The Fence

Chapter 71: Monsters

"You actually expect me to believe a word you're saying?" I sneer, my eyebrow raising once she finishes telling me the plan. "The last time I trusted you, you set a bomb off inside the base. You killed hundreds of people!"

"Well, I guess that's your fault for trusting me."

I scowl, a feeling of disgust taking over me. "Wow, and here I helped you."

Demi's eyes flash. "Did you? In the long run?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I trusted you, you know!" Demi spits. She wipes under her nose with her arm, as if she is tearing up. I resist the urge to roll my eyes.

"Did you now?"

"In that elevator, the place I first met you, I felt out of place. You made me feel out of place. I could feel your eyes burning into my back, while Kirbena was literally looking down on me. When I introduced myself, she still didn't even try to be nice. But when you smiled at me, even with fake light in your eyes, and you shook my hand, I felt like I could trust you."

I focus on a cloud overhead, not wanting to look at her. "What's the point of telling me this?"

"You showed me around the cafeteria. You let me sit with you despite the squad's lack of liking towards me. You didn't care what they thought, you only cared about your character. I have never met a human with that much character. In the time of me being a real soldier, you seemed to be my only friend. But not a fake friend, a real friend. You listened to what I had to say, you cared... that's more than any of the other squad members combined. Whenever Grey yelled at me, or snapped at me, you always comforted me. I hated that I couldn't tell you why it upset me so much. But, I suppose you figured it out anyway."

"Yeah, I did."

"All that came crashing down when you took me by the hair and chopped it off. My long, navy, hair." She grabs my hand, snapping my attention down to her face. She shoves it into her hair and her chartreuse eyes fill with fury. "Look what you did to it, Ky! Look at it!"

I gulp, trying to retrieve my hand from her scalp. Her grip only tightens around my wrist, and her pale skin turns red. "No, don't you dare try and pull away! You look, take in what you've done to me!" She stretches her other arm out so that I can see the small cuts and the rubbed skin on her wrists. "These are cuts, not wounds. Yet your blade..." her voice catches. "Cut me so deep."

I yank my hand away.

"And you know what's worse?" she cries. "I saw that you cared, even if it was just a little. Yet you still did what they instructed! You still hurt me! Where did your character go?"

"I didn't have a choice!" I snap. "I would have been demoted!"

"Like you didn't want that!" she hisses. "You told me you didn't want to be here! You never wanted to join the army! I bet you wanted to get demoted."

"So what?" I sigh, throwing my hands over my head. "What do you want me to do? Reverse time? News flash, Demi, I can't do that!"

"I know that, Ky! If you could, then you would be back home, safe in school with you beloved sister."

"Is that what this is about? Are you mad at me because of Kirbena? Because of Grey? The squad? Tell me, Demi! I don't know what you want! You're right, I did care. I know I broke your trust. I know I betrayed you, but there's nothing I can do about it now! You don't know how guilty I was, okay? I didn't know what to do!"

"I don't resent you..." she whispers. "I still care about you. I just want you to know that this trust thing goes both ways."

"I wish it was that easy," I sigh. "But it's not."