Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 118042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
My heart leapt with debilitating hope.
Ily.
Peter…
Not there.
Horrible memories choked me.
T-They were so cold.
Covered in blood…
I squeezed the trigger—
No.
What?
Why was I here?
Why wasn’t I dead?
I moaned and tried to push Dr Belford away. “Let me die.” Words were such a struggle. “I don’t want—”
“Hush up.” Dr Belford grabbed the line she’d inserted into my vein. “No speaking. Save your strength.” Pushing something cold and thick into my bloodstream, she barked orders to someone I couldn’t see.
And then, I couldn’t hear anymore.
Couldn’t feel.
Couldn’t move.
I faded.
* * * * *
“Hello, Master H.”
I jerked awake and sat upright.
Flames surrounded us. A cathedral of them formed a vaulted roof and red bright walls, trapping me in some sinister burning church. “Where am I?”
“Where you belong.” Peter sat on a large rock before me. A tiny island of protection from the river of magma lapping around my waist.
My skin smoked and shrivelled the longer I sat in molten fire, but I didn’t try to move. “Where’s Ily?”
“Safe.” He gave me a soft smile. “You did right by her, Master H. It was the only thing you did right.”
“Stop calling me that. We’re friends. We’re—”
“I’m not your friend.” Peter shook his head. “How could I ever be friends with a monster like you?” Standing on his rock, he looked above us to a single gleaming star. The fire couldn’t touch it, couldn’t swallow it.
Ily.
I’d been on that star with her.
I’d been so fucking happy.
How had I fallen so far?
A pair of white feathered wings sprouted from Peter’s back. “I’ll look after her. I always have. I wish you well in your next reincarnation. You’re going to need it.”
He took off.
I tried to grab him.
The lava sucked me down all while a single white feather tumbled into the fire and sizzled into ash.
* * * * *
“He’s severely malnourished, dehydrated, with numerous fractures. Not to mention the infection that’s set in thanks to the lacerations. All of that has taken its toll, but it’s the fever he might not survive.”
“Give him whatever he needs.”
“I already have. But it might not be enough.”
“What else does he need?”
“The will to live.” A man sighed. “I can pump him full of medicine and set his broken bones, but unless he has a reason to stay…I’m afraid you have to prepare yourself for the worst.”
The softness I lay on dipped. A calloused hand cupped my cheek. “You have a reason to stay, brother. Stay. For me—”
The darkness sucked me deep.
* * * * *
She’s dead.
She’s gone.
She’s never coming back.
I gasped with excruciating grief. I clawed my chest as I drowned beneath loss.
Jack-knifing up, I—
“Ah, you’re awake. We were just about to eat without you.” Ily beamed and blew me a kiss. “Good nap, Hen?”
I frowned and rubbed my eyes.
Colourful spots danced then faded, bringing into focus a sun-streaming courtyard with sparrows squabbling in a blossom tree and pretty orange goldfish in a pond.
“You alright, Ri?” Peter leaned across and squeezed my shoulder. “You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Is that what you are?” I flinched. “Are you dead? Are we all dead?”
“We’re dead and alive.” Peter smirked like a sage.
“I…don’t understand.”
“Everything is true and untrue.”
“Still super unhelpful, Paavak.”
He laughed. “There is no such thing as time here. Everything is and was. Happening and happened.”
I couldn’t catch my bearings.
First heaven, then hell, and now…this?
“You’ll understand soon enough.” Ily grinned. “All you need to know is…you’re here. With us. Right now.”
“And if I fade again? Where will I go?”
“I think he’s got a touch of sunstroke.” Peter smiled at Ily. “I told you we shouldn’t have spent all day by the river.”
“But it was just too much fun to leave.” Ily laughed. “I’ve never been so happy. All of us together. Free.”
Peter nodded and reached for her with his other hand. They interlocked their fingers on the table. “Together.” Facing me, he gave me a dazzling smile. “Like Ily said. We’re exactly where we’re meant to be.”
I glanced at his hand on my shoulder.
I felt his affection for me. The wonderful intimacy between true friends.
The urge to snatch him in a hug overwhelmed me. He touched me. Willingly. He smiled at me. Happily. He didn’t look at me like a monster or leave me to burn.
Tears stung my eyes. I cleared my throat. “So all of it…was just a dream?”
“Oh, it wasn’t a dream.” He let me and Ily go, reaching for a sparkling flute of champagne. “It was all real. Every bit of it.”
“Even the fire?”
“Especially the fire.”
I frowned.
Ily left her chair and came to me.
With my heart winging, I shifted back and made room for her.
Sitting on my lap, she looped her arms around my neck and pressed her lips to mine. “That’s the key, you see. In these realms, we remember. They’re all happening. All at once. We’re both dead and alive. Everything and nothing—”