The Freeing Blood

Chapter 7

******Zak’s P.O.V.******

Warmth. My body was coated with unusual warmth. My clothes felt soaked with something. It felt like I had run through the sprinklers with my clothes on. I looked down my body to see what could possibly coating it. All I could see were dark speckles sprayed up my arms and a dark slash along the bottom of my shirt and jeans. That’s when I noticed it. I glanced down at the ground when I saw the gleam of light flash across the length of the blade. Except the blade didn’t gleam a shining silver, instead it had a deep red tint to it.
I frantically looked around wondering what was going on. Why I was covered in blood and why there was a knife on the ground at my feet? My eyes landed on a long, thick trail of blood that led to a white door. Bloody handprints were printed all along the edges of the door like whoever had been attacked put up a great struggle. I slowly walked toward the door not even bothering to notice that the only thing in this room was the thick trail of blood leading to this door. All I wanted to know is why I was covered in this blood.
I gently pushed open the door, but all I could see was darkness. I could vaguely make out the shape of a bed and something lying on top of the mattress. I ran my hands along either side of the wall looking for a light switch, but found nothing. I hesitantly made my way to the center of the room and felt my foot slip on something slick. My hand shot out and grabbed onto a metal chain that dangled from the ceiling. That chain switched on the light from the ceiling fan to wash the room with light. What I had slipped on was blood. A thick, ruby red puddle of blood had been spilled at my feet, but it didn’t end there. The trail of blood that had led to the door continued to lead over to the bed where a figure lay.
My body began to convulse as I realized who the figure lying on the bed was. I slowly made my way over to the bed. I fell to my knees beside the bed as I saw her still form covered in mass amounts of blood. Everything in me had become numb. My mind had gone blank. I was still clueless as to what had happened. She coughed, a weak and tragic sound coming from the same lips that had brought me nothing but joy and fulfillment. I sprang up to my feet to hover over her. Her once beautiful honey brown eyes were now dull and glazed over as the cold hands of death gradually took over her.
“Aerolynn?” I could hear my voice crack from fear. Fear that I was going to lose her again. Only this time for good. There was so much blood. Not only covering her, but on the floor. Even the bed sheets were soaked.
Those glazed brown eyes sluggishly shifted to my face. I fell back onto my butt in shock and disbelief. I brought a shaky hand up to my forehead as tears fell down my face. There had been no mistaking what I saw shining within the depths of her eyes. Fear. Pure and unadulterated fear. The last glint of life had disappeared from her eyes shortly after. I glanced down when I felt something jabbing into my hand. The knife lay there beneath my palm covered in blood. I picked it up and wiped away the blood on my pant leg. I met my reflection’s gaze. My eyes…my eyes were no longer the stormy blue I saw every morning when I woke up. They were now a dark, soulless, onyx black. And the tears that were running down my face weren’t the normal clear, salty tears I cried. They were a thick, crimson red. The color appeared to be almost black.
My eyes traveled back up to the bed where I could see Aerolynn’s profile; her once rich honey brown hair now matted with blood spread out across the pillows. I didn’t remember what exactly had happened, but there was one thing in my mind I knew for certain. I had killed Aerolynn.
******
I flew up in bed with a hand clasped to my chest. My breath came out in short, shallow gasps as my heartbeat gradually slowed back to normal. Those eyes…not just hers….but mine as well. A sharp pain stabbed my chest. I tossed the covers aside and dashed to the bathroom inside Aerolynn’s bedroom. I flipped on the light and waited as my eyes adjusted to the sudden assault on my retinas. After they adapted to the light, I stared at my reflection in the large mirror over the sink. My eyes were the same color as always: a stormy blue. They weren’t the black they had been in my dream nor was my body covered in her blood.
“Zak?” My eyes flashed over to the bed to see Aerolynn sitting up clutching the sheets to her chest in one hand while she rubbed the sleep from her eyes with the other.
I opened my mouth to assure her everything was ok when a sudden wave of pain cut through my chest. I fell to my knees breathless. From the corner of my eye I could see Aerolynn scramble off the bed and dash over to me not even noticing we were both completely naked.
“Zak? Zak, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?” She asked in a panic roaming her hands all over my body searching for any signs of where my pain may be coming from.
