My View From the Window ~ Chapter Eight

I sat motionlessly on the scarlet couch, staring blankly down at the floor. The apartment about me had

turned unusually cold, and I could feel my hands slowly beginning to turn numb. I had been sitting in this same

position for probably close to an hour, after Damien and I had managed to carry Vincent back to his apartment and

place him in the bathtub in order to clean the large gash that had formed on the back of his neck, and the room

about me seemed to be becoming noticeably darker and cooler, so much so that occasionally I caught a glimpse of

my breaths misting before my eyes.

“............He’s still unconscious, just to let you know.”

I slowly turned my head, then sluggishly noticed Damien standing with his arms crossed and his back

leaned tiredly against the doorway leading into the corridor. I stared at him in silence for several seconds, then

gradually turned back around and directed my vision towards the floor once again.

I could feel his eyes on my back for a number of moments, and then he exhaled a sigh, left the potency of

the wall, and came up behind me. “.........I’m tellin’ ya, he’s gonna be out for a while,” he told me, leaning his

elbows atop the back of the couch behind me. “My checkin’ on ’im every five minutes ain’t gonna change that.

You just gotta take it easy, Liza.....Go get some air or somethin’. Your face has gone completely pale.”

I didn’t react for a second, then slowly fluttered my eyes shut. “..............What if he dies......?”

“.....He ain’t gonna die, Eliza. He’s perfectly fine. The worst thing that could ’appen when he comes to is

that he’s got a concussion or somethin’. But I’m tellin’ ya, Eliza, he ain’t gonna die.”

I hesitated, then slowly exhaled a quiet sigh, lifting my hands to my face. “...................Why did I do it,

Damien...?” I whispered hoarsely, opening my eyes and spilling tears down my cheeks.

“.........Hmm....?”

“..........Why did I do it.....?” I repeated, staring blankly down at the blurry image of the floorboards

beneath my feet. “.........Why did I come back....? Why didn’t I just head home.....why didn’t I just go where it

was safe and I could forget all about this...? Now I’m stuck here in this goddam hell and I can’t escape......why...?

Why did I do this to myself....?....”

“..........................Eliza...........” Damien watched me silently for several seconds, then slowly walked

around and sank slowly into the cushion beside me. “.......C’mon, Eliza....” he reassured me softly, placing a

gentle arm around my shoulders and pulling me close to him. “.....You ain’t done nothin’, ya hear? You’re gonna

be ok, all right? As soon as this guy wakes up and you don’t feel obligated to watch after ’im no more, I’m gonna

bring you back home, and everythin’ll go back ta normal...”

“.............I can’t go back now....” I choked throatily, raising my hands to my face once again. “........Not

anymore.......They’re all dead, Damien......How can I face that now....?”

“...........Shhh...they ain’t all dead, Eliza.....you’ll see, as soon as I bring ya home, it’ll be ok...” He gently

reached forward and grasped my chin, then slowly lifted my face and placed a light kiss against my lips.

I breathed out a weary sigh, drawing back against the pillow behind me, then raised my hands to my

cheeks and wiped away the tears from my eyes. Damien delicately brushed the bangs dropping over my

complexion, then leaned forward and kissed me lightly on the forehead. “......It’ll be all right, you’ll see...”

He was cut off from saying anything more as a loud knocking noise came from the doorway below.

Immediately I sat straight upwards with a breathless gasp, clasping both hands across my chest. “......It’s...

him....!” I choked raspily, covering my mouth with my hands. “....He’s...he’s found me again....I knew I couldn’t

escape.......!!”

“.....Don’t move,” Damien instructed me firmly, getting to his feet and angrily approaching the doorway.

“I’ll kick this bastard’s ass, I will!!”

“.....Damien, stop--!!” I watched him rip open the door and storm furiously down the stairwell, then

slowly sank back down into a sitting position. “.......Oh.....oh my God.....” I stammered hoarsely. “.....He’s...he’s

everywhere, I can’t get--”

Suddenly I froze as I could feel a pair of expressionless eyes boring angrily into my back. Slowly I forced

myself to turn my head around, and immediately I drew in a startled gasp as I noticed the disheveled form of

Vincent glaring emptily at my face from the doorway leading into the living room. “...V....Vincent...” I stuttered

in surprise, gradually shifting to my feet and turning to face him but not leaving the stability of the couch before

me. “.....You...you woke up...?”

He didn’t reply, only continued to gaze straight through me, then slowly took several steps into the room.

My breath involuntarily got caught in my parched throat, and I stifled the urge to stagger several defensive steps

backwards. “.......You...you scared me....” I stammered unsteadily, forcing a weary smile. “....I....I thought

that...that maybe you had died.....and that you never would forgive me.......Are you ok now...? How does your head

feel?.......Sorry about putting you in the bathtub, but Damien and I really didn’t know where else to.....” I found my

voice unintentionally dissolving away before it escaped my throat.

