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Why hadn’t I turned intothatwhen the man touched me?
I examined myself so intensely that I had to have looked insane, fidgeting on the ground like some drug addict. I twitched as I desperately searched my body for any decaying spots on me, which I had somehow come out unscathed.
My eyes flickered up, noticing Dustin looking back down at me. His eyes blazing an unusually vibrant shade of blue, which gazed into mine, breaking me from my thoughts before the tears welling up behind my eyes could escape down my cheeks.
He stood in his prim suit, glancing down at me so calmly as if what he had just witnessed was another Tuesday. As if he was unbothered by the fact that a man had just disintegrated before our eyes.
“Are you okay?” His hand reached out as if to help me up.
I felt reluctant at first, remembering how horrid he was last night, but as the images of everything flooded me, I realized that he had just saved me from that - that -thing.
For some reason, I still wasn’t convinced that this was real. I continued to pinch myself, praying I might wake up and realize I was having an extremely lucid dream.
I reluctantly grabbed onto him, using all my strength to pull myself up. My arms wrapped around his biceps, feeling them bulge as he lifted me. The muscles tensed as if he was flexing on purpose.
“Y-yeah.” I tried to respond to him finally, but not without tumbling back to the ground with that creature’s words still haunting my thoughts.
“No one else has to die.” He had said so calmly. So sure. And I still didn’t know who “they” were. The ones that he said wanted me.
Who would ever want me? I was nothing. I was no one.
Was he just a crazed lunatic? But then again, when was the last time you saw a crazed lunatic turn a man into a mummy and dissolve into sand himself?
My rational mind couldn’t spin any possible conclusion to that unless I were drugged last night. That was one theory I hadn’t disbanded as of yet.
Dustin was standing above me when I managed to glance upward once more as if he was enjoying my struggle, amused by it even. His eyes locked onto my face, and his mouth clamped shut as if examining me. He gave me that same look from last night, taking in my skirt, probably looking up it as I sat un-lady like on the ground with my hair tangled against the tile like a hot mess.
Before I could stand again, I watched as he shook his head. A small smile slid across his face as he bent down and scooped me into his arms without breaking his stare.
And while I still held many reservations toward him, I couldn’t shake this feeling that despite everything, I felt this strange tension brewing between us. It could have been from the dramatic trauma that had just ensued or the fact that he had shielded me - a total stranger. He had risked his life to save me, which was more than anyone had ever done for me. However, I still hadn’t quite figured out how he saved me.
He had rambled about the man being starved to death, and then suddenly, he just evaporated into dust. Nothing about that was clear. It was almost as if he had made him die with his words, which was insane to think, right?
No one could do that.
Either way, I briefly didn’t feel that spewing hatred I felt toward him before. Or at least, it had faded slightly. And I wasn’t sure if I hated that or this situation more.
“Holy fucking shit.” A petite-framed blonde girl came tumbling in the glass doors, disturbing our short-lived moment as she eyed the pile of dust that the man had become. He was piled tightly as if some cleanup crew had swept him up, ready to sift him into a dustpan.
The girl ran through it, kicking up his ashes as she laughed. Judging by her looks- and cruel lack of decency considering the situation- she was undoubtedly a member of the Ellisario Family. The bleached locks and disgustingly gorgeous facial features were clue enough.
“What just happened?” She practically frolicked toward us, kicking up the dust again with no regard for what it had once been. Orwhoit once was.
Eleanor soon came into view, her eyes wandering the room suspiciously. She put her hand on the girl’s shoulders, tugging her back to the shattered front door.
At this angle, I could see the damage to the building now.
Papers and briefcases scattered on the ground. There were specs of glass riddling the tiled floor and the smell of burnt coffee swirled in the air almost like someone had forgotten to take it off the burner. And besides the mummified security guard, no one else was in sight.
No lines to the elevator. No chatter filling the halls.
It was strangely still like time had stopped moving for just that moment. Or like an apocalypse had ripped through the office, tearing all the life from it. However, the rippling sound of sirens and car horns grounded me as they grew louder, almost centering near us.
“We should leave.” Eleanor was stern, her brows furrowing as wrinkles creased on her forehead. Those were probably the first and only wrinkles I would see on her.
“Now! Before the Elder’s come to see who broke the bylaws.” Her voice grew as her hands frantically shot up into the air hastily.
I mentally questioned what she had said, but it was short-lived as Dustin carried me away into their car.
