Amidst Crimson Kisses

Chapter Twenty Four: The Heights Of Division

Margo's POV

The hours of the day had passed in amiss as I faced the swimming pool, unaware of the girl gazing from the other side of my reflection with fine lines and a lived-in complexion. I knew she bored a troubled soul when I beheld my decimation in her very essence and fell at the hands of her callousness. I despise her and the way she graces the hallway in dominion traced with the ruin of lust. Then again, I can't seem to fight the urge to unravel a smile of vigor out of pure damnation, and in some way, I want to possess the emotion behind her soul. I want to feel her heart coursing through my veins because she isn't fragile like the tears I shed from causing a rift in Andre's virtue, or the lies I tell myself when Asher constantly abhors my existence.

"Relax, Asher's nothing, but a name in the wind," my alter ego whispers as tears race down my cheek. "He made that clear when he obliterated us in a series of moments. You have to control your mind and break your heart to survive every aspect of Rosewood."

"How do you not feel my heart racing whenever he's around me? Where are you when I lose every sense in my body, and I'm walking around the world aware of all the intricacies in each color? When I'm around Asher, it's like everything's gray except for the vibrant blue gleaming in his eyes, and in his arms, I know I'm weak. Although, if strength feels like novocaine, I'd rather be delicate with him for a decade, besides falling under a lifeless skyline for eternity." I smile, thinking of the overwhelming emotions clouding my judgment whenever I'm around Asher.

"You think I can't feel his breathing as he inhales softly, and exhales while he chases after a girl he's never once squandered. Do you know what a lost opportunity means? It means I've had ages to die, so for once, Asher can finally remember me, but here I am alive and still forgotten. I love Asher with every fiber of my being and a helluva lot more than a school girl's infatuation. You're still discovering things about a person I've known for months, and I was still finding out things Juliet knew for years. I've already been through every emotion your feeling, so spare me the heartache." I gaze at the water's movement, seeping between my toes as a frozen reflection appears on the surface.

Butterflies rustle in my stomach as their wings glide around my abdomen while my counterpart sulks amidst the waters of the sixth floor. I analyze the waves floating around his indignation while he falls in silence, meeting my anxiety with a glimmer of curiosity. Sometimes, solace forges behind the walls of his nature, and then for a millisecond, it's hard to unearth the soul within him. Asher captures my thoughts in the creases of his dark eyebrows as he raises my chin in his hand, observing my neutral expression in his fingertips. I bite back a ricocheting exhale as Asher releases my chin when he realizes I'm no longer inebriated.

"Margo, what happened yesterday when you led Andre straight to his mother." Asher questions, almost amused as he watches me squirm in my skin, unaware of the fallen angel holding my tongue captive. "Forget about Gabriella for a second, and tell me why you were drunk off your ass at seven a.m? You rode the elevator higher than anyone at Rosewood, and then you just disappeared the entire day. Where did you go yesterday?"

"I was at school yesterday," I say, gazing out the bay window, watching the sunset dim in marigold. "You said to stay away from you, so I was preoccupying my time since you guys didn't want to be around me. I was trying to make friends, but everyone kept staring at me like I was less than a human being. They were looking at me the way you look at me, and I couldn't take so many people despising me in one building, so I just buried myself in the back of all my classrooms."

"You're still lying, I can hear it in your voice," Asher says, piercing my skin with his cold hands as he pulls me inches apart from his lips. "Is lying straight to my face the only thing you're capable of doing? Why can't you be honest for once? I'm not the monster here, Tinkerbell, he's upstairs waiting to pull the trigger, but you're not even afraid of him. Why do I have to hold you to get you to be honest with me? Do I frighten that little voice inside your head that's begging to tell me every aspect of the truth."