Ch-29-★  Forgive

 [Jay]

“I killed Samantha,”

            Tear streaked cheeks stared back at me. Aura trembled terribly in my arms- broken cries shook her entire body.

            “No, you didn’t,” I cupped her cheeks in my hands. Wide blue eye were brimming with tears. With a gentle hand, I wiped the tears. “Tell me, what happened?”

            What she told me next was something I had never expected. I should have known. I should have known the girl who resembled me in so many ways would make the same mistakes I had made. She was no different than me. Like once I was blinded by love, she was too.

 “She was attacked by Hunter and it’s all my fault,” She looked at her hands, her fingers wide apart. It’s was like she was watching her hands getting stained in the blood of her friend. I knew that feeling.

            “How?” I did not want to know the answer because I already knew what it would be.

Her eyes meet mine for a brief second- they were filled with fear.

            “I told him. I told Hunter that Samantha wasn’t living with me anymore. I asked him to take her back. He promised me he wouldn’t hurt her. He said that he loved her and his father had schemed against him. I trusted him,” She spoke in a sobbing gasp.

            I wasn’t surprised. She was no better than me. I had made the same mistake a long time ago. It had cost me my sanity. I just hope it won’t cost her anything.  Whatever she had done was terrible but I can’t blame her. Hunter can be very deceiving when he wanted to be. At the dance fiesta, he has a string people following him around at the snap of his fingers.

            As far as I know, Hunter wouldn’t harm Sam on purpose. He loved her. When a guy truly loves a girl, he’ll do anything to keep her safe and to make sure she belongs to him and him only.

            “You shouldn’t have,” I whispered.

“I know,” More tears left her eyes, sliding down her red, blotched skin. “We have to go back London, now,”

            ~*~*~*~

[Aulaura]

            It was a dark night- the kind where no stars and moon shone. A little distance away from me walked a girl- her blonde hair flowed with the gentle late summer wind. She carried heavy grocery bags in both of her hands. The sound of her heels echoed through the silent night. I don’t why I was following her. My feet carried me away towards her. It was like an invisible thread was pulling me closer and closer to her.

            I took in the surroundings- there were tall, towering brick buildings surrounding the uneven sidewalk. The glass panes of the buildings were broken- cracks wove in between them in odd patterns. Strangely enough the roads and the sidewalk were empty. It must be late.

            Suddenly the girl’s cellphone rung nosily in the silent air, she stopped walking and placed the phone by her ear.

“Hello?” her voice was raspy. It screamed the fear and stark terror clinging to her thin bones. “It’s you,” She breathed out a sigh of relief. “Matt, you had me for moment,” She laughed, the shallow sound echoed through the night.

She tossed the groceries into a nearby trash can. I watched her confused, why would she do that?

“No, I didn’t buy anything,” She whispered, her neck in a stiff position as she stared straight ahead. “Jay? What does he want? Talk to me?”

Is she Samantha? Why I didn’t recognize her earlier? This when I noticed what she was wearing- a tight black jumper and loose leather jacket. The Sam, I know wouldn’t wear anything close to that.  She had a belt tightly wrapped around her waist- the belt held a small case and some nine small pockets- it looked like those pockets would hold bullets.  A dreadful realization settled itself in my chest. She expected trouble.

In horror, I paced up to her and grabbed her shoulders. She didn’t turn her head to look at me.

“Sam! What are you doing here! Are you out of your mind?” She couldn’t hear me. “Get out of here before-“My voice was cut by another voice.

            “Just as stunning as I remember,” Against the brick wall of the narrow alley leaned a tall thin figure. Hunter, his piercing honey colored eyes skimmed past me and bore into Sam’s pale blue eyes. He smiled at her, his thin lips curled upwards as he stepped out of the dark and into the streetlight.

            His chest was bare- the light reflected off his skin- creating a mesmerizing effect. Caught in between panic and awe-I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him. A pair ripped black jeans hung low on his waist. Blood was oozing out of his bruised lip. Various cuts and scratched adored his chest. It looked like he had just gotten out of a fight.

            I’ve never seen Sam look so scared. Her skin lost all the color. “There’s a-lot of traffic here, Matt, let me get back home then we’ll talk,” She slid the phone into her pocket. With a flick of her wrist, she had the case on her belt open and a black gun in her hand.

            Hunter held up his hands. “Whoa, easy there Sammy, I ain’t here for trouble,”

She narrowed her eyes at him, straightening her pose. A blanket of confidence and strength fell over her. “We both know why you’re here. I’m not coming with you. I'm happy with my life,”

            Anger flashed in Hunter’s eyes, he quickly covered it with a sugar coated smile. “This life wasn’t meant for you, look,” He pointed at the gun in her hands; Sam tightened her fingers around it and pointed it in his direction. “You’re a tiger not the wounded sparrow you pretend to be,”

            “This is me now. I’ve changed,” Her grip on the gun was slipping. “I don’t want that life back,”

“But that life wants you back. The gang wants you back,” Hunter advanced toward her. He didn’t even flinch when the gun’s head hit the center of his chest.

            “Pull the trigger, Sam,” I silently chanted. “Now is the chance,”

Hunter brought his hand around the gun and lowered it from his chest. “I want you back,” His finger reached for Sam’s face. The tips of his finger gently caressed Sam’s cheeks. She closed her eyes, letting a tear slid down her face.

            “You betrayed me,” She huffed in a pained voice. “You wanted me dead,”

“I swear,” Hunter whispered- his thumb ran across her cheek and wiped the tear. “It wasn’t me. I had no hand in the scheme. If I had known-”

            “Exactly,” Sam growled. She pulled away from him and brought the gun back to its original position at the center of his chest. “If you had known none of this would happened, right? You knew where I was and you could have explained all of this earlier. But no, you made me suffer. You went behind my back and hurt my sister.”

