Kiss Me Goodbye

Chapter 31

Blood. Everywhere. Red. The pungent smell of the liquid filled the air, clinging to everything like a serpent sinking its jaw and poisoning the air with the scent of despair.

The big "D" word is hovering above me like a specter, lingering, waiting for the opportunity to reap an unsuspecting soul. I could feel it though I didn't know why.

One moment everything was good. Everyone was happy - at least everyone that deserved happiness, was happy - and the next everything that could go wrong, just did.

What happened was still a haze. All I could hear now were shouts as if I was underwater being called back to the surface. The voices were afar and I was sinking farther away. There was a lot of movements and a blur of forms colliding and dispersing. Total chaos.

I could identify in the background a human form lying on the floor in what looked like a puddle and a crouching form just perched above it.

I could see moving vertical shapes like tree trunks passing between me and my view. I realized that they were people going from side to side.

I could feel someone lifting my head but I couldn't concentrate yet on anything this close I had to strain my eyes to concentrate on something this near.

I heard my name again and again, someone was shaking me by the shoulders and with great slowness and pain I tore my gaze from the distant cacophony and concentrated on the face just above mine. Dean.

The ever present angel on my shoulder. I tried to crack a smile for him but I felt too weak to smile. I tried to reassure him that I was fine but I couldn't muster the strength to voice a single word.

A searing pain tore through my chest right then. And I desperately tried to move my hand to squeeze the place where it hurt most. It was a reflex I couldn't make anymore.

A burning mixed in with the pain. Someone was ripping at my chest. Why wasn't anyone doing anything? I couldn't breathe either where was all the air?

I lowered my gaze from the angel's face to look at the place of the searing pain. It was all I could do. All I could move.

I saw it then. Dean's hand covered with blood resting on my stomach. Was it his blood or mine? That was not where the pain came from. Was I injured there too? I wondered and I couldn't think clearly to be sure. My breath came out in pants.

I knew then that I had no more chances.

And before my hour came I had one last request.

I pried my stiff lips apart and moved my heavy tongue in a desperate attempt to form words. By I was short of breath.

My voice came out raspy and more of a whisper. I didn't recognize it myself but I didn't have any time to dwell on trivial things. When you're about to die, things get into focus. I saw Dean straining to hear what I had to say approaching his ear to my mouth.

"Kiss me goodbye." I asked, my tongue weighed down and my lids getting heavier every millisecond. This was all I could bring myself to say. These were going to be my last words. This was going to be my last wish. My last request. My last plea.

I never thought the end was going to be this near otherwise I would have invested my time differently.

I expected Dean to humor me, to accept my dying wish easily, even if he didn't like me at all. Instead I saw him mutter a word and saw him shake his head in negation. He was shouting something to me. It was important I could tell, but I was going under and I could no longer hear anything but the weakening beat of my heart. And then Dean was pushed aside and many hands gripped me.