Never safe from Death

Chapter 1

Her father crumbled beside her bed. The hospital had always felt dreary, though now it became desolate. He had known this day would eventually come, though he had hoped he would have left this world before his own kin. He couldn't understand how it had happened to her, as it had her mother. The two most loving and compassionate beings he was fortunate to ever have known. If anyone had deserved this fate it was him. He had fed the darkness as long as he could remember until he had met Mary.

Mary had given him hope through the light she brought into his life. She had given him new things to worship, gods that were told to be pure-hearted and true. He could still feel her touch faintly on his cold arms, her soothing voice whispering gently into his ear.

"You will get through this, my love. You are strong. I am with you, always."

Though he knew it was only his own words mimicking her voice which filled his ears, he found a sense of comfort within it. His brain had tortured him with voices, memories and symbols for many years. Though for the first time it allowed him a moment without any mockery.

He reached to the bed and hauled himself up. His body felt like a mass of rocks beneath him. He had the weight of the world on him. He would never forgive himself for his old prayers and deals. He had caused this pain himself and there was no forgiveness for that.

He refused to lay eyes upon his daughter's body again. He couldn't bear to see her beautiful face, her eyes as blue as the ocean. Her brown hair gliding past her shoulders like a wave. Her face had looked so peaceful and painless, for the first time since Mary had passed away. She was an angel sent down to him, and he had ruined her as he had her mother.

His sweet, sweet child.

"Oh Mary, what have I done?" He cried allowed. "Eva was such an innocent child. She was all I had left. I have failed you, I am sorry..." His voice trailed off into a sob. His chest moved with each gasp for air as his eyes flooded into pools of salty water.

'You did your best, never take that from yourself. You cared for her as much as you could. We are with you my dear.' Marys voice whispered into his ear. He was sick of imagining her, he would never be with her again.

His eyes turned from sadness into a wrath of fury. The torment was too much.

"SHUT UP! leave me alone! You are not Mary! Stop filling my head with lies and torture. I cant do this anymore.." he yelled into the room, his fingers digging into his skull. The physical pain hurt less than the emotional, but it distracted enough.

'James, it's me. I never left you. Feel that?' He felt a cold hand caress his arm, yet he saw nothing. His mind had become good at tricking his brain. Too good.

"STOP IT! Don't you think I have been tortured enough?! Every waking hour I am in pain, every night I dream of the day I lost Mary. I can't do this anymore... I am delusional...hallucinating. I need to end it. This is no way to live. Oh no- I'm mumbling to myself again. So many years of hiding it. Too late now, the world will know. I need to leave, to join them.."

His hands trembled, sweat dripping down his face. He reached for his pocket knife.

'I promise it is me. I am still here, just not visible. The other side is not what you think my dear, it is torturous. It hurts. Every time I attempt to make contact with you, it feels like daggers lit by fire and cutting through me over and over again. Please put the knife down. We need you there, if we are to ever come back to you.'

"How am I to know what you say is true, not just an illusion?" He whispered, he looked around frantically, hoping to see her standing in a corner.

'Eva has sent whispers of a gift she had left in her coat pocket before she passed. Something you never knew about. It is a necklace with her initials engraved. It also has a lion on the back of it, with an eagle perched on its head. She had left it there in hope you would find it if she lost the battle.'

He ran down the corridor, looking for his daughters old room. The door on the left flew open as a women screemed. That was his daughters room.

"She talked! The dead girl talked! She is a demon! She told me that the devil will curse those who have vowed their loyalty and betrayed him. He..." Her voice broke off from the screaming as she collapsed to the ground.

This cannot be. He thought to himself, mortified by her words. If she spoke with truth, the message would surely be for him.

I cannot win a fight against him. But I will have to try at least.

He walked out of the hospital as fast as he could without looking suspicious of anything. The corridors all faded into one. The icy white walls seemed to smother him, enclosing him like an endless spider's web. He would collect the necklace the voice spoke of another time. He wasn't going to spend another minute around there after that girls words.

After fifteen minutes of panic, wandering aimlessly, feeling as if his chest was being smothered... the pressure upon him was released. He pushed through the reception doors out into the car park. He welcomed the fresh air, which he would usually turn his nose up at. The world was polluted here by car fumes and smoke, awful air compared to the fresh air he had breathed when he had visited the amazon forest.

The drive home was long and dull, long lines of traffic barricaded him, trapping him in between one another.

- to be continued-