The Cursed Ones

Chapter Twenty: Fallen to Our Knees

"Darling, just please open your eyes," a voice cries out brokenly from a vast depth of water. I feel as though I'm drowning in a freezing lake. My limbs hurt and my fingers are icy. My entire body is shivering to combat the cold my whole body is enveloped in.

"She doesn't have a pulse," the voice cries out. "No, no, no! Noir, goddamn you, don't leave me! Don't leave us!"

The voice kind of sounds like Narcissa. I'm confused. Am I dead? I can't move. It's as if my body has simply stopped.

Why should I go back?

I don't want to go back. I've done enough already. I want to let go.

Voices; a lot of them.

"Go back," a voice I've never heard orders me gently.

"Noir!" screams Narcissa. But she's further away now.

"Noir, you're not done yet," the unfamiliar voice says.

"Go back." It's yet another strange voice.

"It's not your time, my baby," says the first mystery voice. It's angelic, almost. It makes me want to cry.

I want you, I scream at the voice. Don't make me go back! Please, I love you! I don't know why I'm saying it, but it's all I yearn for.

"Noir, we'll meet you again," the second voice says. It's a promise that seems to cradle my soul in a warmth too perfect to be earthly. "But not now."

"You'll come back to us," the first voice lovingly whispers. "One day. But not today."

You can't make me go back, I scream raggedly.

"Yes, we can," the voice says sadly.

Just like that, something pushes me. I begin to cry. No, I keep begging. I can't do this. I can't do it anymore. Stop! Let me stay, mom. I love you. Dad, don't let her make me go.

Mom? Dad? The shock of what I've just said sends me into a jolt. What the hell?

And then I can feel again. I'm heavy, and I'm cold, and someone is holding me in their lap as they cry.

My eyelids don't want to move. My mind is whirling with what just happened. My heart aches for the voices I had heard only moments ago. The pain and anguish is almost too much to bear.

"Noir," a whisper floats down to me. "Noir, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'll do anything, just please -"

The whisper is broken by a heartbreaking sob. It's Narcissa. To hear her cry like that shatters me. I feel myself break from it. I want nothing more than to hold her. If only I can hold her, I'll never let her go.

My desperation to soothe her is enough to pry my eyes open. Narcissa's tear-stained face is only inches from mine as her body lays limp over mine. Her lashes are wet. She's holding me tightly, cradling my head in one hand as the other wraps around me. Her forehead rests against mine as she sobs over me.

"Narcissa," I whisper softly. My voice cracks almost painfully, and I fall back into silence as I swallow hard against the sandpaper sensation in my throat.

Narcissa's brown eyes open. They're the prettiest eyes I have ever seen. They capture me in their enchantment, and I feel the breath go out of me as I stare into them, wishing never to have to look away.

An even louder cry rips from Narcissa's reddened lips, and the hand that was wrapped around me comes up to stroke my face. Her expression is that of total disbelief, even as her eyes remain grief stricken.