Page 223 of A Love Like Venom

Our love is strong enough.

Sticks sighs heavily with resignation. "I hope so, Alice. I really do." With that he leaves the room.

Then I do the only thing I can do.

"I believe in you, Reed Carter," I tell him, willing him to listen. My voice is choked with emotion as I continue, trying my hardest to say it with vigor and conviction but I end up begging. "I have always believed in you. I never stopped. I believe you'll wake up. You have to wake up. You have to. Please just believe in yourself and wake up. That's all I want.Please."

The onslaught of tears come and I don't even try to hold them back. I let them stream down my face. I let them stain my cheeks.

As I wait and wait for some kind of response from him, any will do, I feel the sinking feeling in my chest when I receive none at all.

I go to remove my hand from his and that's when I feel it.

The slight pressure of his fingers wrapping around my hand.

I fucking feel it.

I stare down at our hands clasped together, his holding onto mine with all the strength he has and I feel like I can breathe for the first time in months.

Our souls have found one another, making me whole again.

And we create a new eclipse.

Snake

Three Months Later

"You're doing great, Snake."

I bite down, grinding my teeth as the physical exertion begins to take its hold on me. I have been grueling for the past three damn hours. My whole entire body feels like it's on fire. My legs are fucking shaking and my arms are trembling. I swear I'm five seconds away from passing the fuck out.

Sweat pours down my body, soaking my shirt and causing my hair to cling to my forehead.

Yet I continue to push my weakened body to the breaking point. Until there will be no air left in my lungs. Until my legs will collapse underneath of me.

There's a burning sensation in my chest. One that I have been accustomed to these past months. It reminds me that I still have a long way to go until I'm back to my normal self.

If that is even possible.

My back muscles cry out in pain but I mentally block it out.

I need this.

I need to feel alive when I felt fucking dead for three months on a hospital bed.

My feet slap harshly against the treadmill. My thigh muscles and calves burn. I'm beginning to feel lethargic but I don't stop.

"Okay, Snake. Time to stop," my physical therapist advises me but I ignore him.

I always fucking ignore him. You think he would get the point by now. I hear him sigh in a,I don't know what I'm going to do with him, sort of way. It irritates me so I push my legs harder.

There's a pounding in my head that causes my vision to blur but I keep on running. Faster and faster until I can be as fast as I used to be. I'm not as graceful as I was before. My feet slam against the treadmill and my breaths are loud and ragged. Running before used to be so fucking easy.

I was a man known for his stealth and now you can hear me coming from a fucking mile away.

It's been three months since I woke up. Three months of long grueling hours that took all my energy and stole all my breath. Three months of the beginning process of healing from my nearly fatal wounds.

A miracle, they said.

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