“I can’t even think of hurting you,” Alex broke the silence, fixing his gaze on the large map hanging on the wall. “I could never consider the option of ending your life.”
Hearing him in such a dilemma shattered my heart. I knew I had to do something and sound very convincing, just as I did when I tried to make him understand that I was confusing my feelings for him.
“Do you know what you’re saying?” I asked, approaching him. “If you can’t remove this from my hand in time...”
“Don’t go on!” he ordered, cutting off my words. “I don’t want to accept it.”
That’s when I realized that even if Alex managed to remove the butterfly from my hand, it wouldn’t change the fact that Glass could find me and use me for his purposes. After all, I had his blood. What other way out could there be? Alex had to end my life, and the sooner he started accepting it, the better.
“Alex, please!” I managed to say very quietly amid tears. “You have to do it! I have Glass’s blood. If you don’t do it, and he manages to find me... God, I don’t want to!”
He pulled me towards him and hugged me desperately as if trying to protect me. I felt the frustration in his embrace, but at that moment, my mother’s face filled my mind, and I let out some lamentations.
“Oh, my God! My poor mother! How much she has suffered! How much more will she have to suffer if I...”
“Enough, Amelie!” Alex firmly imposed, breaking the embrace, his eyes seeking mine. “Don’t think about that! Your mother has hidden everything from you so well all this time. We’re going to get rid of that damn butterfly, and we’re going far away! Glass will never find you!”
“Alex, this is beyond us. We have to think clearly!”
“My original plans are off the table, so I want one thing to be crystal clear,” he paused and took my face in his hands. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you! Even if it means I have to abandon my fight and spend the rest of our lives running away.”
“I don’t want you to do that!”
“And what do you suggest I do then?” he asked angrily. “Bury what I feel for you? Put what I should do ahead of what I want to do? I’m not a hero, Amelie! This time, I want to be selfish! I want to be with you!”
“Alex...”
“Enough! Just tell me in detail what your parents have told you. Right now, every bit of information counts to buy us time.”
“Not much, I think,” I began speaking, drying my tears. “My mother told me that Logan Savage was a drunk who abused her and always threatened to harm me. One day, she prepared everything with a lawyer and managed to get Logan, in the midst of a drunken stupor, to sign the papers renouncing me and his marriage to my mom.”
“So when did you become Robert Johnson’s daughter?”
“According to what I was told two years ago, my mother and my father Robert were very good friends, and he offered to help her. They went together to Oldtown and settled there, so no one would suspect anything. They would be the typical young couple with a nearly two-year-old baby. Now I know that story isn’t entirely true.”
“Of course, your father was Glass’s assistant who escaped with his wife! We need to talk to your parents!”
“Stop, Alex!” I interrupted firmly, extending my hand to halt his urgency. “My parents shouldn’t get involved until you manage to free me from this butterfly. My mother would suffer terribly if she sees me with this.”
“Okay, Amelie, but at some point, we’ll have to face the truth with them,” Alex assured nervously, his fingers anxiously playing with his own hair. “They deserve to know what’s happening.”
“Before we continue, I need you to make me a promise,” I demanded subtly, fixing my gaze on his eyes. “If for some reason you can’t free me in time from this butterfly...”
“Amelie, I...” he tried to interrupt.
“Listen!” I claimed with determination. “If you fail, you must follow the protocol intended for Glass’s son. Understood?”
“Am...” Alex hesitated.
“Let me finish!” I insisted firmly. “If you’re not successful, you must commit to doing exactly what you would do with Glass’s son. Are we clear?”
“Amelie, please, you can’t...” Alex pleaded, his eyes glassy.
“Please, Alex! Think clearly for a moment. This could endanger your life, my mother’s, my father’s... Help me, please! Don’t let this happen to me. I beg you! Promise me you’ll do it!”
Desperate, he grabbed my face tightly, diving into a kiss with a passion I had never experienced before. His hands left my face to draw my body towards his, squeezing my back with such intensity that it seemed like the air was escaping from my lungs.
The kiss burned with longing and desperation, extending into an ecstasy that threatened to have no end. My whole body seemed engulfed in flames, and my heart galloped at an unbridled pace. I felt like my entire being could explode from the intensity of that kiss, but the idea didn’t matter to me; I only craved more. My hands also ventured, exploring every inch of his back and squeezing him tightly against me.
When it seemed like the oxygen would run out, we began to slowly separate our bodies. The kiss came to an end, and our eyes met in a revealing silence.
“I promise,” Alex whispered, letting out two tears, barely audible. “But I also want you to make me a promise.”
“I’ll do whatever you ask,” I said, bringing my hands to his face, tenderly drying those two tears.
“I want you not to obsess over all this, to live each day without worrying too much, enjoy every moment as if it were the last, and keep doing the things you’re passionate about. I don’t want to see you sunk in sadness. We’re going to overcome this together!”
“And if I find it hard to do that?” I asked with discouragement.
“Then, look for me or think of me. Don’t let anything else occupy your mind, just think of me and how much I love you.”
“I love you too, Alex,” I confessed with full conviction of my feelings. “Kiss me?”
After the kiss, I decided it was time to return to the reality of school and my everyday routine. What else could I do?
I constantly reflect on the word “future,” although I know it’s a fleeting entity. It doesn’t exist as something concrete. What I have is the present, a present that is tinged with fears, anger, and resentments.
I question myself over and over with the same questions. Why me? What have I done to deserve what’s happening to me? Whom have I hurt so much? Uncertainty eats away at me, but for now, all I can do is trust, wait, and have faith that everything will be resolved. It’s that, or let myself be consumed by the night while I overanalyze every aspect. I need to rest; I must keep my promise.
YOU ARE READING
Oasis Path©(English Version)BOOK 1 OASIS SAGA
Novela JuvenilAmelie Johnson begins a new life at Lawrence College of the Arts. Her stay in that place begins to take her down unexpected paths and she soon discovers that her entire life has been wrapped in half-truths. As if that were not enough, she must deal...
