Page 26 of Fallen Saint
I try to fight, but it’s useless, so I brace for death.
It never comes.
“Drop it, Saint, or I kill youra????.”
That voice belongs to the man whose brother we killed. It seems not even being drugged can stop him from seeking revenge for his brother’s death. I don’t need my sight to know what’s unfolding. Two guns versus one.
All this because of me. But I am done. Tired. The fight in me withers, so I surrender.
“Let,” I pant, trying to stand upright on my own. “Let him go. I won’t fight.”
“That’s not an option,” Zoey says, her grip on me weakening. It seems that even though she woke from her drug coma, she’s still drowsy. I wish I could use that to my advantage, but I can’t.
I can taste defeat.
“Yes. She must pay for what she did to my brother, Kazimir. You both must.” He’s always been privy to what went down. He was just biding his time.
When Saint bursts into laughter, I wonder if he’s finally lost his mind. I know I have. “Your brother cried like a little girl. Begging for his life.”
“Shut up!” roars Adrian, but Saint does nothing of the sort.
“He pissed his pants right before I put a bullet between his eyes.”
I recognize what he’s doing. He’s baiting Adrian to train his gun on him and not on me. I know Saint, and my life is always more important to him than his. I don’t need my vision to recognize that.
The room explodes into pandemonium as Russian words boom around me. Zoey shrieks when gunshots sound around us. The deafening noise splits me into two. I expect her to let me go, to duck for cover, or at the very least, to cover her ears, but to my horror, my hearing doesn’t fail me as I hear the trigger squeak. She’s going to shoot me.
“No!” A guttural scream leaves me, and I try to break free, but it’s hopeless. And I do something I haven’t done in a very long time.
I pray.
Please God, give me the strength and welcome me home.
I await my death, but it seems God isn’t done with me yet.
“Forgive me,a????.”
I don’t know what he’s seeking absolution for…until I hear an echoing boom that rattles me to the core. I propel backward, the force so fierce that it knocks the sandals from my feet. I don’t feel the pain in my body until I hit the floor.
Everything grows numb, and all I can focus on is the pain.
“Forgive me,a????,”he said.
Why?
Because Saint has caused this searing pain eating me whole—he just…fucking shot me.
I carry that certainty with me as I finally succumb to the darkness, unsure if I’ll ever see the light again.
I shot her to save her because if I didn’t, Zoey or Adrian would have, and their shot would have been fatal. But it doesn’t seem to make a difference because now, I’m just as much of a prisoner as she is.
Day 40
IHAVE NOidea of the time. Or day. Or where I am, for that matter. I feel neither here nor there. One thing is certain; I’m wrapped in silk sheets that smell of lavender. A strange thing to notice, but my senses are on high alert because I’m smelling something different from the past few weeks.
No longer the open sea.
The fact I can’t feel the subtle sway to the waters has me guessing I have finally arrived where I was always destined to end up.