Darkly and Eternally Yours

Chapter 12

"Give us that wallet or your pretty lil' girl is dead." The masked man threatened, pinning my father's hands behind him.

"Take it, take everything, but let her go." My Dad choked out, straining to get his voice out from the firm grip of the man's large hand wrapped around his neck.

I was paralyzed in fear, my eight year old heart trembled in fear, not knowing what to do. Suddenly, in the distance, we heard sirens coming off. "s**t!" The man holding my my Dad cursed and hissed to his partner, "Check his pockets! Hurry up!" He said, as the guy quickly inspected my Dad's pockets taking everything he could find. "Got 'em, let's go, let's go." The guy said stuffing everything in his pockets. The man holding my father, threw him to the muddy ground and ran behind his partner. Relieved, I rushed to my father's side, hugging him as tightly as my frail arms would allow. "It's okay, princess, we're safe now. Daddy's got you." He whispered, soothingly to my ear.

"Wait!" We froze as we heard one of the guy's shouting, the masked man appearing back in front of us. "What the f**k you doin'?" His partner called out, "We can't keep 'em alive." He said aiming the gun at me. "No!" My dad bellowed, shielding my body with his, tucking my head to his chest. He squeezed me tighter as the gun shot pierced through his back, I screamed in terror, my high pitched voice echoing through the empty dark street, as rain poured down. The sirens got louder, "Come on man! We don't have time!" The guy shouted, as they both scurried away into the darkness of the night. My dad fell limply above me, his eyes lifeless, as a black cloak overshadowed him, "He's dead." I heard it whisper, filling me with terror, "Daddy! No! No!

"No!" I shrieked, sitting up, my body drenched in sweat, breathing heavily, "No." I whispered, warm tears gushing out. A sob screaming in my throat. I burst into tears, I hated it. I hated this. I felt unsafe.

I curled myself up into a ball, and hugged myself. Willing myself to stop. The ache in my chest was too much to bear. My hands clawed my skin, in rage, in bitter regret, in grief.

I turned and screamed into my pillow, in deep seeded anguish, I was tired of this. I screamed, I sat up and threw the cover away from the bed, I threw the pillows everywhere around the room. I was restless. I was animalistic. I pulled my hair in fury, hoping they would rip out and diminish the heavy throbbing inside my skull. I sobbed, like I was that night. The pain was too much. I was lonely again. I was that lonely girl sitting and crying beside her lifeless father, in fear. I was there again. And I loathed it.

I let myself hate me, I clawed on my skin, nails digging into my flesh, I wanted to relocate the pain from my chest to somewhere more physical. I cursed myself, I tried to hurt myself. But, after all that I wrapped my arms around myself tight. After all, who was there to hold me up? It was always me who had to pick up the pieces of my broken soul. I was the only person who had to give myself love. At the end, it's just me. who has to take care of this fragile girl...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Kiara!" I heard Dianna call, "Why is your ass on the floor and your head on the bed?" She asked, shaking my shoulder.

"Leave me alone." I grumbled, my eyes still closed as I tried to get comfortable again.

"We gotta go for our classes, or do you wanna skip? We could do something fun." She suggested, her voice too annoyingly excited for my mood. As if being a morning person wasn't enough, she had to be super hyper today.

"I just wanna stay in bed all day. Alone." I muttered, half dozing off again.

"Don't be a fun sucker, come on we can go to that boring, stuffy cafe that you like." She insisted, shaking me again.

I slapped her hand away. "Can you just piss off? Let me sleep." I muttered angrily.

"No I'm not pissing off, I'm getting the shower running for you." I heard her get up, walking to the bathroom. The sound of running water, occupied my room, making me groan. "You can wear this black shirt today, since you're in such a somber mood, I understand. I'm letting you dress for comfort today, better not miss that chance." She said, causing me to roll my eyes as she browsed through my closet.

After she basically bathed me, and dressed me up, we were finally on her car, her singing to Britney Spears as she drove. Awesome. As if the day couldn't get any worse, it was annoyingly sunny. I had to wear my shades, as I tried to doze off again, but Dianna's pitchy voice scared any form of sleep away from my eyelids.

"Dianna, can you shut up? It's so annoying." I hissed, irritated.

She huffed, side eyeing me, making me roll my eyes at her childishness.

We arrived to the little cafe that I loved so much, due to the peace and quietness and ordered lattes. Dianna tried to start a conversation, but I wasn't having it. I felt bad for shutting off her attempts of cheering me up, but I just wasn't in the mood.

"K, I don't know what happened to you yesterday, but I'm really trying to bring you out of it. Did he hurt you? Like physically?" She asked, gently.

"No." I replied, my eyes shifting down. I didn't want to talk about this, it felt like a long time ago.

