Forgetting

Chapter 27- Shadows And Tall Trees

An owl hooted.

A clock ticked.

A stray dog barked.

But nothing, nothing was louder than the pounding of her own heart as she stood there on the cold driveway with him beside her, their gazes locked. Her breathing was fast and ragged, like she had just run a million miles without stopping.

It was too much. Everything was too much; meeting her mom after so long, losing her classmates to this madness, and stripping away the facade of her perfect life to reveal what lay underneath.

Broken. She felt broken.

" What the hell did you just do to me?" She hissed, gasping for breath.

" It's an age old method to kill someone," He replied coldly," Drowning someone in their own thoughts, drowning them until they die."

" It didn't work on me," She said triumphantly.

" You were able to swim."

For some reason, there was equal parts pride and disappointment in his voice. He stepped closer. His hair stuck up at odd angles, and his eyes were unnaturally bright. Feverish. Lips parted in anticipation. He looked mad. Madder than she had ever seen him.

The whole street seemed to be frozen in time; the trees that usually rustled stood tall, silent, and dark, and the air was motionless. Still. There wasn't even a trace of wind.

" Death like that is more peaceful than what you are going to have to go through now," He said quietly.

Something was growing inside her, something that had been born the second she leaped from the window. She was not sure what it was yet, but she knew she would never let her death be penciled in on someone's to-do list. Fear clenched her heart, but it was overridden by another need. A need to survive.

She would live through this.

Her eyes rose and met his. Lightning burst across the sky, illuminating the street in a silvery glow. The wind picked up, howling, shrieking-

He raised his hand, a midnight serpent slipping into the palm of his hand from his neck.

" I thought you would be easier to control like this, Naomi," He murmured," But you have, unfortunately, proven me wrong."

Fury flared inside her at his indifferent tone, as if she was somehow inferior to Naomi. She stepped back, casting her eyes around for a weapon, anything that could protect her-

" Akira!" Someone shouted.

She whipped around, wanting to cry with relief. Aidan was running down the driveway towards her, his eyes wide and panicked. Determined. He chucked a dagger towards her and she caught it deftly, an instinct born from years of training, an instinct that did not belong to her.

Evan laughed, sounding almost amused. " You don't even know how to use it right now. Give up, Naomi. You don't have the strength to do this."

Adrenaline was running so high through her muscles she barely heard him. She leaped forward, twisting her arm around to reposition the dagger in her hand, but stars burst before the corner of her vision and a second later, she found herself splayed flat across the earth. Evan had knocked her down without even touching her, and now he held Aidan in a head-lock, his lips stretched into a violent smile.

In that brief second, two possibilities flashed through her mind. If she killed Evan, Aidan would survive. If she lacked the strength to do that, then she would lose Aidan forever. The two men in her life. Maybe she would always be doomed to choosing between them.