Unspoken Vows

I mutter, my voice shaking as my fingertips glide across the frigid metal of the pistol placed to my temple: "I thought you were dead.

Dominic's blood, my blood, all the same, I hardly see the blood falling down my wrist.Marc's weight seems like the entire air has turned to ash.

This guy has spent so long distorting my existence into something incomprehensible that I am caught, kept captive.

But suddenly Dominic starts to stir.His fingers quiver, his chest rises with a short gasp, and I freeze with heart hammering like a war drum.

He is still alive.

But just what will it cost?"You're not getting away with this," I growl out, my voice little above a hiss as Marc's icy smirk sharpens.

"You think you have a choice?" he asks, his voice full of contempt as his fingers tighten on the rifle and gently threaten me from an almost casual distance. You do not.

None ever does in this game.

My eyes fly between Marc and Dominic's barely awake shape, the pain in my chest choking.

My body will not allow me to run to him and embrace him.

I fix my gaze on Marc nonstop. I cannot show him any frailty.

Marc is aware of this too. He sees the flutter of terror in my eyes, the way my body shakes just so gently beneath the weight of his words and the weapon at my head.

I look at him with contempt.

You are crazy. Insane? He laughs and steps in front of.

His coldness seems to be wrapping about me like a cloak.

"No. I'm deliberate, Evelyn. I also know precisely what I am doing.

Every desire you have ever had? It is sliding through your fingertips. Your rare tiny existence... That ends.

Every bit of it.I try to settle myself by swallowing hard and tightening my throat.

His words weigh the room as it rotates. Over time? How would he have come to think that? How could I let this stop now after everything?

"I won't let you destroy me," I spit, anger erupting inside me like a wildfire.

Marc smiles, the corners of his mouth curving in that way. Of course, Evelyn.

The instant you entered this game, you already accomplished it.

A hard cough from behind me breaks through the tension before I can respond. My heart surges in my breast, a flutter of hope flashing there.

Dominic is alert. He exists.But Is it too late?

"Evelyn," Dominic says, his voice faint and scratchy.

It slashes over me like a dagger, a sound so gentle and yet urgent.

Ignoring the pistol still placed to my skull, I look at him and my heart is empty save for the great yearning to guard him.

"Domestic...," As I approach him, my voice breaks; Marc's chuckle stops me.Marc advises not to get overly confident; his eyes tighten as he changes his hold on the weapon.

Do you believe you to be the story's hero? There is not a hero here. Just losses.

I shake my head and fix my eye on Marc steadily. I spat, not giving a damn about what you think.

"I am not playing your game right now."Marc's smile stumbles for a second.

Evelyn, you already delve too far.

Right now, you have nowhere to turn.

Between us, the suspense develops like a ticking bomb.

As Dominic's agonized breathing gets louder and more frantic, I can feel my heart pounding in my ears.

Like I am, he is still battling and clinging on.

I go back to him, a fresh will blossoming in my heart.

"We're leaving here," I mumble, as though that would be enough to bring it about.

But given the weight of Marc's threat, my words seem inadequate.

Evelyn: Dominic's voice is strained, but right now it also carries intensity and a feeling of finality.I turn back to Marc after briefly staring at him and let unshed tears flood my eyes.

"Let him depart."

This comes to an end now. Marc laughs, a shrill, sour sound that resonates in my ears. "You're not the one in charge here," he says, sneering. But you will be just enough shortly.

My mind is shouting, my ideas jumbled among dread, love, and terror.

How can I shield Dominic while my close proximity to breaking? Not after everything we have gone through, not can I lose him.

Not after everything we have battled for.

But Marc's hold on me, the pistol placed against my skull, feels as though there is no getaway. No fix. Dominic stirs once again, his body slanted slightly as he glances up at me.

I can see his desperation in his eyes and his fingers twitching toward mine.

I can't overlook, though, a depth of hurt in his eyes that has nothing to do with the blood he has lost or the cut in his side.

He has concerns. Not for himself but for me.

"Evelyn…," Now his voice is a whisper, full of so much sadness that it opens me completely.

Do not, don't do it.

Save yourself for me not here.

I shake my head; the tears may pour over here.

I tell him angrily, my voice trembling with a mix of fury and love, "I'm not giving up on you.

" I will never stop loving you.

Marc's eyes darted to Dominic, his face contorted in something dark, something threatening. He moves deliberately slowly, never turning away from me.

Do you believe you could rescue him, Evelyn? Marc grimaces, his hand tightening on the rifle.

He's already lost. For nothing all of this is. I was about to respond when the door crashed open, shocking us both. My heart pounding, my breath freezes in my throat as a black man enters the room.

I whirl around.The air changed. I'm not sure who it is; simply that this is the last person I anticipated.

"Stop! " I scream, adrenaline coursed through my body. The room settles into a terrible quiet as the man moves forward, their face covered in shadows.

Now feeble yet desperate, Dominic's hand extends to me.

"No... Evelyn...," says "The figure has an obvious form.

And the only question that comes to me is: Is it too late to rescue us all? The man raises his hand and the room echoes with the terrible sound of a rifle clicking into position.

The last thing I see as darkness sets in is the glitter of a silver barrel squarely toward me.

The room waits while the gun's barrel glows beneath the low light.

My pulse beats in my ears, and the air seems heavy, stifling. I cannot move or think; just pay attention to the person standing in the doorway; their identity is yet unknown.

Evelyn.... Dominic reaches out to me with a strained voice and shaky fingers.

Although his face is pallid and covered with perspiration, his eyes blaze with a strong need, that of me living, surviving.

But will I?The person in the doorway moves forward; their boots sound like a ticking clock in the quiet.

Every step is measured, intentional. They seem to be living eternity every second.

"Don't -" I gasp out, but the words fall off my mouth dead.The man raises the rifle and straight targets me.

Every nerve in my body cries, every instinct urging me to flee and fight. Still, my body stays frozen, a victim of the stress in the atmosphere.

The voice of the stranger breaks through the quiet, a chilly, frightening whisper: "You really think you can just walk away from this?" Though I should know this voice, I cannot now identify it.

My stomach's pit echoes the voice, sending waves of terror over me."You don't know who you're dealing with," I forcefully remark.

The man tilts his head, as though entertained.

Oh, Evelyn, I guess I do. I absolutely know you and what you have done. Though it wavers somewhat, the pistol points squarely at me.

Though feeble, Dominic's voice is urgent.

"Evelyn... kindly... " His eyes cry for something, a solution, a path out. I am unable to provide him that though. Not right now."You don't have to do this," I say, my voice raspy and every syllable a fight.

Just kindly put the pistol down. We can discover still another path.

The figure's eyes narrow, and suddenly there's a piercing snap.

Their voice a hint of doom, "too late," they say.Time appears to stretch out while the world around me slows and the blood rushes in my ear.

My heart is heavy with all we have gone through, my eyes follow Dominic's one last farewell. And suddenly there is a gunshot.

The planet blackens itself.