As Long As I Have You

~ Chapter Twenty Eight ~

"Come back to me."

"I can't."

"You can," he swore to her. The safety of his strong hands reached for her out of the pitch. It was an unspoken vow, a promise his eyes told her he would always keep. But the black was everywhere. It swirled around her and cast a web she was powerless against.

"Come back to me," he repeated.

She took a small step forward and waited for the darkness to lunge from the void and carry her away, yet nothing stopped her. She took another step. Then another. Another still. His crooked smile warmed her as always and his hand stretched out with even more encouragement. One more step and she would be whole again.

Saved.

Forgiven.

Loved.

Her legs were heavier though, and she could no longer move.  When she looked down she saw they were caught in the same treacherous vine that coiled around her heart whenever she was here. The twisted, rotting branches tightened with each tug of resistance, and then she was being swallowed deeper and pulled towards a bottomless hole.

His invitation rang out a final time, but only as a memory that suffocated on the cold wind around her. She sunk further into the thick shadows, and as if reminding her why she was trapped here, a pungent, metallic odour floated into her nostrils and her hands began to wildly shake.

The vines melted away, but only enough to reveal the materializing body. It lay lifelessly tangled at her feet, and when she reached down to pry herself free a ghostly hand, all too real, snatched her wrist and destroyed her with harsh, hot whispers of incrimination...