The Chosen Ones: Red Smoke

by Mitchelly Melo

  It didn’t hurt, even though I saw that the blade was stuck there. I started to get up but looked at my feet and they didn’t move. Someone was lifting me from the other side of the blade. When he lifted me up, he turned me to face him. He had no face, it was only darkness. He was now holding the blade in his hand. The Cadere Dagger. I still felt the tears coming down my face, but I was numb with fear. I just looked at that being, speechless, with my chest bleeding.

  "You'll just another one," he said in his heavy voice that came from all sides. "I'll kill every last one of them.”

  He lifted the Dagger and slid it easily into my neck.

  I woke up with a muffled cry, sitting on the bed. John got up quickly, coming to my side. I saw a mattress on the edge of the bed with a blanket and a pillow. I looked out the window and it was dark outside.

  “Liz, it's okay. You’re okay.”

  John sat next to me, holding me tight. I put my hand on my forehead to wipe away the sweat that was falling. I felt tears on my face. I hugged John hard, closing his eyes and letting the tears fall.

  "I'm fine," I said after a few minutes, wiping the rest of the tears away.

  “What happened?”

  “I had a nightmare.”

  “Hey, it's okay. You're safe here with me.”

  I hugged him again and wished to stay that way for a long time. A few minutes passed and my arms were still around John. He didn’t say anything, and neither did I.

  "Can you stay here with me?" I asked.

  "Of course," he said, kissing my forehead.

  I didn’t care anymore. Needing him, looking weak, nothing. John lay down and I put my head on his chest, closing my eyes again.

  “What time is it?” I asked after a while.

  "3 o'clock in the morning," he replied after looking at the clock.

  "I don’t think I'll be able to sleep again," I said, looking up at him.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” He asked, looking worried.

  “Maybe tomorrow.”

  “Okay,”

  Since I couldn’t sleep, I wouldn’t let dark thoughts take over my mind either. I had to talk about something. An empty mind is usually directed toward the worst possible subject.

  "John, why were you at my house today?" It was the first thing that came to my mind.

  "Runne," John said, running his fingers through my hair. "She had a vision about you.”

  “Who?” I quickly became interested. A vision?

  "She's a Chosen One," he replied, putting his hand on my back. “She has a tough time. She almost never leaves her room. The visions are hard on her. Sometimes she doesn’t know is real and what is not. Most of the time she doesn’t even tell us anything, but that morning, she came to my room, which was pretty weird. She said that he had seen you on the floor and that there was blood.”

  So besides John, I owed my life to this girl; Runne. Suddenly I wanted to go to her and thank her.

  “And what else?”

  “That’s it. And I didn’t stay here long enough to ask any more questions. I disappeared the moment she said she saw blood.”

  "And how did she know who I was? I've never seen her.”

  “I don’t know. We don’t ask her anything anymore. She gets agitated.”

  "It can’t be easy not to be able to trust your own mind," I wandered, relating to the feeling. I certainly didn’t trust my mind right now. She was too paralyzed with fear and I felt weak. I closed my eyes, trying to sleep again, but every time I did, I saw the same image. Grandma dead.

  "What time did you come to bed?" I opened my eyes again.

  “I think it was about 11 p.m. Zal literally held me down so I wouldn’t leave.” I felt his body tremble as he laughed. "I wanted to come and see how you were."

  I snuggled closer to his chest.

  "I'm sorry I woke you up.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I'm here for you.” He ran his fingers slowly down my back. “Whatever you need.”

  "Thank you, John. And if I still didn’t thank you, thank you for saving my life.”

  He kissed my head.

  “You can go back to sleep. I won’t say anything anymore, "I said, and I was determined to go back to sleep.

  "If it helps, I'll spend the night and all day tomorrow talking to you. "

  I smiled, which struck me as odd. Before, it seemed like I could never do that again. But he made me smile, yet again.

  "No. I don’t want to disturb your night’s sleep even more. Go back to sleep.”

