367 Cruel

This time, Abi couldn't help but look away. It was all too much for her. She just now realised what Alex had gone through for her, what he had done all because he wanted to save her. All these things happened because of her. It was all her fault.

Abi's back was turned away from the scene. Her heart was in pieces, feeling as though she was the one who had just gone through all these things herself instead of Alex. She felt his pain within her and she felt like she couldn't breath.

The sound of Alex's groan made her turn around again. She saw him hunched over in pain as if something was being ripped away from his body. He clenched his chest as he growled louder with the thunder.

A few seconds after, the world became silent. Only the sound of the blaze could be heard. Alex lay on the ground, looking so weak, looking as if he was dying. She saw him look at the flames that were about to devour him and then look at the toys in his arms. He smiled, caressing them, holding on to them tightly.

"Tch. I'm so lame. Abigail…" he called her name. "Would you laugh at me if you found out that I became damned because of these damn little toys?" he mumbled weakly, laughing.

But then, his smile faded and he suddenly embraced them. He fell silent as he gritted his teeth. He still looked like he was in pain, although this time, it wasn't because of something physical. It was because of something emotional.

He closed his eyes and his lips started to tremble a little. He looked so helpless, so vulnerable and so alone. Watching him like that made Abi felt like she was going to break down. She subconsciously ran towards him, to embrace him and hold him. She wished, she could suffer with him. But she couldn't even touch him, all she could do was watch and cry.

She could only watch him lay there, unmoving for a while, until his lips stopped trembling. And then…

"I miss you, my wife…" he uttered as a single tear flowed down from his eyes. That was the very first time Abi saw him cry. "I'm sorry for leaving you all alone. Please… don't suffer too much because of me… I want you to smile every day even when I'm gone."

After those words left his lips, he struggled to push himself up and sit. He threw his head back and looked up at the sky before he let out a sigh.

He coughed once again, looking like he was now gasping for air, looking so weak. He tried to stand but he fell again.

Lifting the toys in front of him, he stared at them as he spoke. "It looks like I can't even stand anymore," he told the toys as he gritted his teeth. "I guess I should at least make sure that you two will not be turned into ashes," he mumbled and he crawled like a baby without much strength. His arms even trembled just to get himself to sit up.

He groaned and laughed throatily. "Damn, what the hell am I even doing?" he asked himself but he still tried his very best to get them out of the burning castle.

When he managed to throw the jellyfish as far as he could, he fell down again. "Damn," he cursed as if he was now questioning his sanity. But the moment he lifted the little lamb up, he bit his lips.

"Little lamb…" he uttered, "do you want to be burned along with me?" he asked.

Then, he smiled again. "Ah, if you could talk, I know you would say 'yes'. That's the extent of your love for me after all," he continued muttering on his own, even looking amused even in that situation.

"But no. There's no way I would let you burn here with me 'cause being burned is… it's a little painful. You have already suffered so much and I couldn't possibly add any more to that," he mused. "So I better get you out of here too. Keep that jellyfish company so that he doesn't get lonely, okay?"

He forced himself to sit up again, and then, with all the strength he could mutter, he threw the little lamb out of the window before he finally lost all his strength and fell down once again.

Alex laid there on his back, watching the flames above him.

His eyes glimmered as his breaths became weaker.

"Abigail…" he called out her name one last time and his hands found their way to the rings hanging on a necklace around his neck.

As the flame started to finally burn him, Alex kissed the rings and put them inside his mouth, as if he was trying to keep them safe from the fire.

He gritted his teeth as the flames burned his skin. He was burning but he didn't scream. His skin would slowly regenerate after being burned but the flames didn't stop and he kept being burned for a long time until the castle collapsed around him.

Abi screamed in pain when she watched the castle collapse and that was when she woke up. She looked terrified and broken. Her tears were like rivers, flowing nonstop.

What she witnessed was too much. Too cruel. Too damn painful that she felt like she had died many times in that dream.

Why? Why did her Alex have to suffer like that?

Abi clenched at her heart. She felt like she couldn't breathe. Her mind was playing those images of Alex lying down on the floor of that burning castle as the flames surrounded him before being buried by the debris.

"Oh, Alex… Alex…" she wept, calling out his name between her shallow breaths.

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