broken thieves

twelve

Maeve

I have flashbacks all the time. It's mostly when the night falls that I start remembering every single detail of the night that we went to get our revenge on the Drakan's, and I hate it. They're so vivid, so graphic. I feel as if I'm back in that ballroom where everything went so wrong.

I want to talk to someone about it. I really do. But with the few chances I've had, I've always managed to bottle it. Aurora's asked me if I'm okay, so has Colby and Danielle and Alyx, but I've always given them the cliché answer of 'yeah, I'm fine'.

I guess I don't want to be a burden. Everyone has their own problems right now, and I'm definitely not the only one to get the flashbacks. So for now I will grin and bare it.

I bury my face into my pillow as reality distorts into memories.

My head is pounding and my ears are ringing as soon as the bomb goes off. It's in another room, but God is it loud, and I realise I've smacked my head against the floor as soon as a piercing ache explodes through my skull.

The world is tilting but I don't want to waste any precious time. I crawl over to a gun and grasp the familiar shape in my hand, shakily standing to my feet.

As I slowly become aware of my surroundings, I realise that it is chaos.

A lot of people are screaming, yelling, sobbing. They're running to the exits, almost climbing on top of one another to get out. There are too many people on the ground, blood pooling onto the pristine wooden flooring and staining their expensive clothing, but my eyes can't focus enough to see if I recognise the blank, cold faces.

Wiping the sticky hair from my face, I barely have a second to breathe when someone shoves harshly at my shoulder. I stumble a few steps but manage not to fall, and I turn to see one of the Drakan cadets right in front of me.

I raise the gun and shoot him in the chest before he can move a muscle.

He dramatically keels over, his large body hitting the floor with a loud thud.

The gun is instantly knocked from my hand and I'm punched in the stomach. I fall to my knees and, somehow clinging to consciousness, I feel many hands grab at me, restrain me. I try to fight back. I scream and kick as the Drakan cadets grab hold of me, but within seconds I realise I don't need to.

The grip on me slackens as blood splatters onto my dress and skin. I might have fallen to the floor if I wasn't caught by someone with a much more gentle touch, and I look up into the frightened, dark eyes of Blake.

"Maeve, are you hurt?" he asks over the screaming in the room.

Even with my skull crumbling and stomach aching in pain, I shake my head. "I'm fine," I say breathlessly.

"Come on," he says, half carrying me across the room. "We need to get to the cars."

"Wait." I try to slip from his grasp, frantically searching the room. "We need to help the others. Do you even know where Aurora is?"

"She's not here. I think the Winters took her already." He sounds like he's in pain, but I don't think he's been badly injured.

"The Winters are here?" I ask incredulously.

"I'm sure Danielle will explain later, but we need to move."

He tugs me further through the room, dodging the few stragglers that are desperate to leave. We're getting close to the doors when Blake is pulled away from me, and I see that him and Marco, a Drakan thief with long hair tied back in a ponytail, are fighting.