A Collection

From Battlefield to Black Clouds

I came to the ledge that overlooked the battlefield. I felt like a traitor, even if I myself was bleeding all over and missing a finger. The fact that I could see my people dying meant that, coming from the fight myself, my wounds were only halfway cut and my missing finger should be a missing limb. I should have been bleeding to death, but I wasn't. If I had been almost honorable I would have gone back into the battle. (If I were completely honorable I never would have left.) Had I been an honorable coward I would have killed myself out of shame. But I was none of these things.

Instead, I walked back to the safety of my clearing. It was a miracle that the battle had taken place near it. While I had still been in the chaos I had seen him fall before me. He had been stabbed by a woman who seemed familiar to me, but I only realized that while thinking back, on the ledge. When she had done it my mind had been only centered on one thing: his well-being. Adrenaline had rushed through me. I had fought my way to him and dragged him off the field. How I managed to get us both to the clearing I'll never know, but there he was looking peaceful despite the hole in his chest.

I opened the locket the blue glow had given me. For a moment I stared at the glowing ball inside. I questioned its power, but my ach to see him alive was strong. Slowly, as if in a dream, I pushed the ball into his chest. Three hot tears fell from my eye after the ball. Crouched at his side I prayed that it would work. I pushed the hair from his eyes and looked for a sign of life. I was sure that I imagined a flicker. I sat there for what seemed like hours.

With a lurch his left hand was behind my neck. He half pulled me down and half sat up. Before I knew what was happening I could feel cold flesh against my lips. The flesh became warm, as I began to lose strength. It lasted forever but not long enough. The warmth became absent. All it left behind was a lingering buzz and dizziness in my head. I was enveloped by warm breath, then collapsed into his now strong arms. I could only summon enough strength to look up at his eyes. He was looking back at me with softness that was strung with confusion. I willed myself to speak, but my lips refused movement. I felt myself rising, and once again the warmth came. The lingering feeling came sooner this time, and some strength returned to my body. His semi-cold hand brushed the hair from my face. His eyes, still soft, were absent of confusion. He parted his lips as if to speak, but I never heard his words. Before the sound could escape to my ears, my world became black and red with flames. My ears betrayed me and rang with the sound of gunshot after gunshot, whiz after whiz. Pain erupted in my lower back and spread up my spine to the back of my head. A dull pain thudded in the middle of my back and increased the already present pain. Blacker splotches crowded my already black vision. The growing pain lingered for a few moments until I was floating in a sea of black clouds. I could not move or speak or anything. I laid there motionless floating among the black clouds.