S I X T E E N
Reason to Stay

"YOU ARE INSANE." I spat the words out with as much venom as I could. "You honestly think that I would believe that? That you can rewind time? For a young girl, you sure have a rather psychotic mindset."

"Like I said, Andy, the mind is a very powerful place." Before my very eyes, Lola began to shift into a different figure. Her short and petite body grew taller and much more muscular, her facial features that once resembled a little doll shaping itself into one of a handsome man that I was all too familiar with. Standing tall with pride, Dimitri flashed me a grin, the corners of his lips pulled into the same nefarious grin that I had seen on him during the first few days of our acquaintance. This was the very same Dimitri from the boathouse. This was Death. "Why are you so difficult to persuade?"

"You can't fool me, Lola." I gritted my teeth in annoyance, fingers clenched down by my sides as I frowned. All the while, the smirk upon Dimitri's lips never wavered. "I know it's you and my answer stays the same. I will not turn back the time. In fact, you shapeshifting into Dimitri further concreted the fact that I should not give up what I have now for something of the past."

"Oh, Addison," Lola spoke in Dimitri's voice, using the same taunting tone that he had equipped what felt like eons ago. I felt as if I was indeed transported back in time to where the boathouse was no longer in the past but was the painful present. And that was where Death was not kind. "The truth of the matter is that no matter what, time is truly constant. As much as you think that I am unable to turn back time, the second hands of the clock will always be ticking away."

With a wave of a hand, the scene before us transformed back to that of my home. From where I stood, I could see myself seated upon a cozy armchair, curled up with a book in my hands as the hands of the clock ticked irritatingly in the background. Immediately, I recognized it as the day in which I had received the first golden letter that would eventually shape the rest of my life forever; New Year's Eve night.

"You hated that fact and you still do now. What are you going to honestly expect on your final day alive on borrowed time, Addison?"

As the words tumbled out, the scene before us changed once more. This time, we were at a place filled with lush greenery, one in which I had first assumed as a spot in Paradise. It was only when I had noticed huts a little further away from the beautiful floral garden in which I was in had I realized that this was Heaven, the domain of angels. A shiver ran down my spine when I heard a strained cry by my right, causing me to turn towards the direction of the sound. I froze when I realized that there were two people huddled on the ground, a head of ebony dark hair falling over the man's face as he hugged a woman tightly to his chest. It was only upon closer inspection had I deduced that those two people were none other than me and Dimitri.

"No, please Addison. I can't watch you die again. Not again." That version of Dimitri wept with a sorrow in which I had never seen before. It was as if his tears could make up the entirety of the ocean, voice filled with alarming desperation as he continuously combed the golden blonde hair away from the other version of me as if it could wake her up again.

I was so fixated on the current scene that I had not even noticed Lola slipping so closely to my side, her lips barely even inches away from my ears as she whispered things that would make her seem like a voice in the back of my mind. Right now, unfortunately, she was very much more than that.

"Eventually, you will die." I could hear Lola speak, her voice slowly turning back from a deep tone to her own childish one. "Just like anything and anyone else."

The version of myself in Dimitri's arms was a ghastly pale. Her skin was one of a light pasty green that resembled the shade of myself back when I was still in the boathouse. She wasn't moving even the slightest, simply laying limply in Dimitri's arms as he cried, hands cupping her cheek dearly. All I felt was a shot of agony piercing through my heart, causing me to frown.

"You're wrong." I gritted my teeth, turning back to face Lola. Her childish and rather impish grin was still neatly stitched onto her face, her dimples showing on her blooming pink cheeks. "I will survive this and find a way back to the people I love. And even if I don't, I will die knowing I tried."

The floral around us melted away, disappearing and bursting into a million specks of rainbow colored dust as the smile on Lola's lips dropped ever the slightest. There was a harsh bellow of wind that came at us, sweeping at my hair as it fell all over my face. Hastily, I combed them back, determination drenching each and every nook and cranny of my bones.

"I will not accept your proposal, Lola. My answer is final. Don't ask me again if not, I might not refrain from doing what is needed to cut away your existence entirely."

I did not even know if what I had threatened Lola with was possible or not but nevertheless, her face paled significantly. Lola's lips thinned out into a fine line, pursed as if deep in thought before she, too, turned into dust and flew away in the wind. The figure of the child filled with venomous danger was gone, replaced by the empty dark void that surrounded me.

