Adrenaline

Chapter 20

Seth Silver

***

Pray ~ JRY

***

Sliding down the same wall, I copy her position, pulling my knees into my chest whilst trying to keep an eye on any vicious change in personality. It's hard enough to deal with an emotional person at the best of times, however Athena is on a whole other level, a small switch in her could result in casualties, she isn't just sad, she's unstable.

"How much did you hear?" Craning her neck to face me, the deep blue of her eyes has turned to an eerie black, dark pools of ink easily drowned in, a symbol of a dead soul.

"Everything."

"Huh." Nodding, she reaches to her left side, returning with a small knife littered in with what I assume are her parents belongings. Twirling the small blade on the wood, small specks of dust cloud the air, adding to the suffocating silence before Athena raises her hand quickly and slams the shard down. The metal slices through the wood, buried to the handle, the knife itself hidden underground.

"Fuck!" Blood drips from Athena's palm, her grip obviously not having been high enough to avoid injury. Cradling the hand, again the waves of black come to her rescue, hiding her face from sight as she rocks back and forth, her good hand wrapped around the opposing wrist to stem the seemingly astounding amount of blood flow.

We sit like that for a long time, enveloped in silence as Athena's hand slowly becomes more bloody, shades of red running like veins down her forearms yet she doesn't seem to notice. Moving swiftly - as if dealing with a wild animal - I position myself in front of her, reaching for her hand slowly, mentally refusing to give her a chance to say no.

Once my fingers make contact with the freshly sticky skin, I finally see her full face as she finally notices my close proximity, her head snapping towards me as if I'd just materialised out of thin air.

Athena's usual tan has been replaced with a ashy shade of white, almost symmetrical to when Kian stabbed her. Usually bright, poison-filled eyes stare back at me with complete numbness, detached from the world. Some of her hair has been matted with dried blood from her injury, running down to a permanently arched eyebrow.

As far as Athena Rose was concerned, living was no longer an option, she had reached her limit, pushed over the edge by eyes than had seen too much death, skin that had felt too much pain, a mind that had been plagued. Surviving was all that was left, and no life could come from that.

"Athena, we need to-"

"I loved them all, Seth."

"What?"

"My parents. Emily," Scoffing, her fingers clench around mine in absent anger, "Alec. I loved them and they all left me."

"Alec's right outside, Athena."

"Something of Alec's outside but he's not all there. Not at all. He poisoned me, just like the rest of them."

It's very rare that I'm left speechless, but the venom lacing Athena's tone is probably as painful to hear as it is being administered.