Project X

The Way it Began: Violet

CHAPTER NINE

VIOLET

We stopped at the next truck stop we came to. Partly for gas and food, partly just because we needed to talk about what had just happened. We parked next to each other and all piled into the cab and/or bed of the truck. It was way too cramped for us all to travel in it together, but it was perfectly acceptable as a private meeting place. Blake was the first one to speak, sounding incredibly ashamed.

"I'm sorry. I should've told you all about what happened to Emil, but I... I didn't know how and I didn't realize at the time what it meant. I didn't realize until she... She had the same look in her eyes as he did. They both knew it was going to happen." They broke down suddenly, Irwin wrapped his arms around him,

"Hey, it's alright, babe. You don't have to talk about it if it's too hard. Nobody is upset with you, what happened isn't your fault, there's no way you could've known."

"I should've known!" They insisted. "I should have." He said again. "I watched it happen, and she was different, but the same, and I should have seen it."

"If you don't mind," Dom said slowly, "What did happen with Emil?"

Blake wiped the tears from their eyes, sniffling lightly. "I'm honestly still not sure." He admitted, "Emil could be mean sometimes, but he never really meant it, it's just... I don't know, it was how he was. But then it just changed. Everything was fine, we had spent all day drawing and playing video games like always, and then he went to the bathroom, and when he came back he was furious. He told me he hated me and he never wanted to see me again. He told me to get out of his house, to leave and never come back. That he couldn't stand the sight of a freak like me. He practically shoved me out the front door. And I tried to leave, I swear I did, but I didn't know where else to go, so after a few hours I thought maybe he had forgiven me, so I went back. I heard screaming, so I looked through the window, and that's when I saw them killing him. They were always so loving, but I watched them rip him apart with their bare hands. Bash his skull in with a cast iron pan. It was... It was like they hated him. And then I noticed that there was something wrong with their eyes, they were rainbow. And they... they kept saying the same thing. Over and over. They kept saying that they must 'Worship Him', just like Alpa's parents. After he was dead, the rainbows faded and they saw what they had done. I think they remembered doing it, too. They grabbed knives from the kitchen and slit each other's wrists. And I couldn't move, or leave, I just. I didn't know what to do. And then I saw your truck pull up, and I got scared and hid and watched. I heard you talk about how 'Phil' must have done it, and hearing that it couldn't have really been his parents was the only thing I could accept. And then I realized that all of you we're like me, but different. So I followed you, and I tried not to think about what I'd seen. But Alpa... When she told us that it was coming, and to just wait. She... She had the same look in her eyes that Emil did when he told me to leave..." Tears started to fall from their eyes again.

"I just... What if he never hated me? What if he was trying to protect me? I should never have left, I should have been with him. He was my best friend. And he's gone because I was too stupid to protect him."

"Blake, if you had stayed, you'd be dead, too. Emil knew that." Kai assured him, "Maybe he knew you couldn't both escape, but he knew that no matter what he had to save you. He loved you enough to sacrifice himself, that's not your fault. He lied to you to keep you safe. You're not a bad person for believing him."

"I just... I should have known." He insisted. "Emil is the only person who was ever able to lie to me. My power doesn't allow it, everyone- without fail- tells the truth to the best of their knowledge in my presence, they can really only lie if they genuinely feel their life depends on it. Something about it seems to override my power. Sorry Sydney, but that's why I was watching you when you were finally able to tell Jace how you felt." Syd blushed bright red with embarrassment,