[BOOK TWO]
"Anniversaries to some are like counting the years spent doing something great, years spent together, or years spent alive." I started slowly, voice dropping to a drawl as I peeked cautiously out of my bedroom blinds, scanning the road to...
DIMITRI HAD BARELY even broke a sweat when he sent the first punching bag flying half way across the room. By the time it was the forth bag of the day, his face had became lightly tinged with a touch of pink and nothing more than that. Just like the man he was, Dimitri made it a point to prove to me that it wasn't even that hard to lay an impactful shock on the punching bag. And somehow through what was supposedly a lesson for me to learn how to fight and, quote, 'properly protect yourself', soon became a time for my teacher to just blantantly show off.
"I get it, you're strong." Throwing my hands up in sarcastic exclamation, I finally gathered Dimitri's attention as he turned over, a smile twitching on the corner of his lips. "Stop showing off."
"Well, I had to let you know somehow that I had simply been going easy on you last year at the boathouse. If not, I would have lost all my pride." All too casually, Dimitri unwrapped the bandages across his knuckles with his eyes still trained on me.
"Right. Just because ego."
"Well, that's all a man has without his lady."
I could feel the apples of my cheeks bloom into a brilliant shade of cherry-red at his words. It had slipped off his tongue so perfectly, as if he had been practicing this encounter in front of a mirror for decades. And yet, time and time again I had to remind myself not to be entranced by this man's blatant beauty and charisma for it had never been part of my plan to go off courting Death.
Considering our obvious flirtatious exchanges, I must have been a failure all my lives prior to this one.
Instead of succumbing to Dimitri's abundance of personality and charms, I simply turned on my heel to walk back towards the newly set up boxing equipment. "Think you can actually teach me to use one of these instead of showing off or trying to kill me?"
It seemed as though his smile could never drop. As if it were the inevitable rise and set of the moon and sun, or perhaps the glitter of stars that never seemed to die. His smile matched the fiery burn of lovers' hearts and an array of colorful fireworks display that would tint the night sky every Fourth of July. There was a twinkle in his eye, something that had always been present since the very first time I remember meeting him. I doubt I could ever forget those molten silver eyes that burned itself bright and everlasting into my memory that first night of the party.
Though my perspective of Dimitri had changed drastically, my initial opinion stayed the same. If he was beauty, flowers and stars would look dull and unlively in comparison for there was nothing more beautiful than Death himself.
He sighed once, but like I said before, his smile never left his features. Instead, he made his way over before resting his hands on my waist, positioning me to face the punching bag at a certain angle. I could feel the warmth of his breath tickling the base of my neck. The electricty from his cold hands against the flesh of my body sent my nerves into an overdrive, heart racing along with it.
"The amount of force you apply to the bag will come back to you. So if you don't want to hurt yourself, you have to know what you are capable of doing. Clench your fists."
Gently, his fingers traced over my knuckles, smoothing them till all my fingers were tucked in cept for my thumb.
"Never clench your fist with your thumbs inside. You risk the chance of breaking them and hurting yourself. Now draw your arm back and punch. Quick and precise movements, but never lingering."
This time, when my fist made contact with the cloth of the equipment, I did not recoil in pain as I had before. There was a dull ache that travelled through my arms, but never typically stinging as if I had broken something. When the bag jerked slightly away from the force of my impact, I turned to face Dimitri who had a small satisfied smile. It wasn't like his typical smirks that screamed of mischief but more of a gentle and loving one that I had now forgotten due to my many days of isolation.
"It wasn't that bad," I forced out a laugh to which Dimitri caught on.
"What's bothering you, Addison?"
There was clear concern hidden behind his irises as I shrugged lightly to hide my discomfort. My eyes immediately flickered to my wrist, to which a watch and my bracelet of diamonds rested on. Time had been ticking again, and the hands of the clock stretched to graze the numbers 3 and 7.
3:35 pm.
"I'm fine."
No, I'm not.
If Dimitri noticed me lying for the second time in this minute, he did not show. Instead, he placed a hand on the small of my back before leading me towards the door and away from the mini gymnasium.
"You must be hungry," he murmured under his breath. "You're getting a little too pale. Let's get you something to eat."
Though comfort food served its purpose well whenever I needed that extra perk in my life, the thought of it did not brighten up my mood any further. My emotions had been thrown into a constant evolution and oscillation between good and bad, positive and negative. I couldn't even think properly about what exactly was making me upset. Instead, I just felt downcast, as if I was missing something important in my life. Something I know I can't get back.
And that was the worst fear one could ever have, no? The fear of losing something, or someone, and never being able to retrieve it. Where the item will be lost into the depths of oblivion and forgotten memories, all cast away along with fallen stars and embers that burnt out.
As much as I wrecked my brain, I could not think of who or what it was that I had lost. It burned bright and unforgiving in the back of my mind, haunting me even when Dimitri and I had parted ways after our meal and I had retreated into the rooms.
When the back of my head finally touched the pillows of my bed and my mind was almost adrift to unconsciousness had I finally realized what, or more accurately who, I had lost.
Everyone.
For too long had I spent my time in solitude, isolating myself away from the rest of the world. Now I shall pay the price for my dumb decisions; where I no longer am as connected to the people I love as I was before.
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