We went to a place with years of tradition. Even now, I can see Emmett's face, so happy that we were finally there. The place was always his idea, as most of our adventures were. See, I was never the adventurous type.
Yeah, guess you can say that.
Emmett had been begging me to come with him since we were first going together and after about two years of being together, I decided he was enough of a non-creep for me to go with him. Don't get me wrong, I'm not usually that cautious, we'd been together to loads of places already, but this one scared me. Worse, it creeped Hell out of me when he first told me about it. But he'd pressed on, saying he and his family had been going there for years.
Only they weren't exactly his family, you know how it is, these modern times. Man rarely gets a family to call his own. Vows being so easily broken and all that. But these people – Cara, Michael and Danny – they were like family to him. Michael had taken Emmett in when he was a little boy, on the run from a life he really did not want. In our years together, Emmett only came close to talking about his life before Michael once. And even then, he lost it and locked himself in the bathroom before he could say anything.
Right, the place. It was buried deep in the heart of the forest, under a rock, down the path and into the heart of the mountain. Hard to believe that only a ten minute walk could get you as far from civilization as you'd ever get.
When we got there, they were all gathered, standing in a circle, speaking in hushed voices – Michael with his gray hair and the eyes like stars, his wife Cara and their son Danny.
Their real son – something Danny would never let Emmett forget. He was the stray, the one these nice people had taken pity on. Not quite part of their family, not really, not deep down.
But on that day, nothing could dampen Emmett's happiness and good cheer. Not Danny being a dick, not my misgivings, nothing.
The time had come.
Because he never got the chance to change...You know, that's what I've been telling myself for the past ten years. But I don't think it was that, not really. I think some people don't change, and I think most people don't get a shot in Hell. And I think Emmett was both of those.
'Alice, so nice of you to have come,' Cara said to me, as we got to the place in the mountain. There was an unspoken 'finally' floating in the air above us, but I did my best to ignore it. Why would Emmett's family care if I came or not? Cara certainly wasn't your typical mother-in-law, eager to meet her son's new sweetheart. No, she was way too in her own head to care about that.
'See, this isn't so bad...' Emmett whispered in my ear and I felt him so close that it sent shivers down my spine. Emmett always had that effect on me, the kind of maddening once-in-a-lifetime thing you read about in fairytales, only it was much sexier than that.
I nodded and sat on down, partly to show my appreciation and partly to warm up. I expected the ground to be cold, like earth, like solid ground, but it was hot like an oven.
More than that, it was...friendly. I felt the earth beneath me send a smile up my spine. And suddenly, I could see why Emmett and his family liked it here so much.
'You're a lovely girl, Alice,' Michael said, sitting down beside me, 'I'm glad Emmett found you.'
It was lovely and I'd really hoped more of myself. I really thought that I would know, when the time came, that it was all too lovely. But trust mortals to mess it up for you. You meet someone someday and they smile at you or wave or do some other silly thing, and you're gone forever. All you judgment, flown out the window, everything you believed in poof, lost forever.
And that's normal, I suppose, one of the key aspects of life lies in falling in love, so I guess sooner or later, it's only natural that you're going to lose your shit over someone.
I just hate it that for me, it's always the same guy.
'What the hell for?' I almost yelled when I felt Michael's hands sliding around my own, pinpointing me to the ground.
'Makes it easier,' he whispered in my ear.
'What the fuck, Em?' I screamed at my boyfriend, standing with his back at me, talking to his mother.
'Really, it's best if you don't fight, doesn't change the outcome,' Michael said in the same peaceful tone, like he was talking about butterflies or something.
'Oh yeah? And how the fuck do you know that?' I amazed myself by being so rude to my boyfriend's family, to a man I'd been in awe of up until a moment ago.
'Because it never does. Really, Alice, we've done this before, and you never seem to learn.'
This shut me up for a little while and I stared, helpless, gaze shifting from my boyfriend to his father, who was now holding me down to the ground. I saw Emmett turn slowly and in his hand, I saw a large, silver-handle knife. Oddly enough, it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
'Ali,' Emmett said, just as softly, 'do you remember how I said this is a tradition for me and my family? Remember? I told you we've been coming here for years. But what I failed to mention was that you also have been coming here for years. Over decades, over centuries, this has truly become a tradition. For all of us.'
'You're crazy,' I whispered and in that moment, I thought I saw the truth – how wrong I'd been to trust this man, to fall for him.
'Not in the slightest, just...aware of my surroundings,' he smiled. We'd always made a joke of that phrase. 'This is my destiny, Alice, to kill you. And once in every lifetime, it is your destiny to die by my blade.'
'No, please,' I tried to plead, I don't even remember what I said. The only thing I can see is Emmett's face as he came closer and closer to be and the faint glimmers of light shining off the blade.
'I don't really know why, although you didn't bother to ask. It's alright, you rarely do, these days. You used to be far more inquisitive, Ali, I miss that about you. My best guess is it keeps the universe in order. All the universes, they're lined up in a curved ball and they're all spinning around this one moment in time. I just know that if I fail to kill you, even just this once, that ball will break and all those universes will scatter.'
I guess I begged for my life, it's what you do, isn't it?
'So you see, I have to kill you. You know, sometimes I forget,' he smiles and I break, because I see in his eyes the love I saw a moment ago, a day ago, a year ago, this is the same man who loved me. And all my trying to deny it is worthless. It's Emmett alright. 'But then, Michael finds me. Either him or Cara. See, I don't know how they figure into this either. They don't either,' he glances at his father and casts a sad smile, 'but we have to.'
'No, you don't, you don't have to do this, Em,' I try to plead to the love in his eyes. I was such a child...
'That's the bitch, Ali, I do,' he says, scooping down and plunging, with one swift blow, the knife in my heart.
I wish I could tell you what death feels like, I wish I could tell you it's painless and quick. But truth is, I don't really remember much. It's like one moment I was there, and then I was here.
Oh, here? It's a sort of in-between place, it's a place that's neither here or there. It's just white, but it's not that pretty, peaceful white Heavenly place. It's the sort of bright neon white that drives you insane. Slowly, but I'm getting there.
And I wait here. I wait for Emmett to die, to finish his life here, this life on earth, so that he can be born again. Once, it took him a real long time to die and I nearly lost my mind.
See, I've had time to think things over, and your thoughts get much less foggy in here. What he said, he was right. All of it, he kills me, and the Universes and the balls. It's all connected. And now, I have to wait for Em to die, so that he can be born again, so that I can be born again.
I could try to run from him, you think, but I probably wouldn't remember. Besides, I can't run. It is his destiny to kill me.
And it is my destiny to fall in love with him.
Today's weekend freewrite was based off the prompts offered by @mariannewest. Check her out to join our freewriting challenge and have some fun!
Thank you for reading,
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This one really sent chills down my spine, well done