"I may have saved her from the monsters that crawl through the dark, but she saved me from the worst monster of all. She rescued me from who I would have become without her, the monster that would have easily conquered my body."
* * *
Reese Chambler...
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"OH," I RASP.
I have nothing else to say. No words could depict the stiffness drifting through my mind like a lazy cold front. There is no water in my lungs. There is nothing there. Not a breath, not a cry. Just the horrible and painful stillness.
The stale air around us thickens, cracking in the wake of Carl's shallow breathing. Droplets of sweat bundle up on his skin and run down the sides of his cheeks as he tenses away a shiver. His eye stays glued to mine, but as I blink rapidly, all I can see through the blur is the flashing blue. Carl frowns deeply after letting his shirt fall. He wraps me into a hug, but my body does not respond to his touch. It is numb.
The explosions shaking the ground above us have hushed to a mere whisper as my thoughts slowly start to gather in the eye of the storm that is quickly brewing in my mind. I try my hardest to push the dark clouds away, but they roll in too fast for me to fend them off. Before I know it, the cold rain is pouring over me, rushing through my body and out of my eyes.
At first, the rain is slow, only being noticed as thin slices against my cheeks, but soon it grows heavier and dampens every inch of my face. The burning feeling of a hoarse scream rips through my throat as I try to swallow down the salty tears.
"I'm so sorry," Carl says. His grip around me fails as he drops his head onto my sagging shoulder. The wet sound of snot rings in my ear as he inhales sharply through his nose.
"I'm so so sorry Reese," He cries. Though my glazed over eyes stay glued to the darkness in front of me, my hand involuntarily rises then latches itself against his cheek. My thumb slides across his hot skin, wiping away a layer of the sweat and the dirt covering his pale face. He brings my hand to his shaking lips, planting a kiss onto my cold skin before slowly collapsing with a pained groan.
I can't tell how long we have stayed like this, me sitting up staring at the wall and him on his back trying to control his labored breathing, but I do know the only thing that got me to lay down next to him was the realization that I was wasting the few moments I have left with him. As soon as my body is close to his, Carl grabs me and holds me tight.
"I just-"
"Shh," I cut him off my placing my splayed hand over his chin and lips, "Just... Hold on."
I take a deep breath and clamp my quivering lips shut, fighting off the sob that threatens to explode in my lungs. My burning eyes close for a few moments while I selfishly relish in the feeling of his heat. My lack of sleep isn't what's making me feel so drained right now, but I try my hardest to pretend that it is.
The hand positioned on Carl's neck slowly finds its way to his head. My fingers run through his sticky hair, pushing it off of his sweaty forehead. I do this again and again, trying to remember the feeling of his thick hair laced between my bony fingers. The trembles rocking Carl's body get harder with each passing minute. I lay my head on his chest, and I can hear all the effort he is putting into not breathing too rapidly. My chin tenses as I try to stop the flowing tears, to no avail.
