Avalyn
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"Gosh, Lynn, you need some fresh air."
"Hmm?"
The male next to me stopped dead in his tracks, making me pause for a moment and turning around to face him. He looked at me; a hint of confusion coloring his rather soft features, and his brows knitted in irritation.
"What?" I let out a small, sheepish laugh, but Eric did not seem amused, not in the slightest.
"I said you need some fresh air." He stated after a brief pause, his big eyes still fixed on me, eyes that carried the slightest look of concern. People stopped in the middle of the large hallway, casting fleeting, questioning glances at us.
"Seriously, Avalyn-" He finally continued walking and I let out an inaudible sigh before turning around and following him, only falling a step or two behind.
"You've been cooped up in your dark, suffocating room for the whole weekend, you know," He continued. "watching porn or praying for the dark lord or whatever the hell you do in your free time. I understand that I truly do, but you need to go outside a little more. Just saying." He shrugged, his eyes fixed ahead.
"How dare you? You know I don't watch porn!" I scoffed.
"Lies."
Eric was right, I spent most of my time at home, either drawing, painting, or just staring at the ceiling with music bursting through my skull. Well, to be honest, the majority of time was spent waiting for Rey to... I didn't know, drop by maybe? For some reason, he had just stopped showing up for quite some time now, and frankly, I hated it. However, I'd rather gouge my own eyes out than admit it— not even to myself.
When I kicked the front door open later that day, I was greeted with the same empty, cold rooms; void of any signs of life, warmth, or mysterious, hundred-year-old angels of death dressed as a typical angsty teen—a good sign, a good sign indeed.
I threw my bag, sighing audibly as I heard its satisfying loud thud against the floor. I almost hopped onto the soft, welcoming bed. However, if I had one rule in life, it would be to not bring 'outside clothes' to bed.
I hurriedly snatched some sweats, an old t-shirt that perhaps belonged to Lily at some point in time, and fresh underwear, before hopping into the shower.
It was a quick shower, with no time to self-reflect or think or win fake arguments. When I was done, choosing to get dressed in the small, foggy bathroom, I pushed the wooden door open only to find someone on my bed. He was lying on his side, propped up on his elbow, hand supporting his head, making himself comfortable.
"Well, fuck my rule, I guess." I walked towards him, small droplets of water falling gracefully from the ends of my dark hair.
"Oh, dirty things that come out of those pretty lips of yours." He said, but his eyes were glued to something, casually scanning what appeared to be a book, skimming swiftly between pages and only pausing to take a glance or two.
"Bite me." I sat at the edge of the bed, my bed, as if I never belonged there. He tore his gaze from whatever he was casually studying and his eyes fell on me instead.
The corner of his lips curled up in a half smile, and there was a glimmer of something in his piercing silver eyes, a hint of emotion that vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
"Tempting..." I could hear his low, rich voice almost rumbling in his chest, causing a quick rush of familiar heat to run all over my still-damp skin and all the way to my warm cheeks. I let out a voiceless laugh, almost a slight rush of air, that did not help but feed the already existing tension.
Rey was in my bed, his huge body only a couple of inches away. His black locks fell gracefully against the sides of his beautiful face as he rested his head on his left hand, with several defined veins hugging the tight muscles all the way down to his forearm.
I could almost feel the slow, steady rise and fall of his chest with every breath he took and I knew if I listened closely, I would have actually heard his heartbeat.
I shifted in my seat, unconsciously moving an inch closer, and in doing so trying to close the distance between our bodies. At that exact moment, Rey was all I could think about, swallowing me in the depths of his dark, eerie presence, and worst of it all, my body was betraying me, responding in ways I had to keep to myself. It was getting dangerous, far too dangerous.
I quickly stopped myself, dropping my eyes and breaking the tense eye contact, choosing to rather focus on what, upon closer inspection, appeared to be an old photo album that used to belong to my mother.
"Where did you find that?" I inched a little bit closer and our bodies almost touched. "It's been so long since I've seen this. I don't even remember where I've hidden it all those years." I ran the tip of my finger over the thin plastic film covering an old picture of a baby girl in the top right corner.
"It's been so long," I whispered to no one but myself as I traced the corner of another picture; two girls at a birthday party. The taller brown-haired girl was in an extravagant pink tutu, she had a bright smile that would eclipse the golden sunlight. The other girl, however, had her arms crossed against his chest, a nasty frown plastered to her face as she looked away from the colorful birthday cake.
"God...I've always been an asshole." I stated, earning a deep chuckle from the reaper, a chuckle that sent shivers down my spine, suddenly reminding me of how close we were.
I tore my gaze from the miserable mini-me only to become face-to-face with the angel of death. With his free hand, he reached for the side of my burning face, casually tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. Time seemed to stop and my eyes immediately fell on his lips. This was torture. I was looking death in the eyes, yet all I could think about was the feeling of his lips on mine.
"She's your sister, isn't she?" He broke the heavy silence that had suddenly swallowed the whole dimly lit room. I blinked, once...twice.
He gestured toward the old birthday photo.
"Oh, yeah. That's my big sis, Elena."
"The bright, shining light; Heaven's torch." He scoffed. "A name, my dear Avalyn, tells you a lot about a person's story. It most certainly reflects their personality, duty, path, and fate." He explained. "Sometimes it could be a gift, chosen by God himself, other times, it becomes a burden— a curse." Something was lurking behind those dark eyes.
"And what does my name mean?" Sure, I'll buy into it.
"Breath of life. That's what you are, Avalyn"