A Hero In The Dark

Chapter 122: Last Sunset

[[CONTENT WARNING: SUICIDE & SELF-HARM]]

This isn't fair.

I have been hurt too much to be ended this way.

I have been tortured, kidnapped, scarred, manipulated, used.

I can't be any more helpless than that. I refuse to be.

My legs travel faster with each step I take, burning from exhaustion. My tears blur my vision to the point where they sting my eyes from the heat. Yet I do not wipe them away nor do I rest.

I keep running.

I run until I cannot go any farther.

Until soon enough, I emerge from the tropical trees and bush and come to the other end of the island. Onto the sandy beach and into the water toward where the sun lowers to the horizon.

And there, from where my feet never leave the cool water's edge, I fall to my hands and knees.

I fall and I scream.

A loud scream full of rage and despair.

A scream loud enough that it pierces the high skies, mutes the wind, and scares the tropical birds out of the nearby trees.

Drac. Everything he has said and did will lead to my death. There is no cure or remedy or antiserum that can fight the effects. Not one to find in over a billion years. It is impossible to survive this toxin in my blood.

I am going to die.

In my desperate need to depart from the situation, I did not think to ask how long I have. Is it a month? Weeks? Days? I don't know. Surely it can't be long.

A wave washes up the shore and crashes against my thighs, splashing my face partly in the process. I let it. And in that moment when the cold and fresh saltwater touches my cheeks and lips and nose, it occurs to me.

It occurs to me how broken and helpless I really am.

I am more than powerless. I am more than poisoned. I am more than hurt and beaten and drugged and controlled.

I am less of the girl that started her journey to change the future from the wrongs she has read.

Defenseless, helpless, weak, alone.

No one else knows what this feels like. Setrákus Ra, who could take away legacies by thought, even he couldn't render Garde powerless permanently. Anyone who has had dreynon used against them got their gifts returned.

Me? I am left with nothing.

No powers. No strength. No courage. No hope.

Nothing left to live for but death.

But I refuse.

I refuse to let Drac win. I refuse to give my life to a mad scientist that did nothing but experiment on people and steal the gifts of Lorien for his own desires and motives. I refuse to let this ensue.

If I am going to die, let it be on my own accord.

I glance at the green scars that cover my wrists. I feel the scar from the charm that was cast onto my ankle during my imprisonment on the Anubis.

Setrákus Ra has caused me too much pain. The Mogadorians have caused too much pain. I will not let Drac or Bray or Dennings cause more.

This ends today.

I grip the gun in my hands, check the clip, and see that it is full except for one bullet.

And I raise it to my right temple; hold it there.

My hand shaky, I flick the safety off and the gun clicks in my ear.

A familiar bird shrieks from the sky above and I look up to find a seagull gliding in circles overhead. Pixie.

I have to be quick.

One bullet. That is all it will take. Only one.

Then it will all be over. Drac loses and I win.

I can be at peace; without being haunted by my past, without dying to present madmen, without worrying of what the future holds.

And while gazing out at the beautiful sunset colors before the sun makes its way below the horizon, I suck in a deep breath.

My last breath. Hold it and don't let it go until the bang of the gun.

One bullet and it is over. One bullet.

I close my eyes and I pull the trigger.

And just like that, it is over.