FALL (DIMENSION Series #1)

CHAPTER 38

I wasn't unconscious. It was true that I couldn't see anything but I could still hear. And I could think clearly. I tried to will myself back into a normal state. I didn't know what had happened to me. I could feel the ground underneath my legs and my arms. Grass blades stuck up into my elbows. I couldn't remember how I'd gotten to the ground. It had been some kind of blackout, maybe. And I knew it had been related to Derek. He was near. I could feel his energy. It had hit me like a lightning bolt and had knocked me out. And it was still trapped in my body. I could feel his presence – it was in the heat simmering in my arms and my legs, my cheeks.

     I tried to open my eyes, but my eyelids felt too heavy, like they'd been glued together. I was pulling myself up onto my elbows when I was knocked down. For a brief moment I pictured Isabelle sanding above me and pushing me down. I could see her bending over me, her high-heeled boots even more aggressive-looking than earlier, a smirk on her face and a hardness in her eyes. But it wasn't Isabelle. I was being held down by something that was pushing me down like a long-lasting gust of wind. It was touching me everywhere. Pushing me down like a wave. It wasn't a human force. It was something else.

     I opened my eyes and had to close them again. There was a purple light and it was blinding. It also was mind-bending. It was unlike anything I'd seen before. It seemed to come from the sky and the sky seemed different. Like it was bent, somehow. And more expansive than I'd ever seen it before. Like it had doubled in size or had more depth to it or something. Otherworldly was the word that got stuck in my mind.

     The sound of church bells came and went. It was sometimes near and sometimes far. Like waves rolling in or something. I couldn't wrap my mind around the things that were happening. And as I was trying to solve the puzzle, something even stranger happened. My mind went soft. It seemed to slip out of my control. It couldn't hold my thoughts, except for the realization that my mind was leaving me. Time was leaving me behind as well. Things were happening in the background, but I couldn't grasp them. I knew I was losing time.

     I wasn't sure how much time went by. But a voice pulled me back. His voice.

     "Ellie," Derek said. I wanted to respond but my eyes were still closed, my eye lids still too heavy to lift. And my arms and legs feeling heavy, like they were glued to the ground underneath me. Still, my heart fluttered and then sped up. He was here. He was back with me. Derek was here. And he was saying my name.

     "Ellie," he said again and I felt his breath on my neck. That sent a heatwave up my face and down my neck. My upper body was on fire.

     He touched my face and that did it. His fingers on my cheek snapped me back to this world. My eyes sprung open. And I looked into his eyes. They were light green and gold and endless. They seemed to be as large and wild as the ocean and I got lost in them.

     "Derek," I mumbled. My cheek was on fire. It was burning with desire, like his fingers were still on me. 

     The moment was perfect. I didn't even mind being a damsel in distress. Not when this perfect boy was right next to me, trying to coax me back into knowing where I was, and who I was. I could see different things in his eyes. They were so expressive that it seemed I could read his emotions, like they were spelled out in a novel or something. His eyes conveyed tenderness and concern. Concern for me and my well-being. There was a lot of emotion contained in them and all that emotion was for me. He's saving me, I thought. And I knew it was different from what I had expected. I had hoped to be the one who'd pull him back into the world. But here we were, the world still had a strange purplish sheen to it. And the sound of church bells were still with me. I couldn't tell if they were still ringing at this moment or if it were just my ears that were ringing with the aftermath of the earlier sounds.

     I didn't try to solve these puzzles. I surrendered only to the eyes that were looking down at me. Eyes that conveyed to me that I was important, that I mattered to him. That he wanted to continue to look at me. That he was seeing me. Really seeing me for who I was. Let this moment last, I thought. I couldn't look away from him, couldn't bear the thought of not having this boy so close to me. If I could choose any moment of my life to stay in for all eternity, it would be this one.

     But a shadow fell over us. A shadow belonging to Isabelle Bree.

     "You passed out," she said matter-of-factly. As if I'd failed somehow. As if there hadn't been an explanation. She was putting it all on me. Denying the crazy shit that had just happened, that had made me fall to the ground.

     I shook my head at her. I wasn't going to be labeled an unreliable narrator. I was about to open my mouth to give her a piece of my mind when Derek jumped up and held his hand out to me. I took it. Not because I wanted to avoid the awkwardness of Isabelle accusing me. But because I had no other option. I couldn't resist Derek's hand coming for mine. I registered this as a new reality of my life. Like a law of nature or something. Whenever Derek would come for me, I'd go with him. I'd follow him blindly. Again I conjured up the image of a moth to a flame.

     He pulled me up and my whole body was on fire now. Sparks seemed to be coming off him. It was more intense than before. On some level I reveled in his return, but some part of my brain seemed to register that he'd been altered. It was like his strangeness was amplified. Like he carried with him something from his journey, something I didn't understand.

     I stood next to him and sought out his eyes again. They were darker than before but not as dark as I'd seen them before. He still seemed to be inside his body. I had to speak now, before the moment passed.

     "You're back," I mumbled. The words felt strange in my mouth. Speaking took effort, and my voice sounded dry, like I hadn't spoken in a while.

     He nodded and his eyes got darker still. Speak now, I silently admonished myself. Speak before you lose him again. 

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NEXT NEW CHAPTER ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 27 (featuring MORE of DEREK!)

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