War

Chapter Three

Luz

Things were blurred and I looked up to see Amity against the side of the wall, my hands beside her head as I hovered close to her face. My brows furrowed and I stumbled back looking around to see I'd been at a familiar gas station I recognized from a very distant memory. I started to grow confused and disoriented, and I battled with my mind to comprehend what was happening. Why had I been back here?

"I get it." I heard Amity whisper and my eyes snapped back to her. She was here? How...how is she here?

"Get what?" I questioned. I became dizzy as an ache grew in my chest and a sense of dread settled in.

"Before, we both had our reasons for traveling, alone. I understood why you didn't want to do so with me." She whispered while looking down at her hands before her eyes lifted to meet mine. "But for me, you were different. Your actions, helping me in the way that you did, only proved much further." She took a few steps forward.

"I-I-" I stuttered, stumbling back and squeezing my eyes shut. Something felt off. I'm...I'm not the same anymore. I can't-

"I'm sorry I upset you." My eye snapped back open and I turned to see Amity sitting next to me on my bed and staring down at her feet. "At the time we were both starting and you were so closed off." She let out a breath before turning her head in my direction. "I hadn't earned the right to know then but I pushed so anyway." Her voice drifted into a solemn tone and my shoulders lost their tension, dropping.

"It's okay," I mumbled as the memory surfaced from the surroundings. As I looked up to get my thoughts together I found myself staring at the sky instead of my bedroom ceiling.

"I'm sorry I reacted the way I did," Amity told me and I looked to see her standing next to me as we stood overlooking the view high on the mountain. "This was after you told me your name. After you told me about Belos's group hunting you." She explained. I remembered. Of course, I did.

That night; my name, the monsters, Belos's group, the truth, all of it. I chose to be open, to be real, for her. It was new to me and scary, but also something else. A feeling coursed through my veins that day. The excitement that came with being vulnerable was terrifyingly new but for some reason, I didn't regret it. I had felt something that I didn't understand until far later. I had felt safe.

As I turned my body to face Amity fully I found myself instead now lying on the bed in our room at The Sanctuary as she lay beside me, her eyes on the ceiling above us. That was until she moved onto her side to now face me and I watched on as her eyes searched my face. That silence was calming but the racing of my heart and, from my memory, her heart as well reflected the opposite. I felt myself subconsciously move forward so I could be closer to her.

"What?" She whispered while letting out a laugh before grinning warmly at me and my heart fluttered. Only, that moment lasted for a second longer before my gut twisted from the truth. This wasn't real. But I wanted it to be. I really wanted it to be. I let my hand lift as I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and I held my breath.

"God you're so beautiful," I whispered as my eyes brimmed with tears and I tried and failed to hold them back. Blinking, I allowed them to trail down my face as I was struck with grief. Grief over the loss of her and the gain of a tainted and temporary image of the girl in front of me instead.

"Luz? Are you there?" Someone asked somewhere within the haze. No, not someone. Emira. But I wasn't ready yet. Moments, our moments, I wanted to stay with them just a little longer.

"No," my head snapped up to see Amity standing before me, "I trust you, Luz." She told me softer than I remember, more regretful. No, no there were more before this one. I didn't want to recall our last moment. I wanted to relive the good ones. Why couldn't I relive the good ones too? I swallowed hard as tears brimmed in my eyes.