Can't Find My Way

Chapter 7: Eternal Love (Arthur)

I waited until everybody fell asleep. I stared at the ceiling of my tent thinking what would happen after this. I can hear the crackles of the bonfire outside, even the sound of the crickets are all over my head. Voices from outside started to fade out and when it totally went silent, I know that it’s already time.

I get on my feet and peeked outside my tent, it was dark and silent, with no sign of anybody except for the creatures of the night. The moon shines down and lights up the town, shadows form under the trees. Runes and sigils from everywhere glow faintly like glow worms. I’m fascinated by the beauty surrounding me, it was totally stunning. Well, you got what I mean; it almost feels like I’m dreaming and so I slapped my face. “Ouch!!!” That hurts!

After I dozed off from the beauty of the night, I took my off. I need to snap out of this, I need to get to Micah; I need to know if I was successful.

I started my journey back to the hospital; everything seems chaotic back there; I never thought that civilization caused much damage to the world. The streets were empty but you can see the stupid lights around the town; flickering street lights, on and off traffic lights, dim night lights coming out from the windows of those lined up buildings.

On the head of the streets just right in front of the Hudson’s Hospital, I saw a shadow of a man; I’m not quite certain if it’s a girl or a boy but that’s not the problem here. The thing is that man was like looking at me straight into my soul, giving me the creeps. Tiny hairs from behind my back stand like they were electrocuted, which sends a signal to my whole body that it’s not safe to make a staring competition with that person. I almost turn and go back to the tribe but I need to shrug this off, that man can’t do me any harm, right? And so I continued from where I stopped, I took a step forward and then the man moved; ridiculously fast, I must say. The man looks like struggling from procrastination then in a blink of an eye, the man vanished. I rubbed my eyes to make sure, but yes, my eyes are not fooling around, the man was gone, like it was never there in the first place; there must be something wrong with my eyes or it is the talent of seeing fooling me. Well, that’s not my biggest concern now and so I went straight to Micah’s room, ignoring those spirits lurking around the hospital. Yes, I can see a ghost but not vividly though and I’ve been trying so hard to ignore them ever since I learned how to use my talent.

Moaning and screaming, that’s what most of the spirits do here in the hospital, it’s really disturbing, I can feel their agony, their anger, their sadness, and their loneliness. And the worst part was they know that I can see and hear them. Some of them talk but not in a conversational manner.

“You’re a fool!” one of the spirits said but I just ignored him.

“It was a mistake!” said the other.

“Everybody will suffer!” said another one.

All of a sudden I felt something cold and empty at my back, it gave me goosebumps that made me startle a bit but that wasn’t it yet, because that spirit wasn’t contented so it whispered into my ear and said “You defied the law, you’ll die soon!” she said, I just continued walking and ignored her while my face all turned white from fright.

I saw a body lying in front of Micah’s room, I ran towards it hoping that it wasn’t Micah or a ghost that’s pulling a trick on me. As I got closer to it I recognized its white uniform, He’s probably a nurse or a doctor in this hospital then why is he lying here on the floor. I saw his face; he looks in pain and frightened. I almost puked when I noticed his awfully wounded body like he was attacked by an animal; his body was covered in blood and his ribcage was ripped, his eyes were still open and so was his mouth.

I rushed inside Micah’s room to check her up, wishing that she wasn’t attacked inside. I saw her lying on her bed, sleeping sound as sleep. I walk towards her and kissed her on her forehead, as soon as I pulled away from my face to her head I saw her eyes opened.

“Damn!” I said with great shock written on my face.

“Is that how you will greet me?” Said Micah while smiling at me melting the fear that succumbs me.

“I’m sorry, you startled me.”

“Arthur you’re,” she paused a little then continued “you,” she said while staring deeply into my eyes.

She got up and wrapped her arms around me; she’s stronger than she looks.

I laughed a little and hugged her back. “I miss you so much!”

She unwrapped her arms and just stared at me for a moment while her smile fades.

“Me too,” she said as she looked away.

“We must go, it’s not safe here” she just nodded and we headed out.

I felt so amazing but also anxious, I don’t have an idea why. I noticed that the spirits were gone as they all went hiding for some reason. They must have been gone tired trying to scare me. Well, the important thing was we’re alive and we’re safe and now I’m going to make this new beginning count.

