Page 128 of In Between Darkness

His muscles strain as the purple rings reignite.

“It’s too fucking strong.” His knuckles clench into fists as the serum courses through his veins.

“NO! NO! NO!” I scream, agony sharpening my words as my heart breaks again. “This can’t be happening… You have to fight this,” I beg and watch the light in his eyes flicker in torment. My vision blurs with the streams of tears that cloud it.

“I told you to kill me!” he shouts as he backs away from me.

“I CAN’T KILL THE PERSON I LOVE!” I shout back.

“Well, neither can I.”

He grabs a shard of glass off the floor and plunges it through his heart. It’s so quick, I don’t have time to react.

“NOOOOOOOOO!” I scream, a part of me pierced along with him.

My soul aches at the thought of being without him.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” I frantically remove the shard and place my hands over his wound to stop the bleeding, but the blood seeps through my fingers and stains my hands. Time seems to pause as I watch the life slowly drain out of him. I close my eyes and try to heal him, picturing his wounds closing up, but when I open my eyes, the blood keeps spewing, flowing like a sick waterfall.

“I can’t bring you back,” I cry helplessly into his chest.

The light in his eyes dims as time passes, his warmth fading against my trembling hands. A choked sob escapes my lips as I kneel next to him, his head in my lap. His breath becomes shallow, each staggered release of air like a stab to my heart. I focus on my energy again, but the more I try, the emptier I feel.

“It’s okay. Let me go,” he lets out between breaths as blood begins to pool from his lips. The same lips I had dreamt of kissing for so long. Tears stream down my face in an uncontrollable storm, like a rain cloud bursting over me.

“I-I won’t. I-I can’t.” My tears fall onto him and roll down his cheeks like they are his own. I clutch onto him tight, hoping he won’t slip away. I love him more than anything. He can’t do this to me. He can’t betray me like this.

“Oriah, do something!” I call out to her, but the silence that follows speaks for itself. There is nothing she can do.

His eyes meet mine as the blood drains from him, a lingering gaze that speaks a thousand words, an unfinished love poem etched in their depths.

“I love you, stalker.” Then his eyes close, and the world falls silent, leaving me alone in the wreckage of a love that could have been.

“I love you too.”

Chapter Fifty-One

My eyes are red and sore, not just from the endless tears I have lost, but also from the dark clouds of smoke that seep into the room, making their way through the building. The smoke chokes me and makes me cough whilst I sob into Ryder’s cold chest. I know the air will become thicker, and I probably should be getting out of here, but I can’t bring myself to leave him.

“Asha? There you are.” A familiar voice calls out to me. “Come on, this place is about to blow.”

I ignore it. I can’t imagine my life without him. I won’t. I can’t leave him.

“Asha, come on.”

A strong pair of arms takes hold of me and pulls me to my feet.

“What are you doing here, River?” I ask, my voice filled with pain and sorrow. His face is hazy through the smoke, and he is breathing into his shirt to protect himself from the fumes.

“They had me in a cell, but the door broke in some sort of explosion. The rest of the Moons are okay, they’re out. I came back for you,” he says before putting his shirt back up over his mouth and nose.

“Come on.” His arms wrap around me again as he tries to pull me away.

“No, I won’t leave him!” I fight the grip, but it stays firmly on me. “LET ME GO!” I shout in a furious rage. “I won’t leave him.”

Just like that, I crumble all over again and rush to Ryder’s lifeless body, sobbing into his chest while he lay motionless.

“He killed himself to save me.” My breath hitches as the words fall out of me with guilt and regret.