Vines

Final Goodbye

I screamed like a savage animal. My mouth opened wide in shock and before words could form, before my mind could decide what just happened, I screamed again. I reached out to Eli, who had a new bullet hole in the middle of his chest. Blood was spreading all over his shirt and the only reaction from Eli was that he looked down and watched his blood exit his body.

I could tell it hasn't quite registered to him that he has been shot. I tried to run over to him, but my legs wouldn't work. My knees buckled and I fell face first into the dirt. I watched as he fell to his knees and his eyes met my eyes. Everything seemed to be in slow motion.

 "Eli" I sobbed.

 I tried to crawl to him, but uncaring arms wrapped around me and jerked me up to my feet. I had ignored the group of soldiers around me and as the situation turned darker, they began to laughed.

Tears poured from my eyes and the moment I could use my fists, I did. I pounded my fists into the man's arms. This act seemed to bring even more laughter to them, but above their laughter was the sound of Jessica's cackle. It rose above the other men's laugh like a ship rising above the stormy waves. I tore my eyes away from Eli, who was still clutching his chest and looking at Jessica in suprise, to look at Jessica. Her gun was stilll pointed at him and a little bit of smoke rose from the barrel of her silver gun. Her evil eyes locked onto mine and she walked over to me.

 "I told you, money changes people. I gave you a hint!" She started laughing again. "You are so gullible!" 

She broke into a fit of laughs. Tears were stinging my eyes and my throat was clenched shut, because what she said was true. I was trying not to cry in front of her. I didn't want her to have the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

Then she reached her hand out and grabbed underneath my chin and moved it left than right. I tried not to let her move me, but her grip was like iron and she dug her nails into my soft flesh. 

"What are you doing?" I choked out. 

As hard as I tried not to cry, it was pysically hurting me and the struggle to talk opened the flood gates. Tears continued to spill down my face, as fast and hard as the waterfall we stood near. 

"I'm just trying to remember that pathetic face that you are making right now, before I have it killed." 

She said with a voice colder than anything I've ever heard in my life. I looked into her eyes as she said it, and saw that she was dead serious. There was not a trace of the motherly figure that I got to know in my safe haven. It had all been a complete and utter lie. What she said suddenly hit me like a cement truck. She had told me. She had given me a hint, basically told me that she was a traitor. How could I possibly link that to her when she had told me that not only was my family dead, but that Eli did it. She had dropped a major bomb on me. How could I have possibly drawn that conclusion under those circumstances?

She laughed at me agian. The amount of feelings that were running through me all at once, were so intense and much that I could litterally do nothing. It felt like a lightning bolt was thrown down and it speared me through the heart. However the most powerful, the most undeniable feeling of guilt sat in the middle of the whirlpool of my feelings like a shark. A shark in the little fish of other feelings that swirled around and around. My body seemed to lock down as one question tore through my mind. 

"What have you done?" I screamed it at her.

 She hit me with her gun. Blood streamed from the new cut on my face. 

"IT should be, what have YOU done." She snarled, her accent crisp. 

My gaze drifted away from Jessica and onto Eli. I coudn't look at her anymore. Her face, her whole being hurt just by looking at her. Eli's fierce, brotherly eyes settled on me and he smiled. I was confused for a moment. Why is he smiling at me? After all that I've done, how can he possible forgive me and smile at me? A light bulb turned on inside my mind. He was saying that it was ok. The fierceness in his eyes was telling me to stay strong and to not give up. He was telling me that he forgave me. I forced myself to smile back. Jessica saw what we were doing and turned around to face Eli.