Ambrosia's chest was tightening as she tried to collect her thoughts with her stress.

"You have to shoot me in the leg," Ambrosia repeated her body shaking immensely due to her damp clothing and cold snow that enveloped her feet. Elias didn't respond, he paced in front of her tugging at his silver chain.

"There-there has to be another way, maybe we can escape?"

Elias stammered letting the lake catch his eyes. They both gazed over the expansive lake that on the far north of it held a small landbridge that extended into a region of farmland.

"We can...we can build a boat or raft and—"

"Elias we don't have time, you're going to have to go back and if Dante sees you without any blood, he is going to kill you," Ambrosia cut him off suddenly and leaned forward as their eyes met. She touched his shoulder he looked away with her, pain flickering along his tired face.

"You killed my grandmother, you and Dante... and since I know that he'll never let me live if I escape."

Elias stared at Ambrosia with a twitchy lower lip, emotionally shocked from the newfound information of his deeds. He mouthed words of apology without ever making a sound as he croaked into a shaky hand.

"I-Is it true...that you're pregnant?" Elias quaked, lighting up Ambrosia's bleak mind with a question.

"Yes."

"Who's b-baby is it?"

Ambrosia shifted and her teeth began to chatter and she blew on her hands to distribute some sense of warmth onto her body.

"It's—your baby, Elias," She muttered into the winds that blew swiftly past hem and dance across the top of the lake. Elias lifted a shaky hand to his face and inhaled for a tragic moment where Ambrosia could hear the uneasiness as he exhaled.

"Shit," Elias whispered weighing the gun in his hand and watching Ambrosia who now had walked over to him. She wrapped her hands around his abdomen and pulled him into a hug, her quivering limbs enjoying the body heat that was conducted between them. Elias slowly crisscrossed his arms around her back.

They stood there in the deserted winter woods, their minds, and bodies worn from the chase and now awaited the falling action. Ambrosia pushed her head into his chest and sniffled, this was not how she dreamt of reuniting with him.

"I love you," Ambrosia sighed her voice mellowing at the end of the phrase. It was more of a question to her, for she was loving a stranger.

Elias held her tightly, his panting breath on the crown of her head and her resisted as Ambrosia backed away.

"Wait," Elias whispered, "what will we do after?!"

She floated over to a large withered tree with the same mannerisms she had that morning. She turned to her side facing the opposite direction as Elias and nodded silently. Elias attempted to take her out of it once again but Ambrosia could not hear his plea, she only closed her eyes and found the beat of her heart. Drumming away in her mind, filling every nerve of her body, a calm double beat to sustain her life.

"Do it, Elias."

The stifled groans of Elias echoed through the dry environment and for the quickest second Ambrosia turned to look at his beaten and bruised face.

"Do it-"

The calmness was gone, the double breathe had been maximized to a point unfathomable for Ambrosia. She felt the hard impact and searing pain of the bullet her enter calf and then leave. It spread into the entire region of her right leg and she screamed. No Ambrosia wailed with all the force her body could omit. She collapsed into the snow watching in terror as her blood painted the white grass canvas red. Her whole leg had been completely frozen stiff due to this unbearable pain. Ambrosia bellowed and heaved for the diminishing air that circled around her head.

Elias had rushed to her side and feverishly held her in his arms, muttering useless words of comfort. Blood began to gush from her wound at an increasing rate and Ambrosia was now beginning to lose consciousness due to the immense shock. Elias picked her up carefully, paying attention to the injury, to jog cautiously back through the woods.

He had run through the path they went through before and weaved behind trees and bushes as they traveled closer to the house. On an intersected route that Elias took, waiting ahead was a gardening shed. Elias kicked open the door and stumbled in closing the door with his back examining the slightly spacious environment. He looked around for a place to set the bleeding woman and wandered upon a faded blue tarp covering in the corner.

Elias laid Ambrosia down on the spread tarp and began ripping the lower portion of his tank top. After successfully pulling off a large chunk of cloth he tied her calf wound with it to apply pressure. However, the tank top was only so thick and the mass amounts of blood began to seep through.

Ambrosia was now slipping away from consciousness as Elias in a panic-stricken held her head and mumbled desperately to keep her awake. Ambrosia did not comply and soon slipped away from him, her world swirling into the darkness that her eyelids brought forth.

-

-

-

Elias's POV

I'm unreliable.

A story-teller with no recollection of the story I was once told.

