Falling → Stefan Salvatore [2]

I'm Thinking of You All the While

Chapter 60: I'm Thinking of You All the While

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PAIN... IT'S SUCH A SIMPLE TERM, WITH SUCH A COMPLEX MEANING. Whether it's physical or emotional, pain is prewritten into everyone's destiny. It's a disease that eats away at you, reminding you that no matter what you do, it's inescapable. It weasels it's way into the fate of anyone and everyone, leaving you with no other option but to accept it. Pain is inevitable. And inevitably always wins.

Power itself had shut off entirely inside of Amalia Grace Schultz, leaving her body with no choice but to slowly shut down as her organs begged her for one last breath. Almost convincing her that her desperation had been successful, her eyes were met with the brightest of lights, shining into her in a way that she feared it may have blinded her completely. And as her eyelashes fluttered and her eyes were brought to an open, she found that the deepest of her fears had become true, even if it had only lasted for the shortest of seconds.

She had expected to find herself exactly where she had left off, in the middle of the barn where the pain had only begun, she found instead that that couldn't have been farther from the truth. Her breath hitched in her throat quickly as her eyes scanned all that surrounded her, only for her body to go into a shock as her hazel eyes landed on the frame of her mother, Alessandra Schultz, standing only a few feet away from her.

She placed her hands back on the concrete ground behind her for a minute, supporting her body and assisting her in getting up from off of the ground. As soon as she was level with the woman and had gotten a clear view of her, her body paralyzed, allowing the shock of where she was and who she was with to overtake her, "Oh, my god. Mom."

Pushing aside each thought of hesitation that lingered within in, she picked up one of her feet and rushed over to the woman, stopping right in front of her, almost as if she feared that if she had touched her, she would disintegrate into thin air, "Mom? How is this possible?"

"Honey," A smile crept upon the features of Alessandra Schultz, her eyes smiling with a sparkle Amalia hadn't seen in far too long. Slowly, her hands lifted into the air and she rested one of them onto Amalia's cheek, being sure of the girl's presence in front of her. As the realization of that it truly was her daughter standing before her hit her, she grabbed onto her shoulder with her free hand, gently pulling her into her as she brought her other hand to the back of her head, "No. No, you shouldn't be here."

A grin lit up Amalia's face in response of the rush of her mother's heartbeat against her own, bringing her to wrap her arms around her mother's shoulders, desperately wanting to feel a certain closeness to the woman, "Mom, it's okay. I'm okay. I'm here. I'm—"

"Sweetheart," Alessandra cut Amalia's words short as she spoke up, eager to finish her own sentence before Amalia would have the chance to. As exhilarated as she was to be standing in the street of their old family home with her daughter right inside of her arms, it felt as more of a nightmare than it did a dream, "It shouldn't be this way. It's not your time."