14 Love Aftershock

Is that the beast?

The man lying unconscious on the ground was wearing a coach's uniform. There was blood coursing from the open wound on his head down to his face and shirt.

'Nooooo!' I screamed in my head as I covered my mouth with my trembling hands.

Our love story had not started yet and now it was ending? Tragically? This can't be!

Bystanders were gathering around the motionless body making me lose sight of of what was happening. It was difficult to see clearly from where I was standing. With my body shaking and my heart rapidly beating in fear, I managed to run toward the most tragic scene I had seen in my entire life.

"Excuse me, excuse me..." I cried pushing my way through the crowd of people who stood there bigger than me. My face was as pale as white tissue paper, and my breathing had quickened making it hard to contain my heart rate.

"Miss, do you know this man?" Someone seeing me push through the crowd asked.

I nodded as tears started to run down from my face.

Seeing me nod, they all made a way for me. A minute after, I found myself on my knees at the beast's side, completely horrified.

Hey beast, don't leave me yet.

I still want to date you.

I still want to have many unusual encounters with you.

I still want more kisses from you.

I still want to see you. Always.

◘--Flashback--◘

" The fifth and the last. If you will not be able to see him, you will surely cry our out of loneliness. That's it bow."

◘------End-----◘

Coach's last sign from yesterday echoed in my ears. I looked at the man beside me, his chest was not moving— he was not breathing anymore! He was unconscious, or dead I think— oh please not yet! His shirt was torn right trough.

"The ambulance is coming!" Someone standing few feet away shouted.

I needed to embraced him and begged him not to die. He might somehow listen to me right now. I was already considering whipping off my own shirt to use as a bandage when I noticed the ocean of blood splattered across the whole scene.

"Blood!" I mumbled, terrified.

As I stared around me my hemophobia slowly started to kick in overcoming my shock. Crouching next to the beast, my awareness of the blood shifted my whole focus from the accident to my innate fear.

I was in a daze as I recalled a nightmare where I saw myself in a pool of blood.

"WAAAAHH!" I screamed and got up from the beast side. With legs trembling, I ran away from the dreadful scene as fast as I could without turning back.

"Miss wait, we still need your stateme—" Someone called me over me. However I was so shocked I was in no position to stay and listen to what they were saying.

I sprinted farther and farther away from the scene of the accident desperately trying to get away from the blood. After running for a while it seems that my body couldn't go any longer. I felt my legs throbbing in pain bringing me back to my senses. I stopped and stepped to the sidewalk in an unfamiliar area.

I sat in the corner on a small brick, placed my head on my knees and sobbed uncontrollably.

"I'm really sorry beast, I'm such a coward."

He needed me right now but how could I fight over my blood phobia? How tragic was his fate. He was such a promising youngster and I even considered him as one of the best assets among mankind. I also thought of how unfortunate our love story was. How could it end by his sudden demise?

In an instant I meet him.

In an instant we shared our first kiss

In an instant we huddled each other in bed.

In an instant we had an MU. (Mutual understanding)

In an instant we had an LQ. (Lover's quarrel)

Then in an instant he died?

What kind of ending was that?

"What's with that girl?" Someone babbled from somewhere.

"She looks crazy, how unfortunate, she looks too pretty to be a crazy."

I heard people criticizing me as they passed by. I didn't mind it. There were so many things happening with me right now, the least I care for was what strangers thought of me.

The beast.

The beast was gone!

"He's so unfair he just left me…sniff..sniff… like that..just like that.." I continued crying helplessly.

"But you knew I was coming back right?" A familiar voice gently answered.

"Huh?" I lifted up my head slightly to see who was that. My eyes landed on a pair of sneakers in front of me. Then my eyes traveled to a pair of long legs wrapped in jeans. The person was holding onto a small plastic bag with food in there.

My eyes were blurry from crying so I rubbed them to dry my tears and looked up to see the person's face.

"Huh?" I cried in shock seeing who was standing in front of me.

"B-B-Beaasstt?" I stammered as his beautiful and alive face came to view.

