Cassie part two

by Anna Caporusso

Two black 'eyes' looking like dark pearls in her porcelain face let me freeze.

"I can't tell you. But trust me, we've to go."

"Where do we have to go?"

"Far away. Please. Come with me."

She took my hand again and tried to pull me with her. I stayed where I was.

"Cassie..."

"Dean! Come with me!"

"No, Cassie. Tell me what's up and where we have to go."

"I can't! We don't have any time left!", she shouted at me.

We heard voices coming out of the forest and steps that became louder every second. A small beam of a torch fell on my face.

"Run!"

Cassie's stunned face was reason enough for realizing that we had to run as fast as we could, if we wanted to survive this night. I grabbed her hand and began to sprint. Wood cracked beneath my naked feet but I didn't feel the pain I usually should have had. I heard men shouting only few meters behind us. I couldn't see anything, we were too fast again, unbelievable fast. How could it be possible that they're running almost as fast as we did? The shouting voices came closer and my heart beat so fast that I could her it loud in my own head. A gunshot made me stop suddenly. I could see the pain in Cassie's face, she got tears in her eyes, then she closed them. Her legs failed and she hit the dark, cold and dirty ground. A bit of blood ran out of her mouth. It didn't take long to think about what to do, I took her over my shoulder and continued the escape. Warm blood from her mouth dripped on my naked chest. Then suddenly, a second gunshot. Something black fell from the sky and hit the ground in front of me. One last tremble ran through the black feathered wings of the small crow. I jumped over the small, black, bleeding body and kept on running. I mustn't stop! They mustn't get us! 

I didn't know how long I was running now but I knew that I wouldn't maintain it any longer. I didn't get enough air anymore, it was hard to breath and my legs trembled. I slowed down. Afraid of what I could see now, I turned around. It was still in the middle of the night even if I had a feeling like running since hours. There was nobody behind me anymore. I really managed it. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment. I gasped when I suddenly heard a coughing close to me and realized that I was still carrying Cassie on my shoulder. I went on my knees and carefully put her on the ground. I softly stroked her hair from her face and looked at the dried blood on her chin. She coughed again.

"Cassie?"

Her eyes opened a little bit. But the way she looked at me was cold and it seemed more like she looked right through me. One single tear slowly ran down her face and mixed with a new drop of blood on her full lips which were pale and blue instead of red like they always were. 

"Cassie!"

No reaction. She was cold as ice, I noticed, when I touched her arm. She took one deep, loud breath. Then she closed her eyes again. No. She couldn't be dead now. She couldn't be dead. All the magic around her couldn't be gone. I felt it, all the time. There was a special kind of love between us. A love which couldn't die now. I enjoyed it to be close to her, to watch her smiling, to be with her, no matter how the situation was. I couldn't lose her now. I took her hands into mine. Thinking about losing her caused the most awful pain I've ever had. Pain in my chest which became bigger with every single breath. Pain which started burning through my whole body. I closed my eyes but I couldn't stop my tears.