arrow still protrudes from where it’s rooted.
Please don’t let her be dead. I can’t lose her. It’s strange how you can feel heartbreak in your chest and stomach. Like an invisible punch you never anticipated.
“Robin?”
She’s doesn’t respond. Her skin is pale as porcelain, breathing shallow. Brushing tendrils of her loose chestnut hair out of her face, I support her in my arms carefully hugging her closely.
“I’m sorry,” I breath out, not knowing what else to say. “In the end, we’re all dreams in an endless universe.”
I’m a fool.
Stars aren’t permanent. Although we see their light, chances are they’ve already burned out by the time we see them. I’ve been pretending things can last between us. Human lives last no longer than a handful of moments. Like fireflies, they twinkle splendidly before they fade. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. Mortals flicker out in a flash while forgotten gods like me remain.
She’s a spirit still tethered to its body. I don’t know how she found her way here, but my uncle is right she needs to go home.
13
Robin
Music drifts around me. The chords a path leading me away from the pain. One I follow willingly at the lure of the velvety voice crooning the lyrics. It sounds familiar as the singing. Warm, protective, wild, and rough.
Limbs growing heavy, my heart slows to a more peaceful beat.
“Time to fly Robin. Those wings of yours are no longer broken.”
The heavily accented words have my head lulling from side to side in denial. “But I don’t want to go.”
Cracking my eyes open, I find Morpheus kneeling beside me.
No.
A different man.
He’s so beautiful to look at that it hurts my eyes. Jet-black hair, aquiline nose and hard, almost cruel mouth. There’s a streak of crimson marring his cheek. Blood and somehow I know it’s mine. The look in his gaze haunts me. Guilt. Regret. A searing anguish. Golden orbs churning like living magma.
“I know, but this is the best thing for you.” Fingertips trace the curve of my face lovingly. “You don’t belong here. It’s time to set you free.”
The rich tones of the dark, liquid voice send pleasurable tingles over every inch of me, pushing the pain from my wound further into the back of my thoughts.
“Morpheus?” I call out, feeling afraid. I can’t leave. Not yet. They need me. I’d promised to be there. To help him get clean. A shiver shudders through me, my body growing cold.
“I had nothing to lose until you came along. I won’t lose you now. I’m going to make you proud, lost girl. You’ve given me hope, and for that, you will always carry a piece of me with you wherever you go. I’m not going to let anyone enslave you.” Raising his hand, he blows lightly on his palm. A kaleidoscope of color bursts into the air, shooting yellows, greens, and purples. Sparkles caress every particle so vividly and beautifully.
Tears blind my vision. Fear an icy cloak settling over me. “Tell Morpheus he has the ability to survive anything. That’s why, despite all the pain and loss, the chaos he’s lived in, he’s still here.”
The stranger smiles sadly.
“Dream big. Don’t ever stop. Soar for me. Make everything in your heart real because I know you’re unstoppable when you want to be. Sandman will be watching over you.” He promises, his mouth brushing over mine. “Kiss me, Robin. Kiss me like it’s the last time.”
I taste sorrow on his lips. It makes something in my chest ache. Darkness swirls up around me. One moment I’m in his arms, the next I’m freefalling through an endless vortex, speeding toward a burning pinprick of light.
“Robin?” A soft voice questions.
Releasing a long sigh, I move my head, eyes fluttering open. The room around me is bright with the daylight streaming in through the window. A floral mural decorates the far wall in an explosion of colorful flowers sprinkled among green.
A familiar face looms into my vision. Tired caramel-brown eyes stare at me beneath a mop of wavy hair. Cheeks hollow from his history of drug abuse, his appearance slender, almost fragile and emphasised by the baggy clothes he’s wearing. Sitting forward on the edge of his seat, he has a book clenched between his thin hands. Alice in Wonderland.
“Snatch?”
“Oh, thank God!” My friend and flatmate nods, the relief on his expression tangible. “You’re awake.”
Raising my head from the pillow, I notice the top of the unicorn pajamas I’m wearing above the edge of the blue embroidered quilt. I don’t recognize