Astrophile (Paul Lahote)

fifty four

࿔*:･fifty four ࿔*:･
°. *࿐ ༻༺ ࿐°. *

Carter opened her eyes slowly, she sat cross-legged on the roof, the icy night pressing in around her. She let out a long, foggy sigh, the breath escaping her lips like a ghost fading into the darkness. The cold seemed to catch it, holding it still for a moment before it vanished into the starry sky.

She watched it disappear for a moment before closing her eyes again, she rubbed at her tired eyes and brought her knees upto her chest. As she rested her head on her knees she closed her eyes once again, enjoying the chill that spread over her body.

The sound of the window opening behind her caused her to straighten up and she looked over her shoulder at whoever had decided to disturb her peace. Her eyes softened as Paul climbed out onto the roof, "So that redhead friend of yours can't find one of her Harry Potter books and is going crazy downstairs," Carter smiled at that as he came to sit by her.

She immediately intertwined their hands together and huddled close to him, seeking more warmth, she hummed as she rested her head on his shoulder, "That's Vera for you," she chuckled as she looked up at him, "don't worry, she'll probably realise soon that she should be looking for it back at her own apartment and not at my house," paul chuckled as he shook his head.

Carter looked out across her backyard and into the forest, "that's just her way of finding an excuse to stick close to me... she was there when it first happened, you know," she told her imprint, "I had almost passed out by the time they found me, and if they hadn't..."

Pal frowned, "hey don't think like that," he muttered softly, squeezing her hand, "You survived and you're here, stronger than ever," he leaned his forehead against hers and Carter gave him a teary smile as she sniffled lightly.

"It's just-God, Paul, I'm so fucking scared," she cried, her voice trembling with the weight of her fear. "I thought I'd left this part of my life behind. I thought I could finally be happy without him coming back to haunt me." Her words broke into sobs, her chest heaving as she struggled to continue.

"I thought I could finally look at myself in the mirror," she choked out, "without being reminded of what he did to me, how he butchered me." Tears streamed down her cheeks, unchecked, as the pain she'd buried for so long spilt over.

"Just the fact that he's so close to me and to all the people I love, the fact that he can hurt any one of you anytime he wants, it's suffocating me. His presence is suffocating me," she continued as Paul caressed the back of her head, not saying anything.

She sniffled, "You know when I came back from the hospital after he did this," she pointed to her face, "I didn't leave my room for two weeks, I didn't want anyone to see my face. I didn't talk to anyone, I didn't eat," she let out a cold chuckle, "heck my parents didn't even know if II was still alive in there," paul frowned and carter shook her head, "I'm so scared I'll-"

Carter paused, looking back out into the vast darkness of the forest, her eyes scanned the trees and narrowed. She could faintly make out two glowing red eyes that sat on one of the branches and let out an animalistic growl.

She stood up, her eyes still focused on the blood-red ones and she could barely see him, but she knew that a smug smirk was settled on the monster's lips. Paul followed her movements, standing up straight but he only frowned at her, unable to see what she was staring at.

He placed a hand on her bicep cautiously, "Carter...?" he mumbled, stepping closer to her but Carter seemed to be in a trance. Almost as if someone had snapped their fingers, she stopped and her shoulder stiffened, her eyes slowly began to glow red and everything was silent for a second. Just a second before she jumped off the roof without hesitation.