Hidden Gifts

Twenty-seven

"I– I– I don't know what to say."

"Silence is usually the best answer." Scarlet wiped tears away from her eyes but her expression was still stoic. Years and years of pain had distanced her from her emotions, most especially sadness, and now whenever she cried she didn't even notice it until it started to tickle her face.

"Scarlet–" Talia began but didn't even know where to go. Scarlet had suffered way more than Talia could have ever thought she did. It just goes to show that no matter how much you're suffering... There's always someone out there who has it worse than you.

Talia slipped out of the bindings easily and hugged her. If there was one way she could express herself it was by hugging her.

"You're– you're bindings, you knew they were lose and you didn't even escape?" Scarlet asks and pushes her away, shocked that she had sympathy for her and that she had not tried to attack and run away since.

"Yeah. I'm not a fool" Talia shrugs casually. "I kind of figured it out a while ago when you said you wanted me to escape. You tied my bindings loosely and you placed me beside the window it was like you were begging me to run away. I couldn't just leave because I was too curious and I also knew that you wouldn't kill me, not after you had killed those three people for me in the first instance."

"But I could have easily killed you even if I did help you."

"If that was what you initially planned to do you won't have helped me in the first place and you weren't even ready to kill me because of all the signs you gave me. I knew you weren't going to kill me... At least, not yet."

"That was a fools gamble. I really could have killed you if I had a change of heart."

"I know. Best case scenario, you would have killed me but answered my questions or even better case scenario... You would have just killed me." Talia shrugs and Scarlet scowls at her.

"That was idiotic."

"I chased some figure all the way down here, that was idiotic. Look, you said it yourself, you hate Rodriguez and you don't want to be here. You like killing people, that I know, but you don't want to do it because you're being forced too. Join me."

"What?" She whispers.

"I said join me. There is still hope for you, Scarlet. I'm no ray of sunshine myself and I am in deep shit but I think we can help each other."

"So you're just one of them? You just want to control me but you cover it up with lies that if I'm good to you, you'll be good to me." She says and Talia sees what she's referring to.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you but you can't go into the past to fix things. Do you really want to kill me then go back to Rodriguez? Do you really want to serve a guy that controls plants? What is he going to do to you now that you've mastered your powers and can easily put him to dust? Prick you with some thorns?" Talia asks and Scarlet narrows her eyes at her thinking about her offer.

"I won't control you. I can't control you and I don't want to. I'm in a tight predicament myself so I'm not perfect and that's why I want you. I don't want to be your superior, I want to be your equal." Talia says and just then Scarlet's walky talky goes static before a voice says.

"Red? Can you hear me? If you can, what about the girl? How long is it going to take you to burn her?" A female voice says and it is definitely not Rodriguez.

"Is Rodriguez with you?" Scarlet asks.

"Y– yeah." The woman responds.

"Give the walky talky to him." Scarlet orders.