Poison

by Dejana Vuletic

  I thought I had come to grips with the end, with the terrifying truth that I would never again taste, touch, feel, see, or hear anything. But the truth? I still wasn't ready to die . . .

  A part of me wanted to hold on . . .

  Something was holding me here, some person with the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen, with the most loving kiss I had ever experienced, with the heart that was struggling to keep mine beating.

  I was far away, buried in the darkness, but I could still hear them . . . Voices frantic and desperate, crying out to me, asking me why . . .

  “Dessa!”

  “No!”

  The voices seemed muffled, but the emotions in them were unmistakable. Pa’s voice resonated to my deafened ears, full of anguish and despair.

  “Why did you do that?” I heard her scream. “What made you think this was okay?”

  I felt a gentle shove, almost like a ghostly touch, to a spot just below my eyes. The darkness was tinted an earthly brown when I heard his voice, and I tried to make myself smile.

  “Dess,” Ricky whispered, and again I felt the pressure being applied gently underneath my eyes, “We’re all proud of you, kiddo.”

  I wanted to speak back to him, to tell him I loved him, but the words wouldn’t come. My body couldn’t move.

  “We’re all so proud of you,” Pa whispered, and I felt a gentle squeeze down where my hands should be. “We’re sorry for what we’ve done to you. We put so much responsibility on your shoulders, and now you have to fade away like this.”

  Her voice faded away into tears, and I yearned once again to reach out and say something.

  “I’m sorry, Dessa,” Skylar said in a fatigued voice. “I can’t believe all of this even happened.”

  “Dessa.”

  This voice made me want to fade away completely, yet leap for joy and open my eyes at the same time.

  “Dessa, can you hear me?” he asked.

  I tried to move, to speak, to give him some sort of sign that I was still not completely gone from them.

  “Dessa,” Chris whispered, “We’re going to bring you back, Dessa. We’re going to bring you back.”

  His words barely reached me, but when they did, I suddenly found the strength to move. My finger twitched, and I heard several sighs of relief, as well as gasps of surprise.

  “She’s still with us!” Pa sighed. “Thank God.”

  “Do you hear me, Dessa?” he asked again. “We’re going to save you.”

  I wanted to ask him how. How was it possible for them to bring me back when I was slowly drifting away from them?

  The peaceful darkness was closing in on me, blinding my eyes, taking away my senses slowly. It was almost over. I had minutes left, maybe less, and they were thinking about saving me?

  “Pa,” Chris whispered. “How are her injuries?”

  There was a slight hesitation, but she answered in a timid voice, “She’s in pretty bad shape. I have no idea how to remove the roots of this flower, but other than this wound, everything is sealing up well.”

  “Good,” he replied resolutely. “Any idea how to remove the roots?”

  None of them spoke, but I heard a voice deep inside me telling me the answer.

  The roots can come out when contacted with direct sunlight. Open the wound enough, expose them to enough sunlight, and the flower will wilt away.

  Desdemona’s voice was one with me now, our souls combined into one body. She knew how to reverse her own abilities . . . If only there was a way to tell them . . . If only there was some way to let them know . . .

  Speak to them, Dessa.

  I can’t. I’m half dead right now.

  You aren’t half dead, Desdemona contradicted. You’re further from death than you ever have been. You have me. My own flowers cannot harm me. Let me take over for a few minutes and tell them how to remove the flower.

  Are you sure? I asked.

  Absolutely. We’re two souls sharing one body. Guaranteed, we won’t look the same after this is over. Our body will be outwardly different, and you and I will be able to become one again. Two sides of one person, each side with its strengths and weaknesses, just as you said.

  Mm, I murmured. Go on then. Take over. I’ll just, uh, wait over here.

  Thanks!

  It kind of felt like going to sleep, but being in a sleep-walking state. I knew Desdemona was in control of my body right then, but I was still somewhat physically in control. It seemed like my subconscious was aware of this other presence, but it wasn’t like she completely overpowered me and shut me away in a corner of my mind. Desdemona and I were hand in hand, controlling the body that belonged to both of us.

  I felt my hand twitch again, and several voices stopped speaking.

