The Third War

Chapter Fifty Seven: Zoe

My fingers went across the keyboard subconsciously, paying no attention to what they were playing. It didn't matter; I wasn't trying. My thoughts focused on the events of the precious day.

Because of everything we learned, memories began appearing seemingly out of nowhere. I could remember now. When the doctor had told me I'd make the perfect test subject. Telling me if I didn't cooperate he'd hurt My sister ten times worse. I remember screaming, "No, not Kris! Do whatever to me! Don't hurt Kris."

She always did so much for me, too much really. Even while I was in the hospital, she cleaned my room up. I could smell the scent of air freshener and soap.

When Telliz had told me it was his handiwork that made me the way I am, my emotions went through the roof. I was so relieved to find out I wasn't crazy, everything had been his poison. However, that meant something still lurked inside my head, causing thoughts that weren't my own. I felt happy knowing I could recover. Sad when realizing I had been tortured.

Mostly though, I was mad.

I lost it knowing his twisted mind believed I would feel betrayed by Kris because he had tried to deceive her. Telliz knew it would effect everyone who cared about me. He wanted me to hurt them. So in my pain, I held a gun at him. I refused to let him hurt them more.

Would I have shot him, if he hadn't jumped?

The question kept repeating itself. The way it happened, it would be called self defense. I feared for my life, so I pulled the trigger.

Part of me wanted to believe I would never. Other parts disagreed.

I closed my eyes as the voices began fighting among themselves in my head. I knew they weren't mine, someone had put them in my head; it gave some comfort but not enough. I turned the knob on the keyboard so the connected headphones were all the way up. I reached as deep as I could to pull the notes and chords from my memory. Focusing on that, I managed to shove the voices away until their shouts faded to whispers.

Time passed without me noticing till I heard Kris calling from the other room. "Zoe??"

She ran in looking slightly panicked but calmed once she saw me. Slightly.

Stress and worry still lurked in her eyes taking up almost all the room. I can't take credit for all of it. Dustin was just as bad as me at this point. Realizing he would be alone now, I suddenly felt bad for him. He was not the kind of person that should be left along for too long.

I mean, he walked up to a random girl, who looks rather scary when she wants too, and skipped away dragging her with him.

The image almost made me laugh. Kris had never told me how she stumbled upon Dustin and it made sense why after I heard the story. I muttered quietly, "Dustin."

"What about him?"

I looked down, "He'll be lonely."

"Oh," she sat on the floor in front of me, "I'll go see him later."

I nodded not really satisfied with him just getting a visit. We sat in silence for awhile till I was able to force myself into talking again.

"You cleaned."

"Yeah, I had help. Is it okay?"

I nodded again but stopped then shrugged.

"What's wrong?" Kris started looking around trying to find the source of my discomfort.

"It smells like laundry."

She looked back at me incredulously, "It's air freshener. It was called 'Clean linen'"