Beneath Your Lies

“Help! Help me please, someone!”
The little girl screamed until her voice cracked and was no longer available to the darkness. Her nails were bloodied from the endless clawing for escape to her wooden cage.
She rolled onto her side and started to sob, knowing that there was no chance of surviving this time. It was over.
But then the shadows roared and the universe quaked in anger. How could this be it? How could she let her own father betray her like this? How could she leave her brother without saying goodbye or avenge her broken mother, if she died right here?
She had been buried alive by nefarious people. They called her a witch and all along she had disagreed with passion. But they were right, she was a monster. And she was going to kill all of them with all she could handle.

That very same night, the ground shook with too much dark energy, the lights flickered to follow the dance and the townsmen grew anxious. They had just defeated the child demon by the tradition of burying evil itself beneath the soil of patriots. But all the sinners knew that there was more than to enslave the child.
That night, the dead awoken and the lives of today, were no more tomorrow.
* * * * * * * * *
She was slowly drifting towards the red door that stared her down with intensity. She didn’t know where she was or who she was but she had a purpose that was on the tip of her tongue.
On the other side of that door, she knew someone important was waiting for her. She knew a future of danger and love was just on the other side, so why was she not there?
The door was ajar, a slip of yellow light glimpsing over.
She didn’t even know if it was worth it going back, what if she just wanted to stay here?
She had no choice anyways when she felt herself drift faster towards the door until it opened completely do a blinding starlight that unfolded it’s power.
Isobel’s chest contracted against the defibrillators. Once, twice. A first breath. A last memory.
When people come back from the dead, they wonder to themselves in melancholy reflections of the logic behind it.
For Isobel, her logic was complete instincts and the first sign of something difference, she screamed. Then instantly regretted it for her voice felt like she was screaming for hours or something.
“Isobel! It’s okay, you are alright.”
Isobel tried to turn her head to find the source of the voice but only met with pain. Excruciating pain, the kind of one that pulls your heartstrings out of its sockets and rip them up beside shattered bones.
“She needs more anesthetic, she’s in a lot of pain right now,” someone said.
“Well no shit! This was the closest place I knew was safe enough for her to get help and… I can’t leave her to die.”
Isobel shoved her eyes wide open and with sheer determination she moved an inch to see who was there. Instead, she felt the urge to cry when only blurry images focused her ease.
“It’s okay, Isobel. I called Quince and he is coming on his way right now but Corlain saw what had happened and he’s here but he won’t talk--”
“She won’t be able to understand you, Gabriel. The drug is still inside her and will last for about one to two weeks depending on her genetics and health. This is D.L.S. we are talking about. She was smart, trying to take enough blood out of her system without completely dying to get rid of most of the drug but she only removed 82% of it. Hell, seeing her alive right now is a miracle but it doesn't mean her path to recovery will be this easy.”
Isobel tried relaxing, despite the situation she was in. Her mind had found her two easy components for her to cope with, her name, and the fact that she wasn’t going to die today. Waiting until her breaths deepened and slowed, Isobel blinks thrice until her surroundings were a bit clearer.
“She’s a strong women. I know she will survive this,” a tall guy said with the most gorgeous ocean eyes. Gabriel.
He caught her gaze and smiled, it almost looked like he was in tears. Isobel looked behind him and saw a boy around the age of what looked like eight, biting his thumb, fumbling with a little odd shaped charm around his neck. Corlain.
Isobel watched the boy come over to her position on the slim mattress on the ground and patted her sweaty head. Her hair had become a bird’s nest and didn’t seem to mind the mingling lint and dirt specks on it.
Isobel saw what who she assumed, saved her life and was about to say thank you when he abruptly left the room, giving Gabriel a look. Noticing she could now see sent him scurrying along, not sure if Gabriel would appreciate his identity known to others.
Gabriel crouched next to Corlain and softly whispered into his ear to go after the doctor and wait for him there. He left, wordlessly.
Isobel slowly got up to sit crossed leg to only notice she was wearing nothing beneath the paper thin blanket.
