--A quick note from the author--
So, I wrote this knowing that it would not be used in the chapter, knowing that it was merely for my own entertainment. So don't expect anything fancy or amazing...
Also, this is a pretty depressing three pages. It portrays the worst possible ending to anybody's story, and I would NOT reccomend reading it if you are in any way opposed to mentionings of suicide or anything of the like. So please keep that in mind.
Yeah, I know, I'm probably totally overreacting. But I when I finished writitng it and read it, I thought "Omg this is so depressing!" So, that's it. So much for this being "a quick note from the author." Read on.
Anger. Fear. Helplessness.
No author could have ever correctly described these emotions on paper. There was no color vivid enough to portray them, there were simply no words meaningful enough to reflect what was going on inside me.
Erika was dying. I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. I could only hold tightly to her limp hand, the only lifeline I had right now. Her heartbeat was the only thing that held me earthbound, the only thing that penetrated my own personal hell. But her time was running out. Her heart was fluttering like a caged bird, terrifyingly weak. Every passing second that she lived through was a miracle.
Gabriel was bent low over her, his hands hovering over her wildly. Trying to find a way to save her. His face was tortured, filled with grief. That could only mean one thing…
No, Ian! I screamed mentally. You can’t think like that!
I tried to take refuge in the fact that Erika was still conscious--barely. Her half-lidded eyes were focused on my face, staring at me with such intensity that I tried to make myself believe that she was going to pull through after all.
Her lips trembled, trying desperately to form words. I forced my grief-stricken body to move, bending low over her to catch the word she could barely whisper.
“Ian…” she breathed, her warm breath blowing softly against my face.
“Erika, you’re going to be okay,” I whispered, my voice breaking. I heard Gabriel choke back a sob above me. A slight frown creased her forehead and she said my name again.
“What is it?” I asked her. Every one of her faltering heartbeats seemed to break a piece inside me, crumbling me. Soon, there would be nothing left.
“Ian,” she repeated again, her hand twitching in mine. Her breathing started to accelerate, becoming harsh and irregular. Her heart was faltering, slowing--
“Erika!” I yelled, giving her hand a rough shake. “Please, what is it?”
And then, as I waited for the answer I feared I would never hear, her heart stuttered, then fell silent. Half a second later, the flickering light in her eyes went out.
My foundation, the only thing holding me together, crumbled to dust.
I screamed. I screamed and screamed, every breath I drew in seeming to slice and deeper gash through my chest.
No. No!
My screams turned to sobs and I began sobbing Erika’s name over and over, repeating it like a prayer. But I knew that prayer would never be answered.
I couldn’t think, couldn’t feel. The only thing I could see was the lifeless face of the girl I loved, the girl for whom I would have ripped out my un-beating heart and set it at her feet if that was her will.
Never again would I hold her, feel her arms around my neck, run my fingers through her hair. Never again would I hear her voice, see her smile, feel her lips on mine. It was all gone. Forever.
“IAN!” Gabriel was yelling my name as he grabbed my shoulders and shook me roughly. He was suddenly in front of me, blocking Erika’s body from view. “Ian, look at me!” I did, but I couldn’t see him. My eyes were glazing over, the pain dragging me down. All I saw was a replay of every laugh, every touch, every moment Erika and I had ever shared, every memory stabbing into my gut like a blunt knife.
I saw Gabriel’s face twist with agony through the haze surrounding me, and I knew he was feeling all this through me.
It couldn’t compare.
“Gabriel, why?!” I screamed, ripping free from his grasp and staggering to my feet. “Why, why, WHY?!” He stumbled after me, sobbing.
“Ian, please!” he pleaded, reaching out to me again. I shook my head violently, backing away from him.
I needed an escape. A way out of this agony.
Vampires have no escape! A voice in the back of my head shrieked at me.
“Ian, don’t!” Gabriel commanded, sobs still shaking his body. He took a step closer, his hand still outstretched. “You can’t think that way!”
I had to. I didn’t want to live anymore, didn’t want to live without the only girl I had ever loved, who now lay dead before me.
And then I found the escape I was searching so desperately for.
“Ian, NO!” Gabriel roared, lunging at me. There was absolutely nothing he could do to stop me.
I mentally seized that one last lifeline, hidden in the back of my head, and twisted it viciously out, tearing away any lasting shred of my humanity.
It was not the instant end I had been hoping for. Unbelievably, I felt more pain. White lights burst in front of my eyes and I hit the ground, convulsing wildly.
Let it end, let it end, LET IT END!
I was screaming, Gabriel was shaking me, and one last memory pulsed in my dying brain: Erika, kissing me in an alleyway, her hands twisted in my hair, her eyes so full of love and trust when she pulled away. Her lips moved silently, forming the words I love you.
The pain became to much. My back arched off the ground and I let loose a piercing scream of pain and grief.
And then the darkness mercifully dragged me under.