Broken Dreams(65)

“Get her out of here!” Henry shouted to Sophie.

“Come on!” Sophie growled. She yanked me so hard, I nearly tumbled over. She was successful in dragging me outside of the cafe.

“No! Stop! What about Henry? Jacob still has a...” Another gunshot rang out from inside. “Oh, my god! Henry!” I tried to break free from Sophie, but she was so much stronger than me. Plus, her dagger fingernails had pretty much paralyzed me with pain. “Let me go, you fucking psychotic bitch! Let me go!” I screamed until I was hoarse.

“Elaina, it’s okay! Calm down.”

“But Henry…” I dropped to my knees again. It was becoming my signature move. I needed to change it up some, especially when there was pavement involved.

My heart was in my throat, pounding with such fierceness that it felt like it was trying to escape from my chest. Tears poured down my face. I didn’t want to exist anymore, not without my Henry. I was nothing without him. The blackness started to consume me.

“Elaina, listen to me. It’s okay.” She knelt down beside me and took my face in her hands, trying to comfort me like she saw Henry do time and time again. “Really. It’s okay.”

“No, no, no…” I choked out through my tears.

“Honey, listen to me. Please.” I didn’t want to hear her shit. My heart was shattering into millions of pieces all over the dirty, gore-splattered sidewalk.

“Elaina!” Henry came running out the door.

“Oh, my god!” I jumped up, and ran to him. He embraced me so tight that he lifted me up and swung me around. I wrapped my legs around his waist so he couldn’t put me down. “I thought you were dead!” I was having a hard time speaking through my tears.

“I know, love. But I’m not. I’m here. It would take a lot more than that to get rid of me.” He kissed my forehead. I looked him over. He had blood speckled all over his face and drips of blood on the front of his shirt. I dropped my legs, and he released me from his embrace.

“What happened?” I wiped some of the blood off his lips and chin. He reached up and wiped my forehead. He had an odd look on his face. It was a relaxed, “been smoking too much weed” look.

“Ah…you know. Splatter.” His eyes were weirder than normal, and I had just realized that his voice was slow and lax. He was nonchalant, but I suppose he had to be with his history. “Come on. Let’s go back to the flat. The sun is setting.”

He avoided my question like a pro. Then he tossed Sophie the gun that Jacob had taken from her.

“But what happened?”

“He’s true dead.” Henry took my hand and looked at Sophie. “You alright, Sophie?”

“Yes. I’m just bloody brilliant. And yourself?”

“Fucking dandy.” Henry picked up his pace, and I tried to keep up with his long, quick strides.



***



We made it back to the apartment safely, only having to stop once more so Sophie could take out another undead. When Nick let us in, I walked past him and dropped my pack on the table, as I headed to the bathroom. I felt so dirty and needed to wash up. Plus, I needed a moment to think about what had happened. Claire was in there, spot cleaning some clothes in the sink.

“Hey, doll. You doing alright?”

“Yeah, I think so.” I was still a bit stunned, but I was worried that there was something going on that I didn’t know about. Henry did say he would talk to me later about more of all the mental bullshit that was surrounding us. I was going to take him up on that offer after I talked with Claire. “Claire?” She looked up while she was scrubbing a bloodstain on her shirt.

“Yeah, doll?”

“Do you think there’s more to this than what Henry is telling us?” I tried to speak in a hushed tone. I was ashamed that I was doubting Henry again. She grabbed the matches, lit the candles, and reached around me to close the door. She took me by the arms, moved me to the side of the tub, and we sat down together. I had a feeling the conversation was going to be juicy.

“Well, something is odd. I mean, this whole thing is insane to begin with. A short time ago, this city was beautiful and life was normal. Henry was normal, or so we thought. I don’t know how this all unfolded, but things are very odd and…well, not normal. Do you find it odd that they have the same eyes?” Claire was whispering at a feverish pace.

I could tell by her verbal diarrhea that she had been thinking about all of it before. I approached her. She must have been waiting for me to ask so she didn’t feel guilty about implying anything.

“Yeah. It’s kind of odd.” I was picking at a small hole in my jeans that must have happened when I dropped to my knees on the sidewalk.