Imperfect Life: Arc 8

Chapter 6

Tomas sat flat on his bed while Emma sat at the front window with one leg propped up on its rim.

Tomas groaned. "Brandon's driving me nuts!" He complained. "All day today, and for the past two days straight, nothing but 'how to help Crys' and 'I need to find her'. He doesn't bother eating lunch with us, because why would we be important? No, it's just Crys. Crys, Crys, Crys..." Tomas continued to grumble under his breath.

Emma frowned a little. "Tomas, he just wants to help her." She said in her usual tone. "I want to help her too."

"Then why don't you go join Brandon on his impossible quest?" Tomas replied with snark.

"Because I do not believe what Brandon is doing is the best course of action." Emma replied calmly. "Running all over campus in an attempt to find someone who does not want to be found is hardly what I would call helpful. Especially when that someone also has no desire to talk."

Tomas rolled his eyes. He wasn't in the mood for long-winded explanations. Usually he was fine with how Emma would phrase things, but currently, it just bugged him. "Emma," he said, a little calmer than before, "does it not bother you or Brandon whatsoever that she tried to kill that guy?"

Emma took a moment to gather the right words for a response.

"You saw what she did, Emma!" Tomas spoke up again. "You saw how she snapped!"

"She snapped because of what he had done to her." Emma quickly retorted. "I cannot agree with what she did, but I can at least understand what drove her to it. She was tortured, Tomas. If you had gone through what she had, would you not do exactly what she did?"

"I wouldn't try to kill someone!"

Emma sighed. She didn't know how to explain it to Tomas in a way that would make sense to him. "Tomas," she began.

"No. No explanations, no defending her, none of it!" Tomas interrupted. "I've put up with enough of Crys' antics. She never tells us anything, she just tried to kill someone, and now she won't even bother to try and mend things! I say we just let her leave and we forget about it."

Emma looked out the window. She was a bit shocked with just how unforgiving Tomas was being. "I do not want to deal with any of it anymore than you do, Tomas." She said thoughtfully. "But she is still my friend. Yes, she hides things from us, but only because she does not want to hurt us. Yes, she nearly killed that man, but it was out of sheer desperation. And yes, she is avoiding us, but only because she's scared she may hurt us as well. She just wants us to be safe, Tomas. She cares about us."

"Cares? Cares about us?" Tomas asked back sarcastically. "How is this caring for us? How, Emma?"

"She thinks she is a monster, Tomas." Emma raised her tone a little just to show Tomas that she wasn't going to be a pushover. "She is clearly horrified with what she did. You saw how she looked at us before she ran. She is scared. She thinks that this is the best way to keep us safe."

Tomas mulled over Emma's words for a few moments. He didn't want to admit it, but it made sense to him. "Still, Brandon hyperfixating on helping her isn't doing us any favors, and it's really getting on my nerves."

Emma noted the shift in subject. She suspected Tomas may have understood her explanation. He may not agree with it, or even forgiven Crys, but he at the very least seemed to have understood it, and that was good enough for now. "I agree that it is quite irritating at times." She conceded. "At the very least, it shows he cares."

"There was never a doubt about that." Tomas muttered.

"We might be able to talk him down." Emma suggested.

Tomas gave a laugh. "How?" He asked in doubt.

Emma hadn't thought that far ahead yet. "Perhaps if we were to think of a plan-"

"Nothing we do is going to convince Crys to come back." Tomas interrupted again.

Emma frowned. "Crys is stubborn, but I would not say that there is nothing we could do."

Tomas shrugged briefly, completely careless. He couldn't be bothered to think of a plan, and frankly, he didn't want to. Crys had made her choice, and that was that... although... he did miss her. Just a little. Things didn't feel the same without her, and he did feel a bit bad about what had happened to her. In all honesty, he just felt hurt. The only problem was that he was so fed up with all the other things he had mentioned that he just couldn't see it.

"I will try to think of something." Emma said quietly.

Both friends went silent for a few moments.

Tomas thought to himself. He sighed. "Emma, I'm sorry." He said.

"For what?" Emma responded in confusion.

"For being such a jerk. To you, to Brandon, to Crys." He paused for a moment. "She is our friend. I just..." He trailed off not knowing how to explain, or even if he should try.

"I understand, Tomas." Emma said kindly. She knew his reasoning.

Tomas took a deep breath. "I just want things to go back to normal."

"I do as well."

The rest of the afternoon went by quietly.