Rebel Born [FIRST DRAFT]

Chapter 23: Down to Three

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that I was not lying on the hard asphalt surface. Instead, I was on top of something smooth, soft, and a layer of comfortable bliss on top of me. I sat up immediately, eyes wide open and taking in my surroundings. I was in a bed, in a room that was clearly not mine. The room was quite large, bookshelves covered three of the four walls. A study desk, that was cluttered with papers which covered a laptop and monitor, sat tucked in one corner. I slid my legs off the bed and my feet came into contact with the carpeted floor. My eyes wandered across the floor until it identified whose room I was in.

Christopher was asleep on a large beanbag near one of the bookshelves. I furrowed my eyebrows into a frown, trying to remember what had happened. I remember fighting with Syndicate 42 and then escaping before passing out. I looked back at Christopher. He must have found me passed out and took me back here. Now that I think about it, he doesn't know where the new Syndicate house was.

I pushed myself up so I was standing and stretched. My injuries were rebandaged. I smoothed my fingers over my bandages on my arm softly. I pulled his blanket off the bed and dragged it over to him, draping it over him. I crouched down beside him for a moment.

"Thank you," I whispered. I stood back up and looked around his room again. I found my shoes by the door and brought them to the window sill and put them on quickly. I pushed the window open, the sun still rising so it wasn't too bright. A small, calming breeze blew into the room. I turned to look at Christopher again before jumping out the window and landed in his backyard. Without pausing, I jumped over the fence and climbed onto the top of a nearby building and continued back to the Syndicate house.

I slowed down as I reached the house. A feeling of dread lay in the pit of my stomach as I scaled up the tree by my window. I hesitated before placing my thumb on the security release and hesitated again before I entered through the window.

Vanessa was sitting on my bed, waiting for me as I landed in my room. "Where have you been?" She demanded, standing up and walked towards me as I stabilized myself. I couldn't bring myself to answer as guilt filled me.

She took both of my hands into hers, "where were you last night? I was so worried when you didn't come back."

I dipped my head, "I'm sorry."

"Where were you?" She repeated in a much softer voice. "When you didn't come back I thought something happened to you."

The guilt in my increased, but I just couldn't bring myself to say what I have been doing. Call it stubbornness, call it selfishness, I still did not want to tell them.

I slowly removed my hands from hers and walked towards my closet.

"We got news that a member of Syndicate 42 was killed. I was worried something might have happened to you too."

I froze at that information. I remembered fighting with Syndicate 42 but...

"How did he die?" I found myself asking.

"An extremely deep stab wound. It also took them a while to get him treated so he died from blood loss."

Images came flashing back into my mind. A bloody knife. A body in pain on the ground. I began shaking in horror as the realization sank into my mind. I killed him.

"Amelia?" Vanessa questioned. "Amelia!" She repeated, much louder.

Thumping footsteps could be heard from outside the room as Hugh and Kyle burst into my room as well.

"Is Amelia back?" Hugh asked as he entered the room. The moment he saw me, he ran forwards and engulfed me in a hug. "Oh, thank god, we were so worried!"