The silence after the scream was almost suffocating.
Sean didn’t think, he just moved. He held her tight in his arms; her breathing grew ragged, weaker by the second. Brenda was gasping, dragging their whole world down with her.
“The neck…” she had whispered.
Sean pressed his hand there, feeling the unnatural heat of her skin, the frantic pulse hammering beneath his fingers.
The viper was gone, but the poison wasn’t. It coiled inside her with lethal precision.
Evelyn snapped out of her daze. Terror flashed in her eyes, but something had shifted. Panic turned into action.
“Sean. Let her breathe. Help me keep her still.”
“I know.” His voice came out flat, sharp, already past fear.
Time was a running enemy.
“Brenda, stay calm. You’re gonna be okay!” Evelyn dropped to her knees beside her. “Sean, any ideas? We need to move, now.”
“The knife… inside pocket of the pack. Get it!”
Evelyn nodded and bolted toward the bag lying a few feet away.
“There it is!”
Sean grabbed it and leaned over Brenda. “Easy, baby. Just a tiny cut.”
With a steady hand, he sliced the skin where the snake had bitten, connecting the two punctures. Blood began to flow slowly. Sean bent down and started sucking, spitting onto the ground between each pull.
When he looked up, his lips were stained red, but his eyes still burned with determination.
Evelyn moved closer, bending down to whisper so Brenda wouldn’t hear: “Sean, listen. The woman I saw on the Dolmen, it was her. I don’t know why, but we need to take her there. There might still be hope.”
Brenda moaned. A red blotch was spreading around the wound, and a shadow of numbness crept across her face.
“Hurry,” Sean said. “Help me. We need to lift her. Lean on us, sweetheart.”
They heaved her up with effort, dragging her toward the outer edge of the trench.
Every step was agony, every foot gained through desperate struggle. Brenda’s breath came in ragged bursts, and each jolt seemed to steal a piece of her life.
Time kept moving, but the night felt endless.
All of a sudden, Evelyn saw them. A chill raced down her spine. Her fear of snakes, never really gone, threatened to explode. She shoved it aside and focused on Brenda.
“They’re there. Exactly where I thought. A trench full of snakes,” she said, her voice steady. “Sean, stay sharp. Don’t let them get close. I need to focus on the shot.”
Her heart pounded, the weight of responsibility pressing on her chest. She set the arrow into the groove, ready to fire.
First shot, too short.
She wiped her sweaty hands on her pants, took a deep breath, aimed again. The second arrow barely grazed the target.
“Evelyn, please… focus. It’s the last arrow,” Sean begged, his voice cracking with tension. “It’s our last chance.”
“You’re right… Oh God, please help me.”
Bullseye.
The chains rattled loose with a deafening clang. When the bridge hit the ground, the earth shook beneath them, and their legs nearly gave out. The memory of the dream flashed clear and sharp: the moon pendant was waiting for them, set into the Dolmen.
As they crossed the bridge, Brenda threw up. Her condition had taken a sudden, brutal turn for the worse.
With utmost care, they laid her body on the flat stone of the smaller dolmen.
Evelyn took the pendant in her hands; its colors shimmered and danced like an aurora. She placed it on Brenda’s chest. Sean held Brenda’s hand, stroked her hair, and kissed her gently.
Time stretched, waiting for a miracle that did not come.
Every spasm that shook Brenda’s body shattered what little hope they had left, leaving only the shadow of the inevitable. Her breathing grew shallow, the signs of pain sharper, deeper.
Evelyn prayed in silence, torn apart not only for Brenda but for Sean as well. In his eyes she saw the despair of a man losing the love of his life.
Sean, bent over his wife’s face, was drowning in tears. His eyes burned; the pain was tearing him apart. The agony had stripped away every last defense.
“I love you, Brenda! You’re the only love I’ve ever had. This separation… it’s tearing my soul apart. Promise me you’ll wait for me, wherever you go. No matter how far, I’ll be with you. Always.”
Every word was a shard of his broken heart. A bond even death couldn’t break.
Brenda understood every syllable, though she no longer had the strength to speak. She looked at him, one final glance of love and surrender. She wanted to tell him that her love would guide him for eternity… that she would wait for him beyond life itself.
But the words died in her throat as she drew her final breath.
A heartbreaking farewell.
Two souls bound by an invisible thread, cut only by the cruel edge of reality.
Evelyn brushed her lips against Brenda’s forehead, then gently closed her eyelids with two fingers. She stepped back, leaving Sean alone to wrestle with his demons.
Inside her, a storm was raging, grief, guilt, failure.
She let herself fall onto the grass, ignoring the danger of the snakes.
Leaning against a menhir, she gripped the pendant tightly, as if she could drain her anger through it, anger at herself for not being able to save her friend.
Then she surrendered to the pain, her thoughts drifting to Brenda, to Sean, and to the daughter far away.
Deep inside her, a silent, desperate prayer rose:
Please, Leyla… come back to me!
The sky was clear. The full moon hung like a beacon among the clouds. The air was still, heavy, carrying a strange, almost tangible presence.
✦✧✦✧✦ 𝓛𝓮𝔂𝓵𝓪 ✧✦✧✦✧
The invisible thread binding Sean and Brenda has snapped against the cruel reality of Edenlost. A heartbreaking end, a farewell that leaves behind only emptiness and questions. Do you think Sean will ever be able to forgive himself? And what does Evelyn’s silent plea for Leyla truly mean?
đź’¬ Share your thoughts in the comments: did you see this tragic ending coming?
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