When I opened my eyes again, the first thing I saw was her.
Belle.
She was right in front of , her face close enough that I could see every tremble in her lips, every tear clinging to her lashes before sliding down her cheeks. Her hands were still cupping my face, warm and shaking, her pinkish-purple eyes locked onto mine.
They were beautiful, like fractured gemstones catching the faintest light.
But I knew the truth.
She couldn’t see .
Those eyes, as radiant as they were, saw nothing at all.
The thought twisted sothing deep inside my chest, sharp and bitter. For a mont, I didn’t say anything I just stared back, lost sowhere between confusion and sothing far more... intimate, sothing that I didn’t want to na.
I tilted my head slightly, letting my gaze wander past her. My surroundings ca into focus slowly, the fog in my mind lifting piece by piece.
I was... ho.
My bedroom.
The faint scent of cedar and ink lingered in the air, familiar and grounding. The curtains were drawn halfway, letting in the soft morning light that painted the room in muted gold.
Alectra stood a few paces away, pacing back and forth, her long black hair swaying with every movent. Her golden eyes, sharp and furious, kept darting between and the others in the room.
Behind Belle stood the faces I’d co to know from the academy: Nora, her expression tight with worry; Xavier, arms crossed but eyes uncharacteristically soft; Kent, awkwardly wringing his hands; Annalise, frozen still like she was afraid to breathe; and Lillith, silent, her usual confidence dulled into quiet concern.
They were all here.
All staring.
All waiting.
The tension in the room was so thick it was almost suffocating.
So, naturally, I did the only thing that felt... right.
I smirked weakly, my voice rasping out through the dryness in my throat.
"Did soone die or sothing?" I muttered, the corners of my mouth twitching upward. "You all look like I just crawled out of my own grave."
Every head snapped toward in unison.
Their gazes, wide, startled, and filled with worry, hit like a wave.
And for a second, I almost regretted saying it.
---
Before I could even blink, Belle moved.
One second, she was trembling in front of , hands on my cheeks, and the next her arms were around tight, desperate, crushing the air right out of my lungs.
Her embrace wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t careful. It was the kind of hug that felt like she was afraid I’d vanish if she let go, like I was sothing fragile that had just co back from the edge of being lost forever.
I froze. Her hair brushed against my neck, soft and faintly cold, her trembling breath warm against my shoulder. She didn’t say anything just held on.
For a second, I didn’t know what to do.
My brain couldn’t catch up with the sudden weight of her against , the quiet, broken sound of her breathing, the faint wetness that soaked into my shirt.
And then, awkwardly, I lifted a hand and patted her back twice. "Belle," I muttered, my voice coming out rough, "can’t... breathe."
She jerked back instantly, her face a shade of red I’d never seen on her before. "S-sorry!" she stamred, stepping away like she’d been caught doing sothing scandalous.
I opened my mouth to say sothing, but before I could even inhale properly, another shape slamd into like a thunderbolt.
A blur of black hair and a sharp cry hit full in the chest.
I barely had ti to react before a pair of arms wrapped around my torso, tight enough to hurt.
"Alectra—!" I wheezed, stumbling back onto the bed as she clung to like a drowning person to driftwood.
Her entire body shook. Her voice ca out cracked, hoarse, strangled between sobs. "You idiot" she choked, "I thought you died!"
My heart stuttered in my chest.
"I thought you died!" she yelled again, hitting my chest weakly with her fist, then breaking down completely, her face buried in my shoulder. "Belle said you scread and then collapsed, and nothing worked, you stopped breathing-and you—"
She couldn’t finish. Her words dissolved into sobs.
I stood there awkwardly, my arms half-raised, unsure if I should hug her back or just wait it out. The sight of Alectra crying, really crying, was sothing I hadn’t seen since we were kids. It was mostly the old Sebastian who did the crying.
After a mont, though, she pulled back, wiping her tears with the back of her sleeve. Her gold eyes locked on mine, red-rimd and furious.
"But if you ever do sothing like that again," she said, her voice cracking but still sharp as steel, "I’ll kill you myself. You hear ?"
"...What?"
Her threat hung in the air, half-ridiculous, half-deadly serious.
I frowned, confusion knitting across my face. "What are you even talking about?"
Pulling myself out of her grasp, I sat up straighter, looking around for answers. The rest of the room ca into focus, Nora standing by the wall, pale and biting her lip; Xavier with his arms crossed, his brow furrowed; Annalise and Lilith looking shaken; and Belle still standing there, her hands clasped tightly together like she was praying.
They were all just... staring.
Then, one by one, their gazes shifted toward Belle.
She hesitated, her throat bobbing as she swallowed, and then stepped closer.
When she spoke, her voice a little shaky. "Sebastian... you weren’t breathing."
The words didn’t hit as hard as I thought they would.
For a mont, I just stared at her.
My mind tried to piece together what she’d said, but it felt like soone had filled my head with static.
Not breathing?
I blinked, slow and unfocused. My chest rose and fell normally. I was alive. I felt alive or at least, I thought I did.
But inside... nothing moved.
No fear. No shock. No rush of adrenaline that should’ve co with hearing sothing like that.
Just a hollow sort of quiet.
Because I couldn’t really feel much anymore.
My emotions were still scattered, broken pieces that didn’t fit together.
Bits of confusion. Faint dread. A strange emptiness that pressed down like fog.
I looked down at my hands, flexing my fingers slowly.
"I see," I murmured, almost to myself. "So... what happened?"
Reviews
All reviews (0)