Chapter 17
My chest felt like fire, my lungs felt like there were no air left. Life stopped in that one moment when I realized what he said. I looked up to the sky full of stars and closed my eyes. It felt good, to just close my eyes and feel my whole world spinning in a 360-degree motion. I heard my name being called but my eyes remained closed. I needed this moment to feel and hear silence. That's what my heart needed.
A hand touched my shoulder as I opened my eyes. Garrett was there face turned to me, his expression looked shocked and unreadable. I wanted to know what he was thinking. I completely went silent for a whole thirty minutes. I didn't even realize Adam was still here all that mattered was that Garrett was here.
"Take me to him." I said finally.
I couldn't really speak. My throat was so tight I thought I would cough and never stop. I gulped a couple times, but my throat was so itchy my eyes watered. I didn't know if it was because I was sad, or my body was reacting to my itchy and tight throat.
Garrett nodded and guided me away from the amusement park, I couldn't help but to look back to Adam. He was standing there watching us walk away. I believe he understood, the look he had showed me was that he was sorry and disappointed. I was disappointed we didn't get that much time to talk. All that was important now was Harlem.
We walked in silence until we came to a stop in the middle of the road.
"Take us there." He suggested.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I thought about Harlem. I thought about his smile and goofy comments that seemed awkward and lame, I thought about the way he made me feel. I thought about his heart, it felt so heavy and dark. I felt a strong tug, I was spinning and spinning until I finally opened my eyes.
We both stood in front of a wrecked burnt car turned over on its hood. A small fire crackled on the side of the charred car as I ran to the vehicle and spotted him. I was astonished that his body remained unharmed by the flames. I stared at him for a while feeling my eyes water, my nose burned and flared as I tried to hold my tears back. A glass shard covered his chest, blood trickled from the side of his forehead almost connecting with his eye. I never wanted this for him, he told me so many plans he had. How could this happen?
I grabbed the glass shard from his chest and grabbed him from the car, he laid in the middle of the road now. His body was so cold, his skin a glistening light blue. His skin tone was there but just barely.
I bent down on the ground and held him in my arms. A sob escaped from my throat instantly making my vision blurry. Tears stained my cheeks and dropped down on his shirt, the only thing I thought about was that he didn't want this.
I didn't want this. He had died just like I met him, thinking about the first time we were in the middle of the road made my heart clench a thousand times over. What was life without him? Who was I without him?
After holding him in my arms and crying for twenty minutes, I finally cut into the silence. I let the silence take over me as I stared into nothing down the road. I held him in my arms because I never wanted to let him go. I needed to hold him.
"How did this happen?" I whispered.
"Someone hit us on the road. It was my fault I could've stopped it. I could've—..."
"Don't you dare blame yourself!" I demand as I caresses Harlem's head.
I put a hand on his cheek and closed my eyes. I was challenging energy from him. I wanted to see if he was at peace. That would at least put my mind at ease.
Red covered my vision as internal screaming filled my ears. Everything was spinning and his mind was all over the place.
I snatched away from him. He was suffering, he was in so much pain I could still feel him on my fingertips. My hands started to shake, anxious about what I just saw. I stood up and looked at Garrett.
"He's suffering." I pointed out. "He's in so much pain Garrett."
I started to cry again. This was too painful to endure. I needed to get out of here. I needed to think. What was I going to do?
"I need to leave." I spoke. "Can you make sure he's safe?" I ask of him.
Garrett nods and put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I watched him as he buried him right next to the accident. He needed to be there, that's where he died. Taking his body somewhere unfamiliar would ruin his soul. He was already suffering. Tears kept falling as I watched. I couldn't believe this happened to him. I held my heart as it ached, it ached so bad my chest felt like it was caving in.
I looked up to the sky.
I felt myself channel my energy, I needed to let this out I couldn't keep this all in. Rain started to fall. As I closed my eyes the rain started to get harder and harder. Thunder rumbled above us echoing in the night as I channeled my feelings into the weather. Lightning strikes a tree branch nearby as I cried out in pain and fell to my knees. Why? Why did you take him from me? Still holding my heart, I looked up to the sky as the raindrops matched my tears. Why did you have to take him from me? Lightning strikes another branch as I stood up and Garrett was finished. I walked over to where he buried him and looked on as I closed my eyes. I channeled the roots in the ground and made a flower grow from the middle of his grave as it appeared my tears were heavy now as Garrett stood side by side with me. I buried my face on his shoulder. It was time. Time to let him go.
We stood there for thirty minutes more. Finally, deciding to go home. We stood face to face with my hand on his shoulders so I could take us home. Feeling the familiar tug and spin we arrived back to my home where Annabel and Beth were, I almost forgot my mission. I needed to tell them I found my father, I also needed to be alone.