"Did he cheat on you or something?" She asked, concerned.

"You know, I'd rather you talk about how high heels are overrated." I said, sipping my latte.

She gave me a distressed look and reluctantly dropped the subject. We had a normal conversation, or at least I tried to converse normally which wasn't easy when your whole world is flipped upside down. She still shot worried glances at me, but thankfully didn't press on the subject any further.

Her phone chirped, "Oh, I just got a text from Jason, he wants to hangout." She said, tapping away on her phone, replying him.

"You guys still in touch?" I asked, surprised. Which was unusual, because usually she wouldn't be with a guy for this long.

"Yup. Sweet guy." She smiled, her cheeks tainting in a light rosy color. Is she blushing?

"Wow. When does he wanna hangout?" I asked.

"In an hour, but do you want me to stay? I can tell him that we can meet up some other time." She said.

I shook my head, "No, no, go ahead. I wanna curl up in my bed with a good book and some strong caffeine." I said, giving her my best persuading smile. She squinted her eyes at me suspiciously and gave in.

"Fine, I'll leave you in peace, but don't try to kill yourself or something, I still need my best friend." She joked, as we headed out of the cafe.

After assuring her for twenty times that I wasn't gonna kill myself or go on a wild road trip to Hawaii without taking her, she finally left the house with a satisfied mind.

I spent the whole day with a book, and five cups of coffee, forcing my mind to concentrate. I flipped through the channels, blankly. Wow, the day's gone already. I thought to myself, glancing at the dark blue sky, through the open window.

I sighed, resettling myself on the couch, staring blankly at the white wall in front of me, emotionless, my mind was empty, I felt numb, everything was so still around me. Not a sound or a movement, complete dead silence. The daunting loud silence, the dead hush in the air, triggered an odd loneliness in my heart, a craving for him. I felt it in every pore of my body, it enveloped me in a restless cocoon. It was deep, dark hunger, a yearning of centuries for him. After everything he told me, he showed me, my heart still had an abundant amount of love for him. I couldn't control it. It was empowering. I squeezed my eyes shut, I clenched my fist, Stop. But I didn't know how to stop. The desire for him, the craving for his presence was so utterly strong, it was impossible to overcome it.

The lady, Patricia, her near- death face flashed before my eyes. No, she can't die. He will kill her. I gasped in terror, as I struggled to breath. She's going to have her life taken away, and I know that, I can still stop it, I can stop him, she can have one more chance. Her children can have one more chance to right their wrong.

Panicked, I glanced at the clock, 11:18 a.m. I quickly got up, filled with alarm, going through my drawers to find the car keys. She can still have a life. I hurried out of the door, getting in my car. She has a chance.

I drove out of my driveway, praying I wouldn't be too late, the road was still busy with traffic, which freaked me out even more. Please, I need to make it on time. I drove through the red lights, speeding to the hospital. My mind kept repeating the same lines on a loop.

She can still live. She still has a chance. I can stop this.

They ran around inside my head, playing tag with each other, driving me crazy. I checked the time again, 11:43 p.m. "Shit." I muttered under my breath, driving even more recklessly than before. A heavy dread filling the pit of my stomach, Please, let me make it, please, just let me be on time, I chanted over and over, as if it was a spell that would magically transfer me there.

A soothing relief washed over me at the sight of the hospital. I quickly parked at the nearest empty spot and sprinted through the entrance, in front of the desk.

"Hi... umm, do you know which room Patricia Moore is in?" I asked, flustered.

"And you are...?" The lady asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow at me.

"I'm... her niece." I answered, trying to look convincing, plastering a fake smile on my face.

"And what do you want with her?" She asked, cautiously.

Oh, I'm here to stop death, who is apparently my boyfriend from taking her soul away, because she's about to die any minute now. I thought to myself, rolling my eyes. I know, crazy.

"I'm here to visit her, we used to be very close. She was like a mother to me." I replied, desperately hoping it was believable.

"Okay, here's your visitor's pass, she's in the fourth floor, room 392." She said, giving me one final look, before handing me the pass. I rushed towards the elevator, and frantically pressed the button. One was at the basement, going down and the other was at a higher floor. Impatient, I pressed the button three more times, as if that would make them come faster. Huffing in annoyance, I spotted the staircase and bolted towards it. Please don't make me too late.

I raced through the floor, arriving in front of the room 392. I threw the door open, to find Adrian in his black cloak, towering over her. "Adrian! Stop!" I yelled, pushing him away from her.

"Kiara! What the hell are you doing?!" Adrian shouted, in a voice so deep, I struggled to recognize it. He looked murderous, downright sinister as I realized, this wasn't Adrian anymore. This was the Reaper.