it. How I couldn't love, when I was given the chance. How I couldn't live my dreams, when there was time.

I thought, I would die. I will have to leave everything behind, leave him behind. The thought of dying isn't even terrible, but leaving everything behind like this is. The mere thought of leaving him behind is pure agony.

"When are you going to drink it? I want this bowl of soup empty." Aria's words shatter my hallucination and bring me back in the present. She seats by my side nudging my arm slowly. I have been staring at the bowl of soup for a long time, living in the world of hallucination, the terrifying past of 3 days back where my death was almost certain.

"Where is he? Why isn't he coming to meet me?" I lowly ask and I can already feel tears pouring down my cheeks. "Doesn't he know I woke up last night? It's already been 24 hours. Is he alright?" This anxiety is horrifying me.

Before Aria could respond there's a door knock on the door. Elena comes inside with a bouquet of white roses and Aria walks out of the room to give us some privacy. "How are you feeling now, Leera?" She sets the bouquet of white roses on the desk.

"Better." I look at her through my blur vision of tears, "Why isn't anyone telling me where Azezal is? I want to see him."
"I have a good news for you, Leera." She completely ignores my question and sits by my side, "Levi has got his consciousness. He's out of coma." For sometime I remain silent, I can't believe what I've just heard. I smile through my tears and cover my eyes. Thank god. I can't say how happy I'm and a sort of tranquility fills my chest as if a heavy burden is lifted off my head. But then in the next moment ton of questions arise. How does she know about Levi?
I hesitantly ask, "You knew-? You knew everything?" She gives me a slight nod and I'm kind of stunned cause this was unexpected.

She takes the bowl from my hand and set it on the side table. Taking my hand in hers, she let's out a sigh but I can't face her. My heartbeats are getting faster and my instinct is telling me something undesirable is going to happen.