APPLE FESTIVAL DAY THREE. PART FIVE.

THERE WAS BLOOD. Despite gravity of the situation Gola found herself wondering why it always had to be blood. Why couldn't something like liquid gold, pearls or cherry coke ooze from the eyes of the people she cared about. But nope. There was blood oozing from Beaumont's unusually large lightless eyes.

"Beau can you hear me?" Gola questioned the absent eyed beautiful boy warily, holding his face in her hands as she attempted to wipe away the trail of crimson liquid leaking out his unblinking eyes. To no avail. Beau's eyes were draining like a waterfall. why not pearls? "Beau?"

"No Elanora, he does not hear your voice." Richards informed the teenage girl with a cruel chuckle. Leanings on a vintage car that mirrored the one she sat in. A vastly bewildered fifties style clad Beau sat constrained in the car next to him. "And he won't hear your voice ever again if you do not listen clearly to me.

There was always a brief moment of silence in these situations. A still split-second in which she'd try her best not to convince herself that magic was real but the fact that reality was not. That the truth she'd always known was a lie. The world was wide and anything—truly anything was possible.

The next moments were always the worst. The short time when her heart hung throbbing with anxiety in the air. frantic fear clawing cooly at her skin making her burn. Reminding her that the world was wide and and the worst things were possible.

Somewhere in between these moments Gola found a  shameful nanosecond to appreciate the work of art called Beaumont De luca. His inky hair swooped back with grease save for a dangling strande which hung between his luminus marbled blue brown eyes. Something about the strangeness of the situation felt right. In place. Like Beau had been made for the silver screen.

"I , Gola smith,  am all ears." she voiced fiercely reminding her so called best friend of who she was. Who she'd always been, who she'd never been.

"Oh Elenora, you've always been so stubborn. In both lives if I correctly recall." Levi genuinely snickered, running a hand through his greased back hair.

Gola tensed. Striving to ignore how elegant boy appeared and just how much he'd just seemed like his usual self. Like her long time best friend. Her golden boy. And It hurt like hell.

"And did you betray me in both lives?"

Levi considered, tilting his head  to the side in a way that mocked gravity. "I did." He deadpanned simply.

Gola contemplated the Idea of having lived two lives. It did not resonate well with her. The thought of having to go through beautiful madness that is life twice was one of the most horrifying concepts she'd ever mistakenly thought. Existing once was already too much.

She then pondered the impossible possibility of falling for Levi Richards charms in two lives. It was more than possible, it was realistic. Expected. If she could do it all over again she knew she'd still choose him.

Gola felt like the biggest fool to ever have lived. Perhaps the greatest fool to ever lived twice.

"Why?" Her voice croaked, her voice spilling out strained and foreign to her own ears. When she tasted salt on her tongue she realized that tears cascaded from her eyes.

"It was never about you. You are just a necessary loss. Collateral damage if you will." He calmly explained, as if to tell her that her life didn't matter in the nicest way.

"Collateral damage?" She laughed bitterly. There was no humor in her eyes. "What do want from me now?"

"You will not return to shadow prince. If you do I will cause you unimaginable pain that you'll feel an eternity longer than two life times." He warned none to kindly, his eyes gleaming crimson. His perfect facade laying boken and disregarded. This was time for the truth and truth be told Levi Richards was tired of waiting.

The credits rolled and an inhumane choking noise erupted from the back of Beau's throat.

Gola shattered into tears. Sobbing uncontrollably she shook what was nothing but the shell of Beaumont De luca harshly. Stubbornly endeavoring to awake him from his deep slumber.

After what felt like hours the body's eyes snapped open. His eyes were endless empty abysses, lifeless and unblinking. What was left of De luca was an animated carcass.

His sleeping soul had been stolen away by a shadow demon.

If she returned life lost, if she failed to return life lost. This was no longer a game.