The Pink Gem

Run

Silence echoes through the house, almost as loud as the fight had been just a few moments ago. I want to get up and see if anyone was hurt, I wanted to see what damaged was done. But I couldn't will myself up. It was almost as if I was in a trance, somewhere between a state of shock and disbelief.

The movement of Peridot shook me out of it, and I quickly got up and ran to the living room. Or, what was left of it. Where there once was a wall, there was now a gaping hole, letting in the morning air and making me shiver.

A jacket is put on my shoulders, and when I turn back to see who put it there, I see Amber. She looked so calm, but not the good calm. It was the calm before the storm. Right as I was about to ask her if everything was okay, a tear escaped her eye. Soon, she dropped to her knees, sobs racking her small form.

A lump formed in my throat, and as I look around, the look of grief was on every face. Every last one, except for two. Jade and Toury. They were nowhere to be found.

I look to Garnet, hoping to find out what happened. She simply took off her shades, all three eyes gazing at me with nothing but grief and sorrow. She beckons me forward, and without my consent, my feet move forward, as if on autopilot.

Garnet grabs my arm with one hand, and tilts my chin up to meet her gaze with the other. "I know this will be very hard to hear," she begins, "and I am so sorry to have to tell you this, but..." she lets go of my arm and chin and grabs my hands. Pearl stands beside me and, when Garnet turns my palms skyward, she puts something in them. Before I can look, Garnet closes my palms. Whatever she put there, it's very sharp.

Slowly, ever so excruciatingly slowly, I open my hands. Only to wish that I never had. Jade's and Toury's gems laid shattered, as if they were nothing but mere toys, destroyed by a child throwing a tantrum. My hands shake and my heart pounds. I can hear the others whispering words, maybe of condolences, but I couldn't quite hear what they were saying.

The next thing I know, I'm running through the trees, faster than I've ever gone before. It was like there was something controlling me. Call it grief, sorrow, heartbreak. Whatever it was, it had it's hand like a vise around my heart, squeezing the life out of it. Squeezing it, until there was nothing left but the need to run and never look back.

I still had Jade and Toury in my hands, gripped between them so they wouldn't be dropped. I didn't know what I was going to do with them, or where I was going. But at this point, I didn't care.