Fallen Raine {Completed}

Chapter Twenty-One - And Then There Were Four

~Chapter Twenty-One - And Then There Were Four~

After I had cleaned myself up and given myself a pep talk in the mirror that consisted of me assuring myself I would get through this like I had everything else in my life, I slowly walked out of the bathroom and made my way back into the central food court.

   Drella sat at a table, rubbing her temples and muttering something that I couldn’t even be bothered listening to. Probably about darkness or death or the burning of the world or something equally as morbid.

   River was pacing, looking rigid, tense, and stressed beyond belief. He ran a hand through his dark hair and scrubbed his jaw, shutting his eyes against the light for a brief second.

   Jason leaned against a table, rubbing his eyes and completely silent. My guess was that he had been thinking similar thoughts to me; he, too, seemed completely devoid of hope. There was no life or enthusiasm in the set of his shoulders. He was done with this whole thing, too. A guy who had been so genuinely nice and sweet had become cold and hard and ruined.

   “What’s going on?” I asked quietly, rejoining the group.

   “It’s Brad,” Jason supplied.

   “He’s missing,” River joined in.

   “What? How?” I questioned.

   River ran another hand through his hair, a gesture he seemed to be doing a lot lately. “Well, when you left we all kinda did our own thing for a couple of minutes. We all needed space to be by ourselves for a little while. We came back almost straight away, but Brad hasn’t been seen yet.”

   “So he’s out there by himself?” I whispered, eyes wide as saucers.

   River nodded, swallowing thickly. “Yeah, he’s out there somewhere.”

   “Why did you guys split up?” I queried, my voice rising. “Do you know how dangerous that is? Brad could be in trouble!”

          “You’re not the only one who needed space to be alone, Raine,” River told me, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. “Some of us needed time by ourselves as well.”

   “Now look where we’re at,” I snapped, glaring icily at River. “Brad’s out there alone, possibly hurt or being attacked. Nice work, River.”

   His jaw dropped. “How is this my fault?”

   He was right, of course. Deep inside me, I knew my anger was misdirected. This was nobody’s fault. We all needed time to cool off, and we had all gone our separate ways. It wasn’t Jason or River or Drella’s fault. We needed time to be alone and gather and collect our thoughts. We were only human; we weren’t designed to be able to take anything that came at us in our stride, and we needed processing time; time away and alone.

   Maybe it was anger, or PMS, or maybe I was just going insane, but for some reason I lost it then and there.