Colour Me Red

Chapter 16: Dune

Chapter 16: Dune

"I swear I didn't know he was going to hurt her."

He was begging now, the brown haired boy. I was pacing before him, swinging my knife around in my hands as I tried to control my anger. He swallowed audibly and shifted in the chair I had tied him to.

After Ellie collapsed at her father's laboratory, I hauled both her and the brown haired boy into my car before driving off to the office. Ellie was sleeping in the bedroom whilst I tried to find a reason not to kill the idiot that sat in front of me.

"What I want to know; is why the hell you didn't do anything about it," I drawled curiously. Pulling up a chair, I sat down and placed my elbows on my knees.

Leaning towards him, I gently placed the knife at the base of his neck.

"Dune?" a soft voice called from behind me.

I turned my head to see Ellie standing in the doorway.

Her hair was ruffled and her eyes were puffy, her clothes were rumbled and her feet were bare, but I'd never seen anything more beautiful in my life.

"Hey," I murmured, my eyes trailing her as she moved toward me.

"What are you doing?" she said, her brow furrowing when she saw who was with me.

"Trying to get some answers," I responded, carefully watching for her reaction.

She rolled her lips into her mouth, drawing my attention to them more than necessary.

"Harvey's not a bad guy. You can let him go." There was a small smile on her face that suggested she found me highly amusing. 

I studied her for a moment longer before taking my knife and cutting the bonds that held 'Harvey's' hands behind his back.

"Thank you, Ellie," he said gratefully, rubbing his wrists.

Ellie smiled at him and a spark of jealousy ignited in the pit of my stomach.

"Can I talk to you?" Ellie slowly met my eyes, as if she were a little hesitant to have the conversation that was about to come.

I nodded and followed her to the bedroom so that we could sit together on the couch.

"I'm glad that you're awake. You scared me for a minute there," I said solemnly, watching as she sat next to me and pulled her knees up to her chin.

"You knew the bacteria wouldn't kill me," she said accusingly.

I nodded in response.

"How long have you known for?" she asked curiously.

I sighed and dragged my hand down my face, dreading the next few minutes.

"I've known from the beginning," I said slowly, carefully watching her response.

Her face fell and I felt like a jerk.

"So my dad was right, you only kept me alive because of my genetic alteration?" she said it as move of a statement than a question.

Before I could interrupt she went on.

"What were you going to do? Hand me over to a science lab for a lump of cash? Experiment on me yourself?" Her voice was a little hysterical now, and the fire in her eyes was back. I could see her nails digging into the skin of her bare legs where her leggings had ridden up, so I pulled her hands away.

"Believe me when I say that your condition had nothing to do with why I decided not to kill you," I said fiercely, making a steeple out of our hands.