The Monsters In Us

It hurt.

It hurt so badly to be by his side right now.

"I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she whimpered out as the horrid sounds of his gasping chokes continued to bounce off of the walls over and over again. It was like a tattoo of rhythm berating against the walls of her heart, cutting slightly deeper each time she heard him attempt to draw breath.

She sat about a yard from him with her back pressed against the old walls, her knee drawn up to her stomach and her chin set on top while he was laying in an awkward position on the dirty floor.

His leg was twisted the wrong way and dark red liquid continued to seep and form a large puddle underneath his trembling body like an overflowing river over the rocks.

The shirt he wore was now stained with dried blood and shifted at each interval of his gasp for air, sticking to his chest where the blood steadily soaked through.

His eyes were wide open and they scared her.

Scared her because he was staring at her unblinkingly as if he was begging her to save him and she couldn’t.

She couldn’t go against her vendetta.

She couldn’t save him.

God knows how much it hurt for her to admit it.

Yet she couldn’t do anything other than try to block him out the best she could. The moonlight from outside filtered into the room and lit up his pale face. And she had never seen a man more surreal.

He was dying.

He was dying and she could only sit there rocking back and forth with eyes pointed forward so that she couldn’t see him.

But could she let him die?

She knew that he didn’t want her to save him.

She could save and kill him.

She could take the last breath from him and let him live in one simple move. But she couldn’t.

He was meant to die and she couldn’t go against her rules to save him.

His heartbeat was steadily faltering and in just a couple of seconds, he would be gone. Swept off the face of this planet and there would be no more Grayson to make a cold monster like her laugh.

No more Grayson Smith.

She laughed bitterly and could feel hot tears stream down her cold face; even though, there were no tears. Even though, there would never be tears again.

10 seconds. 9 seconds. 8 seconds.

She counted as the palpitations of his vena cava slowed and the intervals of his choking stopped until the gasps were just airy yet hollow sounds that filled his chest. His dry pale lips parted and closed like a fish out of water. Gradually fading the longer it continued to thrash on the shore in hopes of finding water again only to realize that the longer it fought, the further it became from the salt water. And then, stilling upon the shore sand in the beginnings of death as its body hardened.

He would be gone soon.

Her knuckles popped from the tension of her clenched fist, entire body rigid and tense at the incredibly agonizing thought of losing him to darkness and death.

She couldn’t do it.

Her body quivered before she twisted to him and dropped onto her knees with a painful thud that resounded in the empty warehouse.

She didn’t feel pain.

Could only feel panic bubble up her throat as she threw herself across his seemingly cold body; although, hot blood had occupied it just moments ago.

Her ear pressed against his chest and trembled at hearing the feint “blub ble-ub”.

She lifted her head, bright red eyes glowing from the moonlight before she pressed a soft kiss across his damp forehead, comfortingly sweeping a cold palm across his thick bangs.

Now there would be another monster on this earth.

A beautiful monster.