Taken • cth

twenty | one last time

I need you to hear this loud and clear,
the line in the sand is drawn and I have no fear.

Don't take this past the point of no return.

You don't want this kind of lesson learned.

***

There was a whole period of time after that last major police incident where Calum and Arrow were completely and totally happy in their situation, and nothing was going to change that.

Arrow distinctly remembers those first few months in which she could touch Calum whenever she liked, could kiss him whenever she liked, and it felt like breaking past a giant stone wall and receiving a massive chest full of treasure on the other side.

She loved him so much her insides hurt sometimes. She still does.

There was one night that she can recall as if it were yesterday, and the memory is a breath of fresh air in the choked space of their situation. The pair had been in California for a few weeks, and were laid out on the edge of the Sacremento River at around three in the morning.

Her hand was held in his tightly, and the warmth of him was irreverently blissful. They slept pressed up against each other, as they always did late at night, the thin girl with the hard eyes and the tall boy with the soft ones.

"Do you remember that one night that I told you why I liked looking at the stars?" Calum had said to her, his eyes on the sky momentarily before coming down to rest on her face. He was the most beautiful thing Arrow had ever had the privilege of having.

Arrow nodded, leaning up to kiss his nose. "You said they helped you believe in God."

Calum smiled, and rolled over on his back, thoughtful. "Yes, that is true. But there's another thing."

Arrow propped herself up on one elbow, gazing down at him. His eyes were sparkling in the moon light. "And what is that?"

"Like I said, everything happens for a reason. The stars remind me that I'm still alive, and that everything has a purpose. Each one has its own place to shine and light up, just like each person does." He met her eyes. "I've been thinking, you know."

Arrow yawned and laid back down again, her head pillowed in the crook of his arm. "I know."

"Well, I think you're my purpose. You're the place I'm supposed to light up in life. You're the one amazing thing that has happened to me in my entire life." He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "You are the light in my life, Bow." He had whispered. "You are the reason I believe."

Arrows eyes flutter open slowly, and for a small blissful moment there is no pain.

The ceiling is a blur above her, her mind a white canvas of peace, warmth spreading through her body at the memory. Then the canvas tears and burns away, revealing the carnage beneath it.

The taste of blood is bitter in her mouth, her head throbbing with a dull steady ache. Her stomach spasms in hunger and pain, and her right arm feels stiff and hot. It only takes her a moment to realize why, and it makes her pull herself into a sitting position.

The room is empty now, and even Lea's head is gone, to her sick surprise. She was almost certain they'd leave it in here to torture her. The mark on her arm is almost entirely finished, and she feels dizzy and lightheaded. Sick thoughts are worming their way into the edges of her consciousness, sick thoughts and unruly desires for blood and violence.