  “Dessa?” I heard Ricky ask.

  My eyelids fluttered and I began to see light. Desdemona controlled my motor functions, but mentally and emotionally, I was still completely with everyone else.

  “It’s me, guys,” she said for me, giving me the emotional boost I needed.

  “Oh, thank God!” Pa exclaimed, practically sobbing all over Ricky’s shirt.

  “So, how do we remove this thing?” Skylar asked in irritation, staring at the bloomed flower on my shoulder.

  “Expose the roots to direct sunlight,” Desdemona said for me as I continued mentally strengthening my vocal chords. “Once they hit direct sunlight, the roots will wither and detach from the flesh, causing the flower to dry up and wither away.”

  They stared at me with wide eyes.

  “How’d you know that?” Ricky asked.

  I gently thought of Desdemona and whispered to her, telling her that I was strong enough to talk to them now.

  “Desdemona and I have merged spirits. I destroyed most of my soul with Pa’s sword when I thrust it through me back there. I’m sure that would have been a crazy thing to watch . . . but anyway . . . Desdemona let the shreds of my soul cling to her, and now we’re in here together. She repented and she was the one who gave me the strength to come out of the darkness and speak to you.

  “Without her, I’d be dead,” I continued, and I thought I felt a little pulse of happiness come from a corner of my mind, where I could feel Desdemona’s presence like a tiny warm pulse.

  I turned my head just barely, and caught sight of him.

  Chris was looking at me with tear-filled sapphire eyes, and one of his hands was lying there in his lap. I screamed at my arm to move, and I felt a gentle push from Desdemona, forcing my hand slowly toward him. I grasped his hand in mine, and said, “Long time no see.”

  He scoffed through his tears and began massaging my hand softly with his other hand.

  “Too long,” he muttered. “I’ve missed you.”

  I smiled weakly. “I missed you, too. Thanks to Desdemona, we can be together again.” I felt another tiny pulse, and I smiled.

  “We need to get this flower off her,” Pa said suddenly. “Otherwise, she could drift away again.”

  “Sunlight . . . sunlight . . .” Ricky muttered. “Where are we gonna get sunlight in the middle of the night?”

  I felt myself smile at his silly rant, but grew slightly troubled. How were we going to get sunlight in the middle of the night?

  Really? You’re asking a stupid, pointless question like that?

  What are you talking about?

  You’re asking where you can find sunlight, when literally, you are sunlight? Are you fricken serious?

  Oh . . .

  Yeah, use your brain, smart one.

  Ha-ha sorry!

  Yeah, whatever. Just get that stupid flower off of us.

  I thought this flower was yours . . .?

  Well, yeah, but when it practically kills my body, I kind of want to call it “stupid.”

  Yeah, okay . . .

  Just shut up and create sunlight already!

  Okay, okay . . .

  I opened my other palm and lifted it slowly to cover the blooming flower that was rooted into my
shoulder. The pain was numb and almost nonexistent now, masked instead by the strange euphoria of death.

  Tiny photons of light began to vibrate closer to my hand, creating light from the darkness. A tiny sun appeared in my palm and thrust itself into my wound, but the roots wouldn't succumb. They dug deeper into my flesh, and I groaned as I felt the tiny roots dig deeper, cutting through my muscles and tendons to seek refuge in the shadows.

  “Chris,” I said wincing, and he looked over at me. “I need you to reopen this. Dig Koorimizu’s blade in and tear open the wound enough for me to put the orb in direct contact with the roots.”

  He stared at me.

  “Are you out of your mind?” he practically screamed. “After hurting you as much as we did, you want me to hurt you even more?”

  “I need you to do this,” I told him calmly, looking into his beautiful eyes evenly. “If you don’t reopen this wound, I can’t destroy the flower. If this flower isn’t destroyed soon, its pollen will travel through the roots into my body and kill me. Please,” I begged in a whisper. “Do this for me.”

  He shook his head. “I can’t hurt you anymore.”

  I turned away from him and faced Skylar. “You’ll do it, won’t you?” I asked. “Stick Haikai into my arm—because I know you want to—and cauterize it long enough for me to expose the roots to sunlight. Think you can do that?”

