Lacey

I kept walking even though my feet were bleeding I couldn't stop searching, I shouted Argus' name couple of times. Finally I stopped in front of a cave, it was dark and in my right senses I would never have entered it since I'm not in my senses I went inside chanting his name.
It was so dark that I had to extend my arms ahead in order to prevent myself from crashing into something, I walked with slight limp, my injured legs got even more flimsy and supple , each time it got hit by the rocky stones on my doomed way to find Argus.

A ray of light falling on my hand which revealed prominent purple bruises, instilled a ray of hope, the light seem to return me my eyesight. The narrow lane finally entered into a huge dome, which had the appearance of a secret mafia hideout place which seemed to be still under construction. As much as the hideout gave me hope to locate Argus but the view ahead kindled in formulating worse scenarios in my head.

They was lot of blood shed on the ground and many unconscious men remain scattered throughout the area. My pace got even slower, I called out his name again. I jolted when a stone rolled down and hit my foot , I craned my neck and watched a man flat on ground struggling to move , his upper body was hidden behind a barrel, his legs were pedaling in pain , I moved closer towards him.

"Is that ..... you Argus?." I said and on reaching him, scream escaped my mouth and I covered my mouth from shouting and closed my eyes shut.

"La..cey!."

I turned around and found Argus standing on his feet, alive. He's ALIVE!, My heart pounded even harder against my rib cage, without wasting another second I just ran in his direction ignoring all my injuries, bruises and prickling sensation throughout my body. I opened my arms but before I could wrap it around him, he dropped on his knees and tumbled on to the ground.I lowered myself, tears trickling down my cheeks, I couldn't express how happy I was to see him in front of me.

"Oh my, We'll get through this ...just ..just ." I was stammering, and was not able to phrase proper sentences " All this will end soon..." I was sure speaking to him but in reality I was assuring myself.

"Ah! can you ...pull out.. the.."said Argus moaning in pain.

"Are you hit by a bullet?." I said while my eyes already roamed his body, examining his cuts, injuries.He was almost drenched in blood and mud.

Yes, we are trained enough to treat ourselves or carry out surgeries in case of emergency where we can't receive the treatment from the doctors, we can't risk calling an outsider, I know doctors take a pledge to save the lives but if by any chance our enemy in disguise ended up being inside our camp claiming to be the called doctor. We believe that it's better to do it yourself and if you can't do it , then ... you know, you can't risk the lives of billion people of our country by being selfish to survive.

"Micro-chip."said Argus, groaning in pain, pressing his lips, he appeared to be struggling to shift himself. "My right hand....." I looked at his hand which was barely trembling. " Hold it and bring it closer." I did what he ordered me to.

"It's hurting me! Can you open my fist."

I carefully opened his closed fist, but they was nothing in his palm. "It's inserted between my knuckles." He said when I looked at him, reading my mind. I felt my whole body drained whatever blood it had.

"We can remove this later when we reach our quarters, Okay?"I said. " First, we need to move out from here."

"They are still many of them inside, we don't have time , you need to do it now."Argus insisted which was making me angry, if they are still inside why is he delaying to take an exit from this cave. I looked around the place, I need something like a cart, Argus doesn't look in a state where he could walk on his feet.

"Lacey! Listen to me , just do what I say" Argus shouted,for a second I was stunned, he never shouted at me before.

"You do remember, how important that microchip is for our country, Right?." he continued. I just nodded, they was something in his words, or in his demeanor which was unusual, but I'm not able to nail down the reason. What was going on in his mind, what is his plan?

I found no logic in sitting here waiting for the rest of the gang to discover our presence and even if I remove that chip now, can't they eventually snatch it from me.

"I'll have to stay back for distracting them."said Argus looking straight into my eyes.

"I'm not leaving without you."as I said that, my lips started quivering. "No, do you know how much scared I was when you fell from that cleft, now that we are together, I'm not heading alone."

"We can't be selfish here, if we both run together, you know, we're not in a state to give them a good fight..... we can't stay together, 'coz we won't be able to protect anything neither each other nor this microchip."

"I don't want to listen , please I'm begging you, don't let me do this Argus, I listened to you whenever you asked me, starting from the airport when you asked me to change my disguise then to marry you, but now I can't agree on this stupid idea." My whole body was trembling violently and tears dripping.

"You can't put our whole nation on stake just to save me."

"I hate you, I hate you so much for doing this to me."I said covering my face, I didn't want him to speak anymore, he can make me do whatever he wants me to do,he knows how good command he has on words.

"I wish I could hold you and melt away all your anger, your pain...."

Something struck me, his words 'I WISH I COULD HOLD YOU' , made me,  to realize the change in him, it made my brain to rewind when he collapsed before I could wrap my arms around him, the way he was struggling to shift his body and finding difficulty to move his arm, I looked at his hand, he wasn't able to open his fist.

