The Secret of Soul

Betrayal

Whitney

            After sending Breena away, knowing she was safe wherever Kyla and Deseray took her, I continued to read over the documents I copied from President Emerald’s endless stacks. I found more things he had attempted in order to “end this country.” I had just begun reading the documents when Aiken forcefully entered the room.

            Aiken looked at me, his eyes burning holes in my eyes. He seemed to be shaking with anger as he yelled, “We need to talk.” I looked up from my collection of papers, confused by his harsh words. “What do you want to talk about?” I cautiously asked. “Us,” he stated angrily. I released a breath of relief. He seemed angry for an unknown reason. I pondered what he knew as I stood up to confront him. “What about us?” I asked, concerned. Did he know about my copious piles of documents I obtained without President Emerald’s knowing? Did he know that I sent Breena away in order to protect Soul? He couldn’t possibly be angry at me for that. What did I do to anger him? “WE’RE DONE, WHITNEY! I’M TIRED OF YOU! YOU’RE TOO CLINGY!” Aiken crossed his arms as his senseless words lingered in the air. “What? Aiken, what are you talking about? Back up a second. Too clingy? A: we were never officially together to begin with, in case you have forgotten; B: How could I possibly be ‘too clingy’ if we haven’t spoken a word since Anti-Soul; and C: What is your problem Aiken? I haven’t done anything to you,” I stated defensively. Aiken began to have a glazed look in his eyes as he grew angrier. “WE WEREN’T TOGETHER!” Aiken screamed. “I JUST SAID THAT! You’re not making any sense, Aiken!” I yelled back. He stomped to the door and opened it, allowing the violent winter wind to bite at my nose. “I’m leaving! I can’t work with you anymore!” he yelled. The wind settled after knocking a few documents onto the floor. “You still haven’t given me one good explanation for any of this! What the hell did I do to you?” I screeched, wondering what I could have possibly done to set him off. “You betrayed me and all of Soul!” he accused. His harsh words echoed throughout the cabin. I grew quiet for a moment, trying to understand why he could think such a thing.

            “Betrayed you? Betrayed Soul? Explain that to me, Aiken. I don’t understand,” I stated, my voice wavering with each spoken word. Aiken picked up a paper off of the floor, read it, and then grew hostile again. “You went through President Emerald’s documents, didn’t you? In fact, that’s what you’re doing right now!” he violently screeched. I quickly picked up the papers that had blown onto the floor as he slammed the door shut. The frigid air seemed to have frozen the entire cabin, but I felt as though I were on fire. He would never understand. I hadn’t meant to betray Soul. I had been trying to protect Soul from President Emerald’s diabolical plans to end life for those who were different from the “pure” race. How could I explain to Aiken that the President was wrong? Everyone has feelings. Everyone cares about others. Aiken saw things in black and white and followed the President’s orders, despite how wrong the President’s beliefs on “equality” were. I hadn’t done anything wrong!

            I noticed a stack that had Soul’s budget on it. I grabbed it, desperate for Aiken to stop yelling and accusing me of trying to hurt Soul. I could never something so morally wrong. He needed to understand that I only wanted to help Soul. I became defensive. “Do you even know what this is, Aiken? This is the budget for this Supernatural Containment Center, where I am trying to figure out how to provide food, water, shelter, and warmth to everything living here that breathes, including you, Aiken. I don’t need his permission to budget. It’s my job.” “Is that so?” Aiken stated as he looked around. “Where’s Breena?” he asked with an unnatural chill in his voice. I stared into his eyes intently and stated bitterly, “I can honestly say that I do not know.” He looked around the room observantly and shrieked, “I’m done with this!” He opened the iron door. It squeaked in protest as he stomped out into the cold. I screamed at him as he exited, “Go ahead and leave, Aiken! You’re betraying Soul! You can never come back!” The door slammed shut as I stood in the hollow cabin by myself, shaking from the argument.

