Exhaustion weighed heavily on my bones. I scooted forward, dangling my legs over the stage.
“I’m not saying you would,” I assured him. “But they’re coming on more than ever. The more they-”
“No,” he interrupted, trembling harder. “Nothing will happen to you. Nothingcanhappen to you.”
The images and sensations and chaos I’d seen would push him into a downward spiral. His lost gaze, furtive glances at Marty’s door, fidgeting hands- I could see the battle waging endlessly on his beautiful face and there was nothing more I could do to help him.
I returned his burning stare. “This was the second one today, Ollie. Whatever it is, it’s happening soon.”
His lips parted on a retort, but clamped shut at my serious expression. He cursed under his breath, furiously digging a knuckle into his eye.
“Tell me what you saw.”
My chest constricted. “Red. Pain. Screams. Bright lights. Rain. The side of a road. And you.”
His silence screamed in my ears. The cracks in his stoic face started as little fissures, widening until his lip quivered. He bit it, holding everything in.
“Let it out,” I whispered.
He shook his head over and over.
I pushed off the stage, throwing my arms around his neck. He gripped me desperately, a choked sound from him muffled in my hair. If only I could melt into him, mesh our bodies and souls until we were inseparable and unbreakable. My eyes slid shut; one muddled thought bloomed to the surface.
A dark thought.
A dangerous thought.
“Promise me something,” I murmured.
His throat bobbed. “Anything.”
“Capture everything.”
Bloodshot eyes searched my face as if it held the universe's secrets.
“I will, I promise.”
I reeled him back into my embrace, kissing him hard as the steel wire in my chest connected to him unraveled, expanded and morphed into a fluid river of red. It was the all the reassurance I needed.
38
Ollie
Red.Pain.Screams.Brightlights. Rain. The side of a road. And you. Red. Pain. Screams. Bright lights. Rain. The side of a road. And you. Red. Pain. Screams. Bright lights. Rain. The side of a road. And you.
And you.
From where I leaned against the brick wall outside of the theater, I’d almost convinced myself it was all a bad dream- an elaborate, hyper-realistic nightmare I hadn’t woken up from. Anything but reality.
Worn leather warmed, a rustle of pages whispered. I idly shifted the journal from palm to palm. Back and forth, back and forth.Capture everything. Capture everything.
A warning that I didn't want to accept. I couldn’t. If I did, I’d succumb to the demon residing beneath my skin, allow him to tear apart the world by its seams and drown in its own blood. I teetered on the precipice, carrying dark bags under my eyes from last night's torture.
Stiff limbs and a sharp gasp snapped me awake. Not that I was fully asleep after her last vision. I scooped her up, cradling her head and pressing a kiss to her hair as the milky film began to dissipate. Puffy gray eyes returned to stare straight into my soul, tugging on the undeniable connection rooted there. I flattened my palm over her heart beating in time with mine.
“Bound to you,” she whispered. The threads that initially drew all of us together weren't as strong as the one to her. At some point, it braided into unbreakable steel and now pulsed like a molten river flowing between us.
“Bound to you,” I agreed. She gave me a sweet smile. Needing to taste that sliver of hope, I bent to kiss her. She answered with a deeper kiss. In the dark room, her eyes sparkled with fresh tears.
