Contained by Love

Chapter 21 - Answers to the Right Questions

   The brain is such a strange specimen, if you think about it. Sometimes it baffles me how astounding it can be. How many emotions it can hold, or how perceptive it can be. Or how it can cause the adrenaline that rushes through your body in an instant.

  I was in a dreamlike state, half awake and half dreaming until Eli woke up again. Most of the kids were passed out, lying flat on the ground like nobody’s business. The Fishermen were all huddled in the corner, and they had been having a heated discussion ever since it happened.

Madame’s body was placed on top of the bed. And yes, we all double checked. She had no pulse. No heartbeat. Those icy blue eyes would never give me that piercing look ever again.

The second the Fishermen witnessed her take her final breath, they instantaneously stopped hitting us. They just retreated to the back, talking about something.

John was by my side the entire time. I had cried myself out already to the point where tears seemed foreign to me, although my clothes were still wet with droplets.

The second I realized Eli was alive, and that Eli wasn’t going to die, every thought I had about killing myself was wiped clean completely. These recent events forced me to realize that I just couldn’t leave Eli behind. Or John, for that matter. The way I acted when I thought Eli wouldn’t make it was completely insane. And I knew that if it was John lying there, I would have reacted the same way.

Which brings me to my next point. Where was John? He had disappeared for an awfully long time. Was he the killer? I mean, I knew it was a guy from the body shape. And John would have had just enough time to leave, change, come back and perform operation sneak attack on Madame’s ass, sneak away again to change….again, and come back as baffled as anyone else.

But I couldn’t bring myself to ask him. Because part of me didn’t want to know. I had this perfect image of him as a rescuer, my savior. One of two knights in shining armor. Seeing him as a killer would pop that bubble, and after all I’d been through, I wanted it intact.

We were all leaning against the wall. My left hand was wrapped tightly around John’s, and my right was clasped against Eli’s.

I notice Jesse, who was passed out a few feet away from us, start to stir and rub his head, moaning. I also saw Gwen comforting Charlotte, who was sobbing softly through her bloodied lips. After taking a quick head count, I could account for thirty-nine people. Which means her killer was back.

Since I had a lot of time to deliberate this with myself, I had automatically ruled out Aimee as the killer. I mean, why spy for someone and then kill them? It didn’t make sense. I felt a twinge of pain in my chest as I thought about Aimee.

I never really had the time to register her betrayal. I had trusted her. Treated her as a friend. Hell, I even cried for her when I thought she was being disposed of like trash. And this entire time, she’s been acting as a double agent? Which reminds me, she was nowhere to be found. Did she even know her mother was dead?

I feel a slight twitch in my right hand and my eyes snap to Eli, who was slowly but surely coming to. Letting out a deep sigh of relief, I clear my throat.

“Ahem,” My hoarse voice breaks the silence, getting everyone’s attention, even the Fishermen.

“Can everyone please come here?” I try to say normally, but it comes out raspy. I lock eyes with the Fishermen, beckoning for them too.

It seemed that they had been following Madame involuntarily, and now that she was dead they didn’t seem like much of a threat. I wait for a few minutes as everyone drags themselves over next to the three of us. The Fishermen come to us as well, but don’t sit down.