Chapter Two: A loose thread

The thread snapped loose. Axel’s eyes widened in surprise. Had he gotten a second chance? Could she be the one? He thought to himself. All his days of living on earth would finally be over. All through his hundred generations on earth, no one had ever defied their fate, no one except this special girl who was about to move to the great beyond. But now, he could not let that happen. She was his ticket out of earth. Closing the journal, he disappeared into the river.

He dived deep in, and swam his way down to the river bed in search of her. The brick may have probably made her sink at once. He closed his eyes to sense her body vibration. He could sense human energy. Her's was weak but he found it. His eyes fluttered open. Following the wave with ease, he found her by the sea bed. She was floating above the block. Her wrists were bound with a chain and fastened tightly to a heavy block. Her red dress was a mess, the flairs looked like fragments from a rag. Her hair spread around her like tiny strings, her eyes were closed, she was half dead.

He touched the chains with a finger and it fell off immediately. He wrapped his right arm around her waist and swam up to the surface. When they got to the shore, he placed her gently on the sand, and pressed her stomach to untrap oxygen and make her breathe. But she was unresponsive, it didn't work. He tried pressing her chest like he saw humans do, but it didn't work. He had never interfered in human business in his life, this was the first after the tragedy he had faced in the past.

Left with no choice, he decided to give her a fraction of his life force to stabilize hers. The thread between her life and death was very thin, and could severe at anytime. Slowly placing his lips on hers, he blew a cold soft air into her. A few seconds passed, Ariel stirred, her hand twitched and her body shook. She struggled to open her eyes. Seconds passed, a huge gasp escaped her lips as she sat up, eyes wide open. She took a few deep breath, she knew she was in the afterlife. She looked beside her in panic, she could see the grim reaper. He was probably the one who had come for her soul. “Please don't hurt me, she whispered faintly. “I was nice when I was alive .”

“You were not nice you were dumb.” Axel replied inaudibly.

Ariel looked at the sea and it's surrounding in confusion. “Where am I?.” She was forced to ask.

“You're alive.”

She held her head in pain, she had an excruciating headache, it felt like her head was about to split open. She fainted, Axel was quick to hold her head before her back touches the ground. “Darned humans.” He cursed. He despised humans because they were weak, and their emotions were very unsteady. And now he had to look after this one to get what he wanted. Perhaps, the soul of that girl had returned.

Just then, the black journal opened on it's own. He could see the girl's thread move, but he didn't expect what it did next. To his shock, his white thread came close to hers, and they intertwined themselves. “No…no…no.” He said in panic, reaching out to grab the journal but it disappeared. He wondered what it meant. It was nothing out of the ordinary for human fate to intertwined. But he was a god who had lived for thousands of years on earth, and he had no business with a mortals. Why would his fate ever be intertwined with a human’s?

He looked at her bare tender face, her procleain skin glistened like silver droplets of water under the evening sunlight, her red lips looked soft and tender, her lashes were soft and delicate. The dress she wore clasped on every cynosure of her body. He swallowed hard and quickly snapped out of his staring. With ease, he scooped her up in his arms and walked away.