  He nodded. “Shouldn’t take too long. What the hell. You saved me, so I guess I owe you.”

  The flaming sword was unsheathed with a quick flick of his wrist, and the quivering blade pulsed heat as intense as the sun. Skylar held the blade with his bare hands and brought it close to the flower, which began to burrow deeper into my tendons. I cried out in irritation and clutched at my shoulder.

  “Stupid flower,” I muttered. “Quit it!”

  “Shut up, will you?” Skylar ordered. “I need to concentrate.”

  “Well, if you’d hurry up and just fricken cauterize the wound already I wouldn’t be in pain,” I retorted.

  “Oh, for the love of crap . . .” he muttered, and the blade plunged into my shoulder. An intense burning—like I was submerged in a fire that wouldn’t subside—erupted in my shoulder, burning away the dead flesh to which the Death Flower was clinging. As soon as the wound was opened enough, I created an orb of sunlight in my palm and thrust it into the hole in my shoulder, exposing the roots of the Death Flower to the light.

  An amazing flood of relief coursed through me as the roots automatically released themselves from inside me, recoiling from the sunlight and withering slowly away.

  “Thanks,” I muttered. “Saved me loads of trouble.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” he muttered. “Whatever, Dessa.”

  I couldn’t help but smile.

  I looked around when suddenly, I felt an empty feeling hit me like a knife in my stomach.

  “Where’s Alyssa?” I asked hurriedly, looking around for her.

  Pa smiled. “She’s sleeping. She got a few injuries herself, so I told her to rest.”

  I looked around Pa and, sure enough, Alyssa was sleeping soundly with her spear at her side. Ricky was putting a warm cloth on her forehead when she stirred in her slumber, opening her eyes enough to see me.

  “D-Dessa . . .?” she asked in bewilderment.

  I smiled and waved at her. “Hey,” I said awkwardly.

  “How’d you survive?” she asked groggily.

  “Desdemona and I fused our souls together,” I answered. “She’s inside me; we’re a part of each other now.”

  Alyssa smiled. “At least you found a solution. I don’t know what I’d do if I woke up and you weren’t here anymore. I was afraid to wake up because I’d see you—”

  “I’m not going to die on any of you,” I said cutting her off. “I couldn’t give up on you guys. No way.”

  They all looked at me with the warmest expressions—except for Skylar, which was a weird smirk-thing; personally, I thought it looked pretty friendly considering the other facial expressions he’d given me—and moved closer to me.

  “We won’t give up on you, either,” Ricky said happily, patting me on the back. I winced involuntarily and gasped when his fingers brushed the dying flesh on my shoulder. He noticed and looked at Alyssa, who immediately began fiddling with her magic to cure me. She was mumbling some sort of incantation under her breath and was pressing her hands straight out facing my arm; her fingers created a triangle that rested right on the wound.

  In that empty triangle, a small orb of white light began to materialize, glowing beautifully against the blood on my shoulder. The little orb grew larger until it was a bubble surrounding my shoulder and part of my arm.

  “Thanks, Lyss,” I said sincerely, just glad that I was still alive, living and breathing beside my friends. “Thanks to all of you.”

  “We didn’t do anything,” Chris said stubbornly, his face downtrodden. “If anything we made this whole thing worse for you.”

  “Would you stop it with the pessimism, please?” I asked him with a kind smile. “It wasn’t your fault, or anyone else’s. This just happened, that’s all. Please don’t blame yourselves for what happened to me. It was my fault; I selfishly sealed Desdemona away because I didn’t want her to be a part of me.

  “I sparked her anger and jealousy; I was the one to kindle that hatred for thousands of years,” I continued, but I felt the warm pulse of Desdemona inside me. She was arguing softly with me, telling me this was her fault for being out of control. “So let’s just forget about this whole thing, okay?”

  I smiled and Chris returned it bleakly.

  “I don’t know . . .” he hesitated.

  “Come here, you silly man,” I said, and pulled his shirt until he was kneeling beside me. His hands were on the ground, supporting him as he looked up into my eyes. “I told you this isn’t your fault. What more proof do you need?”

