Mathieu (White Flame Trilogy) - By Paula Flumerfelt Page 0,55

was now crumbling around him like a storm.

“M-Matt…” Avian’s voice was small and scared. It reflected how she felt in his arms.

Tears started to spill over, trekking down his cheeks and landing on her face. “Avian, I l-love you, okay? I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” He sat there, rocking back and forth with her in his arms; his body curled down over her, trying to protect her from prying eyes.

A shadow of a smile crossed her face as her eyes slid closed and the final breath left her body.

“AhhHHH!” Energy pulsed out from his, shattering all the glass that made up the front of the house. The swirl of power around him got larger and more intense.

Solomon appeared to his left, a hand gripping the back of his neck at the pressure points. Mathieu slumped into his arms.

Chapter

Eight

Mathieu awoke in the room with the bed again, sans pain. This was not the first time that he had seen this room recently, more specifically the ceiling. Taking a deep breath, he draped an arm over his eyes, fighting back the tears. They stung at his eyes, threatening to pour down his cheeks again. He didn’t have to wonder or think about what had happened. The woundless pain in his chest told him all that he needed to know. Avian was gone. His best friend of six years and now she was gone, all because he had turned away for a few moments. It was his fault, all his fault. Taking in a shaking breath, his bottom lip began to tremble. He couldn’t stop the tears any longer and they silently trekked down his face and onto the pillow. Avian flashed before his eyes, smiling at him. It felt as though she was snuggled up beside him like she did every night; but that would never happen again.

Guilt was threatening to choke him, to pull him into the abyss. He needed to say something, anything to stop the crushing feeling in his chest. It was beginning to feel as though his heart no longer beat. “A-Avian…I don’t know if you can hear me…” his tears were accompanied by heavy pants, “but I miss you. I miss you and I’m so sorry!” He was reduced to gut-wrenching sobs for a few minutes.”I-I didn’t ever listen to your favorite childhood story!” He continued to allow his emotional distress a way out until there was nothing left for him to cry out. Eventually, he curled up on his side, and he fell into a shallow sleep where dreams of Avian plagued him.

The dip of his bed was what awoke him, Kiev’s worried face coming into focus. Her blond hair was pulled back in a high ponytail. “Hey…how are you feeling?” She tucked a lock of his hair behind his ear.

He felt like he was going to be sick. Turning away from her, he curled up in a ball, wanting to be alone. Her touch made him even more aware that it wasn’t Avian, her warmth not the same. Kiev was a very nice woman, but now was not the time. He hadn’t, didn’t, want anyone around him since his best friend’s death. People kept coming in and none of them seemed to understand that he just wanted to mourn and not have to be bothered with their presences.

Kiev sighed and pulled the blanket up over him. She left without another word, closing the door behind her.

Still, more people came and went between his sleep cycles; time, however, became irrelevant to him. He now measured life by pain for others to watch and pain for him to suffer through alone. He wasn’t eating and he wasn’t really sleeping anymore either. Everything was a blur to him, an excruciating, painful blur. Being asleep and being away were becoming the same. Half the time, he didn’t know if people were in his temporary room or if he was imagining them.

Memories would often float to him at random, memories of time when he remembered Avian most vividly as she was. Sometimes, the memories were happy.

Avian smiled up at him, leaning against him while they sat in the garden. She had a book balanced on one knee but had stopped to braid a flower into his hair.

That had been just shortly after he started protecting her.

Sometime they were funny.

He and Avian had fallen asleep on the floor, a half eaten cake between them. He woke up to Narrie dumping an entire bowl of frozen water on them and chasing