Thirty minutes later we ended up in front of my mother's house.
"You sure you want to do this now?" Garrett questioned
I nod. "I need to. I cannot distract myself. This is not just for me."
He nods in understanding and we both walked up the steps. I rang the doorbell, I stood there hands on my sides waiting patiently.
The door opened and Beth appears, she smiles at me and Garrett moving aside letting us in.
"Garrett what do I owe you for this pleasure?" She greeted.
Garrett smiles. "Nothing. I'm afraid it's under important circumstances."
Her brows furrowed as she looked at me.
I gulped and took a deep breath before I spoke. "I found him."
A big toothy grin covered her face as she embraces me into a hug.
She pulls back. "So where is he?"
"He's In Mahogany. I was there— kidnapped. I escaped. And I'm going back to get him. I just wanted you to know." I said and turned around towards the door.
"Wait! Rain?" She asked.
I turned my head towards her. "Yes?"
"Give this to him." She said handing out a gold chained necklace with a purple heart shaped locket on it.
Garrett grabbed for it. "What is it?" He asked.
"Their memories."
•••
Garrett and I retired back to Mahogany with a devoted plan. Of course, everyone was going to be pissed because I escaped. But we are coming here for one person and one person only.
No one was to get in the way. I didn't care if I was to die, as long as he walked out of there safe.
"So, let's go over the plan again. We walk in there guns blazing everyone gets it. We do everything we can to get to that room. You have the power of five. You could literally do this on your own. I'm just here to distract." Garrett explained as we walked up to the entrance of the building.
I nod as I took a deep breath this was going to take all the energy I had. This was going to change my life. I was saving my father from the most powerful people before me. I could admit I was nervous as hell, but this had to be done.
"You ready?" Garrett asked on the side of me.
"Ready as I'll ever be." I smirked
He nods as he walked into the building a dark hallway was shown with light at the end indicating the fire on the wall. My heart was beating so fast as I walked slowly, I couldn't imagine myself being back here after what happened. This place broke me in so many different ways I couldn't explain. The lowest time of my life that I remembered.
Movement at the end of the hall made us come to a stop.
"Wait... Do you hear that?" Garrett asked,
I nod looking ahead. A shadow showed upon a wall as we both looked, he signaled to the front of me as the body came into view.
The person that came into my vision was Alexander. He looked me with desperation and hurt.
"I wasn't expecting you so soon." He muses
I half smiled as I walked up to him, I looked behind me and Garrett was nowhere in sight.
"Did you cry while I was gone?" I teased.
I was in front of him now. We both stared at each other not saying a word. He looked just as beautiful as ever how could I hate this man?
I understood. He was so dark I could feel all the energy radiating from his body. It was so hot I almost started to sweat.
"Where is my father?" I declared
He nods at me. "Still where you abandoned hi—..."
I smacked him quickly in the face dreading the words that seem to slip through his mouth. The impact echoed the hallway sending him straight to the ground. I stood there and smirked walking around him.
That was easy.
He stared daggers at me trying to get up. I held him there with my powers. It was time for him to feel what I felt in that room. It was time for him to know real pain.
"Crista... Let's talk about this..." He pleaded
I laugh and bend down over him.
"There is nothing we have to talk about!" I boomed
His eyes stood wide as I jerked my hands inside of his chest, hands connecting with his heart. The screams of agony filled my ears, and I closed my eyes at the sound. It was a burst of energy like a high almost.
I squeezed his heart in my hands staring at him. A tear almost left my eye as I snatched his heart from his chest. Eyes still wide, he wheezed a little at the impact and fell to the floor. I stood up still staring at his dead lifeless body. Heart still in my hands, I squeezed the last of what was left of his remains as it dropped onto the floor. I felt the tattoo on my arms grow slightly. It was a prickly feeling that I could learn to live with. Feeling something prick at my side, I looked over and saw the blade Adam gave me. I wondered why he gave me this. I grabbed it from my side and looked at a dead Alex. On instinct I stabbed him just above his hole in his chest and he desegrated into dust. Suddenly the blade glowed over the rhinestones and the tattoo on my arms did as well. I smiled in knowing... That Adam. He knew I would need this for my journey ahead. I'm guessing this blade is a soul collector, pretty neat.
"Well done." Garrett said on the side of me.
I hadn't even noticed he was there. I looked at him staring at a now dead Alexander and smiled.
"Now. Let's go handle this." I demand walking down the hall.
Finding the room was no mission, no one was around we might not have to fight anyone. Voices sounded from the room made both of us stop. I looked at the door deciding my fate. I peeked slightly back against the wall. There stood Elise and four other men in black; none I recognized.
