Well its almost done!!! I'll be posting one last chapter after this then the epilogue, I hope you've enjoyed my first finished story!! Please comment and tell me what you think, sorry that this chapter is a bit on the shortside
Chapter 13
I wake up early in the morning. The moon is still up and it's gentle light is raining down on us like sweet droplets of honey milk. I lay there for a second basking in the utter beauty of this one moment. Mitch's hands are wrapped around my waist as his angelic head rest a top my stomach.
As I tousle his loose golden curls he begins to wake up. A lazy smile spreads across his face as he leans down planting a trail of tiny kisses up and down my belly. "Your amazing you know that?" even his morning breath smells delicious.
I lean down and kiss him which seams to be enough of an answer for him. He lays his head down as he stares up at me as if I'm a dream; soon to be lost in a wisp of smoke. "Don't marry him Anna."
I sigh wishing he hadn't said that. The spell was broken and reality begins to seep through. "You can't change this Mitch, its going to happen." I get up from under the warmth of his body.
"Anna I'm not stupid," he grabs my arm taking me to the adjoining bathroom. He turns on the sink splashing ice cold water against my body then with his hand he wipes away the makeup. Suddenly huge blotches of black and blue decorate my tiny body. He flinches obviously not realizing just how bad this is. "This, this is what your planning to dedicate the rest of your life to?"
I turn away, hiding the hideous reminders of what my life has become. "I didn't come here to give you false hope."
"Then why did you come her?" I open my mouth but the words refuse to come out. "You came because you love me!"
"I'm marring him because I love you! Why can't you see that?"
For some reason this makes him smile. "You have spent your entire life running from happiness Anna." I open my mouth to say something but he raises his hand stopping me, "I know why you had to do it, I do. You need to understand though Anna, I'm not that helpless little child your father sent away all those years ago. I can finally take care of you, I can save you."
I look away from him holding back the river of emotion that pounds away within me; slowly eroding me away. From behind, he wraps his ams around me pulling me close enough that he can kiss the throbbing pulse that runs up my neck. "What about my father." the words come out in a whisper. He let go suddenly, taking a step back to stare at me. "What?" I ask suddenly concerned worried that those blue eyes of his were suddenly squinting with confusion.
"They didn't tell you? He didn't tell you?"
"Didn't tell me what? Mitch what are you taking about?" I reached out for him for comfort because deep down I knew what he was going to say before he said it.
"Anna, your father died three days ago. There were some complications with his heart..." I stand there for a moment under the flickering of the florescent light, then the words finally hit me and tears welled in my eyes as I thought of that man I had never considered a father yet somehow loved none the less.
"Yes."
"Yes what?" he asks as he wipes away a tear,
"Let's do it, lets run away." My father had lived a life of duty. He cared for a child he never loved and married twice after his true love died because in the end that is what was expected of him. On his final day he died with his honor in an empty room far from anyone that ever cared about him.
I don't know if it was because he was so eager to get me out of the wedding or if he truly understood the words behind my glossy hazel eyes but either way he he smiled and brought me close. "I love you." he whispered to me gently and with those three little words he summed up the meaning behind an entire life of war; love.
~*~
Mitchell had everything covered, paper work giving us new names, new identities. "From here on out you're now Angelica Castrov and I am Henry Castrov."
"So are we married or are the last names just a coincidence?" I say giving him a coy smile.
He pulls me close and kisses me from say, "Nothing in life is coincidence Mrs. Castrov." I laugh as he stuffs the paper work in a bag along with some clothes and the money he managed to collect. It was just enough to get us going before we could find jobs.
"So are you sure you want to stop at my house still?"
"Ya," he says as he tosses our bags in the trunk of his car. "We better hurry though, we only have a few hours till the sun begins to rise."
Driving down that barren dirt road felt different somehow that cold winter morning; surreal almost. How many times had I driven down this path feeling as if I was being sentenced to death; walking the green mile. Now though it felt knew, like a bird taking it's first flight; all that awaits it is a lifetime of the beauties of heaven.
I feel my heart race as the tires pull over the gravel drive way. I was so close to freedom that I could nearly taste it. "Ok I'm just gonna run in and grab Charlie and a few things. I'll be quick, promise." I leaned in and kiss him but for some reason the taste was bittersweet. I shake it off knowing it's only the nerves. "I love you," I say as I walk into my concrete prison; a lavished cage dressed up to fool the eye. I was never fooled.
The lights don't come on when I turn the switches. Its then that I notice the smell that emanates from upstairs. I ran up the stairs, knowing my house well enough to travel even in the dark.
I open my door and feel my heart, my hopes shatter to the floor. Hundreds of candles flicker in the darkness illuminating the river of blood. Vaun sits against my bed holding my little lamb in his lap; a monument to his hate for me. The tiny creature lays unmoving in his ridged grasp, a trail of flood lining the slit in his neck.
"Hello Anniel, what has taken you so long?"
