I managed to keep Christopher and Zachary safe at the cost of Lyle’s life. Holding the unconscious man in my arms, I continued recalling the last moments of his life since he had proven himself an affectionate man prior to his death.
Unwilling to embrace the fact he had passed on, I started wailing hysterically and asked those around me, including Christopher, to get the unconscious man a doctor. I wasn’t even aware of the things going on as I continued repeating Lyle’s name until I was unconscious.
I had a lucid dream when I was unconscious. Seated next to the pool, Lyle, who had brought me to the shore, introduced himself and assured me things would be fine.
We ended up engaging in a conversation in my dream. I introduced myself in return, “I-I’m Yvonne.”
“Can I drop by and pay you a visit every once in a while in the future?”
I responded with a nod and assured him, “Of course!”
Halfway through the conversation, he collapsed to the ground in front of me as blood continued gushing out of his chest.
“Lyle!” I shrieked and roused myself from sleep.
Holding me in his arms, Christopher continued caressing my back, reassuring me we were in great hands, “Eve, it’s fine! It’s going to be fine! You’re safe!”
Once I snapped out of confusion and figured out we had made it to the hospital, I asked with my eyes gleaming, “We finally made it out alive, hadn’t we? It was nothing more than a nightmare, wasn’t it? Where’s Lyle? Is he fine?”
Christopher furrowed his brows and turned around instead of answering my queries. I repeated my questions and confronted him, “He’s fine, isn’t he? The horrifying scene was nothing more than a nightmare of mine, wasn’t it?”
“Calm down, Eve!” He wrapped his arms around me with all his might to stop me from getting overly worked up.
“I’m fine! Tell me if it was merely another one of my nightmares? There was no way the selfish Lyle would take the bullet on my behalf! If Crystal’s life was the one at stake, he might change his mind, but that wasn’t the case since I was the one on the verge of death!”
I forced a smile and brought up all sorts of things to deceive myself.
“The Smiths has sent someone to bring him back with them. I’m so sorry, Eve. You wouldn’t have to go through any of these if it weren’t because of me.” Once again, he held me in his arms in an attempt to console me.
“What do you mean?” Once emotions came flooding out, I started trembling in angst. I tried to stop myself from weeping, but my effort was to no avail.
“Lyle!” I ended up wailing hysterically for a few minutes.
“Just take things out if it makes you feel better! Eve, I’ll always be here for you!” Christopher muttered.
I ended up crying for a long time and fell into a deep slumber in his arms. It was already evening by the time I roused from my sleep. Slouching against the man’s chest, I murmured, “Chris, I shouldn’t have allowed him to tag along with me! I should’ve stopped him from making the trip!”
Christopher remained silent throughout the session since he knew I merely needed a pair of ears.
“He had always been an arrogant and self-centered man! The only one he cared about was himself! When we were in a relationship back in the day, he wouldn’t stop getting on my nerves! As a result, I thought I was the one at fault! In the end, I gave up on him when I found out Crystal was the only one he had in mind!”
After pausing for a few seconds, I added, “With that being said, he wouldn’t stop showing up in front of me as much as I tried getting rid of him! Ironically, I brought upon his demise at the end of the day! He should’ve stayed away from me since the affection we had for one another wasn’t mutual!” Halfway through the orated speech, I burst out laughing due to extreme frustration, remarking in a sarcastic manner, “He did a great job since I have to keep him in mind and spend the rest of my life in guilt.”
