FALLEN
Bring Me To Life
The sky, rich with moonlit colors and shades of blue raged war against the warm sun; hazelnut and tree bark browns, milk chocolate and latte. A latched door was all that stood between, and with a single backhanded caress, that barrier fell to dust.
*How can you see into my eyes like open doors*
She dropped her bag of belongings on the hotel floor and swept over to the mini-bar, pouring herself a glass of the cheapest bottle. The ache that had taken up residence in the pit of her soul hadn't moved out, but thankfully no longer ate away at her from the inside out.
*Leading you down into my core Where I've become so numb*
It was there, while pacing the room, as if he often did while in contemplation, that it hit him. All the years of searching for redemption, for forgiveness, for mercy, the only place he'd ever needed to find it in was himself. Beyond that, there was nothing else. No one to prove anything to, no one to wave a white flag to and walk the plank for.
*Without a soul my spirit's sleeping somewhere cold Until you find it there and lead it back home*
A fire spread through the cold walls of her home as her back pressed tightly to it, giving off heat in rolling waves. He'd only given her one chance to say no, to which she'd declined, before taking her hand and throwing them into darkness. Neither had ever fallen so far so fast, but neither feared the bottom and when it hit, colors exploded and they gasped for air.
*Wake me up inside*
But as he climbed back up from the pit, lifting himself onto solid ground, others fell.
*Wake me up inside*
Two sips into her nursed drink she tossed it aside, deciding that this time, numbness would not be the answer to her problem. She would cope, alone, in her consciousness without the aid of oblivion.
*Call my name and save me from the dark*
Her mouth left a trail of kisses from his lips to his ear as his hands flickered over her face and hips. He whispered the name he'd sworn to secrecy and she covered his voice to silence him.
*Bid my blood to run Before I come undone Save me from the nothing I've become*
From their own separate darkness's, two rose and overcame, stomping out their insecurities with iron shoes and sturdy hearts. Taking one last look into the past, they turned and strode head-long into the future, and for both, for now, the ache was gone.
*Now that I know what I'm without You can't just leave me*
The darkness that surrounded them and the danger their actions enforced fueled the passion that licked at their heels as they stumbled through the house, blinded by kaleidoscopes of color and emotion. The house, the walls, the room, even the bed they'd fallen onto melted away with every forceful kiss, with every heated caress.
It wasn't love. It wasn't want. It came from need in it's strongest and purest form. The need to be something alive.
*Breathe into me and make me real*
Fabric boundaries were stripped away, leaving skin to press against skin, lips to taste, hands to touch, limbs to entangle.
*Bring me to life*
He froze suddenly, suspended above her, staring with eyes dying to see below the surface. But as he searched, the deeper he went the worse he felt. They'd both disregarded the message sent out at the last moment, swept up in the fire-blazing walls and desire.
"Jarod?"
It was the first time she'd said his name aloud, and it sounded wrong on her tongue, to thick and forced. He reeled.
*Wake me up inside*
"You don't feel anything," he whispered, his voice cracking. Even in the dark he caught site of the salt-spiked tears dancing from her eyes to the pillow as she rolled away. The message he'd seen flash in her lifeless eyes had been simple-
Take me.
*Wake me up inside*
He sat on the edge of the bed, drinking in gulps or air to catch the breath he'd had punched out of him. Ten seconds more and it would have been rape. He didn't want to take her. He didn't want her to surrender. Not like that.
"I'm sorry," she murmured, reading his thoughts. "You wanted something." But he barely heard her, still heaving.
*Call my name and save me from the dark*
Sitting up with the sheets wrapped around herself, she pulled the larger blanket over them and pulled him back down with her, his head resting on her chest. Tearless sobs shook his body and she stroked his hair gently, offering a rarely displayed source of comfort.
"I almost-" He choked. "I almost. I almost...why?"
"Because. It's the only thing I have to give."
He looked up, penetrating her soul as far down as he could, and at the very core found nothing. No love. No heart. No will. On the inside, she was completely dead, and all that was left was ashes.
*Bid my blood to run Before I come undone Save me from the nothing I've become*
When he'd gone to deep she pulled away, hugging the long sheets to her pale frame as she stood in front of the window, back to him. Though others suspected, he was the first to know her secret, the one she'd carried around with her for months.
Finding his boxers on the floor, he slipped them on and out of bed, moving to stand directly behind her. Gently wrapping both arms around her waist he pulled her to him, resting his face on her shoulder.
"Let me help you."
She gave a half-laugh and shook her head. "I think I'm beyond helping."
"No one's beyond helping."
She scoffed and jerked away, creating a gap between them before turning around to face him again. The moonlight reflected off his face, while hers was concealed in shadows.
*Bring me to life*
"You don't get it, do you Jarod? I don't feel *anything*. How do you help someone who can't tell the difference between pain and anger and love?"
"You show them."
His step forward was her step back and the distance between them was the same until her back landed against the wall, the same place it had started out.
*Frozen inside without your touch Without your love darlin' Only you are the life among the dead*
Resting one hand on her hip and other on her cheek, he bent forward, covering her lips so lightly it sent a shiver down her spine. There was no force, no control or demands. Just a tenderness that surpassed even that of her mother.
When he pulled back he found her gaze and locked it. "That's love," he murmured. "And it's all you'll ever get from me."
*All of this time I can't believe I couldn't see Left in the dark but you were there in front of me*
Surprise was the first emotion he'd seen on her face that night and it made him smile. He stepped back, giving her the choice to stay or move away. Still clutching the wrap she hesitated in both directions. By the look on his face she knew she could tell him to leave and he would, no strings. But she also knew all she had to do was ask, and he would stay for as long as she needed him.
Stepping forward, she reached up and brushed his cheek with the back of her hand, the first deliberate movement she'd made. The breath he'd been holding blew out all at once into her hair and he enfolded her into his arms.
*I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems Got to open my eyes to everything*
The Centre didn't exist. Her father and his dive, Raines and his threats, Lyle and his missing thumb, none of it mattered, or even registered in her mind.
I want to feel something.
She never said it, but he heard anyway, and gave her everything he had, every gentle touch, every ounce of love and compassion he ripped from his heart and gave to her.
This time when he gazed into her soul, her heartbeat pounded against her chest and a passion increased by tenderness sparked in her eyes.
*Without thought without a voice without a soul There must be something more Bring me to life*
**
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