Killed Killers (NaNoWriMo 2015)

Chapter Twenty-One

After Ere finished showering, she walked into the closet to find something that she could wear. She had a feeling that she was going to be late to dinner, what with her shower and all, but she couldn't really bring herself to care.

After sifting through the heavy material of the gowns for a few minutes, she found a simpler green dress. It had a layer of dark green fabric as a bottom layer and covering that was a layer of turquoise lace pattern that fell over the green fabric in layers. She slipped into it, and headed out to meet Cara.

"Makeup." Cara said, pointing at the stool next to the vanity.
"Absolutely not. I am so not in the mood it isn't even funny." Ere replied shortly, crossing her arms and leaning back agains the doorframe. She was determined not to let Cara anywhere near her face with any kind of powder, gel, or other concoction. Cara stood tensely in front of her, eyeing her up and down as though she was trying to figure out whether or not this fight was worth fighting. After a few seconds of staring her down, Cara put the makeup brush that she had in her hand back down on the vanity and dropped her arms to her sides with a sigh of defeat.

"Fine, but you have to at least let me brush your hair out and fix it up a little bit." She motioned again towards the stool and looked like she was trying not to roll her eyes.

"Sure, but that's it." Ere crossed slowly towards the stool and sat stiffly, hoping that she would be done with the torture sometime soon.

True to her word, Cara did nothing but brush Ere's hair and put it up in a tight braid that fell down her back. They left the room silently, both in their own worlds. Ere noticed that Cara had been uncharacteristically quiet through out the whole time that she was doing Ere's hair. Usually, she would have been chattering and talking and gossiping as she went, but she had brushed it silently, only speaking occasionally to ask if she had hurt Ere or apologize for tugging too hard on her hair.

They made it to the dining room, and found that their place markers were again set right besides each other. Ere looked to her right side, the one that Cara was not sitting on and found that the place marker had Gem's name on it in fancy letters. She began to bite her lip, worrying about how he was doing. She stopped chewing on it only when she tasted blood, inwardly hissing at herself.

    They had made it to dinner relatively early again, regardless of the time that Ere had spent in the shower, and she watched as people trickled slowly in from the doorway. Ere watched anxiously, waiting to see Gem's face appear from among the throngs of other nicely made up faces.

She glanced at Cara, and found that she was turned around and talking to the person that was seated next to her, a dark haired girl that Ere did not recognize, before she turned back to the door just in time to see Gem appear in the dark hallway.

As he came into the light of the chandelier, Ere could make out the purple bruise that rested on his cheekbone. It had swelled to a nice goose egg size making it impossible for him to open his eye and was a shiny purple color. He headed right over to her, seeming to know already where his seat was. She could make out the smaller bruise over his temple as he neared, and she flinched inwardly.

How could I have done that to another human being? She asked herself, tearing her eyes away from the bruise on Gem's cheek as he sat down next to her. She tried not to lean away from him, not wanting him to feel like she was scared of him, but she could hardly help herself. He was a living, breathing reminder of her cruelty earlier that day, and with him sitting right next to her she could barely breathe.

"Hey, a penny for your thoughts? They look like they might be interesting right now." She heard Gem's voice from beside her, somewhat slurred from the bruise.