Hidden Truths - Ethan

58 - The Son

My vision is blurred and my mouth full of blood. The first thing I see is Tobias and Gwendolyn, bending over me. Tobias is feeding me his blood and I start to fight off. I will not give in to the hunger and I will not let myself drown again. I had to win so often and still, it feels like losing.

"Leave me alone!" I try to shout it aloud but it comes out as a muffled murmur. I am stronger than this now.

"Leave me alone..." I keep on telling the illusions around me as I roll to the side. We are not alone. Eve is looking at me confused and I am waiting for Henriette and Tristan to show up. They will blame me for ruining it. Where is Tristan? When did I lose him in this dying world?

"Leave me alone..." I press out once again, trying to catch my breath before I reach out to my hurting abdomen. The overwhelming scent of blood is all around me and I still feel as if I am underwater.

The blood of my victims is punishing me; pushing me down into the darkness but there is a light that I can follow. There is a fainted scent in all of this. It is something I need to follow.

"Give him some space!" I can hear a familiar voice, but I do not know who is shouting.

My head is filled with impressions that I cannot untangle. I try to blink away the veil of dizziness, which is hindering me from seeing the world. Taking some more deep breaths, I press my hand at my wound. This scent.

I know this scent.

His scent is mixed with death, but it is still him and as real as my nightmares are sometimes, I have not smelled him ever in there. I need to get myself together. Everything around me is spinning and before I could continue to think about it, I violently empty whatever is left in my throat. I try to wipe away what is drooling out of my mouth but cannot.

The one arm I am not supporting myself with is hurting, and I cannot really move it. My vision starts to clear as I try to inspect my wound. There is blood all over my upper body, smeared and partly dried. I can feel some strands of my hair clinging to my forehead. It is healing. That is good.

Another fight. I think I won, but it feels like I lost. What is it I lost this time?

I take a deep breath finally clearing my mind completely with the cool air in my lungs.

He is real. He is here.

I turn around to look into Tobias' face before I reach out my hand and touch his cheek softly. I cannot believe it. This is all real. His warm eyes are slightly gleaming just to underline his nearly golden appearance. He leans down even more to me as we are both staring at each other.

After the short distance is closed, I embrace the young man in front of me with the one working arm I have left. His figure presses against my own shivering body and I realize the silent, hot tears running down my cold cheeks.

"You ruin my coat with your blood," Tobias' voice is nearly cold but I have to laugh. It just breaks out of my chest and I cannot tell why my tears are floating. It is not the pain that triggers them, that is for sure. Relieve is washing over me as it never did before. Last time I cried in front of a living being is so long ago, that I cannot remember. It does not matter, I guess.

He is alive – or I am dead. Both would be okay because we are together again.

I just leave enough air between the two of us to take his cheek in my hand for a moment and look him in the eyes. I cannot believe that I am able to touch him, to smell him and to see his little dimple that starts to show up when he suppresses a grin as he does now. This is my boy. For a moment, I can see the younger him in his features. I do not know what happened or he has been through, but we will be together again.