Run (On Hold)

Chapter 5 - Confessions

5. Confessions

I felt my feet landed on a hard ground. And from the darkness, my eyes flew open.

I was standing, not lying on the ground as I thought I was, and the place in front of my very eyes was very familiar. Of course it was very familiar to me. It was our street. Not the dark alley, and I turned sideways only to realize I was beside Mrs. Moore's house. Tired of thinking about everything weird that was happening, I just walked, my legs feeling so heavy as though they'll collapse after every step and my head was swirling like I hadn't slept for a whole week. I felt so tired, tired as a man who swam theNileriver. But even that so I continued walking, for it was the thing my tired brain was telling me to do.

And there I found our house, the light inside was on despite the obvious lateness of the night. Beside it, the Anderson's, the light inside was off but in their lawn stood three figures, while another one figure was sitting on the grass, hands buried in the face.

She was crying. I can hear the sobs even from here, and the voice was impossible not to recognize. It was the voice my ears would hear even from a middle of a deep slumber, even in the bridge of death.

My body reacted automatically, and I walked - or dragged my body, I didn't know – towards the figure my body was sworn to respond to. All I knew was that I was moving forward towards Lyka. And whether I was limping or crawling, I couldn't tell. I can't feel my body, really. I felt like water, and I knew it's just a matter of seconds before my knees gave in.

"Lyka," I managed to mumble. How, I had no idea. I just did. I was still a few meters away from them, so I doubted it if they could hear.

But they did, so maybe my voice came out louder than I thought. The four standing figures suddenly snapped their heads on me in unison, while it took the one sitting on the grass few seconds, as if making sure it's not just hallucination.

The girl unburied her face, and slowly she lifted up her head. From the streetlight I caught sight of the tears on her cheeks and eyes. And the feeling was unbelievably relaxing to see those astonishingly beautiful eyes again.

Lyka blinked, and after assuring herself what she was seeing was true, she caught her breath. I heard it, because it was the only sound to hear.

"R-Ember!" she cried and stood up. Then she ran for me, and the instant she reached me she wrapped her arms around my bare body with such tightness. I winced as a horrible pain seared my chest, but I think she didn't notice it. And I was thankful for that. The pain was nothing compare to the joy of having her in my arms again.

She was crying on my shoulder, and I'm patting her back in agony to comfort while staring at the others in front of me. My vision had gone so awful that I can no longer see the details of their faces, but I was positive they weren't hooded so I let out a sigh of relief.

"Lyka," I mumbled again, and I felt so weak I had to put my weight on her. "you'll get stained with blood."

"Blood?," I heard her voice as though she's at the end of a long tunnel. "I'm here now, Ember. Everything will be okay."

"I'll protect you," I didn't know where the words came from. They just came out of my mouth like the other strange words this evening. "I'll protect you," I repeated, my voice was slurry.

I felt her loosen her grip on me and make some gap between our bodies.

"Oh my god," I heard her choke in horror, although her voice was becoming so far it was hard to hear now. "You're wounded!" Then, in even lower voice, "Travis! Paul! Help -"