ALL THE KING'S MEN | BARRY ALLEN

17. A LITTLE DEATH

❛ chapter seventeen! ❜

seventeen | a little death—the neighbourhood

       Tears have stained my pillow and my hand refrains the sobs from cutting through the silent bedroom as it remains clasped to my mouth. I look for comfort underneath the duvet as I glance at the early morning light coming through the window beside. My chest burns with fear, desperation and discombobulation with every second it passes. I feel my heartbeat doing the only thing it can do before such situation: speed up. Two strong arms wrap me by the waist, catching me off guard and pulling me closer, my body naturally giving in and burying itself into that comforting warmth that irradiates from the body against mine. A sleepy and raspy voice resonates in my ears.

       "It's alright now. It was only a bad dream," if hearts could jump out of your chest, mine would certainly had at this point, "I got you."

       "It's you. . ." I blurt out as soon as my eyes meet Bart, "Bar, it's you!" My hands run over his body as if he's going to disappear, he might as well do so. A great sense of relief washes over me and my bitter tears turn into happy ones when I see him here, smiling, breathing, alive, "It was terrible. There corpses everywhere, everyone died, a wave of energy washed over the city and destroyed everything in its way—"

       "It wasn't real, there's nothing to be worried about now," he interrupts, pressing his lips against my forehead. I snuggle against his chest, trying to find the warmth that wrapped my body just a second ago, but now it's like I'm hugging an iceberg. My hands feel at his body, making sure it's not my imagination, for he's freezing and I hear the concern in my own voice when I tell him so. He looks scary healthy yet he's cold to the touch. My mind races as to what the hell is going on while taking his hands in mine, feeling his cold skin against mine and examining them.

       "Это не реально."

       "What do you mean by that? Of course this is real," he tells me as I hesitantly wriggle myself out of his arms. I see the confusion flashing in his eyes, "Vee, why are you acting like this? You're awake now. It was just a nightmare, this is real."

       "No, it's not," I repeat, shaking my head frantically and rubbing my temples while Bart tells me to calm down as he caresses my hair and then rubs soothing circles on my back. Staring at my hands, I feel the lump growing in my throat; Bart reaches for the tears that roll down my cheeks and he catches them with the back of his hand—which only makes my heart plummet to my stomach and leave a void within my chest.

       "Honey, look at me. Why'd you say it's not?" I reluctantly make eye contact with him when he touches my chin and makes me look at his face. I take his hands in mine once again with my attention on the golden band around his ring finger—a similar one adorning mine as well.