As soon as the fresh blood a certain pressure formed in the back of my head. Like a kneading migraine. Were my past memories sprouting up once again?

Was Ambrosia right about the drugs, were they stifling my remembrance?

Yes.

Fuck, you don't have time for this!

I was right, there was no time for me to sit dumbly in this shed. I had to present my bloodied self to Dante and then gather supplies for Ambrosia's care. Quickly then, I rose to my feet and burst out of the shed. My chest heaved in the cold air and I clutched my shivering body as I numbly ran down the makeshift trail.

I ran back towards the house where another man, Daniel was his name, sat inside while another associate checked out his swollen and bruised face. This image was the only reminder that I had of my own injuries but his scowl quickly sent me in the other direction—to a downstairs study. I made my way up towards two large oak doors covered in a scarlet red varnish. My shaky first knocked on the door twice and a large man opened the door pointing a gun straight at my forehead while simultaneously eyeing my attire.

Dante peered around from his desk and beckoned me in with a large grin. He ran a tan hand over his short brown hair before clapping.

"I knew you had it in you, Elias."

I did not speak because if I did I was sure that I would have blurted out the confessions of my doubts towards him as a rising hatred grew from the base of my chest.

"I need you to go clean out her room, burn everything in there...she has information in an envelope that could kill you."

I nodded slowly and turned away to walk out until a small click of Dante's tongue caught my attention. I turned back and swiftly caught a small container that he threw in my direction.

"New meds for you since I heard you and Daniel got into a tussle," Dante laughed and seated himself in his large black leather chair.

I walked out of his office with a fleeting goodbye and hurried up the spiraling staircase to the second floor. I entered Ambrosia's room near the end of the hall and began rummaging for her clothes. As I flung all the contents from the drawers of her dresser onto the ground a small black notebook dropped onto my foot catching my attention.

I picked up the now upturned journal and read the opening page.

'The Flower: Poetry by Elias'

I slowly closed it and shoved it into my back pocket returning to the dire task at hand; once I had enough clothing, a few sheets, and small pillows along with towels, I slowly stalked out of the room and crept downstairs.

In the kitchen sat Daniel with a first aid kit box, he was sipping from a small glass presumably holding alcohol. I stopped in front of him who turned around abruptly and clenched his jaw.

"You killed her," Daniel's face questioned although his voice had established this as a fact.

I glanced down at my torn shirt and bloody arms.

Daniel scoffed and took another sip from his cup pushing the first aid kit towards me.

"What's in your hand?" he asked.

I paused as my free hand reached over to grab some medical supplies.

"Dante told me to burn her things..."

Daniel turned away and reached for a larger bottle from the table his wordlessness was the invitation I needed to grab antibacterial spray, bandage wrap, and pain killers. He didn't bother to look back when I had exited the kitchen, even as I heard him let out a wavering sigh ridden with pain.

I bolted back to the porch and from there I cautiously slipped into the woods where the shed awaited. Entering the shed, I was met with a startling fear as I gazed upon Ambrosia's bloody body sprawled on the tarp. I knelt beside her and propped her leg up with my thigh before taking my questionable medical materials and working on her calf wound.

There was only so much I could do since I had no experience in surgery, I couldn't remove the bullet. I could only pray that the injury would not get infected. When I had finished, I moved the unconscious girl onto a set of pillows to comfort her in any way.

Sitting beside her, I leaned my back against the wall of the shed and held my finger up her nose.

Still breathing, good.

I ran my hands over my face and shifted from something uncomfortable beneath me. I reached behind and found the journal I had placed in my pocket before. Opening it filled my eyes with a nostalgic pain.

I continued to read, a familiar voice eating away at the back of my head, cursing me, screaming.

Another page, another page, another page.

I sweating heavily underneath the emotional weight that began to flood my senses from the book.

"My mind is sick from years of poison, and a sick gardener can not tend to his flower."

How could you? How could you kill flower?

"I didn't-she's not dead."

An animal running on primal instincts. Killing everything for the buzz for the pleasure.

"No."

My hands retracted from the journal and latched around my head.

I was back.

I then reached over to Ambrosia's resting face and held her soft cheeks to rest my chapped lips on her smooth forehead. My watering eyes let go of their burdening tears and I clutched her within that moment of realization. My heart and my head rung themselves in anger at the circumstances that I had rolled into repeatedly.

Who's to say this hasn't happened before? Losing my memory.

"Ambrosia..."