Bora II, Return home to me

chapter 17 | you're a ghost

Gemma POV

I visited the last place we created memories. There is the cabin. If I leave you behind, I have to say goodbye first. I will bring the things to cherish the memory of you. Part of me still wants to keep you close, but I can't stay in this crippling state any longer. But I also can't let you go for good. Being in Colorado feels as though I am at a standstill. It isn't good for my health.

Life can be unjust. How could it take the best part away from me? But... What's done is done. I will grieve at the last moment for you and my lost love for you. I will have to accept that what was will never vanish but to cope with the loss.

I will leave Colorado and start a new life elsewhere.

Goodbye... Bora.

I only wish.

I stare at the pendant I found in the box that belongs to him. Where the sun turns for eternity, as the pendant is at a standstill. Similar to the nonliving and living, it was his grandmother's. He told me before. I close my eyes to breathe and hook the pendant around my neck, caressing the crystal.

Part of me doesn't want to leave, but I will power through it. I will walk away. This is the first step in healing my soul. I veered around and found three strangers standing in front of me. A feeling of being taken aback overcame me. One had a charcoal wool cloak, unable to see its face. Another had a white silk cloak, unable to see its face. However, the third one, the one that terrified me the most. It had primitive polar bear fur with the head still attached to use for a hood.

You could see the smeared blood stained on its teeth and residue of splatter blood on its fur. The paws wrapped around his neck as the deadly claws rested on his sinewy ivory chest. I can tell this man hasn't missed a day of exercise. And if he was the one who took the life of that poor creature, Lord have mercy on my soul.

"She's sad. Can you sense it?" The one wrapped in white silk spoke with a soft but stern feminine voice to the Polar bear killer.

"She's been sad for a long time." The one wrapped in wool spoke, but she sounded familiar.

"Cari-," I mumble.

"Gemma," the polar bear man's smooth tone, made me lock my eyes on him, discarding my question.

Who is — I stepped back as he removed his hood, and I gasped for breath as he closed the distance. I unbearably stepped back from him, rejecting his ghost with a tired yet tearful head shake. There's no way life can be this unfair. It took me one long year just to not cry when I think about you and now he stands before me as I watch him through the burning tears, plunging my eyes, yet still able to hold breath inside my lungs.

One year — It took me one devastating year to decide to move on. Only to find out I played myself into believing I am.

"Breathe, Gemma." I gasped, feeling his hand on my elbow and his smooth deep sound, so sweet and nostalgic, like a calm wave on an autumn evening wrapped in a blanket. My leg flew up into an open scissor kick to distract him while grabbing dirt from the ground. I came up, throwing it into his eyes. It's an illusion. There is no way that is Bora.

Sorry, but you can't be real. You're gone. I hoarsely squeaked. They took you from me. And I know you're a supernatural being, but not even you can't beat death. I can't do this anymore. I mumbled as I stepped back and then darted into the woods without a second thought, fighting the demons that've been living with me for a year. My mind is beating against me, to manipulate and game with my emotions. I won't fall back into that black hole, not when I finally found the legs to move on.

I jumped the roots and dodged the branches so happily I have been practicing cross country running. My moves are slick, switching directions, and my alertness is Gärde A. I took the flight response and ran until his images fled from my mind.

His voice still lives crystal clear in my mind. The same deep hoarse crack when he feels sad or concerned. There's no way he can be here right now? He died. His skin was beyond pale to dead ash, and his eyes grew dark, rooted veins. It's what I saw. It's what burned a hole in my chest. That pain still carries on from the scar he left behind.

"Gemma!" Bora's out cry reverberated through the trees and into my heart, shocking it to my tight braid stomach. I darted back to how real it felt, sending fine vibrations through my body. "Gemma, come back!"

"It's done! We're over. We can't reverse the clock." I screamed.