Traitor

By Waniya Ehtesham

Traitor

My legs took me to nowhere as I kept running. The night felt peculiarly dark tonight. My brunette hair jumped with the wind. My head craned downwards to see my satin white top stained with gore, my left hand that was covered in a man’s blood stayed by my side as he latched onto my other bloody hand as we sprinted together.

Him. He was the only one that I trusted in this entire world full of traitors. He promised that we would run away together and leave this world full of crime. I turned my head sideways to look at him, his face red from adrenaline, his raven-colored hair sweaty, the cut on his forehead bleeding continuously since he didn’t bother to clean it. If he did bother to clean the blood, he might need to clean up his whole body because of him being fully enveloped in blood. This was a life and death situation for us, he had done all this before, but not me. I had never been involved in any of this shady business, but little did I know, I’ve been counted in since the day I let him in my life. But I knew he was going to get me out of this mess, he will, he must, he promised.

“Just a little more far.” He reminded me in his worrisome voice. He was trying to be brave for me, I knew. He was just as miserable as I was. My knees were giving in below me; fresh tears left my eyes as I kept my head facing forward. I whimpered softly to myself, my feet hurting as my adrenaline decided to die down moment by moment.

“I can’t...” I whispered to him. He turned his head to me, our feet still moving fast as we continued to gallop. I let out a loud sob, wanting to cover my mouth with my hand but I wouldn’t want to get the blood on my face. His grip tightened on my hand, comforting me as much as he could in this moment. My legs started to slow down as I cried, hard.

He grabbed me by my waist as he felt me getting weaker each passing second, supporting my weight. He stopped us in the middle of the road, then went ahead to turn into an empty alleyway. I sighed heavily in relief as we finally stopped, my legs were going to give up any second anyway. Leaning against a wall, I let out a choked sob, I couldn’t take this anymore. Sliding my back down the wall, I sat down, hugging my knees to my chest.

“Are you okay?” He spoke up, his voice soft. Those three words made me completely break down as tears started flowing down my face, smudging my mascara. I don’t surmise that I’ve ever felt this much pain before, because right now, I feel like the almighty himself has stood me up.

“No, I’m- I’m not okay.” I choked out between my sobs. From my peripheral vision, I could see him squatting down in front of me. I looked up at him, my tear-filled eyes making him look blurry. He cupped my face softly, making me lean into his touch; the touch that was the only thing I could rely on now.

“We’re going to be fine.” He said, rubbing soothing circles under my jaw with his thumb. “Do you promise?” I asked, sniffing, and gulping the uneasy feeling in my throat.

He sighed at my question, hesitating at first but nodding his head nevertheless. Before I could say anything else, he pulled me in a warm embrace, engulfing me as I rested my head against his chest. It may be my intense paranoia but I don’t believe him, I don’t believe that we will survive.

“Come on, we have to go.” He whispered into my hair, “We’ll talk later.”

“Do we even have time?” Another tear left my eye as I talked.

“I don’t know.” He murmured, pulling away from the embrace and resting his forehead against mine. I knew, I knew he wasn’t sure, none of us were. Never had I ever thought that I would end up like this; I was just an ordinary person, until he invited himself into my life. But he wasn’t the problem because he always made me feel safe, made me believe that there was a way out of this.

“You can save us; I know you can.” I told him, hoping that he would believe my lies. He visibly gulped in uneasiness, making me confirm the fact that he was indeed not believing that he could make a difference. However, he hummed in response, giving me false hope.

*****

It had been an hour since we left the tranquil alley. We’ve reached an old garage by now. I don’t know the exact time, but if I had to guess I’d say that it’s 2-3 a.m. The night was still as dark as death’s eye.

“Are we safe here?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper. I waited for an answer but craned my neck to his side when I didn’t get a response. His face fell in what felt like sorrow, his brows creased as if he was angry or disappointed.

