Pure Obsession {WIP}

14 | Keep You Safe

 Endless night encompasses me in velvet wings of warmth as I float amongst the stars. A heavy symphony of silence reverberates through my being as if I was resting at the bottom of the ocean. Peace, freedom, and serenity are all I know now. Nothing hurts anymore; the pain, a memory so distant it seems to be frayed on the edges of my mind. It can't reach me here.

 A multitude of colors and lights reverberating off the endlessness surrounds me in a cascade of exploding luminescence. Purple for my mother's favorite dress, yellow for the sun I drew in the corner of every picture, blue for my prized teddy bear my father bought for me, and green for the eyes that were the last to look upon me.

 All those colors bring an unimaginable sense of comfort and exhilaration. I see them even as the sound of my mother's voice lulls me to an even deeper sleep with a lullaby. I let go and allow it to carry me to an unfamiliar yet inviting place.

 Suddenly, the song stops and a pinprick of blinding white erupts from the curtains of black, tearing my beautiful tapestries of death apart. The colors fall like fireworks all around me as my mind is ripped open and I'm catapulted through the new unforgiving expanse. My Eden is destroyed as a blanket of warmth is ripped away, causing me to shiver and curl in on myself from the bitter cold torching my insides. Shrill noises shatter my eardrums as the cold turns to fire and my throat aches from screaming into the blinding void.

 I mourn for death being ripped away so violently before I'm even brought back to life.

 It pains me to shiver from the sheet of ice beneath my skin. Something between fire and permafrost ignites my arms as the beeping from the monitor blares like a siren in my eardrums. Everything is spinning and loud until a single electric touch brings back a bit of warmth from the other side.

 A muddled voice emerges through the chasm of drudge to distract my mind from the infernal beeping. "Amara, thank god. Can you open your eyes, sweetheart? Please, god don't let this be a dream."

 My lips part, but even the breath that escapes hurts. Liquid immediately touches my tongue and slides down my throat to calm the burn in my esophagus. I gulp it down like a newborn calf, the water restoring my cold, aching body with its delicious vitality.

 Harsh light floods my vision as warm blood courses through me once again. I move to reach for the cup, but a familiar sharp force holds my hands down at my sides with only an inch or two to give. I cry out from the sting my confines shoot from my wrists up.

 "Please, it's best if you remain calm."

 Is that really...

 I blink away the fog as my vision readjusts to the light. There is no time to grieve for the light that was ripped away when two fierce pools of emerald dance with passion inches in front of me. The exact shade that put to shame the stones they mimic that thrived for me in death now do the same for me in life. The sincere relief and admiration in them are unmistakable, but so is the clear and present danger of my situation.

 "Daniel," I croak.

 He lifts a hand to hold my cheek in his palm, calloused fingers brushing over my features like he needs to commit them to memory. I make no move to stop him, knowing my efforts wouldn't do any good. So I study his features while he peruses mine; his plush lips a hair's width apart, bloodshot eyes, and stubble he definitely didn't have before when he chased me through the woods.

 The woods.

 Bile rises in my throat as memories from that fateful night resurface to play rapid fire in my mind. My blood burns as blood red as crimson casts itself over everything in my frame of sight. I thrash in Daniel's grasp, screaming over whatever it is he's trying to say. I don't hear him so I don't hear the other voice mumbling a few feet away. What I do hear is the return of the dreaded beeping, but louder than that is my heart beating like a drum and thundering through my body. And like a ship at sea, I rock back and forth, relaxing as a new liquid euphoria paints my vision black again and fills my dreams with dancing colors I will crave forever.