"You don't know a thing!" He repeated his sentence. He looked at me straight in my eyes and crinkled his brows slightly like he was perturbed by my behavior.
"Help him, please." I pressed my hands on Chase's abdomen to stop the massive bleeding. I could feel his warm blood trickling through my fingers. He was holding my hand tightly, and I could feel his fingers losing warmth. His grip was loosening.
I looked at Adrian, and almost pleaded. "Help him, Adrian!"
He stood staring at me coldly.
"I'm sorry, baby. I can't help you."
"What do you mean? He's dying..."
He sighed," That's why I'm here."
His reply made me speechless for a moment. I forgot that he was the Grim Reaper. He wasn't here because I called him. He was here because he was supposed to be here. I tried to lift Chase off the ground into my lap.
"I'll take you to the hospital. Don't worry. Can you hear me, Chase?" I hugged him tightly.
He closed his eyes, and his arm fell lifeless on the ground.
"CHASE!" I almost screamed.
Adrian spoke," I have to take his soul. He's gone."
Adrian took out his flute and started playing that deadly tune. I placed Chase's body on the blanket of fallen leaves, and rushed towards Adrian. I tried to snatch his flute, but he backed off. I punched his chest as hard as I could with my tiny fists. Adrian's flute slipped from his fingers and fell on the ground. I picked it up.
"I won't let you take Chase away."
"How can you stand against me for him?" He smiled coldly.
A strange chill ran through my body, and for the first time, it felt like I never knew Adrian.
"He's my best friend. I can't let anything happen to him.... Please, help me... Adrian!"
I placed my hands on his collars and begged him to help me.
He held my face in his hands and rubbed away my tears.
"Even how much I wish to help, I can't. I have to take a soul from here. Besides, Chase is already gone."
"You want a soul?" I repeated.
He nodded," Baby, I can't help it."
I backed off from Adrian and sat beside Chase again. I lifted the sharp tree branch from the ground and stabbed myself. The sharp edges of the tree branch pierced through me with a little effort and went straight through the soft tissues. A reddish blush started spreading across my white shirt. A deep agonizing pain started from my abdomen and radiated to every single part of my body. I bit my lip to suppress my scream.
Adrian rushed towards me horrified.
"What have you done?" He caught me before I fell on the ground.
"You... You wanted a soul. Take mine!" I managed to utter.
Adrian held me in his arms. I was feeling light-headed by now.
"No, I can't! I can't let you die."
I closed my eyes, and my surroundings dissolved in darkness.
***********************************************************************
Somebody was tapping my cheeks gently with index and the middle finger, when I managed to lift my heavy eyelids.
"Lily?"
I recognized the voice, and I threw my arms around him.
"Chase,Are you alright?"
I moved my hands all over his abdomen, insanely.
"What happened to you?" Chase asked.
I looked at him, and he stared back confused.
"You were bleeding... Gabriella tricked me... Adrian! Where's Adrian?" I mumbled.
My words weren't making sense to Chase at all. He helped me to stand up. There was no blood on his shirt, and he appeared perfectly fine to me. I was shocked to see that everything was gone. There was no cottage there but a row of big lush green trees. This was too much to believe. My eyes were betraying me. I had felt the warmth of blood under my fingertips. My nostrils were still filled with the faint rusty copper smell. I could taste my own blood in my mouth.
"Relax! Take a deep breath and then tell me what happened?"
"What do you mean by what happened? You were hurt..."
"You were following me, and then I heard your scream. When I turned around, you fell on the ground and fainted." Chase explained to me.
I touched the buttons of his shirt and he smiled.
"I'm not hurt. Don't worry about me. Get up; we'll come back here some other day."
"No, I want to know...."
He placed his arm around me, and started walking back towards his car.
"You were right. I must be assuming things about Adrian. I'm just jealous of him..."
I remained quiet as I was sure that nobody knew about Adrian's romantic interest in me.
Chase understood my silence.
"I know you, Lily. We have grown up together. I understand the way you look at him now... It's the same way; you used to look at me..." He broke off in the middle of the sentence.
"What about James Wilson?" I asked to change the topic.
"Sorry?" Chase frowned.
"James Wilson, Adrian's look alike psychopath?" I prompted.
"What are you talking about?" Chase shrugged.
"Why have you brought me here then?" I asked crossly.
"I saw Adrian driving into this forest few days ago. He buried something next to that large oak tree where you fainted. I wanted to find out about it."
I stared at him in disbelief.
"WHAT?"
"But now I think, I was just assuming things about him. There's something suspicious about Adrian that forces me to think negative about him. But when I checked the same place, there was nothing buried there."
"You aren't making sense to me."
I was so confused, that it became so hard to differentiate my reality from illusion. I had seen Chase dying. I had felt the pain of stabbing my own self. It was too real; I could verify that event by my own five senses.
Chase sighed," I tried dating Sabrina to make you Jealous. I wanted you to realize that we can't stay just friends. I wanted you to realize that breaking up with me was a big mistake. But you moved on in few months."
"We had so many unresolved issues between us, then. It was good for both of us to break up."
Chase started the engine.
"Can't we get back together?"
"Please drive us out of this forest."
He nodded," I just want you to know that I regret breaking up with you. And I miss you."
"So do I! But it's over now. I don't feel the same about you like I used to."
That was enough to keep Chase quiet for rest of the drive. He dropped me home, and drove away without even saying good bye.
When I reached my room, there was a small paper pasted on the back of my door.
"I had to save your life at any cost. I'm sorry
-ADRIAN JONES "
The words didn't make any sense till I picked up Marie's call. It was Marie's mother. The phone slipped from my hand as soon as the news reached my ears. Tears started falling from my eyes at once. I couldn't believe what I just heard and I had to repeat it to make it sound real.
"MARIE CAN'T DIE!" I sobbed loudly.