tanding in an ashen burned-out home, Daylight wept through the bullet-hole perforated shutters. trapped by fallen splintering debris on all sides.
The rancor of an Inferno left Adonis choking and wheezing, frantically looking for an exit until A masculine Voice rang out in the silence.
“Why run? control is all you’ve ever wanted. Let the storm in, let it rip you apart “
The roof, decapitated in seconds by a red and orange, black hole above him. Whirling and howling with a sickening throaty wail.
“And build you… new”
Pieces of the debris began to swirl all around him, in the vacuum thrall of the consuming void. Ripping large pieces of the structure into its dark mouth. Surrounded by this torrent funnel of wood, a large beam came hurling towards his face.
Dark and silent now, he could feel the pillow cradle the back of his sweaty skull. His eyes hurt, they stung trying to open them and so did his throat. Once more the coughing drove him out of bed and into the bathroom. Forcing his eyes open, A layer of water blurred his vision. He strained to see his shaky hands clearly which seemed to be smeared in black strokes.
“No... what?”
Emma had crept out of bed and slowly made her way towards him. Adonis stood there in the bathroom mirror. His shirt, torn, mangled, and dirty. Pieces of charred wood littered his hair. His side of the bed was covered in the blackness that smeared his body.
Emma pulled up beside him with a new towel and began swiping the pieces of wood out from his hair. He flinched indicating that one of the pieces was lodged in his head. It Wasn’t hard to remove and luckily the only one.
“I’m gonna tie your hair back and we can start washing your face, just relax”
Emma did as she said and he let her wash him down, granting his eyes the relief he so desperately needed. Allowing him to see the state of his clothes. His hands were still trembling and while she wiped his other arm down, he opened the left cabinet mirror before him and fumbled grabbing the top of the medicine bottle only to drop the entire bottle in the sink. Most of the pills had already been consumed by the open drain in the first three seconds of the spill. Adonis ripped his hand away from her to cover the hole.
Mashing his head against the right side of the cabinet mirror, shattering the glass in front of him. His Anger had returned and Its incredible Impulse to destroy.
The crash of glass and bright blood jolted fear through her body but she stayed with him and helped Adonis collect the few pills remaining. She offered a hesitant hand to help him put the blue capsules back in their bottle.
Adonis stood there over the glass-littered sink, de-fuelling his rage.
“Take a second, think about where you are...”
Her hand hovered above his shoulder listening to his heavy breathing, until she had the courage to touch him.
“I’m...I’m sorry. That was fucking stupid, I just. I don’t understand what’s...”.
“You don’t have to understand right now, you won't as long as you're angry. Take a shower, and we will figure this out together.”
Emma ran the water for him and sat on the toilet waiting for him to move from the sink. Adonis remained staring at himself in the mirror until it fogged over from the water's heat.
Tearing off the fragile piece of cloth that was around his torso and chest, he tossed it to the floor along with everything else.
“Why are you so angry Adonis?”
He glanced over at her and said “I’m just confused …”
Emma sat there for a while watching him step in and close the curtain. She undressed herself in his lead, joining him. Stepping inside, his back was towards her Standing directly under the showering water.
” I hope you don’t mind,” she said softly
Adonis turned to face wiping the water from his face, then reached with one arm for her waist, and she came willingly to be pressed against him. Their skin was heated by the trickling water that flowed in between their naked bodies.
“ . There’s a lot of pressure for next weekend I get it. But what happened to you isn’t all in your head now.”
Adonis watched the blood from his head mix with the water around his ankles, then closed his eyes thinking how best to answer her.
“It could interfere with my review “
” You’ve worked three years for this, I only know what it was like for a year, then I met you”
They smiled to the memory.
“We started towards the end of my second year there, sneaking around, there’s nothing like it.”
She. Kissed him and they hugged each other in silence for a minute until she spoke.
“I’m starting to think, that… they’re trying to reach you”
Adonis gently pulled away from her and began to wash his hair
“ who? “
“Nyxoriaemon, my guide, and his people.”
Adonis continued to scrub, and Emma grabbed her bar of soap, wetting it with the water dripping off his body.
“What did you dream about?”
Recalling the dream, he could only remember the horrible sounds of that storm and the tornado of splinters roaring over the voice. Adonis muttered what he did remember.
“There are themes of rebirth I guess, and then the same voice keeps saying that someone is supposed to find me… but I don’t know how”
Adonis turned from her and rinsed the conditioner from his hair while she scrubbed her arms.
“Well, rebirth is good it’s what you need right now. “
“How would you know if it’s the same one you pray to?”.
“The voice, I would have to hear it. “
“Have you ever seen them?”
“No, but if it’s them I haven’t been told what they want”
“I'm gonna be honest,” he said
“Hm?”
Turning around he sat down with his back hitting the water.
“A part of me is a little envious of you but another part wants to argue with you”
Marie traded places with him, and he stood with his back against the wall.
“I get that, and I know you're dipping your toes to figure it out”
Emma turned the water off and moved closer to him.
“I don’t want to prioritize anything else, in the future …maybe. But If I ended up stuck in there again.”
Adonis looked away from her.
“Hey”
Glancing at her, she reached out for his chin and smiled, kissing his cheek.
“Keep your head up, you’ll get us out of here “
Adonis cleaned the glass and blood off the sink after his shower and counted how many pills he had left
“Only enough for four days”
Emma looked over at him, drying her hair with his towel on the bed.
