Arrows to Love

She Is Losing Time

ARON

I kneel in front of Ella and cup her icy pale face. "Ella. Ella, wake up." I whisper but she does not budge. I stand up with her in my arms and walk over the dead bodies of Damon's dogs. I would have loved to kill them slowly and torturously but seeing Ella lying weakly on the pavement just made me use three bullets and one kick.

I open the door to the backseat and place Ella across the seat. I jog to the driver's seat and start the engine. I keep my left hand behind the hand-rest so that if I suddenly press the breaks and Ella may fall. With the other hand I drive and call Harris.

He picks up on the last ring. "Hey." His voice is groggy.

"Send a few guards to the abandoned park which is a few miles away from Ella's house. Tell them to enter from Gate six and they will find two dead bodies. They will know what to do with it. And arrange a bed in the hospital wing. I am on my way." I order.

"Whoa. Where is the 'Hi, Harris. How are you? Did I disturb you? Is it fine if I call you to duty two hours early,'? Well you just ruined my Bora Bora vacation dream and-"

"Just do what you are told. It's urgent!"

I hang up on his blabbering and check on Ella through the rear mirror. Her blood is running on the leather seats and she seems to get paler.

I park my Porsche in the garage and the guard comes to open the door.

"Get a stretcher." I order while I open the back door and pick Ella up. The only colour on her cold body is  the blood. The guard brings a stretcher and gasps when he sees Ella. I place her carefully on the stretcher and cover her with the white sheet.

"Sir, do you need help?" The guard asks when I start rolling the stretcher forward.

"No." I reply.

I enter the elevator which leads straight to the hospital wing. As soon as the elevator doors open I rush to the nearest free room and a few nurses murmuring to each other follow me. I place the stretcher right beside the bed. "Where is Willow?"

"She is on her way." Reply one of the nurses

"Well, do something. She is losing blood." I pace the room while the nurses check Ella. I keep checking the doorway for Willow and when she finally enters, she rushes towards Ella.

"Why didn't you take her to the operation room? Can't you see her poor condition? She is losing time!" Willow yells and starts to roll the stretcher out the door and past my frozen body. She pats my arm once and leaves with the nurses following behind.

She is losing time. What does that mean?

I try to breathe but my lungs will not contract. I wait for my heart to start beating again. I wait for the control of my frozen body to return. I try to find the meanings of those words in my dictionary, but my mind is as blank. I try to exit the room but just stumble around until I finally reach the operation room.

The room is tightly shut and the light above the door is as red as Ella's blood which still stains my hands and my clothes. I sit on the cushioned chairs outside the room and observe my red stained hands. Ella's pale face comes into my view and my heart clenches with regret. If only I could have reached there a few minutes earlier. I would have maltreated those merciless animals and would have made them beg for their death.

If only...

"Aron!" James voice breaks my murderous imagination and when I look up at him that is when I notice the tears escaping my eyes.

"Son, are you alright?" He takes a seat beside me and look the opposite direction to avoid the suspicious eyes of the staff passing by.

I wipe my eyes with the back of my jacket sleeve and try to speak, but the only thing I manage to say is "Ella."

James pats me on the back. "She is going to be alright and when she wakes up she will give us her sunshine smile and brighten up our day."

Ella's smile. All those perfect white teeth sparkling as her full-hearted smile reached her crinkling eyes which radiated happiness, lightened the atmosphere in seconds and made your day. The thought of her smile makes me breathe a sigh of relief but then Willow's words run through my mind and the fear of seeing her smile for the last time makes me not want to live another moment.

"Willow said she is losing time." I whisper as those words burn my tongue.

"Son, she  hasn't lost all the time, why are you losing all your hope? She is going to be completely fine. You aren't getting rid of her so easily, lad!"

James tries to lighten the mood, but my thoughts are somewhere far away. "I wish I wouldn't have been so egomaniac and would have talked to her calmly about what was bothering her. I wish she would have trusted me and shared her problems with me so that I could carry her worries for her."

James walks to the water dispenser and forces me to drink a cup of water. He waits till I drink halfway of the water which feels like acid and sits down. "Well," he sighs and ruffles my hair, "Ella is not the only one hiding secrets. I found the beautiful Pave ring in that blue velvet box."

His words make me choke on the water and I start coughing loudly and place the cup on the coffee table. James laughs and slaps me on my back.

I finally gain control and wipe the tears which escaped from my ferocious coughing incident and wave off the staff which came nervously to ask me if a was fine. After they all leave, I turn to James and see the amusement in his eyes. "How did you find it? I hid it pretty well."

"Well, I was looking through your files to find the one for sector eighty-two and I couldn't find it anywhere, so I checked your locker and saw that pretty box sitting there and persuading me to open it. How dare you hide such a big thing from us?" He looks at me intensely with sadness and happiness at the same time.

"I custom-made the ring last week. And there were so many things going on that I did not get the time to talk with you and Willow. And of course, if I would be deciding to do something so big, I would always consult you two. And I am not also planning to do anything any time soon."

"You weren't planning to, but you got a ring. That's interesting." I try to speak but he waves me off. "It's fine. Just let us know so that we can plan the party. And just to let you know... your family's ring is still with us."

My jaw clenches. The ring which was passed down from generations to generations. The ring which my so-called father used to propose to my mother. The ring which his father used to propose to his mother. And it goes on. But it will not continue. My mother was the last one to wear it and she always will be. I will never include my father's family traditions, nor the ring. "If she wears that ring it will make her a part of that family and I don't want that to happen. The history of the old Kelk family finished when Dad fled. And now, new histories will be created."

"Good decision. Now let us go to your office. The staff here is extremely interested in our conversation."

I shake my head. "I can't leave. I need to stay here and know if Ella will need anything."

"Willow will inform us if anything is needed. Now, come on." He pulls me up and has a firm grip on my arm as if I will run back to the chair I was seated in.