My heart was beating at a slow pace, happily at rest. Although it sped up and slowed down because of my racing mind. I didn’t think that it would ever speed up too fast again to the point where it felt like it would burst. That was, until someone told me.
The first thing I did was turn, my eyes already full of tears and determination. I screamed at the top of my lungs. “He can’t swim.” If anyone would know that, it would be me. Why was no one looking after him? How could I have been so stupid to let him go by himself… I should’ve been there.
I dove into the water head first and swam as fast as I could down. My heart began to get faster than usual. My violet eyes opened in the clear blue water. His body was slowly sinking down deeper into the water, leaving a purple trail. Running out of breath, I swam as fast as I could to retrieve him, wrapping my arms around his fragile body gently, and kicking my legs to surface.
As my head emerged from the waters I gasped air into my lungs. I dragged his body onto land despite being drenched. I collapsed next to him and put my ear to his chest to listen for a heartbeat. There it was, ever so slowly beating.
Beating.
My hand found it’s way to his mouth to see if he was breathing. A long warm breath heated up my hands from the frigid water that enveloped me moments ago. He was alive and his heart was beating steadily. My hand found it’s way to my own chest. My heart was beating.
Beating.
Faster than ever. I was scared that he was gone.
But here Lacrimiel was, his heart beating strong. Stronger than mine.
I studied his body, looking over all of the wounds that so many gave to him. They were so quick to judge him. His wings were nothing but slices of skin between bone and ligament. One of his horns had been sawn through halfway, barely hanging on. The tip of his tail that usually looked like a hook now looked like nothing but a point, sliced cleanly by a sword or knife. Bruises and cuts marked his pale white skin. He was being treated like something so horrible, when he was in fact something so small and innocent.
Lacrimiel had done nothing wrong. He was a happy-go-lucky boy. Always smiling and laughing. He would never hurt anyone or anything unless it was for survival purposes. It was his way. It was everyone’s way until a certain point.
They judged him before they got to know him. They simply beat him because he resembled something demonic. What if he was, in fact, a god? And the people and beaten something so pure to an inch of it’s life? They would be damned, that’s for sure. Only, Lacrimiel didn’t have that power.
Azure optics revealed themselves from the demon’s body. They looked at me gently. His lips curled upwards at the sight of me sitting by him. Lacrimiel took my hand tight and sat up in spite of the pain. We shared a long embrace, crying together, glad to see that we were both okay. Four little words that made all the difference to me were whispered into my ear.
"I love you, Joshua."
And against my chest I could feel his heart beating.
Beating.