𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐍✔️

ONE|BREATHE

  BREATHE. BREATHE IN. Breathe out.

I reopened my eyes to stare down upon the calm ocean, feeling a sad smile tugging at the corners of my lips.

It was truly beautiful. I had always loved the ocean, even from a young age, and I knew soon after I escaped from that monster all those years ago, that when I felt ready to do it, to let go, this was where I wanted to do it.

And so here I stood, on the brink of humanity; driven beyond insanity, at the edge of a pack's territory known as Grey Winter, they probably already had patrols heading over here right at this very moment; alerted to the presence of a rogue this close to their borders.

After escaping from that monster two years ago, I became a rouge and travelled over half the country to get here. To the Grey Winter cliffs, famed throughout the land for their unparalleled natural beauty. So I travelled south for two years, staying in back-alley motels and foraging scraps for food, hoping I would eventually end up here so that I could end my life before the beauty of the cliffs. One last final moment of peace, before an eternity of sanctity.

And finally, I was here. And now finally, I was ready. Ready to let go. Let go of all the pain and grief. So I did.

I jumped. The cold morning air lapped at my hair as I fell.

Down.

Down.

Down.

A rush of blinding pain swept over my body as I slammed into the water. I clenched my eyes closed, as the wickedly cold water stabbed at my body, biting at my fingers and piercing my lungs. The saltwater burned my throat and invaded my airways, as my back gently thudded against the soft ground at the bottom of the ocean. I relaxed, and slowly the pain began to dull, instead replaced by solace.

This. This was how I wanted it.

With the gentle morning sun rising above, edges frayed amber by the rhythmic sway of the waves. Calm water flowing around me, surrounding me in its gentle embrace. Wrapping me up and holding me tight. At last, I was safe. No one could hurt me here.

It was as if I could no longer feel my body, as I felt myself slowly slipping away into the darkness beyond. In those final moments, I couldn't help but think back on the events on my life and wonder about what came after. This life is all I'd never known.

Taken. Abused. Left for dead. Escape. Travel. And then finally, sanctity.

The calm of the waves was suddenly disturbed by the large body slamming hard into the water above, sending shock waves through the water and causing me to sway.

I tried to open my eyes, to make out what it was that had disturbed my rest, but my eyelids were too heavy with the darkness that threatened to swallow me up at any moment, so in the end, I gave up, instead, welcoming the blackness.

I begged it to take me. Until I felt a firm hand clasp around my upper arm, pulling me up from what I had hoped to be my final resting place.

My beast howled as the electricity coursed thick through my body. I ignored it, hoping, praying that it would go away, that he would give up and leave me be.

It was impossible anyways, I was destined to be alone, he had always told me so, and that's why it had to be this way.

I heard a loud intake of air as we broke the surface of the water.

"No! No, no — no!" Cried a male's voice, desperate and deep and begging, pleading to all those foreign gods that I never believed in. He laid me down gently, on a cold, hard surface, but I could still feel the water lapping lazily at my toes.

I couldn't open my eyes, I couldn't speak, — or move at all for that matter. I just laid there, probably looking dead, and wishing I was. Wishing that whomever this person was had just left me alone to die, I didn't deserve to be saved. I didn't want to.

And then...

Electricity that felt like fire spread through my body again from the point of contact. It was true...

My beast was howling, thrashing herself against the confines of my mind, begging to be let out, but there was nothing I could do. I had no control over my body, let alone be able to give her control.

There was a pounding on my chest that was rhythmic and hard. I could feel my ribs bruising and cracking under the persistent pressure. "— Come on baby! — Please! Breathe!"

And then I felt his lips on mine.

I felt oxygen begin to flow from his body into mine, giving me life again. But I didn't want it. I wanted to scream at him and tell him to leave me be, but I couldn't. I was helpless once again, frozen in time and left barren before this stranger's mercy. I felt my lungs inflate and deflate involuntarily with the basic instincts of survival.

And finally, I had regained some semblance of control over my limbs again. I rolled over in the sand, spluttering and coughing for a few minutes, wrenching up all my grief as I emptied the water from my lungs.

I opened my eyes, blinking rapidly, as the violently vermillion sun blinded me for a few moments before my eyes adjusted. I turned to see a man staring at me, his eyes held a glassy tint from the threat of tears. Except, he wasn't just any man, he, was so much more.

He looked nothing less than hellish. Piercing blue eyes struck holes in my sanity, awaking within me some newfound primality. Dirty blonde hair, cast dark from the water, fell into his eyes, damp and dripping across his sculpted face.

My breath hitched in my throat at the sight of him.

He stared at me with wide eyes, but only for a second, before closing the space between us and wrapping his arms around me. Engulfing me in his sweet scent and burying his head in the crook of my neck. He smelled like pine and fresh rain and home.

Every fibre of my being vibrated with the sparks that he inspired, but it was all too much, all I could do was cry.

So I did, as he held me closer to him, no words exchanged as we stayed there for what felt like years but in reality was hours, and together we hurt a little less.