Puzzle Pieces

{Puzzle Piece 13} - Story Excerpt 6

I knew I wouldn't make it out alive, but I had to try. I couldn't leave him, I wouldn't let myself fathom the thought of leaving him alone. My head throbbing as I try to sustain the painful sprint that isn't helping the already annoying headache that is forming. I feel his fingers entwine with mine as we push through the forest deftly and swiftly, trying not to get caught in all of the leaves and branches that just kept coming our way.

It was slowly getting harder to breathe, the air beginning to decrease, oxygen no longer flowing through my veins as prominently. My lungs began to gasp for air, the curse was spreading rapidly, it had already gone from the edge of my right rib to my right shoulder. The black veins standing out dominantly against the pale purple, blue and green veins that grew like branches across my pale skin. I knew that the curse would decrease the amount of time I had to get out of the forest, the forest seemed to be fueling it, making it deadlier by the second.

The seemingly endless forest was covered in snow from the highest tree to the soil and broken branches that lay beneath our feet. Snowy owls were hooting everywhere blending in with the trees making themselves invisible, leaves fluttering down from the trees like rain, squirrels shuffles from inside the trees frightened by our intense panting. In the near distance we could here a wolf howl, the sound sharp and shrill, the last thing we needed was to fight a wolf, and we couldn't take a detour, so we kept on running, quickening the pace.

Just then I could see it the dark grey car standing right in front of us, just like an angel sent down from heaven to rescue us. OJ gets out of the car as fast as lightning the moment he sees us, a questioning and worried look on his face. His permanent frown is etched on to his worrisome face as per usual. And that is when I felt it, a sharp and aching pain vibrate through me like the sharp end of a knife. Everything became slower, the scream of pain and agony that I released, him screaming my name, OJ rushing towards me, my head hitting the ground letting out a splitting CRACK. The blood oozing out of my head, my vision gradually became blurry, I was seeing double now, his tears falling over my cheeks like rain, the back of his hand softly caressing my cheek. He was screaming at OJ for help now, telling him that there had to be something to stop the curse, to prevent it, but he knew that there wasn't anything that either of them could do to save me. And yet he still kept trying, trying to salvage anything that could help me, his hand was growing colder, the snow gently and gracefully landing on his head. The first snowflake of the year falling onto my cheek as I softly whispered the simple words that had never been said before by my lips, "I love you".

I could feel the tears that were rolling down his cheeks like waterfalls slowly drip down and delicately land on mine. My hand slowly growing cold and numb, turning an icy blue in color instead of the usual tan color, however I could still feel the warm feeling of his touch.

I could feel myself slowly icing over before I froze to complete stone and the last thing I heard was six of the simplest yet powerful words I had ever heard.

"I love you forever and always"