Infinity

Chapter Eighteen

When I wake, the first thing I know is that I'm cold. The second thing I know is that I'm in excruciating pain. It's dark, wherever I am, so dark that I cannot see. I wonder how long I've been sleeping. My neck hurts, but I'm not tied down, like I would expect if Londyn had attacked me.

I lift my hand and put it to my neck. Pain rips through me so intense that I cry out. A cool tear made from pain rolls down my cheek. "Andrew," I croak. My throat feels like sandpaper when I speak. "Andrew... Where am I?" I'm not really trying to talk to Andrew. I know he might not be here. The sound echoes back around me, though and it feels like there is someone else there.

"Infinity?" I hear, and gasp. It's Andrew's voice. There is a flare of white, then a candle is lit. I see Andrew standing there. He has a black eye and a deep looking cut on his cheek bone. He is holding what looks like a white candle in a holder, and seems paler than the last time I saw him. He seems different, too. "You're awake," he says, simply. But the way he says it makes it sound like a miracle.

"Yeah," I say. "I am."

He puts the candle down on the table beside the bed that I somehow got on, and sits. He doesn't do anything, though. Just sits there, staring at me. Finally, I ask, "What?"

He's quiet, then, "We thought you were dead."

"But...I'm not."

He scoots closer on the bed. It's only now that I realize that I've been getting closer and closer to him. I can feel his body heat, radiating off of him. "I know," he says, and leans closer. A piece of my hair falls into my eyes, and he brushes it back, making me shiver a little. He leans in closer, and I think he's about to kiss me.

My eyes flutter shut of their own accord. I don't find myself minding it, though.

Then, his lips are on mine. Soft and warm and--just Andrew. I'm nervous, and wondering what's wrong with me, and loving it all at the same time, and I don't want it to stop.

And then he pulls back. We are both breathing heavier than usual. He is just staring at me. Then, his eyes start to turn white, like the clouds after a thunderstorm. I don't know what white means, and I don't know why mine aren't white. In fact, my eyes have no other color than green. The green we are born with. He hugs me to him.

"Infinity," he says, like my name is the only thing that can keep him alive. "I thought you were dead. I--I was so scared."

And that's it. I feel as though something inside me breaks. But it isn't the painful kind of break. It's like a wall coming down. My eyes turn white, like clouds after a thunderstorm, and I know what the white means: It means that you have fallen in love.

I wonder why I've never heard of anyone's eyes turning white. I wonder why I've never seen it myself.

So many people seem in love, but I've never seen their eyes white.