******<3This is a dedicated chapter. See dedication at bottom<3******
Chapter 18
4 months later
I sat up in the bed and looked at my hands. They were pale and skinny looking, just like the rest of me. My hair was ratty and greasy, and my body was paler and frailer than normal. In the days I had spent here, I had only received a few graham crackers a week and a couple of glasses of water. In all, I was starting to slim down to bones from the drug usage and lack of nutrition. My skin was turning a pale sickly color due to the lack of sunlight.
Oliver had brought a floor length mirror out of the bathroom and positioned it at the foot of my bed so I could take in my ugly and unappealing appearance.
I had almost given up hope of returning to home, wherever it was. Nobody was going to come to my rescue and save me from this god awful drug room. I wasn't sure how long I could go on like this, and for once in my life, I was scared of what they would do to me.
I watched my reflection as a couple of tears escaped my eyes. What had my life come to? Just when everything was beginning to seem happy, my world turned upside down.
I rested my head against my pillow and watched as the two men came in for the first time today. They walked over to the bedside table and took several bottles of fluid and a syringe off of the table. I watched as they came to stand beside me and pulled up both of my arms. They injected it into me, and I screamed as it coursed through my veins.
It felt like pure liquid fire was replacing my blood. It was excruciating and painful all at once.
Suddenly I heard a crash and several shouts from around me. I heard the roaring of the blood in my ears, and I convulsed against the restraints.
I was in pain and just wished to die already. I hated the agony of my awaiting death, and it was driving me insane. I was not some animal that needed to be caged and tormented till it was broken, yet I was sure that's what they were going to do to me.
I heard my heart monitor start going erotic and wondered if I was near the end. I felt blood rise up in the back of my throat and started coughing as I convulsed. I felt it when it dribbled down my chin, and yet I still continued to convulse.
I gave up and let my body do what it wanted, whether die or live, I didn't care any more.
I heard the line go flat and my body stilled along with it.
I was free.
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Suddenly a sharp pain was injected into my thigh, and my eyes slowly cracked open. I opened them halfway still sleepy from my death and saw a familiar blonde head. The world was still fuzzy as ever, and it took me several seconds to process who it was.
They unhooked me from the heart monitor and all the other tubes that went who knows where.
'I'm getting out,' I thought.
They picked me up bridal style, and I immediately felt small in their arms; no doubt because of my weight lose. I didn't say anything as the blonde carried me out of the room. My head lolled back as I tried desperately to process what was going on. The person put their arm underneath my head and tilted it up. My eyes remained droopy eyed and half open as I took in the person holding me.
"Francis," I croaked out hoarsely before losing consciousness and passing out in his arms.
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Francis's POV
I wanted to break down.
When I flung open the door, the two men jumped and dropped a large tray that shattered whatever had been on it. I looked over onto the bed they were standing beside and saw Clara convulsing on the bed and screaming in the middle of fits of coughing.
That enraged me so much, that I ran at the two men and killed one with my sword instantly. The other realized what was going on and dodged my next blows. I swung faster, but the man easily jumped away from my blows on agile feet.
Suddenly Clara stopped coughing, and I heard an unmistakeable noise that stopped my heart.
The heart monitor flat lined.
I looked back at Clara and saw her lying still on the bed. No convulsions, no coughing, and no breathing.
My face turned red, and I whirled around to face the man still standing in my way.
"Connard! Je vais vous tuer pour ce que vous avez fait à ma Clara! Vous avez blessé l'amour de ma vie et je vais prendre beaucoup de plaisir à prendre votre vie!" I screamed at him, unleashing my whole fury on him.
He tried desperately to move away from my blade but wasn't quick enough. My blade sank deep into his abdomen, and I twisted it furiously before pulling it out and running to Clara's side.
I feverishly searched the cabinets in the room looking for any sort of antidote. I didn't have much time according to the flat line. I angrily slammed the cabinets shut in anger and despair. I turned to Clara and fell to my knees.
She looked awful. Her beautiful hair was now matted and lank against her head. Her skin was gaunt and pale and almost blended into the white sheets completely. She had sunken cheeks, she had darkly colored bags underneath her golden eyes, and she looked like she weighed no more than 90 lbs now. She looked like a brittle bone. I was so scared to touch her out of fear that she would crumble in my hands.
I had been too late, just like Jeanne. Like Jeanne, Clara was taken from me because of my enemies. I let the tears fall down my cheeks as I cried. I had let her slip right through my fingers.
I looked at her and a glistening bottle caught my eye. It laid on her bed next to her leg and had a clear liquid in it. I jumped up and grabbed the bottle.
'Anti Adren,' it read on the front.
I jumped up and grabbed a syringe from a jar and quickly filled it with the liquid.
I plunged it into her thigh, and as soon as I injected it, her heart beat showed up on the monitor, and her chest started to rise and fall with each shallow breath she took. It was a slow and faint heart beat, but it was still a heartbeat.
I wiped my tears away and started to unhook her from her machines. Her eyes cracked open slowly as if she were waking up, and I let out a breath that I hadn't known I had been holding in.
Once all of the wires and tubes were taken out of her, I picked her up gently and carried her out of the room. Her head lolled back off of my arm, and I readjusted myself so her head was now supported. She looked at me through half closed eyes as if seeing me for the first time.
"Francis," she said in a quiet raspy voice. Then she passed out in my arms.
I fell down to my knees and cried as I looked down at her face. I gently moved a strand of hair out of her face and kissed her nose, cheeks, and forehead before placing the gentlest kiss I could have ever given anyone on her lips.
"Je t'aime de tout mon cœur," I whispered in her ear, hoping desperately that she could hear me.
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This chapter is dedicated to Kane Ragsdale and Lexi Hazelwood. Please keep them in your prayers. Kane and Lexi were boyfriend and girlfriend. Last night (10/15/13), Kane was involved in a car crash in a town south of my own. 3 teens were in one car and a man in the other. The two teens and the man survived and were sent to Vanderbilt. However Kane perished in the crash. He was only 15 years old and a sophomore in my school. Please keep him, his family, and his girlfriend Lexi in your prayers. It would mean a lot to her and me.
<3 R.I.P. KANE<3
somewhere in the clouds
