CHAPTER 13♍♑
⬇️AN ATTEMPT AT LIFE!⬆️
Seconds passed as he lay there motionless. He thought he heard voices calling out to him, people swarmed over him, trying to reach him.
He could see shadowy figures, vague images, faces staring down at him when in reality it was only Astra, Kiki and their grandmother kaname....
That was how far too deep he was gone.
They were trying to save him...
And if he could, he would have just laughed.
Surely they could tell it was far too late for him to be saved and yet, they acted like little kids, blindsighted and naive to the darkness of the real world.
"What's wrong with him?? He's not breathing" their grandmother said
"I...I don't know but this shouldn't be happening" Astra gave the reply with a slight stutter
"We have a paper bag downstairs, I can go get that if that'll help" Kiki stated
"No, don't! It'll only make matters worse" their grandmother uttered
"Okay so what do we do then?? Just let him die?!".....
No Response......
"Well I say we call and ambulance and fast" Kiki continued with a suggestion
"And what if it's too late by then?!" Astra asked, staring directly at him now "he's clearly not human, what makes think they'll take him in for treatment?? What makes you think they'll accept him?!"
"Sis, we gotta do something...
He said and with that, turned his attention back at the dying Kiel....
****************
//Kiel's pov//
Death is the gateway to rebirth and just as someone beloved passes through, they both mourn and celebrate.
Humans are indeed strange creatures...
They feel the loss of their mates and kind in their laughs and communities and yet they still celebrate.
They celebrate all that they stood for, all that the dead achieved during their lifetime; for goodness,
For love,
For the natural world,
And for humanity but I.....
I had no one to celebrate me
I had no one to cry over me...
I've held my breath long enough in a pool before but this, this was nothing like that at all...
This is like having a gun to my head and being told not to breathe, not to let my heart beat
Which of course it will....
And just as the heart must, my lungs will also inhale whether it's the bring Waters of the pool or air. Death is inevitable.
Like a thief, it'll come unannounced and it'll turn a blind eye to the right and wrongs, to give eternal slumber in return for the life of any man, woman, child or monsters alike
No matter how favourable, it does not discriminate. Unlike those of the vastly different human race
*****************
"What if this is all just psychological?!" Their grandmother - the old lady spoke all of a sudden.
"What do you mean psychological, like psychosomatic?!" Astra asked
"Somatoformic..., the old lady corrected
"Uh som.....
"A physical illness from a psychogenic cause" Astra explained but Kiki Still didn't seem to get it, putting on a blank face
"It's all in his head...she continued but in a more simpler term
"All in his head??.....he asked further
His eight year old mind could comprehend exactly what was happening
"Kiki go get the inhaler, it's in the cabinet downstairs....grandma kaname ordered and without any questions asked, he nods in response then sprinted out the room on this errand of his
"Okay Kiel, stay with me....
" Stay with me okay?! Stay with me...Astra echoed, her voice laced with concern and a knowing fear, her hand gently laid across the boy's cheek
"I'm tired...he mutters out the phrase under his breath"i'm so tired.
"C'mon Kiki, where are you with that inhaler?!!"
Meanwhile//...
Kiki ran down the hall and all the way to the stairway. He rushes over it, his sneakers thudding down against the wooden stairs and soon he was all the way down.
As quickly as possible, he scurried over to the kitchen and there its cabinet which stood alone at the side; it's smooth and waxed veneer gave it somewhat of a mysterious edge too
Why an inhaler would be in here of all places he didn't know, much less did he care about it anyways
He opens and closes each and every drawer, searching in a haste for the missing inhaler amongst the several tools lying within but all in vain
"Grandma could have just gotten a toolbox to place all of these tools in..."he thought to himself and then came the loud, sudden sound
THUMP! THUMP!! THUMP!!!
-The vibrating sounds of knuckles pounding hard against the wooden door penetrated even through the walls. A loud knock repeated several times-
"Yes!....
Kiki muttered abruptly upon finding the inhaler and just then, he heard the same thump sounds coming from the front door again
"Yeah, am coming.....
He gave the response then closed the drawer back in and to the door, he went.
He leaned in close at it, the unmistakable noise he heard indicating someone's presence on the other side.
"But who....he wondered.
They weren't expecting any visitors today and surely one wasn't just going to show up now
Still though, he pushes open the door and standing right there in front of him was an officer dressed not in black uniform but a silver one, indicating a rank higher than the others
"Detective foster from State Police" the officer said, flashing his badge
"Oh no....Kiki mumbled upon first sight. From the moment he saw the officer, it dawned on him. He immediately knew what this was and what this meant.....
Trouble.....
And as quickly as he could, he made an attempt to shut the door but noticed it wouldn't budge for some reason. That was until he found something lodged in the way
"Seriously?!" The young lad spoke to himself upon sighting the officers foot.
