Shift | Complete ✔️

30 | Brush with Death

The rolling hills ran on for miles as I basked lazily in the grassy field.

My skin prickled from the buzzing of a nearby dragonfly. My tongue tasted the smallest hints of rosemary that filtered through the breeze. I let out a moan as my eyelashes fluttered closed.

It was so peaceful.

Laying down amongst the tall grass, I soaked in the sun, positively immersed in the warmth that wrapped me in comfort. My senses were in overdrive. Everything was buzzing and I had never felt more alive.

Threading my fingers through the grass, my eyes peered open in response to the distinctive sound I'd not heard in what felt like forever. Phelan.

"Good morning..."

Removing my fingers from his tangled hair, I blinked slowly as I came to.

"Phelan?"

My voice was soft. Tentative. Unsure.

He sensed my uncertainty, his eyes falling to the pillow that I'd pushed myself from. "Don't move too fast, you're still healing."

I nodded slowly, acutely aware of the pain that shot through my neck as I craned to meet his gaze.

Then it all came crashing back.

Letting out a sigh, I stared up at the ceiling as my hands scoured the length of my arms.

There were no gaping wounds, no slash marks. I gripped each bicep to be sure... no bruising either.

But she almost killed me!

I gasped in incredulity, I couldn't believe how I was seemingly alive and... well.

I felt my brows furrow as I pushed the blanket off of me. I moved my shirt up to see... surely, surely there would be proof of my injuries.

Feeling my stomach, my rib cage, my sides... my hands grasped and prodded my flesh for any sign of pain... of evidence of what I remembered to be true.

Hadn't I died?

I strained my neck as I turned to Phelan for answers.

"How?!"

He was clearly exhausted. Leaning on his elbow, he looked down to me before gently tucking the strand of my hair behind my ear that had obscured his view of me.

Instead of answering my question, he posed his own, his tone cautious and controlled.

"What do you remember?"

I found it difficult to swallow as I mulled on his question. My pulse reverberating in my eardrums as I struggled to focus.

What did I remember?

Strobes of memories flashed through my mind like a scenes in a movie theatre.

"My Dad... Phelan, they killed him..." I sobbed, grasping at my temples, pulling my hair as I wracked my brain as if to shake away the truth.

"I know." He paused.

"I'm sorry I didn't get there quick enough... I tried Edie, I really did."

He stroked my arm back and forth between the silence.

"I couldn't do anything except watch it happen Phelan. There were four of them, I couldn't, I just could-"

I felt a lump in my throat, I was tripping on words that I couldn't articulate despite seeing in all in replay in my mind.