Ephemeral

Surprise Acquaintance

It took a while for me to leave Sofia in that hallway that was enclosed out of metal – there wasn't much I could do for a corpse, no matter how hard I tried to convince myself that she was only sleeping...I knew the gut-wrenching truth.

I released a heavy breath as I continued to walk down the hallway, periodically checking over my shoulder for any traces of the men dressed in dark blue scrubs. I was clenching the needle tightly in the palm of my hands as I did my best to not let the panic, which was rising up inside of me, out. With each step that I took – it felt like the last one that I would take before I would encounter one of those horrible men.

Each time I placed my foot on the metal ground, I could hear it echoing around me. It made me all the more aware that I was alone in this place and that my only help – Sofia – was gone. I was on my own now with no one around to care if I was going to be killed.

A shiver went up my spine – just like the forest all that time ago...when I was escaping from Aidan after running from the mental health center. There was no one around and I was left completely alone – this realization caused me to suddenly stop walking and I began to let out uneven gasps.

If I wanted to get out of here I needed to do it on my own –

Of course I could do it on my own –

I was strong enough to get out on my own, wasn't I-?

On my own –

By myself.

I nearly fell to the ground as I became light headed at the self-doubt that was circling my brain unwillingly. It had been a long time since I thought this negatively about myself and I had thought that I would have been over it – it only takes one traumatic event before I was working against myself again.

My free hand reached out and slid against the frictionless metal that served as a wall.

Breathing in deeply, I lightly stroked against the metal to keep my thoughts grounded. I knew it was one of the tricks of having a panic attack – the utilization of your five senses to keep you here and within the confines of reality instead of your thoughts wandering endlessly but...that shit never once worked for me.

"Ahí está ella! (There she is!)" Came a voice from down the hall – I didn't know exactly what they had said but knew that they had found me.

I quickly looked behind me and found a man wearing dark blue scrubs and felt my eyes begin to tear up – it was all becoming too much.

I realized that if I didn't fight tooth and nail that Sofia's sacrifice would have been in vain, but...I was getting tired of the fighting, the running, and most of all, the killing. I had wanted to go back to the moment of solace I had with Rafael, along with Xavier, Bella, and my father --

It wasn't asking for much...

I let out a small whimper and then cleared my throat, covering it up – I needed to stay strong for Sofia.

Come on, Ari, you were raised to be a killer.

I took in a deep breath and turned on my heels, facing the man that was armed with a gun. It was pointed over at me and I stilled and froze where I was standing...the only thing I was good for was close quarter combat with the needle that I was holding, and the enemy in front of me had a long ranged one...

I was going to lose in a manner of seconds.

"Why don't you come over here, pretty?" The man asked, beckoning me towards him with a wave of his weapon. I narrowed my eyes in response as I took in my options –