Novel Square
over
Nikolai’s POV
As I waited with my eyes shut for a final blow that never came, it all happened at once. One second Jonas was staring at something on the other side of the garden, the next he had slumped to the floor, blood gushing from the hole in his forehead. Still in shock, I stared at Jonas’ unmoving body on the floor through my heavy lids, and then I looked to the other end of the garden. That’s when I saw her. Liyah dropped the gun from her hand, racing towards me in a split second.
“Nikolai…” She breathed, placing a hand behind my head for support. “Drew and Annalise will be here soon, okay? I mindlinked them already. Just hold on…”
I smiled, feeling my busted lip ache, but I didn’t care. Liyah was here… leaning over me and smoothening out my hair. She was here… she was alive.
And Jonas was dead.
It felt like a dream. Everything had happened so fast, I wasn’t even sure it had happened. My chest was burning, and everything was beginning to get blurry. But that was okay.
Liyah was here. She was alive.
“Hold on for a while, okay? You’ll be fine,” Liyah whispered in my ear, kissing the only part of my face that wasn’t bloody. As she continued to rub my arm, Drew and Anna emerged. They were at my side immediately.
“God, Nikolai. What happened?” They took one look and Jonas’ corpse and the gun on the floor and I saw them exchange looks.
“Shit, you’re losing a lot of blood. Let’s get you home,” Anna said, moving to my side as she and Drew prepared to lift me.
My eyes flew to Gabriel who lay covered in blood as he dangled off a whole. I raised my arm as much as my broken bones would permit, pointing toward his body. “Bring… bring him too,” I managed to say.
“Who is he?” Drew asked, moving to the body. “Fuck, he looks pretty bad.”
“I’m not quite sure either. But he saved my life. Twice.”
At that Anna nodded. “Okay, I’ll ask the guards to bring him along.” I could only nod weakly. “I mindlinked some of the others back at the mansion. The car will be here in a few minutes, okay? Just hang on. It’s over.”
I held tighter onto Liyah’s hand as my felt myself get weaker and weaker. But Anna was right.
It’s over.
Liyah’s POV
It was only after I walked through the doors of my home that I realized how good it felt to be home, with people who cared. I smiled so hard that I forgot about all the bruises on my face. They had already started healing.
‘Feels good doesn’t it?’ I heard Nova ask.
I chuckled. “It does. It really does.” It was good to home. I would no longer be tortured by thoughts of Father…
No. I would no longer by tortured by thoughts of Jonas and Barbara Verbeck. I could live peacefully now, I no longer felt like I wasn’t enough.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.
I am enough.
No longer did I have to toss and turn at night at those painful memories. No longer did I feel that pain in my chest, or the need to be validated by either of them. I was… happy. Only now did I understand what true happiness felt like. And it was the best feeling in the world.
I felt a weight lift off my chest as tears stung the back of my eyes. I felt… complete. “I can’t believe this,” I gasped, bringing a hand to my mouth. This was really happening.
‘Better believe it, baby.’
I chuckled at Nova’s words, wishing there was a way to hug her. “I’m glad I’ve got you, Nova. I mean it.” She made me feel better about myself, she made everything looked lighter and easier than it really was. I blessed the day I discovered her. She really was my guardian angel.
“Liyah?”
I looked up to see Margaret standing at the top of the stairs. When I turned to face her she literally raced down the stairs and pulled me into a hug the moment she got to me. “Liyah! You’re okay…” She pulled away, fixing me with a questioning glance, and I knew she was asking how it had gone.
Tears spilling out of my eyes, I nodded. “It’s over, Margaret. It’s over…”
Saying it out loud to someone else made it sound only more real. “I-It’s over… it’s over..” I trailed off, breaking down in tears as I lowered myself to the floor.
My chest tightened painfully as I sobbed. For everything I had gone through. All those days, nights… the bad days where I wanted nothing but to disappear or die in my sleep, those days when I never wanted to get out of bed again. Those times where I felt helpless… those times where it felt like I would never know real happiness. The pain, the shame, the tears. The bad events that always occured when it seemed like everything was going fine.
It was over.
As Margaret lowered herself next to me and let me cry on her shoulder, I knew everything would be okay.