The Falling Kingdoms: The Hidden Coffins

Chapter Fourteen: The Absorbing Yellowstone

I was walking into woods that I hadn't seen before. Arnold was gripping on my hand, taking me along with him deeper and deeper into the forest. It was late in the morning morning and we decided to come here for one of the ingredients we needed to complete the spell. Sacrifice of a dove. He somehow managed to convince me that sacrifice of the life of a bird is better than sacrifice of my own life. I kept strolling forward but all I could think about was what happened early morning. Raymond happened!
While teaching me my lessons today, he was distracted as well. I could see he was into me too. And now that I knew that, I couldn't resist him. When our bodies touched today while fighting, there was a spark. When he pinned me down, he was lost into my eyes too. When it was my turn to push him off me and defend myself, I didn't. And at the end, what laid in front of us was plain awkwardness. As a result, I left early. I was already missing him now. What started as a crush on a professor was now making me feel things I didn't want to feel. Not only was he eight years older than me, he was nowhere in my future. I was going to escape this place and start a new life and whatever feelings I was catching was just going to come between my motive. It felt wrong but so right at the same time. I wanted to just run in his arms and kiss his lips. I wanted to press my body against his. 

"What are you doing, trying to break my hand?" Arnold stopped walking and asked me, taking back his hand.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't realize." I blushed in embarrassment. I squeezed his palm hard in frustration, I guess. He shook his head at me amusingly.
"Anyway, how deeper into the woods until we find the doves?"

"Right here." He extended his arms at hid sides, looking above him.

"Oh," I moved my eyes around finding myself in the middle of really dense woods. But I didn't feel like I was in danger at all. I had family with me. I felt safe. I smiled inwardly and glanced back at him.

"There they are!" He pointed his finger above us and when I followed it, I certainly saw a flock of doves flying around. They looked happy and alive.

"They're so beautiful." I whispered, shivering at the thought of killing one of them. I felt tingling on my skin and I gasped.
"I can't do this."

Turning around, I began to jog away from him and them. The thought of their blood in my hands made me feel like an evil person.

"Aviana, wait!" Arnold yelled and caught up with me soon.

"Leave my hand." I pulled back my arm and grunted.

"Just look at you! You're being a pussy about killing a bird. If you stay here, you'll have to kill so many demons. How will you do it then?" He reasoned, gaining my attention.

"I...I won't." I dismissed his logical sentence.

"Ask yourself. Is that something you wanna do? No, right? Then kill the dove."

I kept quiet. I didn't want to respond. My eyes swam above me and I gazed at the doves flying around in circles, their white feathers complementing their beauty. They kept chirping, making it harder for me to make the decision.

"Look, if you want to survive here, for now, you'll have to keep your feelings about everything aside." He said.

All feelings aside, do you understand?

I took out the bow and arrow from my back and aimed above me, at one dove sitting on a tall tree. Tears welled up in my eyes as I set my aim on its heart and left the arrow.

And thanks to Raymond's lessons, the arrow went right into its heart.

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