“And I haven’t even taken my dose this morning. So that’s three days” he said swallowing the blue capsules with a bottle of water.
Mom was on the couch flipping through channels, wrapped up in a thick blanket and hoodie.
” Good morning “
Emma hugged Rebecca and sat at the end of the couch near her feet. While Adonis slowly made his way to kiss his mom's forehead.
” You two, ok?”
Emma looked toward Adonis who was taking his seat on the couch across from them.
” We’re fine ma “
Rebecca turned her attention back to the T.V and all three of them sat back to watch the screen.
Emma tossed a couch pillow at Adonis to grab his attention.
“Are you hungry yet?”
Adonis looked down at the pillow and used it to rest his arm.
” Starving, do you want me to make us something?”
hunching over to avoid blocking the TV she crawled over to his side.
” You can't cook babe” Emma kissed his nose and ran off to the kitchen
Laughing, Rebecca turned her head and shouted at her.
” He’s not that bad!”
Climbing the counter to grab what she needed to start cooking she responded.
” He knows I didn’t mean it!”
Adonis extended his legs on the couch and shook his head.
” That's ok She’ll just struggle to reach for everything she needs”
Emma snuck over and mounted him pinning his arms down.
” don’t leave me unsupervised I might spike your food” Humoured, Adonis let Emma have her way with him.
” I think I’ll survive like all the other times you’ve said that”
Emma smothered his face in the pillow and ran back to the kitchen.
Rebecca was waiting for him to look at her and when he did, she mouthed the words.
” Today would be a good day”
Then she returned to the screen wrapping herself up tight.
Adonis closed his bedroom door and went into his side of the walk-in closet. All the way towards the back ln his gym bag that held his spare boxing gloves and wrist wraps. A small square box was at the bottom of the new pair of gloves.
He opened it and an ebony oval stone encased in a silver band stared up at him. Assured that it was still there, he closed the box and shoved it back in the glove. With the brightest smile on, Emma served their steaming breakfast.
“wow”
Adonis looked over at His mom's plate beside him and then his own that Emma set down in front of him. His stomach rumbled at the sight of his meal, but he insisted on waiting for Emma to sit down with them.
” Aren’t, you glad you didn’t cook?”
His mom laughed and nudged her elbow into his shoulder.
” I thought you were on my side?”
Emma sat down and commented.
” That’s what we want you to believe”
Adonis took the first stab at his food and smiled.
” Girls stick together “Mom said.
Having completed their meals, they agreed to all take a trip to the pond although they wouldn’t be swimming this late in the year.
There was a Hiking trail they had both mentioned that Emma was unfamiliar with. Adonis and Rebecca seemed convinced that it was a great spot to just take pictures and read. The sun would also be high to provide some relief from the windchill.
Adonis shoved her favorite blanket in the gym bag, so it didn’t look out of the ordinary and potentially exposed his plan. Novels and nature would be the evening's Entertainment. Having planned to walk a lot It didn’t feel right to pack anything more.
Rebecca handled the drive which would be no more than 20 minutes passing through Riverdale heights toward Summerton ridge. Accessing a trail at the edge of the road led them to a marked way through the woods.
There was a family by the lake hanging around the boardwalk that extended past the shore. He remembered an earlier summer taking his first dive into those waters with Emma by his side. The car rocked a little having started the drive on grass and dirt to get to the other overflow parking lot.
Parking was found and all three of them jumped out with what little belongings they brought.
“There are three different ways we can go “Rebecca said pointing at the parks map mounted on a wooden board.
” I recommend we go to Fisherman’s trail, Thats one of the easier more scenic routes “
Emma approached the board and pointed out the other
trails.
” These other two only increase in difficulty and they are woodier, I don’t see any bodies of water around them. “
” Yeah, I’ve been on Achess trail which is a-lot harder than what it says and apparently the other trail is harder than that!”
Emma smiled and looked over at Adonis who also studied the map.
” I can hear your brain “Emma said
Adonis looked over at her and started laughing.
” Oh no we’re taking fisherman fuck that “
Emma said walking off towards the trail.
Rebecca led the way through a flat open forest, occasionally hopping over large logs and fallen bushes. The path was more beautiful than it was difficult. With her clinging to his side the arrival to the rocky spring was setup perfectly. Rebecca went off the trail to climb up the massive rock formation overlooking shore lining along the walking path below. Behind her was another trail more forested and denser but it would take them back the same way.
Rebecca took as many pictures up there as she could before inviting them two up there. Adonis stashed her books away into his gym bag so she could have a fair go at climbing the hillside up to the bolder. Once they both taken the short climb up the boulder they were already getting bombarded for pictures.
” Put down your bag, let me get a good shot of you two “
Adonis handed his mom the bag, and he distracted Emma. Long enough for Rebecca to snatch out the ring he had Re-placed in an outer pocket.
Adonis went over and took the box. Walking back Emma’s eyes never left his palms until he faced her. A Nervous smile crossed her lips when Adonis kneeled in front of her proposing the ring.
Quickly Giving her hand, he slipped the ring onto her finger and stood to seal the proposal with a kiss.
Emma looked over at Rebecca and smiled in his arms.
” You both planned this didn’t you” she said
Rebecca couldn’t help but smile back and share the professionalism of her work and the pure Love radiating from their photos.