“Are you okay?” It was now my turn to ask him this question as I rested my hand on his shoulder. Before he could reply to my concern, footsteps were heard. My body froze at the sound and I grabbed his jacket tightly, trying to pull him away with me but he stayed rooted to his spot, staring at the ground below his feet.

“What are you doing? They’ll catch us!” I whisper-shouted at him, still pulling at his hand. He did not budge.

“Well, well, well,” I heard that voice, that demonic voice that never seem to leave us alone, “isn’t this a pleasant surprise.” He laughed, making me suck in a sharp breath. He had been following us for two days now, but now he finally caught up with us.

I turned my head towards the devil in disguise, facing him completely. His face held an evil smirk as if he were satisfied with the pained expression on our faces. He stepped forward towards us and I stepped in front of the man I trusted; I do not care if I get hurt but one thing, I was sure about was that I would not let anyone hurt him.

“I won’t let you get near him.” I threatened the criminal in front of me, a whimper daring to break out of me. The man in front of me chuckled, it was not a dark chuckle like he usually let out, it was a rather amused chuckle. My brows furrowed in confusion.

“It’s not him that is going to get hurt, sweetheart.” He spoke, “It’s yourself that you should be worried about.”

“What do you mean by that?” The crease in my brows intensified as my confusion increased word by word.

Before I could even say anything else, I was spun around in my spot so I was facing my lover. He placed his hand on my shoulder as I fully examined his face. He let out a sob as a stream of tears left his green eyes, he looked weak, worn out even. Cupping his face in both my hands, I spoke, “What happened? What is he talking about?”

“I’m- I’m sorry...” He stammered out between tears and heavy breaths.

“What-” I started but got cut off with my own gasp as I felt a pressure in my stomach, it felt a sharp punch in my guts. Everything turned black in my eyesight for a good few second before a penetrating pain commenced my body. Trails of tears fell down my cheeks as I let out a scream in agony. My mind still could not wrap around anything that was happening in this moment. I gained my eyesight back and I saw it. I saw him. Tears still running down his face and neck.

I looked down at where the pain was, only to see a dagger plunged into my stomach. A hand was wrapped around the handle of the dagger, which undoubtedly belonged to someone, no, the man I loved more than myself. He cried loudly, moving forward to rest his head on my shoulder as his free hand wrapped around the back of my neck. His grip tightened on the handle again as he pulled it out painfully slowly for me, I gasped in torment.

He pulled away from me, taking the bloody weapon out and throwing it away somewhere in vicinity. Still in shock and undeniable pain, I dropped to my knees as my legs failed to handle my weight. Clutching the wound with one of my hands, I brought it in my sight and let out a heavy breath as I saw my hand covered with blood. My blood.

I looked up at his guilty face and laughed in pain and revelation, “Traitor.” I whispered.

He thoroughly broke down at my words, dropping down on his knees in front of me, “I’m sorry.” He said, again. Sorry. What a stupid word, it is. That’s funny, an apology for a murder. How could I forget? He was a murderer when I met him, I couldn’t fix him. It was all a lie.

Blood seeped from my mouth, flowing down my jaw and neck, further down to my chest as I coughed up more blood. Reality kicked in and I cried, I cried as hard as I could, “I don’t want to die.” I said more to myself than anyone else, “I’m going to die, aren't I?” I sobbed.

Placing his shaky hands on my shoulders, he laid me down to the ground slowly and hovered over my soon dead body. He exhaled a sharp breath, leaning down to press his lips on my temple. I closed my eyes, his gesture somehow still managed to ease me down.

“You’re my biggest regret.” I whispered in a shaky voice as the pain got too much for me to cope with. Losing sight moment by moment, I finally accepted my fate. I wish he remembers my last words and I wish it breaks him down knowing that he killed the only real thing that he ever had.

Just like that, I lost sight in his arms, with only one word on my mind.

Traitor.

By Waniya Ehtesham