dawn

Part 3 Finale, Chapter 39

“Please don’t get hurt,” I begged in a breath.

“I won’t.” he vowed.

His eyes were strangely solemn again, meaningful. My stomach twisted up.

“When you come home, I have to tell you something,”

“That’s worth coming back for,”

“I’d give you anything as long as you thought it was worth coming back for,”

“You’re enough,”

Edmund snorted from the glass door.

“Do you trust me?” Eric ignored him.

“With everything.”

He went silent.

Was he remembering Catherina? I took his hands. “Please remember I’m here for you,”

“Stay here,”

“I promise,”

“Promise you won’t take that back,”

“I promise. I swear. I’m going to wait for you.”

His eyes grew more somber and he leaned in, running his gentle hands on my face and I shut my eyes, breathing him in. He pulled away before he finished what he started. “It’s late,” he said, distant again.

Fear shook my core, my blood ran cold, and my heart broke. I didn’t want to be away from him. Everything inside of me told me not to let him go but I fought myself down. This might not have been a fairytale but it wasn’t going to end badly.

“Come back to me,” it slipped out completely.

He took my hand and kissed it, stepping away, slowly letting my hand go even as I wanted to will my fingers to grasping his.

Wait. He had said nothing. What? Why? “Eric,” Promise? But it didn’t come out. I stepped closer toward him.

His eyes went completely silver. “I’ll come back,” flames burned his irises in a flash.

My heart stopped. I reached out to retrieve him from the darkness he was melting into but something snagged around me, flanking me.

He was gone.

Gone.

Gone.

I tried breaking away while I could still catch him somehow, but I couldn’t worm away from Angeline and Edmund.

“Lamb, quit it,”

“You’re going to make him trip, cupcake,”

Finally, a hole. I flew right into the forest, stumbling around, looking for him.

I prayed, as I looked, knowing the area was empty, that God would watch him in exchange of anything from me.

Everything was dark and empty in the circle of light.

I saw a flash then another. They had gone right past me. I tripped back and I fell on the ground just as I was turning. The house lights were on in the near distance.

Angeline and Edmund went flying right into the building. I could only gasp as the whole back side collapsed on them.

“Edmund!? Angeline!?” I scratched at the ground, hurting myself, as I tried to run toward the house. Finally, I got up to my feet and stumbled forward awkwardly and I didn’t even get to the part of running upright when I went flying in the opposite direction.