No way in Heaven or Hell - Afterlife Series Book 1

Chapter 11 - The last hike - part 1

Eliana opened her eyes. She was lying on the bed she'd been using since she'd arrived. Her body ached all over. That was weird, considering she was dead...

Oh, right... I'm still pretty close to human... she said to herself. I guess my body reacts like a human's would too... Ouch ...

She groaned as she rubbed her head. Khyros, who was looking out the window, glanced around. And she wasn't positive but she thought she'd caught a glimpse of relief...

"You're awake," Khyros said.

"... Yeah... Is the little girl going to be okay?"

"Ingua's checking on her, but she should be fine." Khyros said. "What about you?"

Eliana stared at him.

"... You're actually asking me?"

He sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Yes. Yes, I am. I... I was worried."

Eliana waited for the snark, but he didn't seem to plan on doing any for once.

"...Were you really?"

"Yes. I know you're waiting for the snarky comment, the quip, but... I won't make any. I promise."

"... Why not?"

"... Mostly because I'm tired of pretending to be someone I'm not." he said.

"Oh, so you're not a selfish, rude jerk?" she teased, nudging him in the shoulder.

And for the first time, he laughed. It was short, but it was a laugh.

"No. Or at least I don't think so." he said, with a smile.

Eliana could only now see how a simple smile lightened and softened his face. It was a surprisingly nice change.

"... Why did you do it then? Hide behind someone you're not?"

He looked away for a moment.

"... I told you I didn't want to be cared about because I didn't deserve it." he said.

"Yes..." she said, looking around to see if anyone was likely to interrupt. "But you never got to explaining why..."

There was a pause. Eliana pushed the cover off and sat next to him.

"... You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to..." she said.

"No... it's just... I don't know how you'll react... and..."

"Khyros, I don't know much about you, but if there's one thing I'm sure of by now, it's that you're not a bad person. You never did anything to hurt me, and you had plenty of chances. So... whatever made you think you shouldn't be cared about... you must have had a reason for doing it."

He stared at her.

"... You might not say that when I tell you."

"... What did you do that was so terrible?" Eliana asked quietly.

He looked at her a moment.

"... I killed a man."

    Eliana wasn't sure what she'd expected, but she was fairly sure it wasn't that.

"... What happened?" she asked.

He leaned back against the wall and sighed.

"... It was the Christmas before I died... my family hadn't gotten together in a while and they thought it was a good time to do it. My grandparents from Oklahoma, my uncle from Tennessee, my aunt and other uncle from Detroit... they'd all come and it was fun. There's nothing wrong with that picture, right?"