Alexandria Laughlin Marshall (TO)

There in the Disappearing Light (pt 2)

    Once I hit the cool air on the street, I feel like a large weight is lifted off my shoulder. I feel my phone vibrate multiple times inside my pocket. I pull it out to see a text from Hope, where are you? I've texted you multiple times, I really need u. At St. Anne's Church. I take a deep breath and start the walk to St. Anne's.

When I reach the church, I see Hope sitting on the alter. I step over the bodies littering the floor, but I can tell Hope is distraught and mentioning the corpses wouldn't do anyone good.

Once I reach her, I whisper, "Hey, how are you doing?"

Hope chokes up a bit, "Not good." I swiftly sit down next to her and bring her into a hug. She then explains crying into my shoulder, "I think-think I killed-ed someone, a-a human."

I tighten my hug, and whisper to her, "It's ok, you're going to be ok."

I feel her body start trembling from crying, but I still keep a firm hug around her.

Suddenly, Hope lets out a gasp of pain, and her hands grab at her stomach. She leans forward in pain, and I jump up. I ask worried, "Hope, what's wrong."

"Everything hurts," she replies. As I step in front of her, her head shoots up, and I can see her eyes glowing a light orange.

———

Once we get back to the Compound, I help Hope get to bed. We're both exhausted, and I can't imagine how this day could get any worse, but someway the universe just had to find a way.

It seems right when my head hits the pillow, I'm pulled to the Otherside. My eyes open to the familiar orange haze, but I'm no longer in the Compound. I'm in the middle of a clearing in the woods, and I instantly think Hayley. She must want to see me or talk to Hope. I'm surprised that she hasn't tried to contact me sooner, but also I know that it may be too hard for Hope to hear from her right now.

I whip me head around trying to figure out who wants to talk to me. But as I turn to my head, my heart sinks. I see Josh standing there looking at me.

I feel all the air get sucked out of my lungs, as I hear another man's voice. "Is that her?" He has light brown hair and blue-green eyes, and he's wearing a green shirt and jeans.

But that's all I see before my attention is pulled back to Josh. "Alex, hey," is all he says.

I can feel the tears coming, as I struggle to speak. "J-Josh?" is all my shaky voice will let out.

Josh pulls me into a hug, but I only feel a shallow echo of contact because I'm still apart of the living. As he pulls away after a moment, I wipe a couple of stray tears away. I pull myself together, not want the tears to make me miss these possible last moments with Josh for probably a long time.

I'm finally able to get out, "What happened?" Ready to kill whoever did this to him.

"Marcel was taken, and when I went to get him... we were both overpowered, and they used his venom against me," Josh explains.

I still can barely speak, and only get out a quiet, "Oh my god, Josh."

"It's ok, Alex. I'm ok, I'm here now... I'm with Aiden again," Josh says, as he puts his arm around the other man's shoulders.

I smile a little, glad to know that he is at least happy. I look at Aiden, "So your the infamous Aiden, the love of Josh's life," I say over dramatically. I laugh slightly, trying to find the smallest sliver of comedy I can in this dull moment.

Aiden answers with the biggest smile ever, looking at Josh, "Yes. Yes, I am."

"Well, I'm glad to see I'm leaving him in the right hands then," I say with a smile, trying to suppress the sadness from showing itself on my face or voice.

"I need you to do some things for me, Alex," Josh says, and I nod my head. "Can you help Marcel through this, because you are the strongest person I know. Can you tell him that I'm happy, and he shouldn't worry about me? Tell him that he can move on, knowing I'll be ok, and I'll be waiting for him whether that's in 10 years or a 1,000. And Davina is coming to town. By the time she arrives, she'll know. Can you just let her know that I'm happy, and I'm with Aiden," Josh pulls Aiden closer to him, and I can feel the love radiating from the both of them? I can't help but be a little happy to see Josh like this. "And she shouldn't worry about me either?"

"Of course," I say, taking a deep breath with a small smile on my face.

"And one more thing," Josh says, "I don't want you to get hung up on me here, you've seen how great this place is. I'm good, and you are going to do some amazing things with your life. You shouldn't have to be hung up on me. And plus, I'll see you soon enough..." Josh pauses, and I can tell he doesn't know what to say for a moment. He then finishes with a smile, "I just want you to be ok."

I give the same slight nod again. "I'll try my best." I can feel the tug starting to pull harder, to bring me back to the living. "Josh, I'm being pulled back."

He smiles, "One last thing." He pulls me back into a hug, as I feel myself being pulled back. I hold on for as long as possible until I'm back awake in the Compound.

I grab my journal that's next to my bed, and I write down the exact words that Josh said to me. It's in moments like this, that I love my incredible memory. I write down the small paragraphs that Josh said for Davina and Marcel, into two letters for them. I then write down the words he said for me, never wanting to forget them.

After, I find myself laying in bed and feeling the need to cry out all my feelings. But I'm stronger than that, I know I am, even Josh said it. So instead of sitting in bed crying—like I felt like doing—I go for a walk. I don't know why, but I just let my feet guide me. I find myself walking to the nearest park, where I have spent many nights before this. I sit on a bench and look up at the stars. Josh and I used to do this during my summer break away from school. There's something peaceful and relaxing about just sitting in the silence of the night, and looking up at the stars—maybe it's just a witch thing, but even Josh felt comfort in it. I find myself forgetting all my problems, and just looking at the tiny lights above. I like to concentrate on one star, till I can see it flickering in the dark sky above. I think it gives me a way to focus myself to doing one thing and thus giving me the feeling of having power over myself and everything around me. As I focus on one of the stars apart of the Big Dipper, I think of the first time both Josh and I had come to this park.

I had had a bad nightmare one night, and for some reason—still unknown to me—Josh was at the Compound. Noticing how anxious I was about something, he brought me to this park. I remember sitting on this very bench a year and a half ago. We both named as many stars and constellations as we could, making it a competition—which I won, of course. I remember cheering in victory, as Josh couldn't name another star. He made me completely forget about the nightmare of killing my best friend that sometimes still keeps me up at night.

I smile at the memory, letting everything else in the world slip away. Closing my eyes feeling the crisp, cool night air flow past me. I inhale deeply, feeling the air travel all the way to my lungs. I don't know how long I sit there before I realize I can barely keep my eyes from closing. I decide that I would rather not fall asleep on a park bench but in my bed, so I set off back to the Compound. But not before making a promise to myself, that if I ever need to talk to Josh, I'll come here.