The Freeing Blood

Chapter 16

I flew down the road, passed the motel, and passed the MacMiller house before yanking the steering wheel to the right to turn off onto the road that led down to the small beach area where Zak had taken me just last night. As I slammed on my breaks behind Zak’s parked car, all of my other thoughts came to a sudden halt as well. Had that only happened last night? Thinking on it…it had. He had taken me out here for a birthday celebration then quickly drove us home where we made love to each other through the night.
Then somewhere in between there, he had tried to kill me. After that, he had left during the early morning hours while I was still asleep forcing me to awaken to an empty bed and apartment. Other than my brother. All of this…since he had said the words ‘happy birthday’…had happened all today. So much had happened in just a span of nearly 19 hours considering it was about a quarter of seven right now. What a birthday this was turning out to be.
'Happy 26th to me', I sighed mentally to myself.
I shifted the gear into park and cut the engine, nearly falling out of my car as my feet pounded on the pavement racing towards Zak’s car parked near the sand. I reached the driver’s side door and flung it open only to find an empty car. I pivoted around and searched the immediate area for Zak, but he was nowhere to be found.
I whipped around to face Mary. Her face held a mixture of confusion and fear. “Mary, where is he? Didn’t you say he was lying on the ground right before you came to me?”
“Yes,” she hesitantly answered.
“So then WHERE IS HE?” I cried out in anger at her. I didn’t mean to raise my voice to her. I knew it wasn’t her fault that Zak had disappeared. All of the stress, fear, and anger was getting to me making me lose my head; lose focus. All of my thoughts right now were on finding Zak.
“I-I don’t know! He was RIGHT. HERE!” she yelled back pointing to the ground a few feet in front of the car. There, in the sand, was a visible dip where it appeared someone HAD indeed been laying.
That’s when I saw them. The footprints. They were leading away from the large dip and to a thin forest trail that had been overrun by nature throughout the years of it not being used. My heart dropped to the floor. I knew where that trail led. I had only been down that trail once, but it was a place I told myself I would never return to again.
Mary must have seen the look on my face as I gazed in horror at the thick forest. “What? What’s wrong? Where did he go? Do you know?” she asked. I could hear the hope rising in her voice with each new question.
I lifted my arm and pointed a shaking finger towards the trail.
“Ok, great! So let’s go get him!”
“NO! Wait, Mary,” I screamed forcing her to stop. She gazed up at me through worries eyes. “I want you to get Nick and Aaron. I have a feeling I won’t be able to do this alone. And in case you are right about me giving my life to save Zak…I need someone there for when he wakes up. Someone close to him. Someone familiar,” I instructed.
“That may be slightly difficult to do. The reason you can see me is because of your angelic power. The reason Zak can see me is because of his darkness. I’m not sure Nick and Aaron would be able to,” Mary warned.
“I don’t care!” I spat out nearly hysterical at this point. I could feel my heart beating against my chest at a thousand miles per hour at this point. “Just….just find a way to communicate with them and get their asses down here as soon as possible!”
“Aerolynn…calm down. Wh-what’s down there anyhow that is making you freak out so much?” Mary quietly asked. I could tell she was too scared to speak any louder afraid of another outburst from me.
“They called this town Sunfire Falls for a reason. At the very end of that trail is a patch of ground that suddenly ends. If you’re not careful when standing near the edge, the ground will crumble beneath your feet making you fall into an area covered by jagged rocks and broken glass from the beer bottles kids have thrown over the edge,” I softly explained.
“You’re saying that this trail leads to a cliff?” Mary asked in disbelief.
I nodded. “It used to be a waterfall, but soon, over time, nature and man itself blocked off its access to water. It took water from the lake, when it was much larger than it is now, and it ran into a river that eventually circled back to the lake. But it has dried up now and they have filled in the water’s path with dirt and rocks. Then nature did the rest. I’m surprised you don’t know about it or learned about our town’s history in class,” I said looking down at her.
She shook her head. “Like I told you, I had just moved here. Honestly, if they did tell us about it in class, I didn’t pay attention. I was too busy looking for ways to make friends to care about a history lesson on a town that we’d probably move away from anyways.”
“Oh…”
“Why are you so afraid of it?” she cautiously asked.
“My brother…he almost died there once because of me. We had been messing around waiting for sunset to come because….that place….” I breathed remembering the way the sky reflected the different hues of pink, orange, purple, and blue of the sunset. “That place when sunset or sunrise came…it really blows you away at how breathtakingly beautiful it is. Anyways, we had been messing around when I pushed my brother and he tumbled off the edge of the cliff. The only thing saving him from death was the thick branch jutting out from the side of it. I finally got him back onto firm land, but…I almost lost my brother that day. That had happened not too long after our father passed away in a car accident,” I whispered as I felt the familiar sting in my eyes every time I looked back on that memory. I wouldn’t have been able to bear the pain if my brother had died that day.