            Was she talking about Melody? What did Melody have to do with this?

             “You forced her to choose between me and her family. You really think I’m going to forgive you afterall that,”

            No, she was talking about me. It warmed my heart to see that Sam considered me her sister when I’ve done nothing other than bad to her.

            “I didn’t have a choice,” Hunter yelled back. “You wouldn’t have listened to me. I know you and how violent you get. Believe me, you would have killed me the minute you laid your eyes upon me,”

            “I wouldn’t have. I freaking loved you!”  Sam screamed on top of her lungs.

“Loved?” Hunter laughed- his laugh sent a chilling shiver down my spine. I don’t know how Sam was standing strong in the face of danger. “Who do you love now? That boy. He can’t replace me,”

            Which boy is he talking about?

            “He already has,”

Hunter remained completely calm- the kind of calm before a havoc-creating storm. “The underground miners are a mess now. They need you to bring them back together. My father had retired. I’m the new leader now. You can take my position if you want. Just come back,”

            “No,” Sam replied in a firm voice.

“I knew it,” Hunter shook his head- the long strands of his brown hair went flying around his shoulder. “I knew it. Guys you can come out now,” Men dressed in filthy rags and tattooed arms crept out of the shadows beside the buildings. There were at least twenty of them.

            Sam eyes widened in horror- I felt her fear coarse through my veins. They wouldn’t do this to her.

            “Take her,” Hunter barked. The men broke out into a wild sprint.

            “Stop right there,” Sam tightened her grip on the trigger as she edged the gun into Hunters chest. “Make a move and he dies,”

            The steps of the men faltered, they stared at Hunter perplexed.

“She won’t shoot me,” Hunter grinned, a haughty grin that slunk across his sharp jaw. He stared right into her eyes. “She won’t shoot the one who taught her how to hold a gun,”

            A deafening sound soared in the air. Sam had pulled the trigger. The bullet whizzed past me and hit Hunter’s shoulder. 

            The grin on Hunter face didn’t waver. Sam began crying- a sob escaped her lips.

“She won’t kill the one who had saved her life countless times,” Hunter advanced towards her.

            Another bullet was fired- Sam hit him right above his heart. The bullet dug deep into his flesh as a stream of dark blood poured out.

            His piecing honey colored eyes took her in- they darted from her hands to her face. He smiled, sadly. His steps staggered, he placed a hand on his chest- the blood flowed freely through the spaces between his fingers.

            “You’ve hurt me more than this, Sammy,” Hunter laughed, gurgling churlishly- a choked laugh escaped his lips. “This didn’t hurt as much as your rejection,”

            Hunter’s body collapsed onto the cold ground. Tears left my eyes for him. I never thought I would cry for him but here I was.

            The gun slipped from Sam’s hand and it landed on the ground with a loud clink.  Samantha looked like she had seen a ghost- her skin was colorless. A loud moan escaped her lips. She fell to her knees and cried harder than I’ve ever seen her.

            She slammed her hands against Hunter’s chest. His blood covered her hands and face. She wept while all the men watched her helplessly-their heads hung low.

            I cried too- I cried for the loss of innocence- I cried for the loss of love- I cried for my friend who had lost the person she had once loved.

            All of the sudden there was a gunshot. An aged man with the Hunter’s piercing honey colored eyes stood at the opening of the alley. He was furious. The sagged counters of his face were pulled into a menacing scowl.

            “You filth! You killed my son!” He screamed. He pulled out a silver gun with a wooden handle and fired it into Sam’s direction.

            The bullets hit Sam’s one by one. She didn’t even make a move to protect herself. The blood seeped through her jacket and trickled down her jumpsuit, staining it. She sat there paralyzed.

 I threw myself before Sam and wrapped my arms around her shoulder. “Don’t hurt her,” I cried.

            It was of no use. The bullets went past me and reeled into her back. 

“Please stop!” I wept. “Stop it!,”

            My friend was going to die and there was nothing I could do.

“Aura!” A familiar voice was calling for me-the surrounding began fading into a suffocating white. I was pulled out of the dream and I found myself sitting in taxi with Jay next to me.

            His brown eyes stared right into mine. “ Are you okay? You were screaming in your sleep,”

I nodded my head, not finding the voice to speak.

            Jay watched me for a second, before turning his head to look outside at the London passing by us.

It was just a dream- I tried convincing myself but I couldn’t. It was all too real to be a dream. Somewhere in my heart I knew that it had taken place.

            I placed a hand over my chest, trying to control the rapid beats of my heart. Still, my heart sped away wildly. Even this cold weather my palms were sticky with perspiration.

            I looked over at Jay, who sat stiffly against the open widow, his hair moving along the wind. My agitated nerves calmed down to some extent as I watched him.

            He hadn’t spoken much to me since I’ve told him about my mistake. The flight from Florida to London passed away in a suffocating silence.  I can’t blame him for being disgusted by someone like me. I wouldn’t be surprised if he hates me now. To be honest, even I hate myself for what I’ve done.

            How could I do this? How could I risk my own friends’ life?

I really hope Sam is okay. I won’t ever forgive myself if something, anything happens to her.

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            Note: I was about to cry during this chapter. (because I’m weird like that)

            Guy’s don’t freak out when I say this but Hunter is my favorite character. The guy has the looks no-one can beat. Haha anyways, So who’s your favorite character? And what is your favorite plot twist so far? Or what’s your favorite moment?