Page 217 of Deviant

“Elias, what are you—” but before I get to finish that sentence, Elias stretches his arms out wide and mouths ‘trust me’, before giving me a little wink and falling backward down the cliff’s edge.

“NOOOOOOOO!” I shout running toward the edge and falling onto the ground, watching the love of my life disappear in the fog. “ELIAS!!! What did you do?! What did you do?!” I scream out at him, as tears blind me while my heart is ripped out of my chest.

He jumped.

Elias jumped.

He sacrificed himself.

For me.

When I feel my watch start to vibrate, I have to force myself not to chuck the evil gadget into the lake. Crying, I glance at the screen, the text confirming that Elias is dead.

Congratulations.

You played well.

You are this year’s winner.

Follow the coordinates to receive your prize.

The world ceases to make sense in this moment.

Prize?

Prize?

How can they talk of prizes when the love of my life just leaped to his death?

I had spent the better part of the year yearning for death, unable to deal with my misery.

But this… this feeling… is far more crippling than any other I could have ever felt.

This is how I die.

With a broken heart.

Elias plunging himself off the cliff, not only killed him, but also the best part of me.

I lie there staring into the fog, the cold ground seeping through my bones. I don’t have the strength to stand, all of my energy is used up by crying the loss of the one man I ever loved.

Then sorrow turns to anger as I curseThe Scourgeand everyone who ever had a part in it. They took everything from me. And now they took the one person who had brought light back into my life. But then anger turns to debilitating sorrow again, as I let out a loud blood-curling wail, needing the world to hear my pain.

Time seems to blur as I navigate this endless loop of anger and sorrow.

I’m not sure how much time passes by that I’m in this state, but it must be a while since the sun looks like it’s about to set again.

“Get up!”I hear his voice in my head.“You can’t get caught here on your own at nightfall. You won’t survive another night out here in the cold, where any animal can confuse you with dinner.”

I let out a disheartening laugh.

Before, I used to imagine Nora speaking to me, but now her voice has been silenced and replaced by that of her brother.

Now I have both deaths on my conscience, since both died because I loved them too much.

With Elias’s voice in my ear, I pull myself up from the ground, the fallen leaves and dead grass now stuck to my bloodstained white dress.

God what a fearful sight I must be? Elias would have loved seeing me this way.

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