Death Falls | Death & Aaliyah [ON AMAZON]

Chapter Four: Death Obeys

I was watching her just a moment ago, so where was I all of a sudden? Why was everything around me pitch black? Why was I home? I didn’t want to be here. I haven’t been here in five years. WHY WAS I HERE? I needed to be with my Aaliyah. I needed to be with my Aaliyah now!

But how could I get to her? I spent hours trying to get back to the mortal plane, but my domain was unrelenting. It kept me here for what I could tell was a majority of a mortal’s day and it did nothing but make me feel hollow, yearning for my Aaliyah to fill the gap.

It was only after hours had passed had I finally allowed my frustration to boil over and explode into a guttural roar that echoed throughout my wall-less chamber. It was then that I felt something inside me. Not a feeling, but as if the darkness within my cloak was shifting without my influence. I felt it tighten and morph as if to form into something new.

Confused, I dashed the black fabric from my body and looked down as the black fog-like mass flowed in a spiral with a faint hue of white light that glimmered at the centre.

“What is this?” I grumbled, but as the glow rose, I silenced myself and only watched.

It took a moment, but eventually, I saw what was happening. The bits of my darkness were solidifying, but it was small. As the image was revealed to me, I realized what it was, and if I had eyes, they would have widened.

The new body part was black, tentacle-like and slimy as it hung from the broken snout of my skull. With a curiosity, I shifted the thing, and it raised. Thick at the base, gradually slimming to its tip. I cocked my head to the side as I retracted it… Was this a tongue?

I had many questions to ponder, but my head raised the moment I heard the sweet voice of my Aaliyah.

“W—Why did you l—leave m—me? W—Why?”
It was the fastest I flung on my cloak and quickly glided into the plane’s veil. I had no idea if it would have worked, but I could only assume so when I was able to hear her. 

As soon as I stepped through, the mortal plane greeted me in a space of artificial light. I was where my Aaliyah stood.

It froze me, seeing her sobbing silently beyond her control as she cried for what I assumed was me. Would I be foolish for thinking that? When she looked at me, I understood I was no fool. My Aaliyah wasted no time in jumping into me and wrapping her arms over what she could, and though I was startled, I too engulfed her into an embrace with nothing but peace saturating me.

“Never leave me again,” her hoarse voice demanded.

Shocked by this, I was only filled with warmth as I responded, despite knowing she would not understand me, “Never again.”

~

We were at a different place than the apartment before. In fact, this was a two-story house, one that looked as if it hadn’t had a person inside it for years.

My Aaliyah had brought me here after her friend dropped her off at the apartment. If memory serves me correctly, this was where she lived with her mother. It puzzled me as to why we were here.

“We can stay here until…” she trailed off for a moment before picking up again, “I don’t even know… Is this weird? Do you think this is weird?” she asked me.

Though an odd thing to do, I was rather excited for it to happen. I wanted to be with her. To stay in her company, even if it was filled with nothing.

“I thought it was better to stay here. Pry has been calling my phone all day. I also saw him on the surveillance cameras at the house he rented out for me. I don’t know if he wants to apologize or try to finish the job. It’s better to not risk it, right?”