I fell to the ground when I felt how something pierced my sternum while bursting all my ribs. The object that went through me came out from behind my back, or at least that was what I felt.
No one could ever imagine what it feels like to be in that situation. By nature, we are not designed to understand this kind of agony.
* What!? It burns! *
I fell to the floor and started screaming in pain. I was possessed by panic as I tried to stop the bleeding with my bare hands. But I soon had to stop, as my hands couldn't stand the heat pouring from the hole in my chest.
* No, no, no! *
Everything happened very fast. The ground turned red as the world spiraled out of control around me.
* How could this happen?! Why me?! *
Little by little I lost consciousness of my body and my ideas.
<<*@*^'/¨*''~;>>
- My chest... It hurts! It burns! â
I moaned in pain.
Everything burned inside me. What I felt in my chest was a source of pressure that swallowed my existence in suffering and agony, as if I had a blazing anvil on me, which did not allow me to move a single muscle.
- Why?! Why?! -
My breath was embers, and my clothes spoke for themselves.
*Where did so much blood come from? *
I tried to think from the ground while dying and suffocating. I was seeing how my life slipped between my fingers and the ground.
- Air! -
After a few seconds of pure agony, all pain went away. I suddenly felt serenity and peace. At last, some peace.
My face touched the smooth asphalt, but I didn't feel it. I only felt his cool, but insignificant, surface on my face. Nothing more.
* I could take a good nap now. *
My vision was beginning to fail and I no longer felt my extremities. The only thing was the light from the streetlights and the sound of the air timidly passing through my mouth between dust and blood. It flowed intermittently to the rhythm of the bruises on my chest.
* Am I forgetting something? The blood is redder than I thought. Is it really all mine? *
Thinking was getting harder and harder. At this rate, there wasn't much left for my fateful end.
*So, is this the end? *
I looked at the hole in my chest and everything around it was covered in blood. There was still some sort of smoke coming out of it.
* Shit, my body! Ok... Today has been a striking day and at this rate, it was not going to last much longer. I prefer, at least, to finish on a high note. *
<
I put my head back on the ground looking to finally rest. Someone coughed suddenly, and it sounded like drowning.
* It's true. She was here too. I had completely forgotten. *
- Asher! Asher! -
<
- Hold it! Do you hear me?! â
The girl yelled at me as she tried to catch her breath and sit up. Despite her efforts, she was not very successful.
<<*@*^'/¨*''~;>>
* Shit! I have to hold it. I have to move! Come on! *
Everything was against me, but still, I decided to try to move. I tried to give it the best shot, but at this point, my body was just another inanimate object.
- It is impossible. I better stay here resting. I've had enough for today... -
I told myself.
I could barely change my position a couple of centimeters despite all my efforts. I ended up just looking sideways right at the foot of a curb. It was more than anything an anecdotal attempt without result.
- Asher! â
A lot of liquid began to flow out of my mouth, making its way between the little air in my body and my teeth.
*But... This tastes like metal. This is not saliva. *
I soon found out.
I had already given up at this point accepting my tragic fate. I was waiting for the moment when everything would finally be over. The moment when I could rest.
I was only surprised by the way time seemed eternal at the end, my brain trying to capture every last moment. It was a great contrast: the action happened very fast, but the agony was slow.
The man who wounded me approached me again. He still didn't say a single word.
- Hey! Damned! Why did you do that?! Which side are you on?! â
The girl asked him.
The man kept walking and adjusting his gauntlet again.
But that man no longer mattered to me. I barely cared about my family, which appeared in the middle of my storm of ideas just when I had in front of me the dirty boots of that man.
* Mom, dad, Leon... Too bad... The streetlights used to shine brighter. *
- Hey! Wait! WAIT! ... Asher! I'm coming! â
That was the last I heard. The last thing I heard before losing consciousness.
The girl with the sword was trying to get closer to me, but her body was in no shape to even try. It was a tough battle, deep down inside me I didn't blame her for being in that state.
I felt sorry for not being able to save us both. Guilt, shame. I couldn't be of help to anyone.
*I wanted to help you. Why do I have to be so useless? *
*Shit. I-I didn't want to die yet. Just a little longer... I really wanted to live a little longer. Give me a little more time, please. *
That was the only thing I could think of before finally collapsing completely.
That's how it all ended.
<<*@*^'/¨*''~;>>
That is how I died.