On our way out of the hospital, we talked about things like when did I start to remember everything and what happened when she was still in a coma. I pretty much told her everything except for the secrets of the tribe, my new talent, and my journey to save her but I can see on her face that she was not convinced, it’s like she knew that I’m holding back a lot of things to her but she just kept that to herself which was a good thing because I don’t know how I would tell her without making her think I’m crazy.

I noticed that her spirit was lifted up as I described how nice and accommodating the tribe was to me, I told her that they taught me their ways and culture. I can see how interested she was in my stories, like how I ended up there and became part of that marvelous tribe and so on and so forth.

“Will you take me there?” she asked with a gleam in her eyes.

How can I say no to that! Damn! But what would Delphin think of me? Will he be mad at me? I need to shrug this off; this would not help my current situation. I bet he would understand me, anyway he probably knows what really happened now from his visions.

Without me noticing we’re already inside the forest and only a few yards away before reaching the tribe’s vicinity. Micah on the other hand was so clingy; she hooks on my arms and constantly looking at my face that makes me a bit nervous. I can smell her sweet scent that reminds me of our first night together but I must say her scent was much sweeter now, was it because she missed me so much? Yeah, probably, thinking that made me more fidgety.

I can feel her grip getting tighter; I can sense that she’s getting uneasy but why? Then we stopped walking, I heard footsteps surrounding us that made my heart beat faster more than it does earlier.

“Who’s there?! Show yourself!” I said courageously while looking around.

“I’m scared, Arthur,” said Micah with her voice trembling.

I looked at her and comfort her with a nod. “It’s okay, I’ll protect you.” Then I smiled before looking into the depths of the forest again, searching where the footsteps were coming from.

“Get away from her Arthur!” said a voice that sounds really familiar then continued “she’s using you, don’t make her fool you!” I looked at how scared and shaky Micah was. Why would she use me? I don’t understand.

“What are you saying Delphin?! You know how much I trust her, I love her!” I said then from behind a tree Delphin appeared, I can see the concern in his eyes but why?

“I know that you do, that’s why I tried to help you but that was a mistake, and I plan to sort that out now.” His facial expression changed.

“What are you saying, mister? Arthur, I’m scared! Protect me!”

I stepped up in front.

“I will not let you hurt my girl, friend” he backed a little as I said those words.

“Okay, if that so my friend. You know that I wouldn’t hurt you without any good reasons” then he walked towards us with his hands held high, I relaxed my stance and smiled. At my peripheral vision, I saw Micah grit, I started to feel uneasy being on her side.

“Ahahahaha! Lame! Lame! Lame!!! You two sound like gays!” then he let go of my arms and do a somersault away; I never knew that Micah can do that, was she a gymnast?

“You’re quite stubborn Arthur; you should have just fought him! I thought you love me!?” she said while looking to Delphin and then continued “and now you left me with no choice but to sort this out by myself!!!” then hissed.

What?! She hissed??? She’s acting like a wild animal, that’s not Micah at all. I noticed some pretty obvious changes from her body that I haven’t really noticed a while ago that sends me signals to my brain that I must get away from her as soon as I can; she looks like a ferocious creature with sharp white teeth and deep red eyes that pierce into your soul every time you look straight in it.

I saw her change her stance into an attacking mode but before she could lunge herself, the tribe members appeared behind the trees, surrounding us. As soon as I noticed that she was distracted by the appearance of the tribe, I ran away towards Delphin.

“We’re not yet done!” Micah said then she kneeled down and grabbed earth and tossed it to all of us which pretty much gave her time to flee.

“What have I done…?” I said feeling guilty.

“It’s not your fault, it’s nobody’s fault,” said Delphin then I can’t but break down and be stunned.

“Don’t lose hope young Arthur, nobody wanted this to happen” said Bob trying to comfort me then tap my shoulders.

I stood up straight and composed myself.

“Will you trust me on this one?” I said because I’m anxious about what would they do to her. I looked at everyone then continued “I still believed that this was my mistake so can you at least let me fix this myself?” I said hoping that I sound determined as I wanted to be then everybody was just staring at me.

“Are you sure you can do this Arthur? Are you ready to face her? Will you able to do what’s needed in order to make things right?” asked Delphin to me while trying to keep his voice nice and steady.

“Yes, I promise to do what’s needed in order to save everybody.”

Bob, Delphin, and the rest of the tribe didn’t argue but Bob insisted that Delphin must prepare me first before I go on a journey to look for Micah. I know that it’s for the best so I didn’t question them.

