Serenity
"Micah..." I turned my gaze towards the source of the voice I just heard.
My eyes widened and my heart pounded beneath my chest as I saw the blood-red haired guy materialized from my dream. He's panting and gasping for air as he stood with disbelief and wonder etched on his dirt and blood smeared face. His round amber eyes glistened with unshed tears. He looked taller than he was in my dreams.
Have I fallen asleep? I could be dreaming about him again and maybe Ethan will wake me up. I wanted everything to be unreal but the pain I felt was too intense.
He tensed as voices of men echoed from the forest. He stormed towards me and pulled me up by my hand. A warm tingling sensation swept over me and he stilled. He felt that too. Our eyes met but what I felt scared the hell out of me that I pulled away from him.
"They're coming, we need to go!" His voice trembled with fear and urgency, though I didn't know for whom he felt the fear. He caught my hand once again and gripped it too tight, like he's clinging onto it for life.
Though, I felt like I can trust him, like he's someone I've known my entire life, I resisted. "Oh, shit!" he cursed as he looked over me. I looked back and saw silhouettes of men in black robes running from the woods towards us.
"Please, trust me. Trust me again. I won't let them hurt you again, ever. Come with me please, I'll keep you safe." Trust him again? Questions and doubt filled me but I gave in as I saw the hurt and plea in his face.
I haven't recovered from fatigue and trauma of what had just happened, yet there I was, being dragged by the guy I met in my dreams and running away from men—this time in black robes. In black robes? Oh, shit. Don't tell me they're the one from the Brotherhood? I fixed my eyes towards the blood-red haired guy. He too was wearing the same robe those men were wearing—was he from the Brotherhood too? Like Ethan?
A twisting pain knotted in my chest but even before my eyes started blurring, I saw a fast shooting arrow hit the guy's left shoulder. He fell on his knees as he yelped in pain. He reached back and pulled the arrow out.
Fear crept over me. Was it poisoned? Oh no, this can't be happening to me twice.
"Oh my God!" Worried, I knelt in front of him and searched for the arrow.
A crooked smile curled his pale lips and my heart thundered beneath my chest. Somehow, I knew it wasn't because of running. "It's not poisoned, if that's what you're worried about." His smile faded and replaced with worry. "And you? You weren't shot were you?"
I shook my head and he immediately pulled me up. We started running once again, luckily dodging the raining arrows. He took a sharp turn to the right and dragged me towards the narrow space between the vast fields of towering vines of thorns. "Just stay behind me, love. Just follow me, okay?" He said as he let go of my hand.
He cleared a path using his bare hands so the thorns wouldn't hurt me. I was startled when he pulled me in a tight embrace as soon as we got in. I pushed him away but I stopped as I felt his chest heaving not only from gasping air, but from sobbing. "I have no words to describe how grateful and happy I am to have been given this second chance."
I opened my mouth to ask what he meant but was left speechless when his tear-streaked face came into view when he released me. He cupped my face. "Stay here okay? Wait till I come back. No matter what happens, don't leave. Don't leave me." He kissed my hair then held up another set of vines where there was space enough to huddle and hide. I caught a glimpse of thorns pushing their way into his flesh. He didn't seem to notice the pain.
"Hey, wait!" I called as he turned to leave. "Don't get yourself killed."
His amber eyes softened, like molten rock. "I won't. I'd definitely come back. I'll come back for you."
I cast him a shy smile and he took off running. In an instant he faded away into the darkness. "I'll be waiting." I smiled a sad smile recalling the exact same words I told Ethan back then.