Intrinsical - Lani Woodland [48]
“I died because I drank some stupid drink.” My shoulders slumped. “So that orange thing you destroyed— was that created by the licorice stuff?”
“Yep.”
“I was so dumb to not pay closer attention to your warnings. Thanks for trying to save me from my own stupidity.” I lifted my head and looked at Brent, completely defeated. “At the risk of stating the obvious, I really wish you had saved me.”
He sighed heavily. “Me, too. But I failed you again.”
I startled at his unexpected word choice. “Again?”
“Well, besides drowning . . .” He stopped and somehow I knew he was trying to figure out how to explain the rest. “I saw the light coming and I wanted to watch you cross. I wanted to be there with you . . . so you wouldn’t be alone. Then I saw the darkness trying to get to you as well . . . I wasn’t sure which one would reach you first and I panicked. Instead of pushing you toward the light . . . I grabbed you rather . . . rashly. I took you away from them both.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well . . .” he sighed again. “Honestly, I’m not sure, but I think it means that you are stuck here with me.”
I blinked in sheer confusion. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”
Brent tucked his thumbs through his belt loops, not meeting my eyes. “I think you might actually have missed your chance at Heaven or whatever . . . because of me.” My mouth dropped in complete surprise and I found I had no words. “I think my pulling you from the light might have . . .”
I found my voice and it wasn’t happy. “So I’m dead, but I don’t get to go to Heaven because of you!?”
Suddenly agitated, he started chewing on his fingernails as he spoke. “Basically, but I only did it because the darkness was coming.”
For a moment the dual image of the light on one side of the pool and the sinister gloom on the other flashed before my eyes. Dread swirled through me at the memory of the heavy black that had felt like it desired to swallow me.
“What is the mist? Is it Hell? Have I been too bad to go to Heaven?” Every rule Cherie and I had broken replayed itself in my mind.
Brent chuckled quietly, which made me throw him an evil look. “Of course not.”
I tapped my finger to my chin thinking. “It attacked me once on campus and it’s what tried to choke you the day I saved your life.”
“It was?” Brent asked astounded. “I always wondered about that.”
“Yeah.”
“So the mist is responsible for you and I meeting.” He laughed. “It really is up to no good.”
I eyed him suspiciously. “Did you ever see it?”
“No, but I think I felt it. That day it attacked you, I could almost sense it then, too. I could tell something was happening the way your hair was flying everywhere like you were inside a twister. I could almost feel something there, something trying to hurt you. I just knew you were in trouble and needed my help, so I blasted the area with a gust of wind. It was the only thing I could think to do, but it seemed to work.” He fiddled with the knot of his tie. “And I didn’t say anything because . . . because I couldn’t see anything. Why didn’t you?”
“I wanted to, but I was afraid you’d call me crazy.”
He shrugged his shoulders, frowning. “Yeah, I guess I deserve that.”
“But what is it?”
“Beats me. All I know is to avoid it when I see it. I thought I could protect you but that didn’t turn out so well.”
“What would happen if it caught me?” I asked.
“Again, I don’t know but I’m guessing nothing good.”
“If we’re . . . dead—” It was still hard to say the word. “And we’re not in Heaven or Hell, where are we?
“Limbo, I guess. We’re not alive, but we aren’t with the other spirits either. I have no idea how long we’ll be stuck here or what happens next.”
“What kept you from the light? The black mist?”
Brent shook his head. “Nothing. The light didn’t come for me.” He dropped to the ground with a sigh. “It’s almost like the Cosmos isn’t aware that I died.”
“When did you die?”
“I died a few weeks ago, or maybe it was