The next time I blinked, the world before me changed and I was transported back to my own body. My line of gaze met Dimitri's own worried ones. His silver eyes stared intently at me, the little bit of skin between his eyebrows crumpled as he held one of my hands tightly in his own. From our close proximity, I could once again see the glisten of metallic silver embedded into his eyes. Words could not do his beauty justice and I allowed myself to gasp once lightly as he jolted suddenly when he realized I was finally awake.

"Addison, how are you feeling?" Dimitri was not the first to speak. Instead, it was Calvin. The former's lips were still pursed tightly and I could see the muscle in his jaw clenching tightly as he gently helped to sit me up.

"I am feeling as fine as I can be, I suppose." Grunting, I cursed once when a shot of pain filtered through my back where the arrow that killed me had been. The wound was certainly gone with the help of magic, but it seemed as though the horrors of the events had never quite left.

But then again, hadn't it always been like that? The terrors of the past will never leave our minds entirely for it was forcefully embedded there like a nightmare.

"What time is it?" I asked, looking around at the people that had gathered in my room. Though most of the brothers were either seated or standing next to my bedside, Fabian was sprawled over the same couch he had been on when I was first semi-revived.

"A little after two in the morning. You were out for quite a while this time around." Fabian spoke up from the other side of the room from where he sat. He checked his fingernails rather idly, filled with utmost nonchalance as if this was just but any other ordinary day in his life. "Might want to be careful there. A little longer and you might have been presumed dead."

"Fabian," Calvin immediately chastised. To that, the spirit of famine simply shrugged with a lack of much care.

"However, Fabian did have a point. You wasted many hours unconscious and time is not something we have to spare like that." Wilhelm took a step forward, his arms folded across his chest as he frowned a little. "We were all very worried."

"What happened, Addison? Why were you unconscious for so long?" In a flash, Minnie was by my side, shoving Dimitri away carelessly as she took both of my hands in her own.

"My guess is that she encountered one of her past lives and they stalled her return." Standing to his full height, Dimitri's expression darkly matched his brothers. It was one of concern that was filled with trouble.

To that, I nodded once. "Lola. She was there and she spoke to me. I was in a dream or a nightmare. She played pieces of my memory of my past for me to see and asked if I really wanted to wake up and return here where everything is... difficult. She offered to turn back time and wipe my memories of the recent years."

"That is impossible."

"I know, that was what I told her too." My eyes were downcast, gaze focused numbly on the plain duvet that covered my legs. "She tried so hard to convince me that it was what I wanted but I kept insisting on my decision and said no."

"She might not be able to turn back time but each passing day makes them stronger. She might have been trying to change spots with you." Dimitri began to pace around the room, his feet barely even skimming the floor. He seemed too deep in thought to realize five different sets of eyes were staring at him in surprise. "She would've been able to give you an illusion of your old life and trap you in your own subconsciousness, your old world. If it was that case, she could block your memories of us and fool you into thinking that you were still living the ordinary life you had before your breakup with Lucius."

"You are so strong, Addison." Minnie murmured with awe. "I would've agreed. The falsity of everything would've made it so much easier. The bitter truth is not a path I want to take in comparison to a sweet darling lie."

"Well, Minnie, I had a reason to stay." Unknowingly, I began to smile as I cast a surreptitious glance at Dimitri. "There are people that anchors me to my current life and makes it worth fighting for. In this case, I would rather face the bitter truth with these people than have a sweet lie by myself."

From across the room, I could see Dimitri look up as he met my line of sight. Our gazes collided, matched in an unbreakable and fixed stare. For a second, his facial features displayed the expression of utter confusion before it slowly melted away. I witnessed the light of understanding flash in his beguiling irises, one that made his pink lips slightly part in surprise as his arms dropped down to his sides instead of being stoically positioned over his chest in contemplation.

For a moment, his lips stretched into a delightfully honey-sweet smile that seemed able to light up the very streets of the entire New York City in an instant. I thought I could see his very soul through that smile, the way it melts the walls of reality and bends fantasy to his will with his captivating grin. Dimitri seemed as though he held a secret message in that expression of his. The way he displayed ethereal euphoria was one in which I knew would be imprinted into the depths of my mind for the rest of my days. I remembered then again that if Death was willing to smile, he could be the greatest of sunlight in which mankind had and will ever set eyes upon.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Don't forget to vote, comment, and share. This is the second upload for my Friday the 13th spooktacular update fest. Be sure to stay tuned for the next update and just a reminder, Chapter 21, 22 & 23 is also released on Radish Fiction.

xx aurora