Hopes of Paris

Chapter XVI: Died From A Wish

Wind started picking up and the weather began growing colder. Sall's slender body stood completely straight and steady; almost like a robot. The only part about him that wasn't numb was his head, as he was staring upwards and looking at the sky that now started turning gray. His expressions lacked life as we know it. Sall's eyes were extremely lidded down, his lips were parted slightly and his eyebrows almost in a sad curve. Jacquie looked genuinely worried and her mind was occupied with too many things already. Evanka approached Sall with concern, rubbing both of her cold upper arms in an attempt to warm them.

"Sall, it looks like it's about to rain," said Evanka as she attempted wrapping a hand around Sall's arm. "Can we go home and just continue the story later?"

"No!" he pushed Evanka's arm away and started freaking out. "The story must go on."

"It's okay, Eva," Jacquie shook her own head and approached her. "Only a little more remains, and we'll be back home."

"Okay..."

Despite the fact Jacquie was calming Evanka down, she needed someone to calm her down as well. She looked towards Sall whose eyesight was lost in pure nothingness once again. As Sall's sad eyes stared at the distance ahead of him, he found himself laying down on his bed in his room, and the phone next to him stated that this was a day before the events of the storytelling. It was the twenty first of February in the year two thousand and twenty five. He had just woken up from a bad dream that involved Lara. He's been getting reoccurring dreams of her after her death. Witnessing Lara dying infront of his eyes back in the hospital has forever scarred him. Sall had a few lectures in University today, but apparently he has slept in on a couple of them.

"Sall!" his mother, Roselle, called for him from the living room. "If you can hear me, hurry up and get dressed already!"

He remained quiet and continued staring up at the turned-off ceiling fan.

"Hey," Alain, Sall's father, walked into the room without knocking and he looked a tad too aggressive. "That's enough, young man. You've been skipping University a lot."

"..." no response was heard from Sall.

"I am talking to you!" angrily, he walked quickly towards his son's bed and pulled him up from the arm.

Sall's heartbeats rose at that very moment and he almost felt like he was electrocuted. He felt a feminine touch on his arm when it was supposed to be his father's manly big hand. Sall looked up and saw how his father was actually the nurse that used to attend to Lara back in the hospital. The same nurse that pushed him away from the front of the door when Lara was dying. Sall started getting an immensely strong headache and clenched to the sides of his head firmly in an attempt to massage his head as the nurse stood infront of him, watching him with terrorizing wide eyes. His room's door started shaking slightly as strong wind from outside brought in some dust inside and moved the door, making oddly loud creek noises. Suddenly, Lara's voice was heard from outside of the room. She was calling Sall's name and sounded like she was in immense pain.

"Sall... Sall!" her voice echoed into his ears.

"L- Lara?! Lara!"

As he exclaimed in utter shock and surprise, Sall left his bed and walked past the nurse that turned around and kept staring at him with wide eyes. He pushed through the dust going through the door and left his room. What befell Sall's eyes was unbelievable. He was actually inside the hospital Lara died in. He looked around in denial, as the hallway was abnormally big and long ahead. Lara's voice came from the room at the very end of the hallway. It was at least a thousand metre to there. As Lara's desperate voice continued calling for Sall and growing more in pain with time, he started running towards the door in the distance. Everything was just so bright and unearthly.