Mary nodded and rested a comforting hand on my arm. “Save Zak,” she told me. “I’ll go get Nick and Aaron.”
I gave her a curt nod of my head. After she disappeared I drug the back of my hand across my eyes before darting onto the tiny, densely forested trail towards Sunset Cliff. The trees and dead, fallen leaves crunched beneath my feet as I sprinted through the trees. My foot caught on a root jutting out from the ground making me trip and fall to the ground landing awkwardly on my wrist as I tried to catch myself.
I jumped to my feet and rotated my wrist around making sure nothing was broken or fractured. There was a dull throbbing ache on the side of my wrist, but as far as I could tell everything seemed to be in working order. I clenched my fingers into a fist and unclenched them. It was nothing I couldn’t handle for the time being considering I had more important things to tend to other than an aching wrist.
I dusted my jeans off and hurried down the slim path that had been dominated by Mother Nature. I smacked a few low hanging branches away from my face feeling the sting as it cut against my palm. By the time I came out of this, I was going to be covered with bruises and cuts. None of that mattered though. What mattered was finding Zak and bringing him back.
“Zak!” I yelled as I saw the trail coming to an end. A few more of the trees had been cleared out making the plot of land slightly larger than when I had last been here over ten years ago. I ducked underneath the final tree branch and emerged out onto the barren ground. My eyes darted around the enclosed area looking for Zak. Not seeing him, tears sprang to my eyes. My heart stopped when my eyes rested on the edge of the cliff.
I slowly moved towards the edge fearful of what my heart would see upon looking down. I closed my eyes when I had drawn close enough to the edge that I could look down below me towards the rocks. I sucked in a deep breath and slowly exhaled, yet I still didn’t have the courage to look.
'Come on, Aerolynn. Just open your eyes on three. One…two…th—'
“Looking for me?” a deep, demonic all too familiar voice questioned.
I whirled around nearly stumbling over the edge. My eyes widened when I saw Zak was alive and ok. There was no holding back the tears that flowed from my eyes and dripped off my chin. I was just glad to see that the demon hadn’t tossed his body over the edge. That gave me enough hope to believe I was able to still save him from all of this.
“Oh cut the tears,” It snapped in his voice. “Zak’s no longer here. You can’t save him.”
“The hell I can’t!” I cried out angrily scratching away my tears. This thing was bound and determine to piss me off.
“Foolish angel,” it sneered. “I have consumed his soul. There’s nothing LEFT for you to save.”
“That’s not true. I know Zak is still alive inside of there somewhere. Trapped away, surrounded by darkness, and living in fear, but he is ALIVE. And I WILL bring him back and send you back into your rotting grave of eternal damnation,” I threatened with a growl in my voice.
“What makes you so sure his humanity hasn’t been completely shredded by now?” it smirked at me showing razor sharp teeth and a blackened tongue. This was definitely not Zak anymore. Even the black pupil of his eyes had begun to bleed out into the iris and beyond into the white completely coating the eye.
“Because I feel that last shred of humanity still quaking with fear and determination inside of him— inside of YOU— through all the darkness.”
A maniacal laughter spilled forth from the lips that had brought me so much love and happiness. Those same lips were now being used to spout such evil babblings.
“You’re quite the stupid little bitch, aren’t you?” It giggled. “You honestly think your power is greater than my own?” It growled snapping It’s teeth at me.
My eyes widened at what he had said. Those words…they reminded me of what Mary had said to me.
Thou cannot defeat power greater than thine own.
Suddenly I understood what I had to do. God had been right. It all was clear to me now. My eyes gazed into the ink black pools that had now become Zak’s eyes.
Zak, I know you’re in there. I can feel you still alive in there…somewhere deep inside…hear my cry…
I took a deep breath knowing that this is what I had to do in order to bring him back; in order for me to save him.
I took a step back.
“All I have…is one last chance,” I softly sang my eyes never leaving his. It quirked a brow in curiosity. I knew he had heard me from that look alone.
“I won’t turn my back on you,” I sang louder taking another step back.
“Take my hand, drag me down,” I sang out the next line with confidence as I saw the black in his eyes begin to recede.
“No!” It hissed. His fingers curled into a fist as his body began convulsing.
I took another step back; my heels on the edge of the cliff. I spread my arms out wide.
Tears streamed down my face as I closed my eyes and whispered the next line:
“If you fall then I will, too.”
I felt the air envelope my body as I fell backwards off the cliff.