The Vampire's seal lll : Love over immortality

A Choice Is Made

Michael

Darkness. It always ends with darkness. The pitch black of closed eyelids as the overwhelming cold takes over your body... It always ends like this. Death always ends in darkness.

I should know, I've been dead more than once now.

I was floating. Curled up into a ball and floating in the dark. Other things would bump into me, and I was angry at first, but after a while I didn't even care. It's been a while since I've bumped into anything. It's smooth sailing now... but to where?

This is... different... from what I've experienced. Now that I don't hear the voices of the living anymore? It's quiet. And the newly found silence was welcomed. As soon as I started accepting it a warm feeling began in my chest, slowly pulling me and my thoughts elsewhere.

Dark slowly turned to light. Cold turned to warmth. Whatever my curled body was headed to, it just felt... right. Like I belonged there. Like I was going home.

The light pressed against my closed eyes, but I didn't bother opening them. I could recognize where I was headed to now. The warmth soaked my skin, allowing itself to be absorbed by me. And soon enough, a happy content feeling found itself, far surpassing the fear I had just felt.

I was warm. I felt loved. I was happy.

But for some reason, some sick unfair reason, my body began to move away from the warm light and backwards to the cold darkness.

No...

The darkness fully enveloped me and I recognized it almost immediately. My eyes flew open just as arms wrapped themselves around me.

"Why?" I said, my voice heavy. I looked at her, and saw how she was in the brink of tears. "Why Ana?"

Anastasia's body was bare as she held me in her side of the darkness. Her eyes were as brown as my own, and heavy with guilt. She knew what she was doing to me.

"I... I don't know!" She replied, as if she had surprised herself in her actions. "I just... I can't-"

"You have to." I said pulling her away. "It's time to let me go."

We were different here. Open. Vulnerable. That's what I realized as I looked at Anastasia, who's strong image crumbled in my eyes as she spoke. She was the same as me. Broken. Whether it was my death that did that to her or simply being here I didn't know.

What I do know is that she looked at me with such a sadness that it broke my heart.

"All my life, I've been alone. And I saw that in you. You're alone too, even with all these people surrounding you... aren't you? I've seen the way they act when you were alive. I've also seen the way they acted with you gone. It's almost like you were just an excuse to go at each others throats. It's as if you never even mattered to them. But you do. You matter so, so much. "

I looked away from her and towards the light. "I ...I have the chance to be happy..." I stuck my hand out to reach towards the warm light. "I want to be happy." I looked back at her and saw her devastated expression. "Why are you trying to stop me?"

We spent a moment gazing at each other before she came closer to my body, shakily taking my hands.

"If you go, I go Mike." She declared gripping my hands tightly in her own. "I don't want to be apart from you anymore. I can't."

I felt a jolt of surprise run through me.

...What...what did she just say?

"Ana," I began sadly. "Why do you care so much about me? Why do you... Why do you try so hard for me?" Anastasia's eyes widened before they looked away, further into the darkness.