Only Kyle Sequel: Only a Matter of Time

Part 1: The Threat

"Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of withering, of tarnishing."

-Anais Nin

"Are you okay?"

He sighed uneasily, and I watched him look in a different direction from me.

"Well..."

"Well, what?"

"I've em...I've got some...news..."

"What news?"

"Bad news."

I tensed a little, feeling my heart leap into my throat. I struggled to ask the next question.

"What's wrong?"

He sighed and tried to avoid contact with my eyes. He put his hand around his neck. "I...I need to go back."

"Go back to where?"

"Home...heaven."

I waited for him to look up, but he never did. I felt myself tense as his words sank in, and I realised what he was explaining. "I-I thought we had talked about this before..."

"We had," he nodded, "but it's different this time. The gods...they were kind to me, Jessica. Really kind. This...is the final straw. I can't keep using them like this."

I moved my eyes away from him, giving up hope on seeing his blue eyes or his face. I looked to the side as I cupped my elbow, the panic overcoming me. "But...you can't..."

"I need to go back and serve my time in imprisonment, Jessica." He replied flatly, "and so does Zach. For...you know."

"Yes, I do," I snapped and turned to look at him again, holding back the gasp as his blue eyes connected to mine, "and it's not fair! It's not right Kyle, none of it."

"I never said it was."

I don't know how many times he had said that he felt guilty or that he wanted to go back, but I knew how he was feeling. He felt like he was using the gods, and it's not by nature that he's here, he's here because of me. If he had never revealed himself...and promised he'd stay with me...then there wouldn't be so much friction and regret between the two of them. I felt so guilty.

"But what about...t-the connection?" I stuttered, remembering how he said he couldn't leave the last time because of it.

"Well...I don't know. I'll still see you from up there, Jessica. And I'll be back in two months."

"It's too long..." I muttered.

He sighed. "I need to go."

He walked over to me and placed a kiss on my forehead, before I felt my eyes start to burn. I had just got him back...

"Goodbye Jessica," he said quietly before turning his back on me.

"Wait! No! You can't!"

"I'm sorry...they're waiting on me..."

I felt him slipping away, and I couldn't hold onto him anymore. I tried to move but I felt glued to the ground, and my eyes were becoming blurry as his figure slowly faded away...

I used my last breath and screamed as loud as I could.

"Kyle!"

I flung my eyes open and bolted upright on my bed.

My breathing was fast and sharp, while my heart was going a hundred miles an hour. I could feel myself sweating, and my sticky bed sheets clung to my damp skin.