I was swept up in the tidal waves of agony. My vision blurred. My lungs constricted. I could barely breathe so there was no way I could tell Aerolynn that the pain wasn’t deriving from the surface of my body. I couldn’t tell her she couldn’t easily slap a Band-Aid on it or have me toss back a couple pills. This pain was emanating from inside and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
“Zak, please talk to me,” she sobbed grabbing my face and pecking my lips. I fell to the ground onto my side and rolled over onto my back. I wrapped my arms around my sides, digging my trimmed nails into my skin. There was no relief for this overwhelming pain.
“Zak,” Aerolynn said touching a hand to my chest. A sudden blow of blinding pain shot through my chest where she touched me. It was screaming at me to make her go away, for her to stop touching me…to stop helping me. My blood had turned to fire, burning my insides and making me squirm in pain. My mind had gone blank from the agony.
Tears fell from my eyes of their own accord as I lifted a shaking hand from my side and threw her hand off me. The electrifying torture that had overtaken my body lessened immensely.
Aerolynn looked at me shocked.
“Zak…?”
“I can’t…” I panted. I lay on my back as the pain disappeared as suddenly as it had come. My breath came out in hard, shallow puffs.
“You can’t what?” she asked concerned making sure not to touch me again. “You can’t breathe? You can’t move? What?!”
I shook my head. “I can’t…I don’t think I can…do this…anymore,” I breathed.
“What do you mean?” her voice had grown quiet.
I closed my eyes to hold back the chance of any more tears spilling forth.
“Zak…” her fingers brushed along my bicep.
My head slammed back onto the ground, the upper half of my body lifting from the cool bathroom tiled floor. I clenched my teeth together as another wave of fiery pain swept through my body originating from the touch on my bicep. My eyes snapped open in sudden, unexplained rage. I grabbed Aerolynn around her neck and slammed her to the ground as I straddled her hips.
“Don’t touch me!” I growled with a burning rage that, in the back of my mind, I was unsure of where it came from. My voice sounded deeper than normal and the look of fear in her eyes probably reflected mine. Feeling her frail neck slowly being crushed by my hand excited me at the same time it completely terrified me. The only thing that was running through my mind was the fact that I needed to kill her. I could feel her fingers clawing at my hand begin to lessen as her face lost its healthy glow. What was happening to me? I didn’t understand what was going on. All I knew was that I wanted to wake up from this like it was just a dream I had been having within a dream.
I clambered off her body, scuttling backwards until my back pressed up against the cool wooden cabinet doors of the sink. The handles bit into my shoulder blades forcing me to come to grips with what I had almost done.
Aerolynn remained on the ground gasping and coughing for air and clutching her neck where I had nearly choked the life from her. What have I done? What was that? What had become of me? I hadn’t been Zak Bagans in that moment….I had turned into….a monster. I tucked my legs against my chest and buried my head in my knees. Tears created warm, salty tracks down my face.
Whatever had taken over me, the darkness or whatever it had been, it did not like Aerolynn’s touch. For a moment, I had allowed myself to revel in the feeling of her life slowly leaving her body. This darkness, if that’s what it indeed was that lived inside me, was continuously growing at a steadfast rate. The longer I pushed it back and held it off, the angrier it became and the harder it shoved back to be released. And for a moment I had let that control on the darkness slip and it had taken over refusing Aerolynn’s touch. It knew her touch would ultimately save me.
I lifted my head when I felt a light touch on my arm. Aerolynn stared at me with those wide honey brown eyes that were filled with forgiveness and understanding. Seeing that look in her eyes made me breakdown completely. I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. They spilt forth hot from my eyes as Aerolynn wrapped me in her embrace.
I was a danger to not only myself, but I had become a danger to her. I couldn’t stay around her. If I wasn’t around her it would be easier for me to keep control of the darkness. I wouldn’t have to worry about snapping and taking that sudden loss of control out on her and possibly killing her. I couldn’t do this anymore. I couldn’t keep putting her in constant danger. Not when I knew I was the cause of it. Her safety, her life, meant more to me than anything else in this world.
This darkness inside me didn’t want to be saved and it had given me two very clear warnings: one in my dream and one just now.
Either I leave Aerolynn now or it would kill her by my hands.