Captured Moments.

Ch.8 ~ Ache Inside.

Finding out that your friend had committed suicide is a horrible feeling. Finding out the love of your life committed suicide because of you was no exception.

"Xav, you should probably look this over." He was looking at the many trinkets that littered his drawers scrunching up his face occasionally. He walked over and skim read over the pages. I saw his eyes widen and his face contort to something I had only seen on his face once before, fear.

"They must've gotten something wrong. I'm still very much alive." He backed away from the sheet displaying the unknown truth. Once he hit the wall he slid down onto the floor, clearly in complete denial.

"Xav, look at me." His chin reluctantly lifted and his eyes looking at me as I bent down in front of him. "You died babe, you're not breathing. Your heart doesn't beat. But it's okay. I promise you that." He still violently shook his head.

"I can't be. It's all just a huge misunderstanding. Nobody found me dead in my bedroom, nobody."

"The file didn't say anything about finding you in your bedroom." And he knew this. He also knew the police didn't make a mistake. He knew he was dead, he could feel it.

"I'm sorry Ten." He actually started to cry. This was the first time I had seen him do this. He cried when I died but not like this. I was glad that I was here to comfort him, Because I knew that finding out that you're dead is no easy task.

"You didn't do anything wrong Xav, you just let go of something. It felt like the right time, nobody is judging you. If they are then they're horrible. They don't know how strong you are." I sealed it with a soft kiss, wiping away his tears gently. He chuckled at my words knowing that I was right. "You are one smart cooking Ten. A tough one too."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I suppose when you lose someone, you think you will never find them again. But that's not entirely true. I lost Xavier while he was living and I found him again after he died, after he let go. He is now sitting with me in the between, a place we could now both share, I has lost sight of Briar, making me think she had gone to the living world yet again. She was a timid person, it took me a while to get her to willingly go to the living world again.

"So you've been living your days out here?" I nodded.

"But I have visited the living quite regularly. But if you don't want to then it's fine, everything we need is here."

"Like each other."

"And our own world."

We just sat comfortable beside each other just happy that we are together again.

"Have you ever wondered about your killer, Ten?" It was silent for a moment.

"I have actually, I don't know who it was for sure but I know he was following me, watching me before he killed me. He planned it all out. Do you remember the day we kissed by the lake? I ran into the woods afterwards and sat for hours. When you found me, I swear I felt somebody watching us, and when we left I heard them."

It was then that it truly struck me. It was somebody who knew their way around, somebody who stayed there regularly.

"Xav, it was somebody we knew."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was awoken by a scream from Xavier. Briar was at his side trying to calm his sleeping figure.

"He just started freaking out.I just got here so I don't know what happened." I picked Xavier up in my arms rocking him back and forth. Soothing him. He stopped his squirming and he soon drifted back off to sleep.

"Well you were out late Missy." We both laughed at my mother like authority.

"I was reminiscing in the past, did me some good." I nodded as Xavier started to stir again and his eyes broke open.

"You okay? You've been stirring in your sleep." He winced at something. Did he have a bad dream? Did he have a nightmare?

"Ten, it hurts." He quietly choked out those words.

"Where does it hurt?" I could tell my worry was showing but I just wanted to help him. Soon the pain would be a part of me, I knew it.

I looked at his face and he seemed to relax again. "I'm tired now." His eyelids drooped. I started to panic, he's replaying his death. He was laying in my arms, close to becoming unconscious. I was frozen in place with an aching Xavier in my arms, close to overdosing on invisible sleeping pills.

"Xavier, is it? Look at me, focus on me. Close your eyes and fight the need for sleep, imagine energy surging through your body and imagine all the pain you feel disappearing as the energy passes it. Imagine that ache inside melting away." Briar took initiation in the situation guiding Xavier to his recovery. He may have been in pain but his determination overruled the comforting horror he was going through and removed the power of death over him. But as the pain clearly evaporated throughout his body, he fell unconscious.

"Are you okay Tenley? You looked really scared." She was right.

"I'm sorry, Xavier is important to me. I tried to help but just seeing him hurt, hurt me and I froze. That's how he died, sleeping pill overdose. My death traumatized him so much he killed himself. Well, at least that's what his police file said. His death was in my murder file." I lay Xavier back down on the ground. "I found out nothing new about my murder, the police seemed to have given up. It doesn't make sense, Somebody I knew drowned me. I just don't get it!" I was just so frustrated. Nobody - not even me - knew what happened to me. I just wanted to know.

Who would do such a thing?