Traveler - The Premonition (Book 2)

CHAPTER 29

Aaron: My soul was burning. I saw her on the edge of that cliff, and I knew my happiness was ending there and, at that moment, I knew I couldn't do anything. I ran to her, I screamed, but I was hit, and I fell on the ground. When I got free, I saw Andy shooting the nymph, and I knew he had no idea the premonition was fulfilled. The one he had shot was Kate. I saw Jo's body falling into the ravine, while I was running to catch her, to hold her for the last time in my arms. I felt how someone put me on the ground, just on the edge of that cliff. I was immobilized, but I continued to scream. I felt I was on fire, how my soul had torn apart into a million pieces. The nymphs were lying on the ground. We had won that fight in vain because we had lost two great soldiers in it. Deby was holding me, and she threw on her knees. Ivy touched Andy's shoulder.

"Andy..." she said. He didn't realize yet that he had shot Kate because he was in shock. He had tried to save Jo, but it was in vain. I saw him getting up. He started breathing heavily, and he ran to the body that was on the edge of the cliff. He realized what he had done, and he shouted painfully.

I felt Deby's arms around me and her tears on my shoulder. We were both shaking without any control. Ivy ran at Andy, who was sitting next to Kate's body. Finally, I got closer to the ravine. I looked down, and I felt someone pulling me back. It was Deby.

"Not that close," she says between her tears. "I can't take it anymore! Enough!"

I took her hand, and then I looked down. It was a huge distance. I saw a river down there. I got away from there, and I went to the backpacks. I pulled so hard of one of them, and I ripped it apart. I started throwing around with the last cans of food. Deby rushed and stopped me.

"Leave me alone!" I shouted pushing her away from me. "I don't need anything! I don't want to hear anything!" 

I fell on the ground, feeling my life flowing out from my body. The inevitable had happened. We remained there through the night, without speaking to each other. Something had broken between us. It was morning, but we didn't feel how fast time had passed because of the shock. Maybe Jo was the one who was keeping us together because with her gone we were finding our words so hard. Or maybe it wasn't anything left to say.

The sun was rising, drying my tears off my face. Ivy lifted the box from the ground.

"It's not shining anymore," she whispers.

"I don't want to continue this," I said.

Deby lifted her head. Her face was red because she had cried a lot.

"No! I don't want to hear you! They wouldn't have wanted this!"

"Don't talk about what they would have wanted!" I shouted. 

I wanted to talk more, but I realized something. If I was in pain, that didn't mean I could be cruel, mean, or to become again that Aaron I was before I had met Jo. She wouldn't have wanted that. I left my head on the ground.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

She came closer and took my hand.

"We will continue what we started because you know damn well they would have wanted this!"

"This is what they fought for until their last breath!" adds Ivy getting up.

"I can't believe it..." whispers Andy.

"I can't believe it either. I can't... I don't want to..." says Ivy.

Deby was right. Even if we were hurting, we couldn't just sit there, feeling sorry for ourselves. The box wasn't shining anymore, as a sign that something had changed. Kate and Jo had died together. Maybe one of them had something to do with that shining box. We couldn't know, but all we had to do was to keep going.