Dandelion

Chapter 17

                                                                                  Determination

I felt my eyesight getting hazy as I kept staring below the balcony, the image of my dead body flickering before me till it finally disappeared never to return again. My knees went weak at the sight and I ended up colliding with the reels of the balcony as a breath struggled to escape from my lips.

Something inside me tightened around my heart or so I felt, a grip that was holding me, squeezing enough to cause my chest to be filled with pain. Delicate fingers, thin and elegant, I imagined them, yet that hand was taking my breath away, that hold had me on my knees, unable to take in the oxygen that was all around me.

The breeze was so evident just a moment ago yet now it felt as if it had disappeared, it had abandoned me along with my sense of smell that faded away slowly as I no longer could sense that aroma of the dandelions. My sight soon started waving, darkness calling for me to join her. Come -it said- let me embrace you.

Its voice was sweet enough to make me want to go to it and without having the chance to give it much thought, I felt my body leaning forward, but suddenly a hand took hold of my wrist and pulled me back. " Zein, what's wrong?" Elia's voice pierced through the thick fog of black and his face started appearing in my sight as if he had managed to chase the darkness away.

"Zein, Zein, what happened to you, why are you so pale?" He looked worried as he held me in his arms, soon lifting me up and carrying me away from there. His steps were rapid as he walked down the stairs and out the door of the Villa, passed the garden, and kicked the gate open once there, as it had been on his way.

While on his arms all I could see was a mixture of his skin, which was so close yet so haze to my eyes but I felt more awake than before as his cologne had crept in my senses of smell and had wrapped around my head. It was a familiar aroma yet I could not pinpoint exactly where I had smelled it before. It was sweet yet gave you a dynamic feeling, a tiny bit of strength that kicked your senses to imagine what laid behind that sweetness.

"It's okay, I got you, I got you." He mumbled to me as he reached in front of the van and managed to open the door to the back, placing me gently on the seat. I saw him leaving my sight for a second and I heard some rumbling noise just before he reappeared before my eyes with a white bottle in his hands. He carefully took hold of my head and brought the bottle close to my nose, the strong alcoholic scent entering my organism like an arrow of fire, that made me regain my consciousness fully. My body jolted up as my eyes opened wide, taking in air that I thought I would never feel again.

"There you go, inhale a bit more." He instructed and I continued my breathing process despite how much I hated that smell in that instant. However, I should have been thankful for it cause it had made me feel less weak than I previously was.

"I am okay." I managed to whisper as Elia's worried expression made me feel guilty and he hanged his head low as he heard that, looking relieved.

I pushed myself to smile in an attempt to reassure him as he lifted his head to look at me again but apparently, my try had only made me look weaker at that moment as his face morphed in sadness right before he brought his face closer, placing my head at the crock of his neck while he held me securely, patting my hair softly.

It was strange how I felt at peace in that position. He gave me what my darkness used to gift me. A peaceful mind as I inhaled his cologne again, a warmth of someone who cared for me. A sense of familiarity that I was longing for, with just a simple hug, he managed to bring that all back to me and I couldn't help but imagine him at that moment like the impersonation of that Villa that was behind him.

"Don't scare me like that...please just don't ." He pleaded near my ear and I couldn't help but grow more guilty over the anxious feelings I may have caused him unintentionally. However it was not entirely my fault, it's not like I had any control over my body either. Apparently nor I had over anything else.

What was that image? Why did I saw that from that point of view? That definitely was not my point of view but if it was not mine then it was Zein's and if it was hers then why was she there? Why had she seen me dead? What was she doing there that night?

Could she have come to visit her property that night? However, even if it was so, why did she come alone? Wait, what if she saw who murdered me? What if that was the reason someone was after her life now? She was a witness...Damn it! There is no way of asking her what she saw now.

But what about that stalker that texted her? Were there two people that were trying to get rid of her for two different reasons? Or it may even be the same reason. What if the stalker was stalking her that night and lost her after she entered the villa and in her stead, he found me in a room and because I saw him, he panicked and decided to get rid of me despite the fact that I was not her...the thought only made me wrap my hands around Elia desperately.

"I am scared," I mumbled unintentionally, my thoughts having managed to trap me in fear once more.

"Why for? There's nothing to be afraid of. I am here with you." He replied as he brushed his cheek at the side of my forehead, in a rather endearing manner that had me feeling like a pet getting loved by its mother.

I don't want to die. I don't want to get killed. I all my life thought and dreamed of death, but having my life being ripped away from me like that was something I never wanted to experience again. I wanted to die once, but that was my choice, it was my decision and no one else's will being forced upon me. I wanted to embrace death so I could fall at peace and not give someone else the chance to feel satisfied by taking a life. My life was not the best but I thought that it was mine, yet someone else had the strength to take hold of it and dispose of it. 

It was irritating, to say the least. It was infuriating that someone had rejoiced from my loss and was still free somewhere going after other lives that were potentially a threat to his life. That hypocritical bastard is fighting to save his life while he took mine without giving it a second thought. It was maddening, how unfair it felt, how the thought made my insides get set aflame, and a feeling to be born within me that I really felt awakened.

I want to see him falling apart. I want to witness his downfall and savor the taste of the facial expression that may morph on his face as he is to realize that it's over for him. I want to witness him tasting the poison he gifted to others, the fear and agony he let me die in. I want him to look at the sky with despair as he feels his breaths being cut by the hands of heaven just like mine did. And I will see all that cause I am alive to make it happen.

If he is after Zein for she has witnessed my murder then me being in her body makes much sense. He must have tried to kill her on the stairs yet obviously, heavens are not on his side, cause even if he managed to kill her, they brought me back to life. And I will not let their help go to waste, no matter how terrifying this gets sometimes. I will grab hold of anything in order to stand on my feet, I will empower myself from any source possible and I will reach to him no matter who he is and how good he is at hiding.

I am no longer the one being chased. I am gonna become the hunter now and I will use my arrows wisely.