Witness: See Series (Volume 1)(56)

A horrible guilt that was so sickening that it took my breath away pulled me from the memories Draven was showing me.

I tried to pull away from him, but he held me tighter. “Why are you mad at me?” he asked. “I showed you I’m innocent. You’re the only one in my life, now and forever.”

I shook my head from side to side as I fought a sea of emotions and tears.

“I’m not, though.” As I said those words, the strength in his arms faded and I was able to pull away. I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t bear the sight of the pain I was sure was there.

I wanted to confess about knowing Silas, about our day together - but I had this fear that if I did, he wouldn’t listen to me. He’d do something foolish and irrational, and for all I knew, that was exactly what that world wanted to happen. I had no way to know who to trust.

“Show me,” he said firmly.

I held my breath and fought the nausea that was struggling to come to the surface, then let my eyes rise to meet his. Every single time in our lives that I’d hidden something from him, everything went wrong. The last time I kept him in the dark, it nearly tore us apart forever – and I wasn’t going to let that happen again. I told myself I had to trust that even if we fought about this, it was better to get over it now, before it destroyed us - before Silas destroyed us. He stared back at me with a growing expression of utter defeat in his flawless image. Slowly, I let my shield fall and showed him every single moment of my day.

Every part of him tensed in anger as he stepped back away from me.

“I don’t know who to trust anymore,” I said in a trembling voice.

As he fell to his knees, his emerald green eyes turned black. Panic came over me as I rushed to his side.

“Draven! Draven!” I screamed, but he didn’t respond. I put my hands on either side of his face and screamed, “Where are you?!” over and over again.

Out of nowhere, a fierce pull of energy jolted me out of the reality I was in. I found myself standing in the middle of destruction. It looked like a city that had been shattered by a heartless war. Thunder was crashing in the sky, and lightning strikes gave an eerie glow to the vacant place I was in. I screamed Draven’s name, and all at once the destruction I was surrounded by vanished - and I was in a field. The rumbling thunder began to echo a demented voice that said, “Take her...take her now.”

My eyes raced across the field, finally finding Draven. I could barely see him in the darkness that was all around him. I ran to him, and as I got closer I realized that the darkness wasn’t surrounding him - it was pouring into him. The expression on his face was pure agony. It was as if he were trying to block himself, but the darkness was too strong and starting to invade his soul. When I reached him, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, trying with every ounce of my strength to get him to look at me.

“Charlie, get out! It’s not safe!” he yelled, refusing to look at me.

The scene around us changed again, back to the broken city, then to a desert, finally shifting to a dark forest.

“Look at me!” I said as I pulled his face down to mine.

“Go, Charlie, I can’t! I can’t!” he screamed.

“Look at me! I love you, Draven! Please look at me!”

He surrendered to my plea, and his eyes feel into mine. The thunder exploded in outrage, but I refused to let it scare me – to take him.

“I love you – do you hear me?!” I said as I held his stare.

“Love you,” he said breathlessly. At that moment, millions upon millions of glowing white butterflies came from everywhere and surrounded us, bringing a warm hum with them; I could hear the light singing in the darkness that was trying to invade his soul.

“I love you,” he said again as he sighed in relief. As the words left his lips, I watched as the light surrounding us pulled the darkness that had managed to fall into him out. His lips met mine, and I kissed him back with as much passion and love as my soul could provide. His arms tightened around me; he held me so tight, I had to fight to breathe - but I didn’t care. He was safe.

Silence came as I slowly opened my eyes to find us on our knees in my driveway.

“Oh my God - is that where you go? Is that where you anger takes you?” I asked as I frantically stared into his eyes, which were now full of pain and sorrow.

“Yeah,” he said as he let out a breath of relief. “I don’t want you there…I have no idea how you did that, but that evil won’t let you do it again.”

“You’re never going there again. I won’t let you leave my sight. I won’t let you get angry.”

He leaned slightly away from me. “I will not be your curse.”

“You aren’t,” I argued.

“What did Silas mean? What did he mean when he said that he loved you before? That you followed me here?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care. All I know is this life...all I know is you.”

Agony filled his emerald green eyes. “I can’t give you that…I can’t give you the…calm…and it’s all I want you to have.”

I reached my arms around his shoulders and pulled him to me. “Hold me…that keeps me calm.”

His arms moved around me, and he pulled me against him. In the nape of his neck, I whispered. “I want to be alone with you…I don’t want to be here…I don’t want to be at your house. Take me away – somewhere that we can forget…figure this out.”