  “Liz...”

  "I mean it, John.”

  I lifted my head from his chest and looked into his eyes. The gray glowed in the darkness and I smiled inadvertently. I kissed his lips quickly and went back to lie down on his chest.

  "The sound of your breathing will be enough to calm me down," I said quietly.

  And it was. I heard his breathing calm down and I closed my eyes. A few minutes later I was already asleep.

  CHAPTER SIX

  I opened my eyes with the sun starting to bother me and I stayed in bed, facing the window and admiring the view. A minute later I sat, looking around. John wasn’t there, or his mattress on the end of the bed. I thought about staying in bed, but I soon remembered that I wasn’t home. It wouldn’t look good to sleep in.

  I got up, soon remembering my condition when I felt pain all over my body. I picked up the necessaire and went to the bathroom. I took the bandage John did yesterday and washed my face. The cut still burned, but it looked much better. I had dark circles and a black eye. Not a very good combination. I brushed my teeth and slipped on some concealer to try to disguise the dark circles and bruises. I did a decent job. When I finished, I could barely notice the spots.

  The bruises on my neck, on the other hand, were uglier than ever. I touched it slowly and still ached to the touch. I thought I'd put some concealer on it too, but everyone had already seen it. Why bother?

  I tied my hair in a bun and decided to take a quick shower. I ripped the bandage off my arm and threw it away with the other one. When I took off my clothes, the ribs hurt again. I took the shower slowly, just as you'd expect from someone who got beat up. When I finished, I picked up the necessaire and left the bathroom wrapped in a towel. John was coming in at the same time, with a tray full of food. When she saw me again, he looked away. I laughed, making my ribs ache.

  "John, you didn’t have to do that. I could go downstairs and eat, just like everyone else.”

  "I know, but I wanted to make it easier for you," he said, looking down at the floor.

  I walked over to him, took the tray, and put it on the bed. I put my arms around his neck and stared at him. John looked me in the eye and smiled. he kissed me lingeringly, making me appreciate every second.

  "Now turn around because I’m going to get dressed" I said as we pulled away.

  He turned and I put on a comfortable outfit. A loose dress that wouldn’t squeeze the parts that hurt.

  “You can turn around.”

  I sat up in bed, taking my cup of coffee and taking a sip.

  "Liz, I want to prepare you before you go down there,” John said sitting down beside me.

  “What is it?”

  "People are talking..." he hesitated, grimacing. “About you.”

  "It’s not a surprise,” After all the looks in my direction yesterday I wasn’t really amazed. "They're curious. I just don’t want to have to tell the story again.”

  I bit into a piece of toast that was still warm and took long sips of my coffee.

  "I'm glad you don’t mind, because you're still going to see lots of looks in your direction." He sounded worried about me.

  "I didn’t say I didn’t mind. I just don’t care.”

  "You want me to put other bandages on the cuts?"

  "Don’t worry," I said, finishing the coffee and putting the cup back on the tray. “I can do that.”

  "I don’t mind," he said, then stood up.

  He took the kit that was
already on the bedside table and made bandages on the cuts. His fingers brushed my skin like cotton; soft and gentle.

  "You’ll notice that our wounds heal faster than humans," John said as he looked at the cut on my forehead. I had already said that I didn’t need to put any bandages on, but he insisted on not leaving any exposed cuts.

  “Seriously?” I turned my face toward John in a swift motion and he put it back in place, looking and touching the cut on my forehead carefully, but laughing at my reaction. I still had so much to learn. I began to think, trying to remember some fall or illness when I was a child, but nothing came to mind.

  "Yes," he said, still laughing from the tone of his voice. "Probably tomorrow will just be a mark. But the rest of the bruises will need more time.”

  I was still concentrating, trying to remember some cut or bruise.

  "Come to think of it, I don’t remember getting hurt when I was a child," I conceded. “Never.”

