Fate

Chapter 5

Nothing. That was the answer. Nothing was holding me up. So I fell. And that was terrifying.

            Darkness. Complete darkness swallowed me up. I couldn’t tell if my eyes were opened or closed. I wasn’t sure. The dark gap seemed to go on forever. I fell for what felt like an eternity, although was probably only ten minutes. Then I saw the bottom.

            It was grey. And looked like rock. Hard, hard rock. I hate you Daniel, were my last thoughts this time. I prepared for the crash.

            It felt like concrete. I felt like I was sinking into concrete. The bottom was made of misty grey water. Despite it being water, the collision hurt.

            At first, I wasn’t sure whether I could manage to swim up at all. I just wanted to sink and let the water swallow me up. I did that for a few seconds, until I remembered that if I died, the world would go into chaos. But then I started to relax. I closed my eyes and smiled as the world around me went black.

***

            Something pushed on my chest. Something hard. It hurt.

            “Ow!” I tried to yell but all that came up was water. Eww, I had swallowed water? And who knows what was in it?

            “Stop pounding my chest!” I tried to yell but only more water came up. I thought I was going to vomit. So I did. I vomited up what was in my stomach. After that I felt much better. I felt a hand on my back. I turned to see who was pounding my chest.

            Woah. Déjà vu from the first time Daniel pulled me out of that freezing lake and I had coughed up a little more than just water.

            “Daniel!” I yelled and tackled him. We rolled for a little, and then I began to make out with him. I was wrong. I was wrong this time. He was the one and that was that. I had picked him to spend the rest of my life with, and that was fine, no matter how short the rest of my life may be. Daniel was mine, and I really hoped he felt the same way back. We stayed like this for at least ten minutes. I totally forgot the task at hand, and just focused my attention on him and me. It was wonderful, just forgetting about the world, about where we were, and about what I was about to do. I was about to kill him. I was going to have to kill him, and me, and my family, and everyone I loved and cared about. And I would be ashamed. But then, I would come back with him, and stay here in a new world, being forced to remember what I had done, for eternity.

             I froze.

            “Did I tell you about the prophecy? The full prophecy I mean.”

            “Well no, but you explained about how you had to end the world.”

            “Well yes, but not what happens after it’s over?”

            “No, you didn’t mention that.”

            “Well, you and I have to come back to a new world, and wait for another person, like me, to come and fulfill a new prophecy. Then we can go in peace.”

            He was silent. Then he stared straight at me and said, “Well at least we can stay together for a little bit longer.”

            I couldn’t take it. I burst out laughing and punched him in the shoulder. Not hard, of course. He was so optimistic. Not annoyingly, but sometimes it was just what I needed to cheer me up.

            Regretting the whole decision to break apart, I stood up and looked around. What I saw took the breath right out of me.

            Everywhere, the floor, the walls, the ceiling, contained crystals. Perfect crystals sticking out. Daniel crept up next to me, and placed his hand on the small of my back.