Octavia (Completed - 2018 Watty's Longlist)

Chapter Nineteen - Edmund

The quiet morning slowly woke me from my sleep. Well, it did right up until it felt like rocks were falling from the sky. Rain was pouring down and hammering against the roof above me. My eyes are heavy, still laced with sleep and it takes a few good seconds for me to finally be aware of my surroundings. The first thing I noticed, apart from my dark room due to the rain, was a still figure lying beside me. It was Octavia and if I hadn't of woken up and seen her I wouldn't have known she was in my room let alone lying right besides me. She was unmoving, almost like a statue. Her pale hands were laced together on her stomach and her eyes were closed. I could see the purplish tint to her eyelids that the shadows casted. She looked almost too perfect to be real. I had to blink twice to make sure this wasn't a dream.

"Good morning." Her voice, sweet and velvety startled me for a moment due to me being so engrossed by her. "You stayed?" I asked, my voice sounding a little too excited. With her eyes still closed she smiled. "Of course I did." Her hair, wavy and soft spreads out wildly around her face. Then that's when I noticed something different. The burgundy beanie that she is wearing, she wasn't wearing that yesterday. Then I look down at the white sweater and blue jeans that she definitely wasn't wearing yesterday either. Hadn't I given her one of my shirts to wear last night? "You left?" I ask, even though I already know the answer. She opens her eyes and looks at me. "I had to leave and change my clothes. Don't want the neighbours getting the wrong idea."
I halfheartedly smiled and ran my fingers through my hair, trying to fix the mess of my bed hair. "Oh." Her weight shifts only slightly as she turns onto her side to look at me, her cold hand on my cheek. "Don't worry, I wasn't gone for long. By the time I came back I'm positive I hadn't missed anything." She assured me positively. "Did anything happen?" My face heats up immediately at the thought of what I could have said. I still can't get my head around the fact that she's been in my room every night watching over me. I could have said anything and I don't even know. For all I know I could have admitted one of my deepest darkest secrets. . . I don't have any, but I could have some that I don't even know about.
"The usual." She shrugs, her eyes distant and wary. She looks down, her hair shielding her face. I move closer to her, anxious. "And what else?" She looks at me, more tenderly but her eyes still don't fully meet my gaze.
"Oh. . . it's nothing." She smiles, but I know her too well to know when her smile is genuine and not. "Octavia." I groan, pulling her into my chest. "You can't just say it's nothing when judging by the look on your face it is anything but nothing." "You don't want me to tell you, trust me." She argues. "Is it that bad?" I begin getting anxious. If it was nothing she would tell me. But if it's not just anything then it must be something bad. . . What did I say? "No no no!" She assures. "It's anything but bad." She pauses. "But I do think that it is something you would like to say in person, not in your sleep." My heart begins to hammer against my chest. I begin raking my brain for anything that I could have possibly said. I so desperately want to know what I said but I'm also scared at what my stupid and idiotic self says through the night whilst my girlfriend is in the room.
My girlfriend, I pondered, liking the sound of that very much. "What did I say?" I ask again, more anxious than ever. Octavia looks at me for a while, just watching my face. Her face is expressionless for what seems like forever as she just sits there, her ice cold hand holding mine gently but firmly with her stone hands. Then after what seemed like ages the corners of her mouth twitches up into the most smallest yet beautiful smile I've ever seen. "You said you loved me." Silence. Pure silence. Even the rain seemed to have stopped smashing against the roof. But then again it could have just been me going into shock. My shoulders stayed in their slumped posture and my hands laid limp in hers. All my thoughts stopped, and the only thing that ran through my head was: I am idiot. Holy crap. I've ruined everything. Gee, nice one Edmund. Just go ahead and ruin the only relationship you've had and only just started yesterday. She probably thinks I'm too clingy and too forward and crazy and - "Edmund?" Her cold hand lightly presses against my cheek and I manage to lift my eyes to hers. "I love you, Edmund." She says passionately, assuring me. I think my heart just exploded. "I've loved you for so long without even realising it myself. I've never felt this way about anyone before and this is all so new to me. I don't care if we're moving too fast. I don't care what people will think. Because for the first time in my life I've found someone who I have never felt so happy with in my entire existence." She smiles as she stares deep into my eyes. "I know that I'm being selfish by bringing you into my life but before I met you, I felt as though my life had no purpose. That I was alive, but not living. It was an infinite hell for me. But then we bumped into each other." She smiles, referring back to the first day. "And you made my life shine like a million stars in the sky." Her eyes bore into mine as she confesses her feelings to me. As I listened to this beautiful girl describe how I've changed her life, I think of how lucky I am. How lucky I am to have found this mesmerising girl sitting right before. How lucky I am to love her. How lucky I am to be in love with a creature who is destined to be evil, but instead chooses to be a pure angel.