Chasing Freedom (Book 2)

Chapter Twenty-Nine: August 29 (Skylar)

Chapter Twenty-Nine: August 29 (SKYLAR)

"Skylar, can you hear me?" my eyes slowly flutter open, my vision taking a second to right itself and I squint, trying to see through the blurriness.

"Skylar?"

I see an extremely worried Cole sitting in front of me, his face pinched in relief. I shoot up from my position on the couch and jump into his arms.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, my voice hoarse, my skin feverish against his cool flesh, "I know you wanted me to stay awake, but I couldn't. The blood, and the-"

He cuts me off. "Shh," he whispers. "It's okay, you're okay." He shifts his position so I can move around better and I instantly try to stand up, but a wave of nausea washes over me as I stumble back.

Cole's hand shoots out and he lowers me back to my spot, "take it easy, I almost lost you once. I don't plan on doing that again."

At the mention of my earlier state, my hand immediately flies to my chest, where I expect to see red everywhere and feel the worst stabbings of pain.

It took me a while to realize that it wasn't there, "what happened? How am I okay?"

Cole gets up from the couch and that's when I see Grayson standing timidly behind him, his arms crossed over his chest, his face emotionless although his eyes are pinched with worry.

"Grayson?" I ask.

"Well you remember my name," he says, "that's a good thing."

I stand up again, this time slower and smile at him once I'm on my feet, "did you do this?" I motion to my clean chest, "Did you heal me?"

He nods, his tone casual as he says, "it's not a big deal. Cole called in a frenzy and I came."

"I was not in a frenzy," he interjects pointlessly.

"Not a big deal?" I repeat with my eyebrow raised, both of us ignoring Cole's comment, "Grayson you just saved my life, or whatever little part of it was left. I don't know how to say thank you for that."

"You just did," he says as he pulls me in for a hug, his arms stiff and uncomfortable although I can't figure out why.

I cling to him, squeezing my eyes shut as a rush of memories wash over me; waking up to Cole, the fight, the blood, the dead bodies and darkness, killing Axel.

Then it makes sense; he saw the bodies, he saw the blood, and he figured out the rest. Grayson was scared of me, or more importantly, of what I was capable of.

And to be completely honest, I didn't blame him, there were so many things I did that I wasn't proud of, things that the darkness made me do.

But that was no excuse, like Cole said, it was the want to be good that drove the evil right out of you, I just had to find it.

"How'd you do it?" I ask after a while, "I was so close to the end, I could feel it. The bright lights, my mom, and the way everything appeared. I was right there, but you pulled me back, how?"

Grayson shrugs and sits down on the couch. He shoots Cole a look, waiting until he's completely out of ear shot to speak.

"I didn't do anything really; all I did was take the bullet out and patch up the wound. The rest was up to you. It was your want to live that brought you back. You could've easily given up, but you didn't."

He shakes his head, pausing for only a moment, "I don't know how. The amount of blood you lost should have killed you, that bullet was a quarter way through your heart. You were so close to being gone. But you fought your way back, why?"