SCYTHE

17.𝑨𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒅𝒐𝒕𝒆

His gravelly voice was scraping my eardrum, and despite being scared of him, I felt a tingling sensation below my navel. His voice was like the best kind of poison. The one that sent you six feet down after one drop.

I had to stop him from doing other perverted things, so I spoke up. "I-I want to know something." My voice quivered.

He stopped moving his nose, and the strength of his hand around my neck loosened but did not move.

"Hmm?" He hummed in response, my ear becoming hot.

As I was thinking of the best question to distract him from going further, he changed the placement of his hands and locked them around my stomach, pressing them hard against my body like a rope.

The time was ticking.

I knew I had to dig deep for him to stop concentrating. Death was always on the alert. So I dug the deepest I could.

I exhaled. "Were you the whole time we were together manipulating me into liking you as you did with Grandma?" I asked.

He huffed and then smashed me against the west wall-the chilly tiles pressing into my bare shoulders. I was now facing him closely. Still, I couldn't see anything past the mist of shadows on his face.

His hands barricaded me, and when the sleeves of his cloak rolled up, I noticed how slender his arms were. I guess he wasn't kidding when he said he's all bones. He was a walking corpse. His gaze moved where I was looking, and he immediately made his sleeves roll up to cover his whole arms and forearms.

I was starting to freeze due to his closeness. The more seconds passed, the more I scolded myself in my head for taking my pendant off. Mistake learned.

Death was quiet for some time, but then he ended the silence. "Every moment we spent together, either me as Madeline or Alec, was real." He tucked a strand of my wet hair behind my ear. "I want to experience everything with you in realness." He added.

I'm not sure if what he said was true. Because I already saw what outcome it had on Grandma, and she didn't remember almost anything. I couldn't trust myself anymore. I couldn't trust anyone.

"If what you said is true, you wouldn't disguise yourself as a woman. Why did you do that?" I asked, clutching my hands around the hem of the towel.

Death let his hands fall, and that was the perfect opportunity for me to run to the sink and grab my pendant.

When I assured myself his hands were resting against the sides of his body, I hastily moved to the sink. I captured the pendant, clipping it quickly around my neck.

I was breathing loudly from the adrenaline. My insides twisted when I looked back at Death. His whole body was turned to me, standing as a statue. He couldn't make a move toward me anymore. He couldn't touch me or whisper into my ear. But he could still be close enough to me to watch me whenever he pleased.

As I thought, I didn't get an answer to my most wondered question from the moment I knew about his disguise.

I took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. "Please, just leave," I said quietly, fighting tears.

In that instant, he vanished, leaving a gray mist to linger in the air behind him. The weight dropped from my shoulders. I could finally breathe normally. I didn't waste a second, and I hurried to my bedroom. I let myself drown in my bed. Feeling the sheets cover my body. I was trembling from the coldness; I thought my fingers would fall off.

I closed my eyes and imagined I was somewhere else. Anywhere but here. I heard my heartbeat pounding in my ears, and I took a deep breath and pictured myself in a warm embrace. Someone's body was heating me from each side. Filling me with warmth until my frozen bones unfrosted. My skin was no longer uncomfortable to the touch, but desired.