Chapter 24 #2
“I will be fine,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Shad, please, I want to help you; let me.”
“I already told you how you can help me,” he snapped.
“You really need me to kiss you?” I whispered, my breath moving his black, blue hair softly.
“Yes,” he whispered. I moved his face up to look at me.
There was so much pain in those sad eyes.
I let my melody out, and it rang so loud.
The note that belonged to Shad rang, too.
We stood there for a moment, and I watched as Shad’s eyes grew warm.
I could have sworn that I saw a speck of gold there, just like the last time in the hallway when I thought I had dreamt it.
“Shad,” I whispered, caressing his cheeks with my fingertips, imagining that it was real, that he was the man I loved and not the soulless creature that Cade had created.
“Darling, I don’t have long,” I felt the tears fall again, freely flowing, and I wanted to jump for joy.
“Is that you?” I whimpered.
“Yes, Emma. I am sorry—I am not the Shad you once knew anymore. Without my melody—” He paused.
“How are you here right now?” I asked
“That note inside of you.” He cupped my face in his hands, “No matter what I have done or what I do, please remember that I love you and only you, forever,” he whispered, and then the next second his lips were on mine, and I was melting.
Bliss was the only word that could describe being pushed up against that girls’ bathroom stall door, having my Shad drench me in kisses.
Okay, maybe it wasn't the most romantic and perfect location, but it was him at that moment.
I was sure of it. How long had it been since he had called me that? Called me his darling? Too long.
My melody swirled around us, and my melody was enough for us both, and his note played rapidly within my melody.
His kisses molded me into something else.
They reshaped me entirely. He was an artist, sculpting me from clay, taking me from an unrecognizable thing, and changing me into a masterpiece, a work of art that would stand out in a museum and have people gaze at it in awe– turning me into something that could stand the test of time and age and the elements.
I was no longer afraid. I became brave. I could do it; I could save him.
He kissed my upper lip, then the bottom lip, the corners of my mouth, my jaw, and then he kissed down my neck.
I gasped as he kissed my throat, trailing back up until his mouth devoured mine once more.
His hands were holding my hips, and he held me close and secure against himself.
I felt precious and loved like we, together, were it—we were it all–every love story ever written, every tale had nothing on us—absolutely nothing.
I was weak in his arms, my knees giving out, but he held me up: my anchor, my sails, my ship and my sea–my everything.
I was safe in his embrace. All was right; no storms on the horizon.
Then all of a sudden, the kisses grew hard, demanding. I pulled away as he bit my bottom lip. I looked into his eyes in confusion to see that the one speck of gold was gone.
“I knew you wanted me,” he smirked,
No! No! No! It couldn’t be. No, Shad, please come back.
I silently pleaded as I pulled his face into my hands.
“Shad, please—Shad, don't go. Please, oh please.” I kissed his mouth once more, looked into his eyes, blasting my melody over and over again, but he was gone.
Did that really just happen? Or am I making it up?
I didn't understand how I could know for certain?
But something inside of me understood that it was real—that part of Shad did live inside of me, inside of that note, and he had just been there with me.
I touched my lips with my finger tips, trying to memorize the feeling of being kissed while there in Shad's arms.
“We should have been doing that all this time.”
I stood there, frozen, as soulless Shad winked and left the bathroom.
He had just thrown me overboard, waves crashed all about me, and I was sinking into the water.
The sky was grey, and I was certain as I leaned there against that wall, already feeling breathless and irritated and angry, that I would continue to sink.
I closed my eyes, wrapping my arms around my shoulders.
Sob after sob wracked my body, and I couldn't contain the monster nor the pain.
The wind was too biting, the storm too raging, too ferocious.
Maybe my body could withstand it, but do I want it to?
I was no longer floating upon the sea; I was under the waves of the ocean.
I was a statue lost under the fathoms of the sea.
Still, I would stand the test of time. I was a beautiful, unbroken piece of art which Shad had sculpted, but what did that matter?
What did beauty, bravery, and strength matter when I was all alone?
When no one could hold me? When no one could see who I was? When I had lost the one I loved?