Deadly Game - Chapter 24

So sorry for the long wait!!!

Hope you like it! I wrote the lyrics myself, btw... so no, they're not from any exsisting song.

Thank you so much to everyone who's commented and voted, please continue doing that!!! I love you all!

<3 Anna

Chapter 24

When I'm about to give up hope, I suddenly get an idea. I hope I'm strong enough for it. I mean – Faith is small, but Adina was like three years old at the time. And I was thirteen, much weaker than I am now.

But well, either way I've got no choice.

I look around for something to use, then call up to Axara,

"Can you give me your coat?" She looks down at me, surprised, but obeys, tossing her coat down into the hole.

"What do you need it for? Is Faith okay?"

"No, Faith is not okay, and I need it for something stupid and dangerous which could get both me and Faith killed if I fail."

I lift up Faith, very carefully, then with a smooth movement throw her over my shoulder to my back, trying my hardest not to hurt her more. She remains unconscious, and I'm not sure if I should be happy or terrified.

Happy - because she isn't feeling any pain. Terrified - she's badly hurt.

I wrap her lifeless limbs around my waist and neck, then use Axara's coat to kind of tie us together. It's really hard, but I manage. Then I take a knife from my belt and cut off some of the rope - it's so long that it reaches the bottom anyway. I use the rope I cut to tie Faith to me better, because this is going to be very hard and probably bumpy.

I take a deep breath and place my hands on the rope.

Okay, you can do this, Cassie, concentrate. It's only about three meters. Easy.

I close my eyes, mutter a quick string of pleas to whoever could help me now, then I open my eyes again, and start climbing.

My hands grip the knots, and my palms are sweaty because of nervousness. Faith is heavy on my back, and I'm afraid that she'll somehow fall, that one of my knots doesn't hold. If she falls, I'll fall, that's for sure. And we'll both be dead. Three meters is nothing, but now I see the many sharp rocks at the bottom. I don't know how Faith somehow managed to avoid them.

Or, at least, almost. She hurt herself, the blood on my hands is enough proof of that.

I feel more than see Axara hovering at the edge of the hole, her concerned gaze burning on me. But I don't look up. Nor down. That would be a mistake that could kill both me and Faith, send us down to be crushed against the rocks. If we fall, I'll be heavier, so we'll turn around in the air - Faith crushing me. And Axara would never manage to get us up, even if we survived. Which is pretty unlikely. I was wrong. This hole wasn't created to injure.

It's a death trap.

My hand slides along the rope, reaches for the next knot, and I panic when I don't find one. Instead a warm hand grips mine, and Axara helps me up, Faith still strapped to my back. Immediately she starts working on the knots, and soon Faith is pulled away from me. Axara lays her gently in the snow. I crawl to her side, my hand removing her beautiful hair from her pale face. It seems much more pale than before, as if all blood has been drained from her.

Axara kneels beside me.

"Will she be okay?"'

I shake my head. There's nothing we can do to save Faith. She hit her head too hard - I know she has inner damage that no medicines or surgeries can ever fix.

A silent tear runs down my face. Just one. Then I pull myself together. I won't give up now - this is not the end Faith deserves, beside the trap that caused her death - lying in the snow that's red of both her and my blood. It seems like my shoulder is bleeding.

"Let's get her out of here", I say. "Go to the caves or something."

Axara nods, and picks up Faith, carefully like she was made of glass, holding her like a baby in her arms. I ignore my shoulder, though I'm starting to feel weak from the blood-loss, and cut off the rope, rolling it and putting it into my backpack. Axara carries Faith and we take off toward the caves. Faith starts coming around after a while, and we force a painkiller and some water into her, before she slips away again. It keeps going like this. We never know when Faith will wake up next, or how long she'll be conscious. Or if she'll even recognize us.

We reach the caves, and I choose one to make a camp in. I'm about to slip Faith in her sleeping bag as Axara starts a fire, but Faith clings onto me, desperately whispering,

"Don't leave!"

So I sit down on the sleeping bag with Faith in my arms. Her small body in my arms seems so fragile. Her pale face looks ghostly as the flickering orange light of the flames dance over it. I cradle her in my arms, make soothing noises when she seems to come around and be in panic. Axara sits beside me, holding Faith's hand.

"How long will she be able to hang on?" she whispers, her voice breaking slightly.

I shake my head. "I don't know. It could be days, or seconds."

Or anything in between. I'm helpless - there's nothing I can do. I'm beginning to realize how much I care for this little girl as her life is fading in front of me.

Axara cries, but all I can do is sit and wait, feeling numb. I know the pain will find me sooner or later. Axara re-bandages my wound as we wait.

I start singing, singing something I didn't even know I remembered. It's a song my mother used to sing while dreamily gazing out over the ocean. I was so small at the time, and I loved the song. The words were comforting, and I knew my mum loved the song, too. I never thought that someday she'd never be there to sing it for me anymore. I've not been able to remember more than small fragments of the song, but now it flows out, like I've known it all this time.

"Dream away, dream away

Away into the azure skies

Far away, far away

That's where your dream flies

You're a bird, lost, still free

I'm clumsy, slow, nothing like you

So fly away, away from me

To where your dreams might come true

Leave me here in dust and dirt

I'm bound to earth, you're breaking free

Fly to paradise - that's what you're worth

Just promise to remember me

Always, please, remember me."

Faith's eyes flicker open. "You sing beautifully, Cassie," she whispers. I feel tears welling up in my eyes. She recognized me!

"How are you feeling, Faith?"

"It's over soon," is all she says. "I'm leaving."

I can barely hold myself from crying.

"No, Faith, please hang on!" Axara says, and I have a feeling that Axara knows something about Faith that I don't.

"I can't, sister." Faith looks at me. "Take care of Axara, Cassie. I love you both."

"Faith..."

"No," she says. "I'm leaving, and I'm glad. You both are the first people to ever care about me, and I'm grateful. But I've suffered in the orphanage, and I'm really glad that you made my last days worth of living."

She closes her eyes for a moment, takes a deep breath.

"Axara, you know what to say."

Axara nods through her tears, squeezes Faith's hand reassuringly. "I will."

"It hurts," Faith says. I know she's slipping away from me. Away to the other side. I rock her softly in my arms, stroking her hair.

"I know, Faith, I know." My voice is choked, and I'm desperately trying to swallow the big lump in my throat.

I start singing again, slowly humming the song.

"Goodbye. I love you," she whispers.

"I love you, sister." Axara whispers. I finish the song, and Faith joins the last sentence - the last words hanging in the air.

"... Always, please remember me," she sings softly.

"I will, Faith... my sister."

She looks at me, her pretty brown eyes staring into my blue ones for a second. I know I'll never forget her eyes, the big brown orbs in her pale face.

Then she closes her eyes, never to open them again.

She smiles, and I know that she's gone.

She's left all she is behind, leaving for a better place.

So fly away, away from me

To where your dreams might come true

Leave me here in dust and dirt

I'm bound to earth, you're breaking free

Fly to paradise - that's what you're worth

Just promise to remember me