  "Here, look at mine," he said, lowering his head a little.

  For the first time I realized that the cut Zal made on John's forehead was now gone. There wasn’t even a mark. Anything.

  "Mine was shallow, so healed even faster.”

  I ran my fingers where the cut was before. John smiled and took my hand, kissing it.

  "We’re stronger than humans. We heal faster, we live longer.”

  "The Chosen Ones or all the Pacenians?"

  "The Chosen are stronger and heal faster than the others because we are warriors, but all Pacenians are very strong.”

  Suddenly I felt a sadness hit me. Did I still have any chance of being a Chosen One? It would be good to have something more to defend myself. And defend the people I love. The scene of Grandma dead again haunted me. I shivered and got out of bed.

  “What’s wrong?” John asked, standing up too. "Is it the nightmare?"

  I sat down on the bed again, setting the tray aside to sit next to John.

  "Yes," I spoke softly, feeling my body tremble with that image coming back so suddenly.

  “Do you want to tell me?” He asked gently, stroking my hand.

  I nodded and told John everything. He hugged me when I was done, holding me close to his body as if the closeness could transfer my fears to him. I wondered if that wasn’t exactly what was happening, because while he held me, I felt my body calming down.

  "You know she's safe," John assured me. "The hunter has no interest in your grandmother, and you're safe here."

  "John, I feel so powerless. A few more minutes and I wouldn’t even have come out alive. I wouldn’t be able defend anyone else if I really had to. I wouldn’t be able to defend Grandma!”

  "You won’t need to." He released me and fixed his eyes into mine. "That's what I'm here for. I won’t let anything happen to either of you.”

  "If I were one of you, it would be so much easier. I would have something in my favor.”

  "Liz, I know, in my bones, that you are.”

  "How can you know?"

  “I just know. I got a feeling. And if there’s someone special and good enough to deserve it, it's you.”

  I smiled at him. John seemed to be the only one who could get my mind off everything bad that was happening. I took his face and kissed him. I lowered my body a little and felt a pain in the damn ribs. I let him go for a second.

  "Oh," I said.

  "You should be resting. You're very hurt, Liz.”

  "I don’t care," I said, smiling.

  He smiled back and held me tight, kissing me again. It was peaceful and flames at the same time. The trail his fingers made from my shoulder to my waist burned. A good burn. But in my mind, it was a lull. He filled my mind completely.

  I let him go, out of breath. I looked at him for a few seconds. His hair gleamed as the sun's rays hit them.

  "We need to get downstairs," I said, not wanting to go.

  “Do we really? “He said, playing with a strand of my hair, which was now loose.

  "Yes," I said, laughing and getting up.

  I stopped a few paces from the bed, looking at the John who was lingering, staring at me and smiling. Even with everything that happened, with him, there, that way, I was happy. And I was glad I gave myself another chance. Soon Grandma's voice came to my mind, saying, "I told you so.” I smiled.

  "Come on," I said, walking up to him and pulling him by the hand. I ignored every pang of pain.

  John got up slowly, but he bent down quickly, placing his shoulders at the height of my legs. As soon as I realized what he was doing, I was already lying on his shoulder. He held me by my legs with one hand. I screamed and hit him on the back, screaming.

  "Put me down," I shouted, but there wasn’t a trace of concern in me.

  "I'll put you down when we get downstairs," he replied and started walking.

  He held me by the legs like I didn’t weigh anything.

  "John, you're going to drop me!" I shouted.

  “Please, Liz! Give me some credit. I would never drop you.”

  I started to laugh. I felt my stomach ache and I realized how good it really was to laugh.

  I saw someone's feet as we started going down the stairs and raised my head. Zal was coming up, staring at us with a small smile on his face. It was also good to see him smiling.

  "Hi," I said, waving as we passed him.

  "Liz," he said, still smiling, with his rough voice.

  When we reached the entrance to the hotel, John slid me off his shoulder easily.

