"Mia," Luke cries out, inching towards me. "I'm so sorry. Could you ever forgive me?"
I scoffed, flinching away from him. "Are you kidding me?"
His eyes filled with so much sadness and regret, and for a moment I almost forgot his betrayal. Almost.
"How could I forgive you when you hurt me, Luke?" I tell him, starting to feel tears brim the lining of my eyes. "You hurt me, you betrayed me, and you planned to kill me. All for love."
"I know I'm an asshole for even trying to gain your forgiveness, and I understand if you won't..." he sighs. "I'll understand if you never forgive me again. It was wrong of me to betray you. Love can make you do stupid things."
I shake my head. "No. Stupid is when you lie to your boyfriend or girlfriend and keep secrets behind your back. What you did, Luke, was borderline psychotic."
He nodded his head in shame, but stepped closer to me anyway. Grabbing my hand, he looks into my eyes and pleas, "Mia, please believe me when I say this betraying you is the worst mistake I have made and will ever make in my entire life."
"I want to believe you," I sighed. "But it's hard. It's going to take some time."
I know I should be screaming at him right now. Hell, I expected to slap him so hard in the face; I had promised myself to do so if he ever got close to me again. But I didn't have the heart to, considering he's a broken mess at the moment. I just need my distance from him, just to be sure he isn't lying or pretending anymore.
He can stab my back again anytime he wants, after all.
Luke sniffled. "Okay."
Soon it is morning and the guards had given us breakfast - cold oatmeal and probably expired milk. We eat it anymore, since it's better than nothing at all.
"You better enjoy the food as much as you can," Savannah spits at us, standing directly outside the cell. "Soon, you won't be able to eat - or breathe, for that matter."
I hear my mom shriek from the other side of the cell. "You mean you're going to kill us?"
Savannah nodded. "As much as I would love to let you all rot here for the rest of your pathetic lives, Christine Furder demands for you all to be executed."
My mom begins to cry and my dad tries to soothe her. I can hear her whimper, "I don't want to die. I don't want to die."
Savannah rolls her eyes and walks away, and it takes everything in me to not break apart the metal bars and attack her. That's when I realize that I have to help Melody; it's not about me protecting myself and not getting hurt, it's about protecting my loved ones and not letting them get hurt.
"Melody," I whispered to her, fearful that Savannah was still around and can overhear us.
"Hmm?" she hummed, swallowing bits of her oatmeal.
"I'm in," I inform her. "I'll help you with the rebellion."
Her eyes go wide and bright, and she smiles eagerly. "Really? That's great!"
I nodded and was about to say something else when Luke joined the conversation. "What rebellion?"
Melody and I glance at each other and she whispers to me so Luke wouldn't hear, "We should tell him. We need all the help we can get."
"Can we trust him?" I whisper back.
Melody looks at Luke suspiciously. "Hey, Luke. Can we trust you?"