I mouthed five to Garrett and he nods. I moved back from the door taking several breaths before I walked straight in. The room looked the same with people and I always wondered how it would look with a colony. It's sad that this room was going to be painted with blood.
Talking stopped as I entered, and I smirked at all of them.
"Where is my father!" I shouted
"Well, he's right here my darling." One man said with green eyes.
I walked up to him slowly, making everyone stay in their place. They struggled and fought against my grip but there was no way anyone of them could move. I saw dad laying there on the same table passed out.
Face to face with the green-eyed man. I quickly retracted his heart from his chest sending his heart across the room. I then quickly stabbed him as his body turned to dust, I made my way to my father and stared at him for a while. Fighting outside of the door signaled I needed to hurry this up. Quickly, I felt a presence around him. Something was keeping him on this table.
I put a hand on the wooden table and closed my eyes lifting the spell. The energy from the spell sent goosebumps down my spine. This was an enticing feeling. He was being protected.
Quickly, I grabbed him after I was done. He was strapped on my shoulder as I looked at the four of them. I could almost see the desperation in Elsie's eyes. She wanted out, but I couldn't give it to her.
I smiled at her and ran out of the room. A man came towards me I swiftly kicked him in the stomach fending him away. Dead bodies stained the hallway as I desperately looked for Garrett. Walking back the way we came I heard rustling at the entrance. Garrett was fighting off the last guard. He was on the wall trying not to get his throat slit open, the guard held a knife to Garrett's throat. Before I could even blink Garrett pushed him on the ground went over to where he laid and snapped his neck. I looked at him intently as he stared up at me.
We both nod knowing our plan has succeeded and hauled ass out of there. We made it to the woods quickly, running away from that treacherous place.
"Wait. Stop." Garrett said bending over holding his knees.
I looked at him in questioning.
"Take us back."
I nod and put a hand on his shoulder. Minutes later we stood in front of Beth's house. I looked at him almost smiling.
This was a great plan and we actually succeeded.
The door opened without none of us knocking. Beth And Anabel's face came into my vision. Nothing was said at first. Their shocked faces didn't have to tell me they were so happy they couldn't breathe.
Making our way into the house I laid dad on the couch as Beth quickly brought us a first aid.
"He's bleeding out his chest. He has a wound." She said quickly taking action. I stood there dumbfounded because my work here was done. I served my purpose. What now?
After Beth was done, I made my way over to him. I put a hand on his chest and felt his heartbeat. I channeled as much energy as I could to wake him. When his breath caught in his throat and started coughing, I jerked back.
"Dad?" I asked
He looked around to everyone confused.
"Where am I?" He questioned.
"You're home. That's all that matters." Beth spoke up.
He looked at me and smiled weakly. "Crista..."
I nod tears falling down my cheeks.
After a moment of catching up and hugging we all gave him some rest. I found myself standing on the porch catching the breeze. I needed to exhale, most importantly to reflect.
I heard the door slightly creak open; Garrett appears smiling at me.
"You, okay?" He asked
I nod. "Yes. I am great." I replied. I didn't feel great, I felt terrible. Harlem was dead and there was nothing any of us could do about it. My heart ached for him, he shouldn't have to die; for us.
He chuckles. "You also forgot something."
I looked up at him confused until he reached into his pocket and handed me the locket.
I smile. "I almost forgot."
Tears threatened my eyes, this was the moment I was going to find out everything I missed.
"Well. Go on. Beth told me once you open it, it will restore everything. It only happens twice. So, after when it's Gabriel's turn it will crumble and dissolve." He explained.
I nod taking in the information. My hands shook upon the skinny chain as I touched the Purple heart. I was so nervous I could hear my heart beating out of my chest.
This was the moment. This was what I've been waiting for.
Not wanting to wait. I quickly opened the locket and a gust of purple dust washed over my face. It was itchy at first but as my eyes were closed my memories came flooding back. It was so intense that my head felt like it was going to explode. My head hurt with so much pain I feel to my knees. Tears were falling from my eyes. I felt every feeling, every kiss, every painful moment, every joyful moment and even the weird moments.
I opened my eyes, and I could feel my body being lifted from the ground. I looked around me, purple and blue lights made up an aura around me. I smiled in excitement. I felt something pricking upon my back sending me to look behind me. I was growing big purple wings and I couldn't be more taken aback.
Garrett stood there in awe as did I.
My feet slowly descended back onto the porch and my wings flapped behind me.
"That was epic!" Garrett exclaimed
I laugh and admire my new but old gift.
This was it. I knew what I needed to do. I knew my purpose and I always knew my reign was more than what was expected. I always knew I was a princess but now I am a queen.
And I was going to get my title.
I am Purple Rain.