There's No Good

Fourty Three

Arden.
•••

   My first instinct was to run to my room. I had to grab it. It couldn't let it fall into the wrong people's hand. Even if I was one of those people.

   After grabbing it, my next step were to find Will. He would know what to do. I couldn't find any of our other friends, I couldn't recognize anyone here.

   I knew something was wrong when Gwen bursted into my room. She told me the school was under attack, begged me to come with her. But I told her I needed to do something first. So while she ran into the fight, I ran into my room. But now I couldn't find her. Now, I couldn't find anyone.

I am scared.

I run straight into the battle, there's people on the floor, people with weapons, people killing, people dying.

I don't know what to do. I don't know what side to pick.

I know it's the rebels that are attacking. They wear their badge of treachery in honor.

So whose side do I fight on? My father's or them?

Was this my fathers telling me that it was time for me to come home? Did I need to even put up a front anymore?

I run past the people fighting, trying to find anyone I recognized.

Then my plan changed. I have to go to the one place I know my father would think to look for me. The cliff.

As I run towards it, past the countless of bodies, I only see two figures. It's too dark to know if I knew any of them. But then I heard it.

A loud scream that stood out from the others before, a familiar voice. My heart stops. It's hard to miss the flaming hair, as I run closer. My legs and hands act before I can even realize what's happening. I send a burst of power, knocking Gwen's attacker away.

It might of killed him, I don't know. All I was focused on was getting to her.

Her auburn hair lays on the floor. Her pale arms hold something against her stomach.

"Gwen." I gasps falling down to her. Her pale green eyes flicker open to the sound of me voice.

"Hey villain." I'm relieved by her joying manner, it means she's ok.

"You're ok?" I ask, scanning her body. She gives me a nod and then a hand. I quickly stand up, taking her hand and her with me. "Where is everyone?"

She doesn't answer me, she doesn't even look at me. Her eyes and head are distracted by something else. I follow her gaze down to our hands. I gasp when I notice them both covered in blood.

Gwen's eyes then move to my body, scanning it to make sure I was unharmed. Once she realizes I was, she looks back up. "Do I want to look?" She asks. My eyes shoot down, widening when I see the source of the blood. Her blood.

"No." I whisper. She lets out a quiet laugh before taking a step back.

"I'm getting dizzy." She says, taking another step. I'm fast to catch her.

"You're ok." I say, lowering her to the floor, trying to reassure her. "You're ok." I say again, this time to tell myself. I look and see a familiar boy running towards us. "Get helped!" I yell at him, he nods quickly before running off. "You're ok."

She wasn't.

"Don't lie." Her smile doesn't reach her eyes. I look around, searching for a familiar face. Looking for anyone who could help. But there was no point. There was too much blood and not enough time. "I'm sorry about our fight."

"Don't be." I say, brushing her hair past her ear. "You were right. Don't be sorry for being right."

   "You're not a villain." She says.

   "I am Gwen." She reaches up a wipes  the tears falling down my face. "I did something bad." I cried, needing to get it off my chest. "I'm not the person you think I am, I'm not good."

   "What did you do?" She whispers. I used to love when she whispered to me, it meant she was telling me something she didn't want anyone else to know. It meant that I was important enough to her to share something with me. But now it didn't mean that. It meant something completely different.

   "I was never honest with you all." Her eyes widen a bit. "I was never on your team, I was always following my father's orders." Her eyes scan my face, and she wipes away more tears falling. "I was told to make William love me, told to steal, told to lie..."

   "I am no better than you." This time a tear falls down her face. She coughs then winces at the pain.

    "Don't talk." I tell her. I smooth her hair once again. That's the only way I know how to make someone feel better, that's the way my mother used to make me feel better.

   "I might of not been your best friend," she gasps out, "but you were mine. And now I need to tell you something."

   "Shhh, it's ok." I hush her.

   She slightly shakes her head. "Please don't let me die with this secret."

   "You aren't going to die." I look around the area, there's still no sign of the boy.

   She looks at me face, and smiles. "You are such a pretty liar." She says. "Will you do me a favor?" I nod. "Tell Levi I did love him."

   "You aren't going to die." I say again.

   "Even if I don't, tell him. My ego is way too big to tell him myself." I laugh a sad laugh. "I love you Arden." She says, "You were a friend I didn't know I needed but did."

   "Even after everything I told you? Everything I did?" I cried.

   Her next words are meant to smooth but do nothing but hurt. "I forgive you. Can you forgive me?"

   "For what?" I ask.

   "We all lied to you to." Her words shock me.

    I wanted her to explain, tell me everything she meant, but I didn't want her to waste her energy. "Don't be too hard on yourself on what you did to Will." My heart clenches at the sound of his name. It's her next words that shatter it. "Because he used you the same."

   "What?" I ask. I could tell her eyes were growing heavy, she was slowly closing and opening them, barley able to keep them open for longer then a couple seconds. "What do you mean?"

   "What your dad asked of you, his parents asked the same." I fall back slightly, confused and betrayed. Heartbroken and angry.

   "What?" Was the only thing I could think of to say. I needed her to explain more or even better, tell me she's lying and it's not true.

   "We were all no better than you."
•••