Upon A Dream (Sequel to A Beauty and the Tragedy)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Fighting to Breathe

"The lost dreams are buried in my sleep for him. And this was the ecstasy of a love forgotten. And I'm thrown in the gunfire of empty bullets. And my blood is all I see. As you steal my soul from me." My Blood by Ellie Goulding   

Irina

My head was swinging in and out of consciousness. I could smell sulfur; it was so overpowering I could barely breathe.

A gunshot made my head snap up and connected with the plywood. Someone was here. It could either be Chris, coming to save me...or Will killing them both and then there was no point in me trying. 

As I rested there, the silence pounding on my ears I thought about him. About the day I first met him. How I had thought he was a rude asshole. 

I chuckled slightly. And then I thought about how happy he had made me. If it was him, I had to try. 

Using the last of the oxygen I had left, I began to scream.

Chris

"What's that?" Everyone froze as Devin search for anything to cover Will and Lance's mouths. It sounded like muffled cries. My heart leapt as I search for the source. A hidden room. It had to be where she was kept. 

"Chris, help me with this." I turned to Ricky who was yanking up a large dirty board. Undeneath was a hole about two feet deep. The cries we had heard subsided. 

"She's down there." I could feel it. "She's gone now. Had twenty minutes a half an hour ago." Will said before Ryan delivered a swift kick to his face. 

"Come on, we've gotta dig." 

We found a few shovels and began furiously digging. In a few moments, we hit something hard. I pushed the dirt away to reveal another piece of plywood. 

"A coffin. It's a fucking coffin!" I screamed, looking at Ricky. "Quick, pull on the top." We hoped into the small space left in the vertical valance and yanked hard. The top didn't budge. 

"Get me a crowbar, anything!" I hopped out of the hole and searched the workbench. A drill, a hammer, a hatchet. Seizing the hatchet, I jumped back down into the hole where the guys were having no luck. 

"Holy shit Chris!" Ricky shouted as I planted the hatchet straight through the top of the box. 

After what seemed like forever, I had finally made enough whacks to have a hole. I reached in and my hand closed around something very small, like bone. My heart dropped. 

What if he had killed her and this was her skeleton. I yanked on it and found a pale hand covered in that familiar flesh. Plunging both my arms in, I closed them around her body and pulled her to me through the splintered hole. 

"I've got her! I've got her!" I screamed as Josh reached out his arms to pull her from me. I pulled myself out of the hole and ran to her side. 

Josh began pumping on her chest, those all too familiar motions killing me. She was so pale. Her once rosy cheeks were hollow and dark. Dark circles littered her eyes and blood stained my hands as I held her head. 

Her body was decimated, her legs bloody and bruised. I held her to me with all my might. 

Six months I spent thinking she was dead. How could I have been so blind. Six months she spent in pain, wondering why I had forgotten her. And that's how she would spend forever if I didn't do something. I put my head next to hers, her skin cold against mine. 

"Irina, if you can hear me. Please come back. Come back to me darling. I can't...be without you. I love you." 

Nothing.