            “He’s nuts,” a female voice called from the hall. I turned around and sighed, running my fingers through my already frazzled brown hair. “I’m not in the mood, Sarah,” I groaned. First, Aiken lost his mind for some unknown cause, and now Sarah is going to screw with me. Great. I sat at the table and tried to ignore her. I began to dip into the documents, hoping she’d leave. Unfortunately, she sat in the chair across from me, putting her left hand on the paragraph I just began reading. “Hear me out, Whitney. Please?” Sarah begged. I sat up in the chair and crossed my arms. “You’ve got thirty seconds,” I flatly stated. Sarah looked at me and placed her arm across the table. “You don’t understand how sorry I am,” she began quietly, her voice quivering as she tried to earn my respect back. “I’m sorry for that night with the cow blood. I’m sorry for teasing you. I’m sorry for betraying your trust, and I’m sorry I helped create the zombie apocalypse Whitney! I know you will never forgive me or trust me again, but I need you to know that I am sorry,” Sarah frantically apologized. I looked up into her red eyes, which were trying to conceal tears of regret. Her long blonde hair cascaded in waves around her porcelain body, and her white vampire fangs concealed her lips as she worried about what I would have to say.

 I blinked my hazel eyes as I tried to formulate a response, and then I sighed. “I just don’t even know what to say to you,” I told her truthfully. “How could I trust you after what you did?” I asked her, wanting to know what to do. “It wasn’t my idea to create the zombie virus!” she exclaimed. “That’s beside the point! Honestly, I don’t care about the zombies. You swore you wouldn’t tell anyone. You’re supposed to be my best friend. Best friends should not be having these issues with trust, Sarah. Yet, here we are!” I yelled at her. Her eyes abruptly looked up at the door.

“So, that’s how it happened,” President Emerald’s voice boomed. Sarah and I jumped in our seats. “Where’s Breena?” he hissed. “I don’t know,” I told him. He stared at me for a moment, contemplating if I had been telling the truth. His boot stomped the ground in frustration. “Why doesn’t anyone know?” he asked angrily. He stared at me for a little bit longer. “You,” he angrily pointed a meaty finger at my chest. “You sent her away with other supernaturals and purposefully didn’t tell them where! You seem to know a lot of secrets, Whitney, and Sarah seems to know the same ones. Why is that, Whitney?” he spat. “Do you not know the phrase ‘two can keep a secret if one of them is dead? Yes? No?” President Emerald reasoned. I kept my head still and held my tongue. “You were the one going through my files, weren’t you? That’s an invasion of privacy and a violation of federal property. I’d really hate to see you lose your job,” he harassed childishly. That’s when I realized the truth that made everything make sense; he is a spirit. He possessed Aiken to make him say those harsh words to me, and President Emerald is the sole cause for everything that had happened since 2012.

            “You are a monster,” I spat. “Oh, everything makes sense now, doesn’t it?” President Emerald mocked. “Now you know the truth. Too bad. I thought you could have been useful for my spiritual army,” he toyed. “YOU DISGUST ME!” I screamed. “You did all of this to everyone here, didn’t you? You caused the Change! It wasn’t some freak thing! Everything that happened that night was pure coincidence! You enslaved your victims! Who are you really?” I screamed at him accusingly. President Emerald scoffed and retorted, “Unlike you, I like my secrets to stay secrets. By the way,” he smirked, “I killed Payton.” “Seriously?” I screamed to the air. President Emerald had disappeared.

            “We have to stop him!” I told Sarah, forgetting everything that she had ever done. “How? He knows everything,” she told me. “He can’t read your mind. He can only read and take over human minds. All of the supernaturals have an advantage, which was a flaw in his plan. The humans are at war, but the way the world works, no human will be left on Earth,” I explained to her. “How is that possible?” Sarah asked. “The zombie virus spreads like the common cold. With that, the humans’ petty world war, and one big final change, the human race will be inexistent,” I told her. She looked at me, and while she was obviously grateful we were friends again, she looked absolutely petrified. All Sarah could say was, “wow.”