He shrugged then glanced over at his side to where a hammer was hung in place
The devilish intention of him picking up the giant man sized hammer and slamming it down against the officer's foot with full force was quite the longing temptation and he would have adhered too if the officer hadn't calmed his nervous mind down with the phrase
"I'm here to talk, okay?? Just talk"
Seconds passed before Kiki finally gave in, pushing upon the door. There his gaze met once more with that of the officer
"Sorry to bother you.....
"I didn't do nothing, you can't prove nothing!" Kiki uttered, cutting him short
"Uhmmmm prove what?!" The officer asked
"The recent paintings all over town?! Wait, you are here about that aren't you?!_"
"Well not really, no" was the officer'given reply
"Oh, thank God...Uh i mean that's really good heh" he let out a nervous chuckle to accompany his speech before finally asking the question that plagued him. "So why then are you here?!"
"We're asking to see if anyone has seen or heard anything unusual lately, is anyone home?!" He tries to peek into the house
"Uhh no, just me...so what kind of disturbance?!"
"More like if you've spotted anything green and moving than it is a disturbance really. Probably long gone by now but just in case you know."
"Right uhmm well, how about that shirt over there?! It's green" Kiki mentioned, pointing a finger at a green shirt that hung on a line in the corner
"And look, the breeze is making it move and....
The detective turns his gaze back at the young lad with a serious look which the boy then quickly responds to by saying
" ...No, sorry...I haven't seen a thing"
"That's okay, just being thorough" the officer replied "well have a good....
Before he could complete his statement, he heard a loud feminine yell coming from within the house
"Where are you with that inhaler!"he heard
The boy did tell him there was no one home but the voice....
He was sure the young lad had heard it too for when he the officer tried asking questions, he was met with a door slammed to the face.
The officer didn't say anything though. he just stared briefly at the door as if in a trance, turned around and then went back down the leading stairway and in his pocket was something he brought out.
Something small...
It was an ear comm!
He fixed it to his ear and with both fingers gently holding it in place, he spoke;
"Yeah, it's me.....
"You know the monster you're looking for?!....
"The one that escaped??...
"I have it's location, I know where it is...
"Excellent,...came the response from the ear comm
"But in return....the officer continued
"Relax deputy foster, once I have the anomaly in hand, you can consider your next expedition fully funded"
"That's all I'd like to hear" he said but this time, with a mischievous smile on his face.
*************
Before he knew it, he was running again, this time running back up the wooden stairs with the inhaler tightly gripped in hand.
Shortly afterwards he entered the room
"Here....he said, tossing the inhaler over to his sister Astra
"You're...welcome, he muttered the words before falling down to the ground, due to exhaustion as it seemed.
"Kiel, look at me okay?!...look at me. she said, her hand still laid at the side of his face
"Breath in this, here you'll be fine I promise...
She carefully puts the inhaler to his mouth and that's when she noticed his eye lids slowly closing, he was slowly drifting off into eternal slumber
"Kiel Kiel, stay with me, okay?! Don't close your eyes, don't...
Kiel?!....
"Kiel?!, she calls out again, her voice laced with concern and a knowing fear.
No Response Followed,...
No movements
Nothing......
He just laid still.
He had tried though, even more than an average human possibly could but there was no fighting death,
There is no escaping the inevitable.
She had read in a book once that there was this network of energy that flowed through all living things, even monsters alike.
Only a fraction of that energy is only borrowed and one day, someday, we would have to give it all back but she....
She refused to believe this!
As much as it pained her, she just couldn't take it in.
Not in this state....
....Not like this
She edged in close, her ear up against his chest now and that's when she discovered the horrifying truth for herself
No heart beat....
"Kiel.....she muttered in a voice mixed with several emotions; sadness, shock, grief, fear....
The old woman reached out for her and a calm, gentle hand she laid on her granddaughter's shoulder
"Elspeth, he's gone....
.......That was it!......
Another person in her life, just gone like that
Three simple words constructed of simple letters spoke courteously through her soft English accent that cut through the young girl almost too deeply like that of a knife, only much more painful.
Merely looking at the boy and the "it's going to be okay" expression he had on his face before he died was enough to bring her aback and to the days of her dying mother
He had the same expression as her mother's
Her eyes burned with an ache to sob and her stomach rocked back and forth uncontrollably on the harsh waves of if not one but one of the most destructive variety of emotions - fear
Somehow though, she found a way to shrug off this feeling.
A thing not many found easy to do
She needed to come to terms with their deaths and do what is needed of her, what she was too scared for her dearest mother
To try the impossible?? You can say that...
One thing her mother told her and that was
"Before we deem something or someone as dead or unliving.
Look a little closer if you dare and you would see a flicker of hope, a speck of life that still could be within, one that could be saved bringing aback the ones we call dead...."
She took a deep breath, her shaky hands she placed on the boy's cold chest
And then......