On our way back to the tribe Delphin explained to me everything I needed to know, like what he saw in his dreams that’s why they were prepared when we came. He said he saw me with Micah, bringing her to Anakim destroyed the whole tribe on a whim, at first I don’t get why would Micah do such a thing but as Delphin explained it, I realized that she was after Delphin’s immortality that’s why she keeps on insisting to go here. I felt stupid for not realizing it soon enough. Delphin saw right through me and so he added that Micah gained few tricks when she came back to life just like me. I gained a talent to see while Micah gained a talent of charm and persuasion. Yes, she’s now designed to be a perfect human predator.

After a long walked with Delphin we separated due to his duties of being the tribe’s spiritual leader and I also made him convinced that I already got it although the truth was, I really don’t. But I don’t want to drag him down to my failure especially that he’s the one Micah wants, I need to protect him. He has been my best friend ever since I met him; he introduced to me this whole new world and he actually saved me, he was also my hero and I want to give him my thanks through this.

I went on to my journey to find Micah; I tried to think of a particular place she would go to if I were her, I knew her all my life so I must know where she would go. I was walking without any destination but I guess my luck was still not running out because she found me instead of me finding her.

“Arthur, you look alone?!” said Micah almost like teasing.

“They abandoned me because they blame me for all of this,” I said trying to look sad and serious as I can; I must find a way to get near to her because Delphin told me that the only way to kill her was to stick a peg through her heart.

“Poor little boy, you should’ve just joined me but instead you picked their side, and where are you now, nowhere!”

“I know that’s why I’m here…”

She laughed then spoke “Do you think I’m that stupid, Arthur? Do you really think that lying to me would help you?” she said teasingly.

“No, I’m really here to protect you and also protect them from you!” I said, realizing that I wasn’t lying about that one.

“Fool!!!” she said then lunged at me.

She was so fast but my instinct was good enough to rely on, I dodge it beautifully without even having a scratch. I can’t help but smile because I didn’t really expect that, “we can keep this up for hours” I said trying to make her angry to lose her focus even more. She hissed angrily, knowing that drinking blood from humans only gave her hours to keep her alive.

She ran inside the ruins of buildings within the area, hiding and waiting for an opportunity to make her move. I felt incredibly nervous because I know that no matter what I would say wouldn’t save her anymore. It’s sad and hard that the only way to stop this madness was to kill her. I can never forgive the one who will finish her off; including myself but that’s the only way and that’s what I’m going to do.

I can see shadows of her from one building to another, she was fast and agile. I’m afraid that in the end, I can never do it but something unexpected happened.

She lunged to attacked me; I know that it’s already my end, I can no longer finish the task, I just closed my eyes and hoped for the best to happened. I opened my eyes and saw Micah standing right in front of me smiling; I noticed tears forming from her eyes.

“Arthur,” she said with her soft and calm voice “I’m sorry about everything but her consciousness was more powerful than I am, I can only watch from behind and do nothing. Please Arthur, if you really love me set me free, return me back to the dead. And always remember that…” she trailed off and saw her grimaced and continued “I Love You so much.”

Then it hit me, I remember what Delphin told me the first time I met him to return what was stolen to save the coven. That’s it! This is part of his prophecy. This was already written in my fate even before I met him.

I ran towards Micah ignoring what could happen, I just don’t care anymore. I love her and I’m going to save her. I pushed her so hard while she was still fighting herself inside of her; we tripped and fell on the pavement. I heard a loud guish~ing sound, I puked a bit of blood and tears started to form in my eyes, blurring my vision. I realized that we fell right through a broken pole; I reached to my back and touched the pointy end of the pole we fell into. Our eyes met, she was still smiling. “You save me but please save yourself too,” she said then I remember another prophecy that Delphin told me a catastrophe will raise, the world will see it with its eyes, return the sacrifice when everybody dies.

I smiled back to her and said “this is my fate. Dying is just a way of escaping reality and sufferings and I believed that I’ve been through a lot of sufferings so I guess that, I deserved this break.”

I began to feel my body weakening; I’m probably losing too much blood already.

“I only wish to be with you though,” I said

“Me too but not in a situation like this though,” she said, in a funny way.

“Life has been a little too harsh on us but I’m glad I get the luxury of seeing you before I die,” I said then my eyes are starting to fail me.

“I love you!”

“I love you too!”

Then tears started falling from her eyes, I wiped them with my finger and then we kissed each other up to our last breath.