Chapter Text
Your breath was heavy as you struggled to place a foot in front of the other. Beads of sweat trickled down your forehead, but you couldn't stop, not now. Your eyes scanned the horizon, no sign of any vegetation or caves nearby, just the sandy color of the infertile land you were travelling upon for months now. It was getting dark. And no one wanted to be caught out in the open after dark.
You winced as you felt a sharp pain in your right side, your hand immediately going to cover the fresh wound. You have suffered worse pain than this in the past few weeks, but you didn’t like the amount of blood oozing from the deep cut.
‘Damn those bastards’, you whispered under your breath, a new wave of pain flaring in your side. A group of thugs had stolen your belongings (food, water, bandages, some firewood and a very dusty blanket) and you, of course, had put up a fight. Your mistake, as they were armed. They knocked you out and you spent and lost half of the day being unconscious. Now, you had no shelter and were minutes away from sunset. As you continued walking, you kept your hand on the knife wound, trying to dampen the pain as you felt the warm liquid coat your fingers. You didn’t want to look at the blood, you already knew it was bad. All you needed right now was to find a place to spend the night and rest.
Maybe it’s better if I just die already, it’s not like there’s a future to live for anyway...You shook your head. No, you won’t think like that. You remembered your mother’s words as she clutched your hand in hers, her breaths coming out in short gasps, blood trickling from the side of her mouth. She was lying on the ground, on her side, her knees brought to her chest. You could remember her expression, the noises, everything to the smallest detail.
Live on... Promise me... that you... will live on... Don’t give up-…
You shook your head again, clearing your head. The minutes you spent caught up in your daydream, you almost failed to notice the slight bump to your left. Your eyes widened. A possible refuge. You turned to that direction, quickening your pace as you ignored your throbbing wound. The possibility of it being already claimed didn’t even cross your mind. And if it would have, your head was so fuzzy that you wouldn’t have cared. There was a slight wobble in your step, and your breathing grew heavier.
As the sky was turning a deep purple, almost indigo, and the rock formation grew bigger and bigger, you noticed that your vision was turning black towards the edges. You pushed the nausea away, tears streaming down your face as your frustration took over. I’m not gonna make it...
A figure with a flashlight emerged from the cave, only a dozen feet from you now. You sucked in a breath, your eyes going wide. This was it. You stopped dead in your tracks, not knowing if from fear or pain or exhaustion or blood loss or all of the above. There was a terrifying pressure on your chest and you struggled to breathe. You sank down to your knees, eyes fixed on the person advancing towards you. In your dazed haze, you could hear a familiar melody playing in the back of your mind.
We are, we are, together bulletproof...
You smiled at the words. It was your comfort song, the song that helped you get back up. Only this time, you wouldn’t get back up again.
When the stranger was only a few short feet away from you, you were sure the loss of blood caused you to hallucinate. The light from his flashlight and the setting sun illuminated his features, and you wanted to laugh at your weak state, which had summoned visions of a person you dearly loved but never knew in the last moments of your life, but you couldn’t laugh. Instead, you started coughing, feeling the familiar metallic taste of blood on your tongue. His dark eyes widened as he came closer to you, face scrunched up in concern, biting his lower lip. He half-jogged to where you were, careful to keep the flashlight from blinding you. As he did, his dark curly hair bounced with every step. I never knew my imagination was so vivid..., you thought as your vision became blurry, stars dancing before your eyes. Just as you felt that your energy had run out and started to sway, the ground running to meet you, you felt a pair of strong arms catch you, the flashlight falling to the ground with a clank. Just as your eyes closed, you felt your forehead falling on his shoulder, and in those last moments of your life, you felt safe at last...
Yeah, we got to heaven...