Epiphany

Chapter 23 Part 1~Savior

I gasped as soon as the intense pressure on my chest decreased to a great extent and my lungs expanded immediately when the cool air traveled in again.

Although there was still a weight on my chest, it was far lighter than before as the foot was still resting on my chest.

I moved my hands to clutch his foot and shove it away but it was as though his foot was pinned on me with the help of glue—or maybe because the energy was drained out of my arms and was replaced with a numbing sensation.

I winced when the pressure followed by pain increased slightly and when my vision got cleared again, I noticed he had propped his arm on his knee.

Bastard.

And instead of looking at me, he had his face averted to the side and the taunting smile wasn’t resting on his face any longer.

I uttered a groan when I tried to push his foot away again but failed to.

“What were you doing just now? Take your foot off of her,” what seemed to be a fourth voice spoke with a calm yet menacing tone.

The voice, however, wasn’t totally unfamiliar.

The thought of someone I met before coming here to save me led me to endure the pain in my chest as I strained my neck to try to peer over the foot on top of me.

Because of the foot obscuring my view, all I managed to make out was a figure wearing black pants and glimpses of his hair.

Obsidian hair that cascaded all the way down to stop just beneath his chin and locks of hair that were pretzeled into thin braids.

The urge to cry in happiness loomed in my chest when I fully recognized the guy but I suppressed it for my body's sake.

“This isn’t your business, Elijah. Go lick the boss’ @ss or something.”

It really is him.

“Elijah, help me!” My voice cracked and throat ached, but I ignored them and continued, “Get him off of me!”

The one who wore a gut-churning smile, Karim, eyeballed me. “Shut up.”

If I just had the energy, I would have spat at him.

He then asked Elijah, “She’s not from here, is she? An outsider?”

“Yes, she is.”

“Well what are we waiting for?! Let’s get rid of her,” Karim sang out, not forgetting to press lightly on me with every word he said.

“Or how about we make her meet our little pet?” The last one who emerged, Noah, said, and it wasn’t hard to guess that he wore a smirk like his other friend.

“Get off of me!” I yelled and with a strong yank of my hands, I succeeded in pushing his foot to the side a little, but failed in removing it completely off of me.

Dammit. Dammit. Dammit!

“I don’t think that’s what Edward would want. You want me to tell him that you let this beast come near her when she’s needed by him?” Elijah said in a solemn tone that had me focusing back on the conversation they were having.

A beast? A dog? They seriously were going to make me meet their monstrous pet?!

And Edward?

Who the hell was that?!

My mind was pulled back to the images of Julia as I focused back on the task at hand.

Julia was dying! Get his damn foot off of you already!

I bellowed out, “Take your dirty foot off of me! Elijah, tell him t—”

“You. Zip it for now.” I was left speechless when these words were spoken by not those idiots but by Elijah. The one who was supposed to be on my side.

“So?” He returned his attention back to them.

“Well if you say so, then we didn’t just meet her.” I heard Noah say and saw him wave for the others to follow. “Come on, guys.”

The one on top of me huffed in annoyance before removing his boot completely and tramped behind them.

I blinked, staring at the trees that reached the sky for a second. They really just left me alone just like that? This was way too easy.

I helped my upper body up and placed my hands on my aching chest as I watched them leisurely walking past Elijah, chatting with one another.

I cursed at them as the simple, involuntary action of sucking the air in ached my lungs every single time I breathed. My throat was also sore, but I guessed that was from all the screaming earlier.

I got visibly shocked when Elijah hurried towards me, concern marked all over his face as though he didn’t just tell me to shut up. “Alyssa, are you okay?”

But he did save me so I wasn’t going to hold any grudges.

“Did they hurt you?”

I only swallowed and said two words before he cut me in. “I need—"

“How did you even get all the way here?!” He crouched beside me.

“My frien—"

“Were you trying to run away? Don’t tell me you were trying to run away.”

“I need your help—”

“Tell me first what were you…” He stopped himself when he saw my face turning to a deep red color. “Wait, you okay?”

“My friend!” I rose my voice at him as my nose turned runny again. “Where is Jesse? I need Jesse!”

“Jesse is busy right now. Wait, what happened? You okay first?”

“Julia is dying if we don’t find Jesse—or a doctor! Please, call him right now!”

“Okay, okay, calm down. We’ll save whoever this person is.” He held me by my arms and helped me to stand up.

“Where is he then?!” I said with panic permeating my already hoarse voice, as I pushed his hands away.

“I’m sorry but he can’t come.” He grabbed my hand but I immediately pulled it away.

“No, I need him! He’s the only one who could save her,” I insisted.

“I will save her. Now, come on.” He tried to hold my hand once again but I took a step backward.

I shook my head at him. “You’re not a doctor. I need a doctor or else—”

“I am a doctor.”

A perplexed expression adorned my face because his age made it impossible for him to be a doctor.

Wait a minute.

“Were… Were you the one who treated Julia?”

“Yes, that was me.” He glanced at my right hand that had my purple swelling fingers. “And I also treated your hands, and I think it needs more treating by the looks of it.”

I looked down and saw that he has offered his hand. “So trust me, okay?”

I gave him a nod before bolting right past him and towards the house again. The sound of his shoes crushing on the several twigs and leaves behind me calmed me down a bit.

Everything would be fine now…

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I wanted to apologize for not updating this week on Thursday and Saturday. I usually edit my chapters before I publish them and because I didn't have any motivation to do so I didn't update. So I'm hoping to return to updating on Thursday and Saturday like usual and sorry :(
(But I'm updating two extra times this week to make up for the times I didn't update for in the past so four chapters a total this week yay!)

Anyways if you liked this chapter give it a vote to send some motivation to both Alyssa and the author :)