Smoking Power

Chapter 38

My blood pulses through my ears, a cold sweat breaks out across my skin and black dots play with my vision. I think I might faint. Blinking rapidly I do a once over the figure standing before me. "A-A-Amber?" I manage to finally stutter out quietly from shock. After the news from Marco and hard evidence such as the photo Marco gave me, I honestly believed that she was dead. Gone for good. But yet here she is standing in front of me like she had never died.

"Geez, ya both look like ya just saw a ghost or somethin', chill would ya?" Amber looks confusedly at us before she casually goes back to fiddling to the gun in her hands like she had been before we entered.

I don't remember at what point my mouth flopped open but somehow I find myself looking between Declan and Amber, at some point my eyes widen so far that I'm surprised that they haven't fallen out yet. I know that I look like a total idiot but thankfully Declan looks even stupider than me, with his arms madly swinging around the place in front of his face. I'm not quite sure what it's supposed to do.

"Just what- argh! Blah!" I end up almost yelling weird sounds, trying to get my tongue and brain to function normally, it's easier said then done. I mean how are you honestly supposed to react to go from believing your best friend's been murdered- even though there is quite a bit of evidence- and then to suddenly see her normal self literally waiting for you on the other side of the door? How are you supposed to react?

So I do the only thing that I can do at the time, I blink, I blink again, and a couple hundred more times. I just stand there opening and closing my mouth like a fish out of water and blinking as if willing for this to somehow make sense.

Amber who had been completely oblivious to Declan and I's state of shock finally looks back up. I watch as her eyes widen when she sees us, "Ya guys okay? Wait you've been told haven't ya?" She says the last bit in a mixture of shock and worry.

"Have we been told what?! You're dead!" I don't mean to yell at her but to see her like this, breathing perfectly and completely worry-free is just so confusing to me and I don't get it. This isn't normal. I carefully scan my eyes over every square centimetre of Ambers face for any facial expressions that will clear any of the hazy confusion up or maybe some massive injury to her head that will explain all the craziness. Who am I kidding? I should be checking Declan and my head since we're the only ones that seem to be out of the loop right now. Instead of seeing anything though, Amber just looks over towards Charles who is just like Amber, looking really confusedly at Declan and I.

I look back to Amber who is now full on glaring at Charles. Charles notices this and let's out an awkward, nervous, fake laugh, "Ah, oops. I kinda forgot that you hadn't been told. You know, lost in the moment and all." He finishes lamely. I hear Amber snort but I'm too confused to say anything but stare at Charles.

"Been told what?" I ask more confused than ever with a tiny pool of nervousness building up in the pit of my stomach.

"Been told that Amber's not dead. She never was, we just faked her death." Charles rushes out while nervously playing with his hands, probably scared of our reaction. He should be scared. I honestly thought that she was dead and it really hurt. It hurt like your best friend who's close enough to be counted as your sister died. And now I hear that she wasn't actually dead, but fake died. And then to make matters worse I hear that I was only psychologically suffering because Charles forgot to tell us?!

So yeah, to say I was the slightest bit annoyed, would be a huge understatement, "You forgot to tell me that my best friend want actually dead?!" I angrily yell at him while reaching into my pocket and holding up the photo of Ambers dead body. Tears start to fill the corners of my eyes as I watch Amber and Charles's eyes widen at it. In their, oops-I-forgot, faze they never realised how hard it was for Declan and I, and as they see my state now and the photo, I think they finally realise what it's really like.