HAPTER 151: The Other Half Of Me
CHAPTER 151: The Other Half Of Me
RHEA
It’s dark and cold, and it almost smells like death. Just plain death.
A gasping breath forces me awake, and my eyes blink open to meet the darkness around me. I’m lying on something hard, something cold, and my hands and legs feel numb. Pain is the second thing I register, along with the confusion.
I groan and shift over whatever it is that I’m lying on. I try to sit up, but my arms shake too hard. My body feels weak, like I haven’t moved in days. Like I haven’t existed in days.
And maybe I haven’t.
She’s dead–I’m dead.
I force myself off the table and stand up on my feet. It takes me a moment to get my hold, but when I do, I feel it all. The rush, the energy, the strength that I possess. Everything.
I look around the room. It’s dusty, probably abandoned and left for a while.
My hands go over my chest, and I feel it there. There’s no scar or wound, just a memory that I know I had.
But there’s nothing. Not a single scratch.
My head turns toward the door finally and I start walking toward it, knowing that I’ve go outside. That it is my time now. When I open the door, I see a hallway that I’m familiar with–that’s what she’s familiar with and beyond that, I see a staircase with golden rays of sunshine hitting it.
I pull the door shut behind me and start walking toward the staircase. Everything is bright and golden as the light pours in. It smells nice, it feels nice, and the air that hits my skin is warm.
“Rhea?” A voice reaches me, but I can’t place whose voice it is.
It takes me a minute.
It takes me a moment to remember whose that voice belongs to. My body twists and turns to see Marcella walking toward
- me.
“What are you doing here?” she asks me, tilting her head in confusion that is as clear in her eyes as in mine.
“I–I was just “I look around and take a deep breath.
“I thought you didn’t want to come here again,” Her eyes narrow on my clothes, on whatever it is that I’m wearing. “And goodness, you look terrible,” she points out, coming closer to me.
I look down and I’m wearing a dark brown dress that goes past my knees, and it’s collecting dirt.
“Are you alright?” Her hand comes on my shoulder and I look at her again.
“I’m fine. Well, I feel fine.”
“Come with me. I’ll get you something to drink. You look like you’re out of your mind.” She says before taking me down the stairs.
I follow her without a second thought and reach the kitchen with her.
Marcella moves to get something to drink as I stand by the counters. For the first time, it is me who sees this place, this house that I’ve dreamt of.
“Here.”
My thoughts snap as I take the glass of water from her.
“Drink and then take a shower,” she tells me. “And then we’ll see if everything’s fine.”
I take a sip of the water and place it back on the table. “Why do you think it’s not fine?” I raise my brow.
She looks at me with suspicion. “You–you just seem out of place. And here. I’m confused.”
“Where else am I supposed to be? Do I not belong here, Marcella?” My head tilts a little as I look at her and see that she’s struggling to register me, this.
“I, of course, you do. But with everything that happened, I thought you wouldn’t come here again.” She’s struggling.
My lips part a little as I move closer to her.
Marcella stiffens and she stares at me like she recognises me, but only halfway. Her eyes scan my face like waiting for something, someone else, to surface.
“I’m here now,” I say softly. “Isn’t that what matters?”
She hesitates, “Rhea…”
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CHAPTER 151: The Other Half Of Me
I nod once, “I remember her.”
“You–what do you mean?”
“I remember everything she lived through. Every wound, every scar, every moment, everything that happened. I remember what she gave. What she lost.”
I step past her and place the glass gently on the counter. I’m not rushed. I’m not angry. I’m simply present in a way Rhea never had the chance to be.
“I’m still her,” I say. “But not the way you knew.”
She looks at me then as someone else completely different. Her mouth opens like she’s about to speak, but then she just nods.
“Catelyn killed me. That was what I can remember. She killed me–her.”
Just then, the front door opens and I hear it, the sound of the wood creaking, of the footsteps coming inside. I turn my head, and at the same time, so does Marcella.
We stop, leave the kitchen and head toward the hall. Right in the foyer, I see it. Her.
“Oh, God!” Marcella shrieks, her hand going to her chest as she looks at me.
At the dead me that Kovas places on the ground.
I’m a bloody mess, a mess of blood, dirt and death. My face is pale, almost grey, and my hair is matted with dried blood and filth.
Kovas looks up at me, “I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly…” he trails off, surprised.
But I’m not.
I step away and closer to my body that’s on the ground. My knees touch the floor, and my fingers trace over her face, over the wound in her chest that took her life away from her. Her life.
“Neither did I,” I whisper before looking at him, at Kovas. “But it’s better this way, isn’t it? She’s gone, I’m not. We’re not. I can still live.”
He nods at that, but he doesn’t smile, or even try to.
My eyes fall back on her again. She’s in her sleep now while I’m wide awake and in control. She won’t wake, not ever again.
She was meant to die, and I was meant to rise.
“I’ll take care of the body. Keep it in the same place. She’ll be fine there.” I tell him before brushing a strand of hair away from my face and standing up again. “We’ll be fine.”
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