The Elites

Chapter Nine

It's funny how the smallest sound can come out as loud as a baby's scream if it's preceded by silence. The longer the silence, the louder the sound. For example, if a coin had dropped after Violet had left the room, everyone's ears would've pricked up instantly.

However, what actually sounded were actual screams. It was impossible to make out anything that was being yelled, mainly because so many of them were going at once. I knew I was probably expected to be yelling back but I had nothing to say. The chaos was tumultuous after the frightened silence during Violet's speech, sending everyone into utter turmoil.

The only other people I could see that weren't yelling were Lara and Ashton. Understandably, Lara didn't want to talk to anyone that was in her face. Whether they were comforting her, advising her or blaming her, all she wanted to do was let her emotions out. So she cried into Ashton's shirt as he rested his chin on the top of her head, his face completely blank and empty of emotion as he rubbed her back. Then the tears formed in his eyes as well, and he was quick to bury his face in the crook of her neck, shielding both of their faces from view.

Will pulled my arm gently, having to shout something about going up to the stage for me to be able to hear. The problem was that I didn't want to be seen by anyone, let alone give a speech. I couldn't look away from Lara and Ashton. I'd already learned a lot of things since walking through the front doors that had been kept hidden from me for years. I wasn't sure whether them being married with a son should've effected me or not, and I wasn't sure whether it did. But all I could feel for them was sympathy.

Lara seemed to snap out of her sadness pretty quickly, instead opting for anger. She pulled herself away from Ashton and turned on her heels to face me. She had gone bright red and her makeup had run slightly, however it was hard to tell whether the redness was from the crying or the rage.

Before Ashton could stop her, she strode forward with her arms swinging, fists clenched. Directly at me. I wasn't sure what my face showed her. Probably a mix of sympathy and pleading. Sympathy for what had happened to Ezra, and pleading for her not to murder me where I stood.

She leapt forward onto me like a rabid animal and I toppled backwards, my elbows slamming onto the hard ground. Lara was a tiny thing, but she had tons of force on her side. The entire hall seemed to be looking directly at us at the perfect time to see the collision as the tumult of shouts were replaced with the kind of gasps you hear if a diver had bashed his head on the board on their way down. Anyone would think Lara had a knife in her hand and was holding it over my neck.

Instead she had my shoulders pinned to the ground, her face inches from mine. I couldn't help but think that the list time we were in this kind of proximity I would've kissed her. That was a long time ago, though. She was seething with rage, but she couldn't help but let her misery seep through. The tears continued to go trickle down her face as about a dozen pairs of hands reached down to pull her off of me.

"This is your fault!" she was screaming over and over, sobs clearly audible in her throat. "This is your fault! You should've watched her! You should've done your damn job!"

"Lara, just calm do-" I started as Will lifted me up from the floor, already knowing it was the wrong thing to say.

"Do not tell me to calm down!" she shrieked wildly. Her hair had come loose and was falling in tumbles to her waist. "How dare you! You have no right to-"

"Lara, I'm sorry I didn't notice anything while I was high as a damn cloud on cocaine nearly six years ago," I said, feeling my temper starting to rise. "I'd like to have seen someone else give it a go though. I didn't see any other Agents given the task of-"