His scarlet eyes pierced straight through my body, and I could feel their fiery gaze igniting a vicious stab

of fear within my stomach. The deathly silence his speechlessness beckoned was beginning to slide chillingly

across the back of my neck and cascade down my spine. “......................Is..........is something wrong........?” I

managed to choke through the thick muzzle of muteness cinched across my lips, feeling the hands hidden behind

my back beginning to tremble inadvertently. “..........Are.......aren’t you going to say

anything.....?....What......what’s the matter......?”

My body turned stiff as he suddenly approached me with a series of gradual steps, halting maybe three or

four inches before me, and stared woodenly down into my face. Some sort of suppressed fury burned conspicuously

behind his crimson eyes, and all at once he turned his head towards the stairway, where the sound of Tifa, Cloud,

and Damien’s voices all erupted simultaneously, as if some sort of altercation had begun abruptly. I breathed out a

soft sigh of relief and lifted my hands to my heart. “.......................It wasn’t him.......” I sighed happily. “....It was

only Tifa and Cloud........he didn’t find me after all.......”

I turned silent once again as Vincent shot one final blank glare back into my face, then slowly turned and

made his way over towards the door and eventually disappeared into the darkness of the stairwell. All at once I

found myself alone in the apartment.

........................What.................what was that.........? I questioned myself, staring after him for several

seconds. ......Why....why did he turn so angry all of a sudden.....?...............Is.........is he mad that he had to save

me from those two men.....?......Or.....or was it something else.......?......But.....but what did I do.......?

I breathed out a soft sigh and slowly directed my vision towards the floor, brushing aside a lock of hair

that fell limply before my eyes. .................I don’t understand him.......I don’t think I ever will......

There was a sudden malicious chill that snapped through my body, and I watched as my breath began to

unexpectedly mist before my eyes. ....What....what the hell....? My vision leapt from the carpet beneath me to the

room I stood in. ....Where...where’d this sudden blast of cold air come from....??

I stopped in place as a soft sound came faintly from somewhere behind me.

I remained tense for several seconds, then slowly turned my head. The noise came again, muffled by the

distance between us from somewhere down the corridor. I stared out towards it for several seconds, my quiet

breaths creating small knots of haze in the icy air, then took several steps in the direction of the hallway. “.....That

sound.....” I whispered softly, continuing gradually into the foyer. “.....I’ve heard it before.....What is it.....?”

The noise came a third time, more recognizable this time by the ground I had covered, and soon I could

perceive the sound of a baby’s desperate wails. The cold around me turned noticeably more intense, numbing my

skin and turning my lips a faint blue color. The infant screamed again, choking tearfully on restrained sobs,

growing progressively louder as my footsteps continued down the hallway. My bare feet had turned deadened

against the floor beneath me, and I could no longer feel the carpet brushing lightly against my skin. I proceeded

deeper into the corridor, walking through the mist each breath summoned up before me and glancing hazily into

each room I passed. The newborn let out another lachrymose screech from further down the hallway.

.................Don’t cry........... I thought mistily, gradually approaching Vincent’s bedchamber before me.

.......I’m here now, no need to be afraid..............You’ll be all right now, I’m here with you......

Slowly I creaked open the door and took several gradual steps into the bedroom.

*****

“...........Vincent, are you all right??” Tifa gasped in shock as his tousled form emerged from the front

door out onto the front step, brushing aside several tangled strands of ebony hair. She and Cloud had finished

closing up the bar for the day and had decided to visit Vincent but had met a furious Damien at the doorway.

“....Whoa, Vin-man, what the hell happened??!” Cloud exclaimed, scratching at the back of his head.

“Where have you been?!”

“....................It’s nothing....” he replied monotonously after a dense pause, gazing blankly past them out

towards the road. “...................I’m perfectly fine..............”

“.....You know this pair of fags?!” Damien snapped nastily, pointing over towards them. “....And you

would let ’em come bargin’ over here without no warning??!”

Vincent remained silent, continuing to stare blankly out towards the street before him. “........................It

doesn’t matter..........”

Tifa glanced worriedly over towards his face. “.......Vincent, what’s--”

She was silenced as a sudden piercing scream erupted abruptly through the stairwell above them, then

bluntly ended as unexpectedly as it had begun. A deathly silence ensued afterwards, like the stillness succeeding a

grenade detonation.

Damien drew in a startled gasp and whirled back towards the door, then took off in a furious rush towards

the stairwell. “Eliza!!!!!”

There was a deafening slamming noise as he viciously threw open the door, revealing an empty, silent

living room. “Eliza!!” he called breathlessly, feeling the panicked forms of Tifa, Cloud and Vincent dashing up

behind him. “Eliza, where the hell are you??!”

His vision snapped hastily back and forth across the room, and suddenly he sprinted forwards, into the

hallway. “Eliza!!!” He emitted a frightened shout as my unconscious body came into view, sprawled on its back on

the floor, its eyes, frozen open by a sudden ambush of insensibility, gaping blankly up at the ceiling overhead.

~ End of Chapter Eight ~

* Author's Note ~ Yea, I know this is a short chapter, but hey, I thought I was going to make this the exciting chapter, but I figured I should extend it to the next one in order to increase suspense!! Mwahaha! However, my ingenious plan is rather pointless, since I decided to post both chapters at the same time, but....hey, whateva!! Keep reading!! ^_^ *

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