  He smiled.

  I understood his implications completely, which made me laugh. “Not here. There are other people . . .”

  Pa and Ricky exchanged a look of surprise, and Skylar scowled in disgust. Alyssa smiled and winked at me.

  “At least let me start here, then,” he said, and leaned in toward me. His hands gently grasped my face and his lips touched mine; our tongues twisted in the most beautiful way, with urgency and hunger, sating our appetites together . . .

  “Ugh, get a room,” Skylar said. Chris pulled away from me and apologized with a tiny, “Sorry,” and I smiled.

  “We’ll continue this later,” I whispered.

  “Ewwww . . .” Alyssa muttered, and she started laughing. Ricky laughed with her, and soon Pa and I were clutching our sides in fits of laughter. Even Skylar smiled a tiny bit at the humor.

  Haikai was sheathed in its hilt, but the heat was still intense, radiating all around us like a sun. Soyokaze was still beside me, one of its blades shining with a silvery liquid upon it. It could have been blood, but instead it was a silvery liquid, thick and flowing, still dripping into the grass from where it lay beside me. The heat from Haikai was causing the silvery liquid to slowly bubble and evaporate into the air, which caused it to give off a beautiful smell.

  “Is that . . .?” I began to ask.

  “Ectoplasm?” Alyssa asked when she saw what I was staring at. “Yupparoo!” she exclaimed. “Ectoplasm is the essence of the soul; when it’s so thick and shiny like that, it means the soul is extremely strong."

  “Good to know I have shiny ectoplasm,” I said with a smile. “It took a lot of courage to rip my soul apart like that.”

  “It took a lot of humility, too, you know,” Ricky added, pointing his hand into the sky. “Not many of us have the guts to do what you did, and we don’t have the selfless attitude you have. I don’t know about the rest of you guys, but I’d find it kind of hard to give my life up. Life’s so precious, yet Dessa sacrificed herself for us.”

  “Oh, please . . .” I said to interrupt him. “This is starting to sound like some lame mo
vie. I did what I did because there was no other way. I’m as selfish as any of you. We’re all the same in that regard.” I secretly stole a glance at Skylar, who was glaring at me with a smirk on his face.

  “If you say so,” Ricky muttered, probably thinking the same thing as me. Everyone was silent for a while, and I was perfectly content to just sit there and gaze at them all. It didn’t matter that I had almost died a mere ten minutes ago. It didn’t matter that, ten minutes ago, the ones I loved had been against me. All that mattered now . . . was the fact that we were all still alive.

  Ricky and Pa sat beside each other holding hands, Chris sat across from me with his hands outstretched in my lap, and even Skylar seemed to be okay. The hostility in his crimson eyes was slowly fading away and being replaced with the joy of possibly finding someone he could love.

  Alyssa sat a few feet from Skylar and continued to look at him deeply, almost like she was trying to figure him out. . . .

  “So . . .” Ricky said awkwardly. “What now?”

  Pa laughed. "I don’t think it matters. We all were pretty traumatized, so why don’t we all go somewhere to chill?"

  "Yeah," I agreed. "Let’s go to Chris’ house!"

  Chris looked at me with the weirdest expression. "Did you just invite like . . . six people over to my burned-down, totally demolished house?"

  I smiled sheepishly. "Oops," I muttered in embarrassment. "I totally forgot about that . . ."

  Skylar looked at me with as genuine a smile as he could muster, and said, "I can fix that."

  "Oh?" Chris asked curiously. "How?"

  "Any damage done by the fire from Haikai has the power of time reversal. I can undo any damage caused if I want to." He touched the blade of the sword, and we all watched as the blade caught fire, lighting the area around us with a warm glow.

  Skylar moved his fingers slowly up the blade to the hilt, whispering words under his breath. With a deep breath Skylar moved his hand quickly across the blade of the sword, cutting open his hand to spray blood upon the burning silver.

  I gasped as I saw the blood evaporate the moment it touched the blade, and the cut on Skylar's hand sealed itself just as quickly.

  He looked at me with a slight smile and said, "The house is back to normal now."