AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Crockery and pastries crashed to the floor as Heathcliff flung the remains of the snack buffet off the table. He hoisted the heavy wooden table off the ground and flung it at the main door. Wood cracked and splintered, but no escape appeared.
My head felt impossibly light, as if it was floating off my neck and away from my body. Morrie discarded his sword, grabbed a statue from a nearby scone, and hurled it at the wall. But he was moving too slow, his limbs swimming through air made of golden syrup. Everything was too slow.
I tried to speak, but the words felt like wet spaghetti, slipping through my fingers.
Quoth dropped Donna’s hand. “Mina…” he gasped out. “I can’t breathe…”
Quoth. My beautiful Quoth. I couldn’t believe I thought he was a murderer, just because he was the only one who could fit through…
Oh, shit. The vent…
“Quoth…” I tried to get my brain to send a message to my mouth, but it took an age before I could make my lips form the words. “You have to fly out the vent.”
“Vent?”
“The vent. The one you found. It’s up there.” I managed to lift my hand and point a shaking finger at the square on the top of the wall. “Fly out. Get help.”
Quoth transformed in impossibly slow motion and flew toward the vent high on the wall, but he was affected even worse by the gas as a small raven, and the gas would be rising to the top of the room. It took him four attempts before he could fly high enough to reach the grate. He dug his beak into the grate and tried to unclip it, but his flying was erratic. He kept slipping.
I can’t…I’m getting so tired…Quoth’s voice croaked inside my head.
“I’ll help…birdie…” Heathcliff grabbed the edge of the table and hauled himself to his feet. He staggered across the room just as Quoth started to slip down the wall, his talons scrabbling to maintain a hold on the grate.
With a last surge of effort, Heathcliff reached the wall. He grabbed the statue from Morrie and swung. Quoth darted out of the way, dropping back to land on the table. The statue struck the grate, knocking out the clip. I heard a clatter as the metal grate hit the floor.
“Hurry…” I gasped.
Quoth spread his midnight wings and soared upward. At the last second, he tucked his wings into his body and dove through the vent. I couldn’t see him after that.
Heathcliff dropped to his knees. His knuckles dragged on the ground as he collapsed on the floor.
“I’ve got you, big guy…” Morrie crawled over. He lay down beside Heathcliff, wrapping his arms around him. He grunted, and I realized he was trying to drag Heathcliff’s bulk across the rug to me. “We’re coming, gorgeous…”
With a last burst of energy, I hauled myself across the floor toward them. Morrie’s arm fell over my shoulder, pulling me into them both. Everything felt far away and unimportant. It didn’t seem so bad to just close my eyes and…
CRASH.
I was dimly aware that somewhere far away, the world was tearing apart. I snuggled in deeper, sinking into the warmth of Morrie and Heathcliff as we drew our last breath together…
SMASH RIIIIIIIP
Bright lights danced across my eyes.
This is it. This is the end.
At least I’ve had a good life. I followed my dreams, tried to be nice to people, ate a lot of pastries, and had tons of sex with fictional villains.
“Mina…” Morrie whispered. “Look.”
I don’t want to look. I want to go to sleep.
A finger pressed into the back of my neck, jabbing me insistently.
Fine, fine, I’ll look, but then you have to let me die in peace…
It took everything I had left to open my eyes. I stared into a pair of blinding lights. Maybe we were already dead? But I’d already technically died once, and it was much more watery than this. My friend Bree, who can do some interesting things with ghosts, said that when you die you see one light. Why did I see two? And they were growing larger as they got closer and closer and…
HOOOOONK!
