Pure

Chapter Four: A Mysterious Follower

Recap

 “Leave me alone, Raina.” He turned away to exit and I grabbed his shoulder.

 “Tristan, wait!” He spun around, his face an intense shade. He snatched my wrists with his and pushed me against the crumbling stone wall at the back of my house.

 “Leave. Me. Alone.” He grit through his teeth, his hands shaky around mind. I could tell that it was taking everything in him not to cry. He stormed off, leaving me shaking with fear. That was a completely different side of Tristan...a side I’d never seen before. I gulped, how could he go from kissing me in one minute, begging me not to leave,  to hurting me and becoming so volatile in the next? I shook the thoughts away and focused on the task at hand. I needed to find out more about myself, about the Pures. Barthle mentioned something about a man who could help me. What was his name?! I broke down and cried. The stress that Tristan just put on me combined with the stresses of leaving Stella and Xavier as well as compacting all of the information that was jammed into my skull over the past two days just completely overwhelmed me. No, stop crying, I commanded myself. I stood up and wiped the tears from my face. I took in a huge gulp of air, I let the swift oxygen fill my lungs and I exploded, sprinting, once again, into the recondite void of darkness. The forest swallowed me whole, swallowed me willingly.

I didn't look back.

Chapter Four: A Mysterious Follower

I stopped running, out of breath. I gasped for oxygen, my lungs pricked by a thousand tiny knives, each cell in my body desperate for relief. I gulped and took in large breaths, trying to satisfy my burning throat, nose, and lungs. I wanted to stay, to be with Tristan and Stella and Xavier, but I didn’t have a choice did I? I had to leave...again. I cursed at myself for abandoning them again, that’s not what a sister is supposed to do. But did I have a choice?  It was for the best, though--for everyone’s safety. Who knows what would’ve happened had I stayed in the Maz?

Guards would infiltrate

Tear the city apart

Burn it down

Kill the ones you love

Kill everybody

  “NO!” I screamed to a merciless sky, these memories--these fears--would not leave me alone. As the realization of the danger that I was putting everyone in dawned upon me, I sunk further into a state of depression, of rage. On top of that, I had no idea where the hell I was, or where I was going.

But I didn't care.

As long as it was away from Maz, away from anyone they could harm.

I shot off like a rocket, running in no particular direction with no supplies and no strategy and no hope. This wouldn't--couldn't-- work for too long, though. Defeated, I slumped to the ground and put my head in my hands. My crying was interrupted by a large growl from my stomach. Food. I don’t think I’ve eaten in two days. I fished around in the pockets of my raggedy overcoat and remembered the food that Bartle had given me before he...

I tried to push that memory deep into my brain. The rapid, repetitive gunfire. Barthle’s screams of fear...of pain. His feeble body thrown to the ground by the unforgiving bullets of the Guards. The blood. So much blood. A few tears fell from my eyes as I remembered the kindness of the old man. He didn’t deserve to die, and guilt ate away at my conscience. I felt responsible for his murder. 

"I'm sorry!" I shrieked, "I'm so, so sorry." My pulse quickened and I bit my lip in frustration. It is your fault, my subconscious framed me. No. "No, no, no, NO!" I cried, my blood beginning to boil, all of the rage that had been previously bottled up inside of me was now beginning to fester. I didn't want to be the one responsible for his death, yet, deep down, I knew it was the truth.