Chapter Twenty-One
Damien
The light drains from her eyes, her body flickering like it’s about to fizzle out and disappear. She’s not going toward the light, or being dragged into the darkness. She’s just fading.
“Krueger, help me! She can’t leave me like this. Not after everything we’ve been through.”
Krueger moves over towards where Autumn stands, then says something in her ear. She’s the only one that can help bring my Evie back.
“She’s gotta want to move on, Damien. If there’s any soul left in her, she’s got to figure out her unfinished business and just let it go,” Autumn says, moving towards us even though she can’t see where we are. Maybe she feels her soul dying, because I sure do, and it’s crushing me.
“Do you hear that, Evie Baby? You can still go to the light. You just have to want it.”
Her eyes blink slowly, barely a flicker, her hand caressing my face. “It’s okay, Damien. Just let me go. It’s better this way.”
“It’s not, Eve. If you go, I’ll go too. You can have my soul if you need it. Feed off it. Become whole again, show me you’re that girl who fired off insults at me every chance she got. Prove to me you’re still fighting.”
“I don’t know how,” she croaks out, her voice barely a whisper. “I don’t know what my unfinished business is.”
Krueger takes a step forward and kneels down beside her. “Yes, you do. You know damn well what your unfinished business is, you’re just afraid to make it happen.”
Her eyes dart to Phantom, and a tear slips from her eye. “I’m not strong enough, Krueger. I won’t exist without him.”
He takes her hand and holds it tightly.
“You are strong enough, Eve. You’re strong enough because the love you’ve been chasing is sitting right here, waiting for you to open up your eyes and notice him.”
She blinks up at me, almost like she’s seeing me for the first time.
“All you have to do is let Phantom go, Eve. Then the white light will appear.”
“But I killed a living,” she says brokenly. “I let the darkness win.”
“You saved my grandson’s life, Eve. And in my book, that’s enough to make the darkness end inside of you. You’re a good person, Eve. You always have been. You just have to believe it.”
She glances over at Autumn and Phantom, then looks back at me. “Will you still love me even if I fizzle out? Because I don’t know what will happen if I let him go.”
I cup her cheek, bending down to kiss her sweet lips just long enough to make my soul ache and everything in me shatter. I don’t want to lose her, but I know what happens next is uncertain.
Anything can happen.
But it all depends on her.
“I’ll love you no matter what,” I whisper into her ear. “Because you’re my Ol’ Lady.”
Her eyes widen, the tears only multiplying in her eyes. “I’m your what?”
I lift her up just enough to shrug off my cut and place it around her shoulders. “My Ol’ Lady. You’re my forever girl.”
It’s enough to give her the courage to look at them again, her soul strengthening just enough to bring closure to us all.
“Take care of him for me, please.”
Autumn has tears in her eyes. “I will. I promise.”
“Can you tell him I’ll always love him?”
“Eve says she will always love you…”
Eve’s voice cracks. “But tell him it’s time for me to let him go.”
Autumn’s voice fills with emotion. “But she says it’s time for her to let you go.”
Blake musters half a smile, then shakily takes her hand. “Can you tell her, that no matter what she thinks, a part of me will always love her.”
Autumn nods, knowing that Eve could already hear him.
“She knows.”
It isn’t until my lips touch down on hers again that the white light appears, not to our left or something we have to walk towards, but over us. Surrounding us until the warmth breathes life back into both of our souls.
She blinks up at me, her hand caressing my face as the brightest smile lights up her own. “Your handsome face is back.”
My hand moves to where the hole used to be, suddenly having better vision than I had a few minutes ago.
I help her to her feet, both of us staring in each other’s eyes as the white light beckons us closer.
“They’re moving towards the light,” Autumn cries. “Both of them.”
“Who?” Blake questions.
“Her and Damien. He’s… he’s asked her to be his Ol’ Lady.”
Phantom chuckles. “I always knew there was something going on between them, I guess that’s why I hated him so damn much.
“The feeling’s mutual, buddy,” I shout back, unable to tear my eyes away from the woman who’s glowing more radiant than ever in the soft sparkles of Heaven’s light.
“I’m ready,” she whispers as she takes my hand. “But only if you come with me.”
Our lips meet in a blissful kiss, one that completes us both. “Dollface, I followed you into the afterlife. What makes you think I won’t follow you to Heaven?”
She giggles, both of us turning toward the light.
“Krueger, aren’t you coming?” she questions, staring at the old man who’s still hanging back with the living.
He shakes his head and shoos us forward. “I still have unfinished business here. You go on, Eve. You deserve to find the happiness you never had while living.”
Both of us share a look, knowing it’s going to be hard moving on without him. But Krueger’s unfinished business is more complicated than ours, and until he does, moving on is impossible for a guy like him.
She takes my hand, blinking up at me with the most hopeful wide eyes I’ve ever seen. And before she can convince me otherwise, I slowly walk her toward the light, ready to show off my Ol’ Lady to any soul who comes our way.