The forest had never been this quiet. On most nights, the creatures of the dark sang and danced beneath the shimmering moon. But tonight was different. Even the wind dared not breathe.
"You can't run from me, Emi… I own your life.'' She could hear his echoing taunting from a distance as she ran, her dripping hair wet from sweat covering her face as she tried hard to see through its messiness, her torn dress dragging its way, barely covering her body. Tripping on the multiple roots navigating their way from the trees, she scrambles herself up to her feet, her eyes stationed back over her shoulders, staring at her death as it chases after her.
The bruised cuts on her lips, nor the throbbing pain from her swollen ankle, were enough to make her stop. Her determination to survive was all she had as she desperately clung to the little hope of surviving the night. The forest watched as she navigated, desperately searching for a way out. A thousand routes to take, yet none was the way out. Time was of the essence; time was all she wished she had control of.
Nothing of her present self resembled her. Oh! How the mighty have fallen, but it all ended on a cliff, a bottomless hill too deep for her to survive. She turned slowly as she watched from the eyes of the night as her end approached her, way too quickly. "Can't run further?" Death taunted. The smirk on their faces cut right through her already bleeding heart.
"Why?" was all she could ask. " I need no reason, Emelia; it shouldn't have been you from the beginning." Emelia held on tight to the tears threatening to fall as she clung hard to the last glimpse of hope.
"I loved you," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Three years of silence. Three years of being your Luna in name alone. I stayed, even when your mistress wore my crown in secret. And still, you bring her here to watch me die?" Mark's smile deepened. "You should've stayed in your lane."
Her laugh was bitter. "My lane? I was born for this role. Chosen by the moon herself. But you… You threw it all away. You trampled on your fate for lust, a glimpse of pleasure."
She only took what was hers and did not steal, but here she was standing before a gun pointed at her heart and a bottomless cliff. Both ends represented death. Either way, she was going to die, but she was not going to do so without some closure; she wanted to know, and deep down she yearned for answers. Love had been all she offered; however, this is what he was ready to pay her back with.
"In what way did I go wrong? I've loved you for the longest time. I have put up with everything." She shook her head, angry tears falling with no control. "All the ridicule, your mistress, I have worn a smile while it hurt deep down, just so the people would not soil your name. Mark, in what way was I not the perfect wife? In what way was I not the Luna you wanted? In what aspect did I fail as a wife or your Luna?"
Her gaze flickers between the treacherous couple. "You bring her with you, to witness my death… You're indeed shameless." Emelia could not stand it anymore. The pain from her heart was far greater than what her physical body was going through.
"You should have stayed in your lane when you had the chance; now I am afraid it is too late." Mark Camfrey hissed as he held on to the trigger. Emelia closed her eyes as she prepared her mind for the obvious. A silly smile played on her lips. Her life was on the verge of its end, and here was her reward. She no longer cared; she could feel it. Death was fast calling, and she was ready to fall deep into its embrace. Opening her eyes one last time, she watched as his hands carefully grasped the waist of his mistress. She smiled sheepishly. For her sake, he was willing to do away with her; for the sake of his first love, he was ready to end her like she was some animal meant for slaughter.
"I should have seen this coming; indeed, love is blind," Emelia whispers. Her voice was barely audible; the throbbing pain from her aching body was beginning to take a toll on her. Letting her crystal tears, which glittered like tiny diamonds under the light provided by the moonfall, she had nothing left. The end was only a few seconds away. The echoes of the gun brought pain, but not enough to match that of her heart.
From a distance, her eyes caught a glimpse of him. She stared at him, but it was too late. Their eyes locked with each other for a second, her body could not take it, and her steps staggered backward as the cliff gave way. Falling to her death, the last thing she saw was his hand on her waist, their lips meeting in a kiss of betrayal. The wind carried her downwards, cradling her broken body in death's arms.
"Even if I must crawl back from the depths of hell itself… I will make you pay." A silent vow. There was nothing, no pain, no signal; she felt nothing as her warm blood graced the mother earth. Her tired eyes closed, and she fell deeper into the embrace of death.