The Unbreakables (BWHM)

Chapter 33

I wandered aimlessly through a dark fog toward someone softly singing a lullaby. An unseen rock on the ground made me stumble on my path but I wouldn't allow it to slow me from reaching my destination. The closer I got to the beautiful voice the further it seemed to move away. I tried to call out but no comprehensible words was forthcoming. Only gurgling noises.

My chest burned like a fiery fist had punctured my sternum. In the distance I could hear a baby cry. Why was a baby crying? Oh, the beautiful voice was gone; the lullaby had come to an end. How would I find them if she didn't continue to sing? Feeling desperate by the thought I began to run, giving my legs every ounce of strength I had to spare.

Moments later I broke through the dense fog that imprisoned me. A ways ahead I could make out a woman's shape standing on the edge of a cliff. She held something in her arms that looked like a bundle. As I got closer the woman began to stumble. The edge of the cliff began to crumble. In moments she would fall to her death. I ran to where the woman staggered. Just as I came near, the bundle she clung to slipped from her arms and into the abyss swirling at the bottom of the cliff. I grabbed her hand just as the last of the edge fell away and was able to pull her to safety.

"I don't care about me Kayla; you have to save my baby?" A familiar voice demanded.

Miah, my mind screamed because I still couldn't get my vocal chords to work. I grabbed her head and tore away all the scarves that hid her face from me. I had to be sure my mind wasn't playing me again and that my ears had really just heard her voice. Miah shook me off, forcefully pulling away from me and dangerously coming close to sending herself over the cliff. I grabbed the back of the long black gown she wore to keep her from going over the edge. She struggled to free herself from my grasp but I was stronger and I was able to shove her at least twenty feet from the cliff's edge.

Once the threat of her going over the side was eliminated I peered over to see if I could see the bundle that she had called a baby. At first I saw nothing but the blackness then the clouds that had been covering the moon shifted enough to allow a sliver of light to illuminate a narrow part of the cliff allowing me to see the very bundle Miah had been holding hanging on a branch that had grown out the side of the cliff. The bundle swayed gently back and forth on the thin branch. To my horror the branch began to bend from the weight of the bundle.

I reached down to grab the bundle but my arms were an inch too short. I needed someone to hold my legs in order for me to gain that extra inch so that I could retrieve the bundle. I turned to see Miah sit up and shake her head, she must have bumped it as she fell. When she realized her surroundings and spotted me at the edge of the cliff she rushed over to me. Before she could throw herself into frenzy I signaled for her to grab my feet. Her eyes were wild. I feared she didn't understand, but then she grabbed my ankles.

Wasting no time I took advantage of the security of Miah's hold and stretched as far as I could until my fingers and hands came into contact with the soft fabric of the bundle. When I was sure that I had a good hold on it I carefully pulled it up returning the bundle to the minimum safety the cliff edge offered. Once the bundle rested beside me, Miah immediately let go of my feet so she could scoop the bundle up in her arms. I looked on as Miah cooed affectionately to the bundle that now rested in her arms. She turned and looked at me her eyes filled with gratitude and adoration. I opened my mouth to speak and nothing came out, just the same gurgling noises that was there before. Miah frowned, before horror slowly crept into her expression. She leaned forward and touched my chest with her fingers. She then held her hand up in the moonlight and her fingers revealed a dark red liquid.

I stared at her fingers, every muscle in my face frozen. After my initial shock passed, I then glanced down at my chest to see it was covered in the same dark red liquid that saturated Miah's fingers. Sticky warmth continued to drain from the hole in between my breasts. In that I knew at that moment my journey had reached its conclusion. I fell to the ground and everything else faded to black. My sister's serenaded me to my end.

****

"Angel, wake up! You're dreaming! Come on..." Antonio bellowed as while he attempted to shake my eyes open.

"Antonio?" I questioned as my eyes drifted open.

"Yeah. You were having one bitch of a nightmare. You was fighting like someone was trying to kill you," Antonio said, while rubbing away strands of sweat drenched hair that clung to my forehead.

"Someone did kill me. I could feel my spirit leaving my body." I rubbed the space between my breasts as my eyes wandered to regard thin air.

"It was just a dream, Angel. You're safe." Antonio assured, kissing my forehead.

"No!" I shook my head. "It wasn't just a dream, it was something more. Miah's in trouble. I have to get to her, Antonio...before it's too late." I struggled untangle myself from the sheets and his arms.

"Whoa, calm down. We will be boarding a flight for France in less than six hours. Your grandfather's assistant called to confirm the flight plan early this evening," Antonio slowly explained.

"I know, Antonio. I took down the information remember?" God, he just wasn't getting it.

"Then why are you so anxious over a dream?" He demanded as frustration began to creep into his tone.

"Damn it, it wasn't just a dream." I snapped back, my frustration already present and accounted.

The furrows between his eyebrows deepened. "Okay it wasn't just a dream. I get it, but you're gonna make yourself crazy if you keep obsessing." His tone softened. "Lay back down and get some rest while you still can. Tomorrow you'll save your sister, but tonight I'm gonna save you."

Antonio gathered me in his arms. He then laid back on the feathered pillows. I allowed myself to relax. My rigid muscles loosened.

"I'm not sleepily, though," I insisted.

"You don't have to go to sleep, you just have to rest," He assured.

I lay still and tried to shut my mind to the images of the dream, but the memory of the hole in my chest was a hard to shake. I couldn't help but feel the dream was somehow a premonition for what was to come. Saving Jamiah would be the death of me.