  “See? I didn’t drop you for a second,” John said, taking my face with both hands. "That's how I like to see you. Smiling.”

  "Well, recently you’re the reason of most of them, so thank you.”

  "I'm at your service, miss," John said in a playful tone.

  I gave a quick kiss to his lips and when I turned around I saw that some people were standing in the doorway of the room watching. They should have come for my screams. I felt my cheeks warm. Eimée was also among the people, looking dazed, staring at us. I was even more ashamed.

  "There's nothing to see here," John said with a frown, and they all hurried back into the room, laughing.

  I felt bad for Eimée. She looked at me as if I had stolen the love of her life and that was how she made me feel.

  "You’re not still with that idea in your head, are you?" John asked when he saw me stop smiling as Eimée slowly walked back into the hall.

  "Yes, and I'm right.”

  "She's like a sister to me." John looked at me as if the idea were the most absurd of them all. “We grew up together. I don’t see her that way.”

  "Well, good for me, but she doesn’t know that.”

  “What do you want me to do?

  “I don’t know. I just feel bad for her.”

  "You have other things to worry about.”

  “I know.”

  "Please don’t fill your beautiful head with this," John said, smiling and I nodded.

  He put his arm on my shoulder and we entered the full hall. Some people stopped talking and looked back at me, their eyes flying straight to the bruises on my neck and the conversation quickly turning into whispers.

  "Oh, look," John pointed to the end of the room.

  I looked and saw Isys sitting there in the same old armchair.

  “Isys?” I asked.

  "No, the girl with her." He pointed and followed his finger.

  I looked again, now paying attention on the other side. A girl was sitting with her, talking and laughing. Her head was shaved. She had arched and well-made eyebrows and beautiful olive skin; she looked majestic. She wore a deep red lipstick that accentuated her fleshy lips. I really don’t know how I didn’t see her before.

  "Apart from Runne, she’s the last Chosen One left for you to meet," John finished.

  I still stared into her face, lost in thought. At the moment, I wondered how a face can be so symmetrical and a skin so bright. I really wondered how anyone could be so attractive.

  “Liz?” He sa
id, waving a hand in front of my face.

  "Yes," I said, blinking and coming back to reality. “Let's go.”

  We went to the girls and I automatically opened a smile. I felt my face contorting, as if the smile were too much for it. I realized that this girl made me nervous. When we stopped, Isys soon got up and hugged me carefully so as not to hurt me. I was already used to it. I hugged her back, releasing John's hand.

  "Maena, this is Liz," John introduced us, pointing at me.

  She stood up and smiled gently at me. She looked me up and down so subtly that I almost didn’t notice. But I always used to notice when people examined me so meticulously.

  "Hello, Liz," she said, still smiling.

  “Hi. It's good to meet another Chosen One.”

  "Isys told me everything that happened with the hunter and what happened to you. I’m glad you're okay.”

  “Thanks. I was lucky," I said, smiling at John.

  Maena shifted her attention to John as she recognized his presence.

  “Oh, John! It’s been too long ! I missed you! Wow, you're stronger.”

  As soon as she spoke, she took a step toward him, grabbed his face and kissed him fiercely. I stared at the scene with wide eyes, then remembering one of the bad parts of really liking someone. The jealousy. It appeared whether you wanted to or not.

  I crossed my arms, trying not to look. John had his hands in the air and his eyes open, clearly astounded. When Maena released him, he quickly turned to me. He looked in shock, but not as much as I did. He came closer to me and I pulled away a little. Even Isys looked embarrassed.

  "Hmm..." Maena smiled and frowned. “Sorry, I didn’t know. It's just an old habit. Even Zal doesn’t mind.”

  “Excuse me?” I asked.

  "You didn’t like what you saw," she said as he sat down and wiped the lipstick from her face.

  She wasn’t asking but affirming. Maena smiled as she watched my face process what my brain was thinking. It only took a second for me to understand what was happening.