For A Star To Fall

Chapter 33: Masterpiece

Chapter 33

—pain. Sheer and utter agony, spreading outwards from her arm. The world dissolved around her, and everything became mere dull shades of grey and black and white and whirling images, colors, indecipherable to her blurry vision. There was no feeling, no physical stimuli of being in a particular place or time or having any real purpose. All that existed was her and the pain. All that mattered was that she was hurting, so unbearably much, everywhere, every single inch of her skin. It was millions of tiny white-hot knives piercing her flesh over and over again. And yet it was also molten lava in her veins, replacing her blood with its heat and fire and burning. And then it was a wild, ferocious, blood-hungry beast inside of her, slashing at her insides with teeth like swords and claws like spears, tearing her into bloody shreds from the inside out. 

Distantly, she could hear Jordan screaming and yelling and shouting. Or it could just be her thoughts, jumbled up in a dull grey haze, making their presence known to someone who could not care. It was of no importance to her anyway. Words had neither meaning nor place in the pain-filled land she resided in now. The beast ripping at her flesh gave a bloodcurdling howl...or maybe that was simply her screaming. Distantly, she registered that she had never heard herself scream before, only others. Distantly, she heard Father's voice: I will always protect you, my precious star. Yes, he would keep her safe. Father was coming to her now. He was coming to save her, to drive away the pain, knock away the sharp knives, cool the molten lava, slay the monstrous beast. 

All she had to do was hold on. Hold on till he came to her. 

Distantly, she felt someone touch her skin--but where? Her arm? Distantly, she heard the person murmuring something that she could not decipher, though it sounded comforting. It was with all this distance that Emyle noticed these things, because there seemed to be a void blocking it, quelling  sight, sound, touch and replacing them with a numbness that stemmed from too much pain. But even with her senses muted, she could not ignore the faint joy she felt. He was here, finally. Soon the agony would pass and she would be safe once more, with him by her side. She wanted her lips to move, she wanted to mouth a word, to acknowledge his presence. "Father," she wanted to say. But she was crippled, and there was nothing she could do. 

Then he spoke. "Emyle, dear, bear it for a while. The pain will pass soon enough." Emyle's heart leaped. He was going to stop the pain—yes, he was working on it now. There was hope for them yet and she knew that with Father by her side, they would escape from this place easily enough. She pushed away the niggling feeling that something was off—something in the way he had addressed her. It was not important. Father was here and that was all that mattered. 

Father was right, as he always was. Time passed and slowly the unbearable agony lessened. Bit by bit it faded, as if it had been washed off by a waterfall of cool, cleansing water. Emyle felt refreshed and relieved, a burden lifted off her shoulders. But the numbness was stripped away from her next, much like how one would remove a protective bandage—quick and fast, it went, spiraling off to an unknown place. Then the world came roaring back and reality assaulted her mind with a startling ferocity. Touch was the first sense that returned to her and Emyle's back felt cold, supported by something hard and unforgiving. Her limbs tingled with pins and needles, though she registered that the Glock was still in her grip. The weight of it in her hand was strangely comforting. She was lying on the white tiled floor, arms and legs spread out and her cheek was pressed against the ground. With a barely audible grunt, she got her elbow underneath her and lifted her upper body off the ground. The pain was almost gone now, but she could still feel it pulsating through her veins, cooling lava into black stone. 

She looked up. A bright light shined in her eyes and Emyle squinted, blinking furiously. Suddenly a dark shadow reared up, obscuring the light that she now recognized as coming from the fluorescent tubes on the ceiling. She flinched back and then remembered that it was Father and he would never hurt her. His hand rested against her cheek and it was cool against her feverish skin. She blinked again and the world spun back into focus. Glinting brown eyes stared back at her.