"Yeah, I lost my sensation in hands, I don't feel anything..it's numb." He said without waiting for me to come to that ultimate conclusion.
When I looked at him, he turned his face away, trying to hide his tears from me, pretending to be strong. Tears just rolled down my face incessantly like an open tap. I continued to stare at him in disbelief. This can't be happening to us. After gaining enough courage he raised his eyes and for few moments everything froze to death. We just kept looking each other, moaning on our conditions.

Breaking the ice he spoke again "You need to leave .... and live a life without .." I placed my hand on his mouth. I heard enough ,I can't take it any longer.

"I feel like I'm drowning .."I said looking away.

He gave a weak chuckle " Look at the irony, even though my hands are numb, they pushed you and are still compressing you deeper into the pit of sadness."

"Tell me all this is just a nightmare and tomorrow when I wake up everything will be back to normal." I said.

"Indeed tomorrow will be normal."Argus said casually. I stared at him, he was trying to smile but failed miserably. His face contorted and his eyes started to rain.

"Liar, you never lied to me before, you are so mean." I said and covered my face again. After sometime I heard the sound of footsteps as if a new army of people are marching their way. I didn't move a single muscle, my face still cupped in my hands.

"Before I close my eyes I want to capture your happy face, look at me Lacey." I didn't feel like reponding to anything. "Hate me for the rest of your life but please spare this moment." His voice almost broke. The sound of the clattering increased. "I still remember the first time I laid my eyes on you, but maybe today I deserve this.."Argus continued to speak with his eyes closed.
I took his hand and gave him a squeeze but he didn't open his eyes ...it struck me hard when the reality of his paralysis hit me.. I looked at our clutched hands, he don't know I'm holding his hand, he can't feel a thing.

"The first time I saw you, I thought you were some handsome crook." It took all my strength to joke around to lighten his pain, to push back the harsh reality and live in the moment where we are still together alive.He opened his eyes on my voice and gave me his signature smile which still makes my heart skip a beat.

**

"Do you copy?" Jericho's voice cracked from the walkie talkie lying beside my laps on the sand.

"Copy" I said drly in a dead monotonous tone.

"Do you have that microchip?"

My tear, dropped on my closed fist, I swiftly opened it and saw the tiny rectangular thing in my palm, the reason which took away my everything, shattering my world but building the nation's."

The screen turned black and the names of the cast and crew started to scroll.
The end.

**

Wynter Loxley.

I grabbed my red colored diary from the shelf and sat on my comfy.
I started with writing today's date

Hmm, I don't understand from where should I start today, I thought my last day of shoot was hard but watching it again with Will was even harder. From the corner of my eyes I noticed he kept looking at me, noticing my insane reaction, but in the beginning he was jovial but at the end he seemed to look at me curiously as if he wanted to ask me something.
Ah! But I'm glad he had to leave immediately after that and he couldn't ask me anything.
One more thing I was never so scared before, when he noticed you, you (my diary) lying on the shelf while leaving, thankfully he couldn't insist on opening and snatching it from me....

I yawned and was now feeling dizzy, I placed my pen inside the diary and closed it.

*Ding*

1 new notification

I instantly got that stupid smile on my face when I read the sender's name.

"Hey, just wanted to remind you tomorrow we have an interview, don't be late.

-William "

As soon as I read the message my hand slapped my forehead, gosh! I hate interviews, I don't act normal in front of huge audience that too 'On Air, Live'.

I typed OKAY then deleted it, then typed FINE, again removed it...I was thinking hard , what would be an appropriate reply.

*Ding*

"How long will you take to type that tiny Okay, "

The message just sparked anger inside me... I won't reply, you don't deserve it, I was struggling Na!. I closed my phone and laid my head on the pillow...I shifted uncomfortably from right to left ...got up and grabbed my phone again typed..

"Okay, I will not be late" feeling victorious on my text, because now my message is not just that tiny OKAY.

I waited for his reply which never came.

**

Dedicated to Arshiyaaqueel

Because she's the one who inspired me whenever I felt writing is not my thing.

My first Reader!
My critique
My motivator.

Thank you for being their for me.

Now to my other readers ...I appreciate you all for reading my story..hope u all enjoyed this chapter..
Was it powerful enough to pull the heartstrings?
Bringing out emotion is always hard but i tried to arose those emotions of separation and the feeling to walk away from something special.

If you like the chapter press that tiny star and vote

Leave your comments as well and highlight how much I need to work on my writing to force my readers to grab a tissue paper on sad scenes.

Thank you

Happy Reading

-Moxie7Ak ( I know it might need some editing ).