“Yeah, but I'll be alright. I know you don’t like driving distances.” I visibly sank into my chair at the shame that settled on my shoulders. I’ve always been afraid of driving. I would only drive when needed, although I should have listened to my gut.
The last little bit came in flashes. I waved goodbye to our friends as my sister slid into the driver’s seat. I remember Evelyn’s smile, the overhead light illuminating her exhaustion.
A sheet of snow covered the windshield.
The blaring of the car's horn.
A screech.
A crash.
The icy water as my head met the dashboard.
My vision was getting dark.
All I had left was my ability to hear, and an incessant need to know what just happened.
Chapter 2
Oliver
"Obsession blurs the line between protector and predator"
Iremember that night like yesterday. What the Hell was she thinking, allowing her sister behind the wheel? Why wasn’t I there sooner, and who was driving the other car? Too many questions and not enough fucking answers. I can’t believe I forgot about the party.
So much was happening already, emotions were whirling like the tornado did through Oz, and guess what, we weren't in fucking Kansas anymore. Emory wasn't the only one I admired—therewasanother... that word still sits stale on my tongue—was.I felt my body shudder for a moment, the misery and dread absorbing what little emotion seeped through my tough exterior.
I'll tell you now, I was not about to lose someone else. I couldn’t be there for her becausetheyneeded me. Their situation demandedI hold them and love them. I didn’t want, nor did they deserve todiealone. My emotions vibrated into a confused mess that night, the feeling of control slipping from the death grip I thought I had on it.
Why theHell,did it have to bethat night?
Of allfucking nights!
I guess when it rains itfucking pours!!!
But hey, as it was said in “The Crow”,
“It can’t rain all the time”, right?
The car was already submerged beneath the frigid water when I got to the shoreline. Pieces of the bridge floated on the surface, mocking me for being late. I am never late, always there, but that night was different. That night... was tragic.
Without a second to lose, I leapt into the lake after her. The visibility was like trying to see with a plastic bag over my head, and my body ached with the cold. By the time I found her, not an air pocket remained, and her sister was nowhere in sight. Her damn near lifeless body tussled mildly as the course of the water pushed around her.
I fought with the seatbelt until I reached down, unsheathed my knife, and cut the safety strap with one single swipe. I jostled her—until she was untethered from the condemned wreck, coiling my fingers around her coat collar as I deadlifted her to the surface.
Finally, I settled her down on the snow-covered bank. Once I was sure she expelled the water from her lungs, I stared at her for what felt like forever. I watched as her chest rose and fell, a small plume of air visible against the icy atmosphere, dissipating just as quickly as itappeared. It's been a long time since I've felt that way—fighting back tears as a mixture of fury and trepidation boiled beneath my skin.
If she wasn't lying there, the vexation that mauled at my moral compass may have been too much for me to hog tie and shove back into the darkness, it was trying so hard to escape from. The efforts of my sanity and sense of ‘what's right’ were futile in preventing the thoughts of retribution—finding the driver of the other car, and slowly waterboarding them in the lagoon, I just pulled my little bird from.
Just the imagery alone tantalized my occipital lobe, leaving it itching like a crackhead looking for its next fix. The muffled, hallucinatory screams, a haunting imperceptible echo, teased my auditory cortex. The pure glee that radiated through my being, where their life was in my hands, under my control, and at my whim… was orgasmic in a ‘rage-fueled’kind of way. My self-control was hanging on by a thread, and that thread was her. I couldn't leave her alone—not there... now, nor ever again.
I was half-tempted to teach her sister a lesson as well—however, that all changed when I realized the speed of the other vehicle had increased. Once the cars collided, the other driver slowed to a painful crawl across the bridge. The girls hit the icy lake below, and the other car sped off in a way that assured me it was no accident.
It was at that moment that her sister no longer occupied space in my cerebrum. My propensity for violence roused with a gluttonous hunger. I recall grinding my teeth, an animalistic growl emanating from my core, stirring like a witch's cauldron inches from overflowing. Just before my anger was about to spill over, the negative emotion vanished, interrupted bya small coo from my dove.
I turn all my attention to her, singing a song I heard that fits her perfectly like the dresses they wear at the Gala, “This Little Bird” by Jewel. Surprisingly, it calmed us both that night. It was more mainstream than what I was used to, but I knew it would fit in her playlist. Unable to do much, I lay beside her until she was taken away. That night… that night changed everything.I spent days next to her hospital bed. Seeing her like that infuriated me but solidified my feelings for her and my resolve: to never leave her side again.
∞∞∞
