Hollow Woods ✔

Real Feelings With a Side of Death

~Dean~

Sophia paced around the hallway outside of Ex's room. Nora was a medical graduate so she knew what to do. So we had little to worry about but still, the possibility stood.

We've been waiting outside in the hall for over an hour. Even after all that time we still didn't know anything about Ex's current situation. Rhydian was leaning against the wall at the end of the hall, he was lost in thought. Today he saw two men die and his friend shot six times, thank the lord that she was still alive anyone else would have died the instant that third bullet hit. I was sitting on the floor, my face in my hands, desperately trying not to cry.

"To hell with that!" Everyone's attention snapped to the door. Ex's voice boomed with anger before the door flew open and she marched out, kind of limping.

"You need to recover!" Nora placed a hand on her shoulder but Ex just pushed it off and turned around. "You can't do this, please." Nora was in tears, begging Ex to stay.

"The gun," We stared sadly at her. Is she really still set on going for the kill? "I won't ask again. The gun." Her voice was emotionless and her gaze even more so. She let nothing get to her. Ex was back to her old self, the self that didn't care for the consequences.

"No." Sophia let out a pained cry but Ex just stared at her with a blank expression. "You can't possibly still be thinking of killing them all!" She placed her hands on her shoulders and shook her. "Please!" She begged.

Ex pulled away roughly and turned back, walking down the stairs. I saw that she was still adding pressure to her wound. We all noticed yet no one stopped her. At least most of us knew not to stop her when she was like this.

Rhydian turned and quickly descended the stairs. He pushed Ex to the wall and got right in her face, keeping her against the wall.

"Why do this? What the hell are you trying to prove?" He raised his voice at the end. "Can't you see how much this pains your friends!" Her reaction never changed, she never flinched under his harsh tone.

"They chose to feel those emotions. They chose to take in my pain. No one ever asked them to do such things." Her voice was cold. Everyone's eyes filled with sadness, Ex took the chance to push Rhydian away.

Ex opened everything and found her personal gun. She went and got more bullets from the kitchen cabinet before reloading it. When she was set, Ex walked out the front door, slamming it behind her.

Looking over at Nora, she was in Sophia's arms, both crying into each other's shoulder. They tried to comfort one another but it just seemed to make them cry more. Glancing over at Rhydian he took me by surprise when he punched a hole in the wall.

I opened my mouth to speak but thought otherwise, taking a deep, and much-needed breath, I ran back to my room and came back with a few guns in hand. Everyone's eyes grew wide and I cut them off before they jumped to conclusions, "I'm not about to leave my sister to fend for herself. Just because it's a gun doesn't mean I have to take someone's life. Join me if you want, but I refuse to leave her." I placed the guns down on the coffee table and raced outside the house.

One of the bikes was gone meaning that Ex was exposed to gunshots from any direction, What was she thinking!? I got in the car but before I could pull out of the driveway Nora steps in front of the car and holds her hands out to stop me. Sophia got in the back seat, Rhydian took the passenger's seat and Nora raced to get in the back seat as well. I took a quick look and they all had a gun in hand.

"We don't plan on killing." Sophia said as I looked at her, "But we also don't plan on leaving a sister alone." Nora smiled and gave a reassuring nod.

Once out on the road, I raced to the battle arena in hopes of finding her there. We shot out of the car and split into pairs to search the area. In case of emergencies, we always kept small communication radios in the car.

Everyone got one and we split, Rhydian and Nora searched the left-wing while Sophia and I searched the right-wing.

We looked all over and ended back in one of the small side hallways. We stopped to talk about our next move.

Hey, you guys should head over to the locker room. Go around to the back entrance and we'll be waiting for you. We found Conna.

Nora's voice was a whisper but we still got the information. I looked up at Sophia and with a nod towards each other, we raced quietly down the empty halls and reached the back entrance. As they said, Nora and Rhydian were crouched down and peering around the corner.

We did the same and our jaws dropped when we saw him, Conna was standing there, speaking with her father. I noticed Sophia shift and a look of utter horror filled her eyes.

"Nora, you and Soph should scout the area for any members if you don't see anyone contact me and Rhydian and I will take these two down." The girls nodded and snuck away into the dark halls.

After a while, I got note that no one was around and no cars were outside. We were in the clear. I looked over at Rhydian and he was shaking slightly, but he nodded and grabbed his gun tighter. We stood to our full height and stormed the room. A few seconds later Sophia and Nora joined, closing off the small circle around Conna and her father.

They looked confused at first, Tyron scanning all of us until he landed on her, "Sophia?" She flinched under his gaze, this ass really did a number on her. "What is this all about?" Sophia opened her mouth to speak but a gunshot made her turn away.

Tyron fell to the floor, clutching his arm from the sudden bullet. I looked to the corner and she just stood there, her gun pointed out and ready to shoot again. Everyone looked over at Ex who had just shot the man crouching on the floor. Turning back around I saw Conna kneel down trying to comfort her father.

Another shot was fired and Conna screamed at the pain. "Don't think I forgot about you." Ex came closer, her voice dangerous. "I want to end this now, but I'll let your father feel pain. He'll lose everything." Conna looked up at her, tears pouring out of her eyes as Ex placed the gun on her head, she shook her head slowly, begging for mercy. Then turning to her father Conna let all her emotions out, she let out a cry and couldn't stop it.

We backed up from what was happening, I don't even know if Ex realized we were in the room with her. I took one last look into her eyes, she was gone.

Ex placed a finger on the trigger and slowly pulled back. A loud shot followed by a thud. All in too much shock, we couldn't look away and we couldn't react. My eyes move to Connas' lifeless body, a pool of blood growing bigger around her head. Lifting my gaze to see Tyron, a look of pure pain in his eyes. He might have been ruthless but he was still human, he was a father that loved his little girl. The father of the girl that lay motionless on the floor in front of him.

3

Tears slowly formed in the fathers' eyes as he looked down at his little girl in complete disbelief and emptiness. He just lost his whole world.