My body tenses up for a split second.
What just…
My first instinct is to run; run towards the ball of fire. Jurian’s grip on me hardens. The pull on my arm hurts me. I pull and pull.
“Let me go!”
“No, Blanca. Stay!”
“No! They’re there! In that fire!”
“Blanca, please!”
“No!”
I manage to break free. I run on ahead. Jurian runs after me. I’m no match to his speed. He had been training. It doesn’t take him long to catch me, holding me below my armpits.
“Let me go!”
I try to kick him by swinging my legs back, however he doesn’t let go. His arms once again tighten, causing me to writhe for air. The explosion made the air here hotter than usual.
“I told you to let go!”
“No, Blanca… there’s nothing you can do now. Not once it explodes.”
I don’t think. I don’t have time to think. My mother, father, Jurian’s mother and father, both are there.
Were there.
“Damn it… do you want them to die?!”
“Look, calm down–”
“How can I be calm now?! When the whole place is set on fire?! They’re going to die! Save them! Save them! Let me go!”
“I can’t let you go. You’re only going to harm yourself.”
“Let. Me. Go.”
“I can’t let you die on me now that you agreed to marry me.”
“But they’re in that fire!”
“They can’t be saved now.”
Why is his voice so calm? Why is there no panic in his voice? No sadness. No fear. Not even anger. He talks to me like an adult explaining something to a child.
‘That’s the way it should be,’ the adult says. ‘Now you accept it and get on with it.’
“They’re going to die at this rate…”
“They’re probably already dead,” he says. I scream. I try to muster up some strength, set myself free, save them. It’s all hopeless. Jurian’s hold on me does not break, doesn’t seem to even want to break for a split second. I scream and scream, but it’s hopeless. The ball of fire has already disappeared. It’s just black steam now and some unexplainable type of stench reaching here. Only now I begin to cry. My sobs are long, loud. The white cat is beside me with its three red balls. It meows, a message that now sounds like ‘I warned you’. The three balls crack and shatter, the glass cutting through my flesh like knives. They don’t touch my skin. But the pain is real.
“Let me go… let me go… let me go…” I sob, the three words becoming a mantra.
“No… I’m not letting go.”
“Please, Jurian, if you love me, please… let me go…”
“If I love you then I won’t let you go. I can’t.”
I’m too weak to struggle. My knees give in and Jurian lets me kneel on the hard sand.
“It had to happen.”
YOU ARE READING
Shards
Roman d'amour"Three gunshots. All aimed at me, all ricocheting with no miss. Broken glass. Screams - silence. I gazed at the long legs and closed my teary eyes. One more glimpse. It was all over. The only remaining sound was the music of the insects with a bac...