Her cheeks turned the most disgusting shade of lobster as she pulled the blankets higher to her neck.
“Jeez, Isobel. I’ve seen you wearing literally scraps of clothes on whenever I had to bust you out of prisons for whatever reason your job had to get you to do,” he reminded her, chuckling softly to himself.
Isobel didn’t let go, her eyes examining Gabriel like he was some antique she thought would break in her own matters.
“God, I was so worried. You can’t do this to me again, okay? Whoever did this to you I’m going to hunt down and-- oh wait, I’m sure you already started this intruders death plan as soon as you realized what he was doing. Well, I’ll leave the kick-ass to you partner but I still deserve some punching,” Gabriel said, smiling again. “What? No teasing about how my punches are worse than your dead grandmother? Are you mentally okay?”
Isobel choked on a breath. Seeing Gabriel right in front of her, the light and shadows crowning his head like he was the King of them all, made her feel things she didn’t want to feel. His eyes turned a shade darker, the tears disguised by long lashes.
“Are you okay?” Gabriel asked, moving closer to her. His thumb reached over to her face to brush away the tears that came like the rain that pounded outside.
Isobel started to sob, breaking under the invisible force of reality until she couldn’t find her anchor anymore. Why was she still here if everyone wanted her dead? What was the point of giving her life a purpose but the life she’s living in didn’t give a fuck about her?
She started to cry harder until she felt like the tears she shed about her past assaults and broken future could fill a tub.
“You’re safe now… your safe…” Gabriel said, drifting into space, thinking about how quickly the situation turned sides. “Look, I’ve been meaning to tell you something, Isobel. We’ve been together for a very long time as friends and partners, hell, you saved me more times than I could--”
“Stop!” Isobel shouted suddenly. It was the first thing she said while she was awake but it felt like it should’ve been the last thing she should ever think of. Every time she said that word to men they always did the opposite.
“Isobel--Isobel, look at me, you can trust me. I just wanted to tell you… that I’m thankful, I’m really, really happy that you are still alive and-- and I just feel like I should--”
“Don’t. You don’t owe me anything, I’m alive because of the doctor and you be thankful for him, okay?” Isobel retorted, avoiding his glare.
“Isobel… you don’t understand. I just get this sick feeling whenever I see you at the brink of death from one of your stupid jobs! I know you don’t care if you die but you make enemies by the second! You say you have nothing to lose but you forget that I’m still here… and I have you to lose. So don’t die on me and say you don’t care about your life and what to do with it because I do, and even if I sound selfish, I’ll do whatever the Goddamn things I have to do to keep you safe!” Gabriel shouted, eyes wild.
Isobel stopped crying to pinpoint her sad eyes toward him. “Why… why do you hold on to me like this. This is my life, this is my decision to make and I won’t let anyone dictate my life! Remember that story we use to read when we were children? The one that taught us the true power of fire and life, that these two symbols depend on each other because that’s what the world is! I’m the flame Gabriel! Don’t you get it? You can either smother me until I burn to ashes or let me roam free because that’s just how I live! Why can’t you just let me be like this?” Isobel explained, a weird dark anger raising into her veins.
She didn’t let him respond. Instead, she wrapped the blanket around her body and left the bed, leaning against the wall to join the doctor and Corlain. Anything would be better than fighting with him.
Gabriel had never been in a fight with Isobel like this for a very long time. It reminded her that she was a human with a wild spirit and if he tried to control her life just for him to get a little peace off his mind, she would kill herself. He knew completely well that she would and not look back.
As Gabriel walked the opposite direction, feeling unsatisfied of what just happened that night, one dangerous thought stood in his mind like a prick of blood in a vase of lies.
“Why can’t you just let me be like this?”
As much as he didn’t want to, and as much as how risky it was, he had a perfectly unstable reason why he couldn’t just let her go just yet. A reason so deadly he knew it would end in complete beautiful chaos. To him, it almost was just a wish he wanted someone else to burden. To her, it would change her whole life and perhaps damage it just a bit more.
It was because he loved her.
But her heart died a long time ago.