The beast was standing in front of me looking gorgeous in his coach uniform. His eyes were full of worry and sweat was dripping off his head to his delicate face, like he had been running.

"I bought you a strawberry sandwich" He smiled and offered me the plastic bag.

I started blinking my eyes continuously, wondering if what I was seeing was just some weird hallucination. I was reminded of some movies where they had these type of scenes— the popular horror movie plot line. It was like a standard rule in horror movies that lost souls do not depart from this world when they still have unfinished businesses.

Is this why the beast was here? He indeed has some unfinished business since he was holding my strawberry sandwich. Had he gone to heaven and remembered me? Is that why he rushed back to earth to personally bring it to me?

"Did you come back to earth to give me those? …sniff..sniff..you are indeed something..sniff…sniff..even if you are dead you are still so sweet.. sniff..sniff..thank you..sniff..sniff.. May you rest in peace..sniff..sniff.." I said while sobbing hard. Now, his death will haunt me forever because of my own guilt.

He knelt down to level down to my gaze. His hazel eyes bore into me like pair of headlights.

"I'm so sorry.. sniff..sniff..I have hemaphobia...sniff..sniff..I can't stand blood… I was not able to help your body..sniff..sniff..I ran away from it..sniff…sniff.." I continued with more tears running down my cheeks this time.

"Hey..it's okay." He said, reaching out for my cheeks to wiped out the tears. I felt his warm hands and frowned knowing how books and movies had been lying – ghosts were always described as being cold. Lies! His hands were warm.

"Don't cry.. I'm not yet dead." He said as he pulled me into a warm hug.

What? What was he saying ? He wasn't dead yet? Did he make a deal with Lucifer in order to come back to earth? Heck!

"…I'm not the man on the street that you cried on." He patted my head trying to ease all the shock and sorrows away.

What? I froze. My tears stop falling in an instant. I closed my eyes trying to repeat what he just said making sure I heard it right.

"Huh?" That's all I manage to respond. Swift right? After those series of mental turmoil, I finally added. "Really?" I pushed him back to look into his eyes.

"Yeah" He nodded, giving me the sweetest smile the world could offer.

I swallowed my tongue and recollected my thoughts. I realized I was in so much despair I just assumed it was the beast lying at the accident site. I wasn't completely certain that it was the beast who got into the accident. Though he and the other person had the same shirt, his was a coach's uniform. Of course there were a lot of coaches who wore the same uniform today, right?

Realizing the beast was right there with me, I heaved a sigh of relief glad he was not gone like I perceived.

I suddenly became conscious of my surroundings. Where are we exactly? I just ran away earlier not caring which direction I went and where I was going. This place was crowded with people, their pitiful eyes were fixated on me. I made a fool of myself again! I sighed inside.

I looked to my left side only to see more people staring at me with confused looks. Some were gossiping and being good at reading lips, I could clearly read their lips as they exchanged whispers— "What is she doing here crying like crazy?"

I glanced to my right side and sighed upon seeing the girls drooling at the sight of the beast. Their envious looks made it look like they wanted to snatched him away for themselves.

I looked up ahead. I could imagine an angel peeking from heaven giving me a V sign.

I looked at in front of me where the beast was still standing staring at me. Wrong move. He was smiling with tenderness in his eyes. Meeting his gaze, my cheeks suddenly felt warm. Did I just blush?

I looked away in an instant and tried to fix my hair, pretending to fix my hair I mean. Wait! My hair was on bun so there was nothing to fix. I cursed myself for being such a fool.

If this happens again, I will never eat strawberries! I tried to bet my greatest kryptonite aside from blood. Though after a minute, I must say, I regret inwardly making such bet.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

I nodded avoiding his prying eyes. I was not up for an eye to eye battle today especially since I has been crying and my eyes were sore. I comforted myself saying that it was okay to have cried— there was someone who got into an accident today after all. That was still a sad story worthy of my tears.

"Let's head back to the building." He said pulling me up carefully to stand.

Suddenly, something came evading my calmed mind one by one. My jaw dropped as realization dawned on me.

"OH NOOOOH!" I screamed in hysteria.