Forbidden Essence

Forbidden Essence : Hush

Forbidden Essence

Chapter 27 : Hush

"Alice." Edmund whispered in his suddenly labored breath, his golden eyes boring into mine with panic. He jumped out of bed with the grace of a panther as Alice's screams began to echo in the air like heavy fog, causing us to become disoriented.

If Edmund and I ever shared common ground on anything, it would be that we simply speak with our actions before we speak with our voices. In a moment of shared panic and distraught, we threw pieces of clothing to one another that reached our fingers and quickly dressed. We belted towards the door like madmen. Alice's cries of help never ceased, and we ran in the direction they came from. The nearer the cries sounded, the more Edmund and I began to glance at one another in anxiety.

We barely halted our feet as they led us to the room where Alice was. Dread paled my face as I realized that the cries were coming from the King's chamber.

In my guts, I knew what I was about to see was horrible. My stomach twisted in knots and my breath got lodged in my throat as I outran Edmund and barged through the king's chamber, uncaring of the etiquettes expected of me.

The sight before me caused me to cry out in heart wrenching fear, as my body went cold, "Bryce no!" The room was in disarray, with no warmth as no fire lit the fireplace. It was chilly and clammy, but that was not the cause of my shivering state. It was Bryce. He wielded a sword, kneeling over the king. He was about to run it through the pale faced king when my cry caused him to turn his attention.

My vision blurred with fear for him and I could see nothing but his eyes. Those kind hazel orbs were unnaturally dark with such immense hatred and fury. I took a step towards him to tell him to step away from the king. Everything happened as if each second was prolonged, each grain of sand that dropped took hours to find its destination, and I yet I could not do one thing to stop him. The words that I had meant to say did not even recieve the opportunity to be uttered as the fury in Bryce's eyes turned into fear and he did the only thing that seemed rational in his position. He swung the sword down.

The blurr around his figure immediately began to clear as Alice's round figure found its place behind Bryce. The shine of the jagged knife in her hands prompted me to run forward, but it seemed that I was too late.

Silence, and a thin piercing sound was all I heard as chaos broke around me.

Bryce's blood oozed from the wound as he cried out in pain and terror, falling forward. A heart wrenching cry escaped my chest and I clutched my heart. Immediately tears began to create a path down my face. And despite my heart breaking into pieces as I gazed into Bryce's terrified eyes as he reached his hand out to me, the inevitable rage within me began to boil.

Rage, fear and adrenaline coursed through me and I turned my gaze towards the woman who killed my dear friend. I could see nothing but the red of Bryce's blood as the pool grew around his form. My hand lifted on its own accord and it slapped Alice's face.

Someone immediately grabbed my arms and held me back as Alice fell to the ground, unmoving. Suddenly all sound came back with a vengeance and I fell down to my knees crying and begging to be let go as I gazed at Bryce's slowly emptying eyes. I fell to the ground as my arms were freed and scrambled to reach him, sobbing.

I pulled his hair back, unable to control my tears, "Bryce." I chocked.

"Shh," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "Do not cry for me."

"I will cry for you if I want to, you cannot stop me." I sobbed, tenderly stroking his face, knowing that I cannot save him. The knife was in his back to the hilt, and if remove it, he would die immeditaly. The pain in his eyes was unmistakeable and I could see that he was trying his best not to show it.