My lungs felt like they were filled with water, making the breathing so much more difficult.

It was like somebody was roughly pushing my head into the depths of the dark ocean, while I would just helplessly scream like it would save me.

In reality, I was simply obtusely and blindly following Gabriel's black silhouette in front of myself.

He didn't even turn for a second to make sure that I'm following him. Well, that was probably not even necessary. Maybe he just doesn't care.

I wanted to scream, to expel this covey of golden butterflies in my womb, just so I could make my heart stop hurting so bad. But that would be the most stupid venture in my life, and trust me, I had a lot of them.

All of a sudden, I just stopped walking and helplessly slid to the floor not caring about absolutely anything.

I watched his silhouette move further for a few more steps before he finally turned around.

"Kristal? What the hell are you doing again?" At the next moment, he grabbed my wrists and pulled me up. My legs were shaking and I was not even trying to stand. My body has completely lost liveliness and strength.

"Go without me, I'm just a burden to you anyway." I said and leaned against the wet wall.

"Are you crazy? I don't know what happened to you all of a sudden, but you won't get out of this so easily." His hand was about to touch the silk skin on my face when I quickly stopped it.

"You don't care." I hissed through the teeth when my sight suddenly got blurry and the voice trembled, making my speech harder. 

"Where did you get that from?" He shook his head, putting both of his hands in the pockets of his black pants that were hanging on his hips like they were tailored just for him.

"Why are you pretending that you're so stupid?" I covered my face, turning my head so I don't have to look at him right now.

"Kristal, I really don't know what you're talking about, but I know that we are running out of time." He reached for my hand, but I ignored him.

"It's strange that you don't know. It's strange that you're not reading my thoughts right now." 

"So here we are."

"It hurt me." I whispered, feeling the dryness of my lips. I looked at him through the eyelashes, catching his gaze which was codly staring at me.

"Well fine, I know what I did and I have my reasons." He sighed and went through his hair, removing it from the forehead.

"Are you punishing me?" I raised my eyebrow and bit the inside of my cheeks so hard that I felt a disgusting metal taste filling my mouth.

"No, don't be ridiculous." He laughed and turned to go further, but I stopped him.

"What then?" My voice cracked at the end of the sentence and he half turned, looking at me from the corner of his eyes.

"You want the truth?" He raised his eyebrow.

"Please." 

"I think you've forgotten what I am and what I can do, darling." His lips twisted into a tiny smile aside. He completely turned in my direction and made a step forward.

I felt the so-called noodle creating in my throat when he was about ten centimeters away from me.

"You forgot that I can hear your heart beating so crazy in your chest right now, while the sweet blood is running through your veins and arteries." He bent his head and his eyes fixated on my exposed neck.

"I did it because I couldn't hold myself back from the thought of tearing those veins in your neck." He bit his lip and looked me straight in the eyes.

"Do it." I whimpered and smiled, putting my hand on his cheek.

"Kill me, I'm begging you." My thumb made its way down to his jawline.

"I won't." The coldness firmly came out of his mouth.

I shivered because of the way he was looking at me. Exactly like the predator looks at his prey.

"Gabriel."

"I don't want to hurt you." He stepped backward, and my hand remained empty hanging in the air.

"That's why you distanced yourself from me. You could have just told me-"

"How was I supposed to tell you when I can't think straight when you're around." He laughed and put his hand on his forehead.

"Your heart goes insane when I'm near you and all I can hear is boom boom." All the blood crept into my face and I became red like tomato.

He sighed and shook his head, fixing his eyes in the plane of mine.

"Forgive me."

His words hit me like a cold jet of water. I opened my mouth in surprise not believing what he had just said.

"I've long since forgiven you." I looked down and wiped off already dried tears on my cheeks.

Then I felt his cold and smooth fingers slowly and gently lifting my chin.

He put his palm along my jaw and right when my inside ruffled from expectation, I heard the light and agile steps behind my back.

A cold sweat quickly overwhelmed me and in the next moment, I was running with him down the deserted corridor, hand in hand.

"Quick!" The heels of my boots were making the loud sound against the marble rocks like the iron on the stone.

I didn't stop for a moment.

My backpack was hitting me from the back, clanking with the boards and some of the gemstones Gabriel had put in it.

I was focused on the exit, the Sun and its light, fresh air and the most beautiful; the stars spilled on the night sky like some diamonds.

My heart started to beat faster. The excitement grew, the craving was unbearable, and I was just a step from it all.

I just needed to be patient for a little more.

"Hold on." Gabriel suddenly mumbled and held me tight around the waist, and then my hair fluttered across the face, hiding it from the cold Siberian air.

"Run!" He put me back down on my feet and pulled forward.

I was feeling the unbearable pressure in my legs, but it wasn't enough to make me stop.

Soon, I came across an enormous wall that seemed to have no end. It was nearly identical to the one that I saw at the beginning.

The memories flashed before my eyes like lightning and made my body tremble.

"Boards, fast, put them!" Without asking, I took off the backpack and pulled out two boards that then perfectly slid into the two holes carved in the wall.

The ground trembled so hard, and the sound similar to the collapse echoed through the room.

The strong blue light suddenly burst out of the boards, revealing a connected constellation carved across the whole wall.

I was forced to squeeze my eyes along with Gabriel, who was protecting his with the palm of his hand.

The wall then split into half, revealing the other side that looked like spiraling stairs up to the ground.

For a moment, I was staring at the sight in front of me in astonishment, and then, without thinking twice, ran in and started climbing up.

Gabriel was right behind me, pushing my body every time when I would clumsly step and fall back.

My eyes flew to the top where I could see the faint light coming through a small crack above our heads.

That gave me the extra motivation to use every remaining atom in my body to reach my goal. Because my freedom was so near and I didn't want to let it disappear so easily.

When my foot finally crossed the last step, my eyes moved to the abandoned entrance to a former mine from which the light was shining in and illuminating my pale skin.

A childish smile showed on my face and I happily ran towards it, forgetting all the worries because absolutely nothing was more important than that at the moment.

But then I felt Gabriel wasn't behind me anymore.

I stopped in confusion and turned around to see his dark appearance standing at the top of the stairs where the sun's rays didn't touch the glassy rocks.

My eyebrows furrowed, making the wrinkles on my forehead, and the green eyes narrowed.

"Gabriel?" I opened my lips calling his name, but he just laughed, nodding his head towards the exit.

"Go, save yourself."

"I won't go without you." I was about to go back to him when a light bulb lit up in my head.

"You fool." I laughed and ran towards him, pulling the silver ring from the pocket of my pants.

"You thought you'd just get rid of me like that." I tripped over the one of the rocks and fell into his arms.

"Clumsy." We both laughed and then I caught his palm and put the ring on the middle finger of his left hand.

"Let's go." I whispered and slowly dragged him towards the light.

At the moment the light touched his skin, it changed its color to slightly tanned. The black hair was shining with dark shades of blue and the eyes color of chestnut became brighter.

He was even more beautiful than the first time I saw him.

Blinded by his beauty, I didn't even pay attention to the landscape around us.

My heart skipped a beat and the smile disappeared from my lips.

Author's note

One more chapter 'till the end!❤