Beyond The Veil (A Paranormal Romance)

Chapter 17

Emily's head was still spinning from all the information she tried to process.

"Am I dead, too?" she asked as Raphael led her through the darkness. He seemed to know where he was going, which put her at ease.

"No," he replied without looking at her. "You shouldn't even be here." He quickened his pace as they reached a shallow creek. Its water was as murky and black as the rest of the landscape.

"Where exactly is 'here'?" Emily tried her best to keep up with him.

Without warning, he stopped and turned around, making her almost bump into him. "This is the place you chose yourself, Emily," he explained bitterly. "It looks different for everyone. Some choose sunny meadows, others prefer busy streets, or their childhood homes. For some reason, you chose this..." Frowning, he looked around as if examining the barren land for the first time. "...this hell."

"Hell?" She gasped at the sound of this word. "Is that what this is? Are we in Hell?"

"You tell me," he mumbled bleakly, continuing on the invisible path they were both following.

"But I thought you said I'm not dead. So how can this be Hell then?" She rushed to catch up with him once more.

"That is the point. Even though you are alive, you entered the place of no return, Emily, and it is my fault. I don't know if there is a way to undo this, but if there is, I promise I will find it and bring you back."

A big lump began to form in her throat, and she swallowed hard. "And what if it doesn't work? What if I can't go back?"

"Then," he said, looking over his shoulder back to her. "Welcome to your endless night."

A frosty sensation devoid of all hope grasped her heart. She had always wondered what death would be like, what it would feel like to be held in its eternal grip. Somehow, there had always been the idea in the back of her mind that she would be reunited with her mother when her time on earth was up, but this hope now seemed so infantile and as far from the grim reality as it possibly could.

"I don't want to stay here," she confessed. "I don't like it here at all."

"Why did you choose it, then?" Raphael came to a halt in front of several large pine trees.

"I didn't choose it," she squeaked desperately.

Raphael only regarded her with a blank expression. "You certainly did, or we wouldn't be here, but that's unimportant right now. We have to find a way out of here. Emily, please, try to remember your dreams. Did you ever see a path or a forest, or anything other than this field?"

She furrowed her brows. "I thought you knew the way out."

"How did you get that idea?" Cocking his head, he crossed his arms over his chest. "This isn't my purgatory, it's yours. You're the only one who could possibly find the way. So, please, concentrate."

"I'm sorry," she mumbled ruefully, lowering her head. "I don't remember."

Raphael let out an exasperated sigh and plopped down onto the ground. "Well, until you do, we will have to stay here."

This wasn't fair. How was she supposed to recall such small details of something she had always dismissed as fantasy? Granted, the dreams were always similar, and always very vivid, but they still were a part of her imagination. At least, that's what she had believed until now.

Her legs felt so frail all of a sudden. Carefully, she sat down beside Raphael in the withered grass. Several minutes of excruciating silence passed before she decided to address him again. There were just too many questions on her mind.