The scream still echoed in my ears, seemingly tainting my very being with the melancholic action. I felt numb, my head surrounded by an impenetrable fog, clouding my mind with this grief.
Chris jogged toward the silhouettes - the guilty party - whilst I stumbled over to Robyn sobbed over her brother, clutching his cold hand as if it was a life line.
I didn't know what to say. I lingered behind the pair, not being able to face the facts and confront the lifeless corpse sprawled on the floor in a puddle of gleaming blood - his blood. Even from a distance I could see the scarlet residue, shockingly bright against the cold black ground. Even from a distance I could see the multiple bullet wounds, puncturing his chest with malicious glee...
The way Jay had first talked to me, seemingly sticking up for me when he approved of my tale, the way he had always been the quiet shadow, yet such a kind soul, a stark contrast to the angry creature his sister always was. Memories rushed through my mind like a merciless waterfall, crashing into rocks and crevices when some reached a painful zenith, taunting me.
He's dead. He's gone.
"Robyn..." I murmured. My voice sounded alien, croaky and hoarse like my lungs had been scrubbed with vicious sandpaper.
"Go away." She snapped in reply, not turning her head toward me. Her shoulders were hunched in defeat, her filthy hair falling around her shoulders like dead plant tendrils. Tears shimmered on her partially obscured cheeks, falling onto the ground and mingling with the growing pool of blood.
"I-I'm sorry."
"That's what they all say. They didn't mean it. You don't mean it. He's my brother. You can't take him away from me... I'm staying here, so go away. Leave me be." From the way her words tumbled like a hamster wheel, and from the way she used the present tense, as well as referring to mysterious past circumstances, I could see she was hysterical. Her grip on her brother's hand tightened, as if a simple hard tug could return him to the realm of the living.
"No, I really am sorry... Robyn, please, you need comforting." I tried, my hands shaking as I ventured closer, trying to avert my gaze from the grotesque carcass.
Whipping her head toward me, the usual impudent fire ignited in her dark green optics, though the intimidating action was tarnished with how bottom lip wobbled, and how silvery tears still stained her freckled face. "You don't understand. He was all I had left. And he's... He's dead! I couldn't save him! I should've stopped him! It's all my fault and now I'm alone!"
"It's not your fault!" I protested, though I kind of knew my words would have no positive affect.
"That's what they said! That's what they said!" Robyn mumbled. Why did she keep saying that?
Storing the information in my grief clouded mind, I fiddled with my hands, wringing them together. "I understand what it's like to... Lose someone close to you. It'll get better, I promise."
"How would you understand, eh? You left your parents voluntarily, you ungrateful idiot! Do you know how much I would do just to have a proper family? So boo hoo, they didn't particularly take any interest in you but they were actually there, they were actually functioning. You're stupid, incompetent and petty. You barge into this group like you own the place and pull stunts just to get on Chris's good side. You didn't try to stop Jay either. You're probably glad to see him dead. You'd probably enjoy seeing us all burn." She spat. Predominantly, it didn't make much sense, but in some ways it did. Obviously, something happened to her parents, probably making her her angry self... Thus meaning she thought I was stupid for deserting them. Of course; she was still mean, rude and mentally unstable, but their was method behind her madness and seething demeanour.
"That's not the point. This isn't about me. I know you hate me and think I'm just a stupid set back, but I want to help you. Why don't we take Jay elsewhere? Clean him up and give him a proper send off." I tried, wiping a tear from my cheek.
He's dead. He's gone. Everything around me seemed to whisper it like a mantra, piercing my heart continually.
"Why don't you take the hint and go away? Leave. Me. Be." Robyn's words were dangerously tense, the friction in the air reaching a cumulative point. Her fists clenched caustically, more tears cascading down her cheeks.
Wiping my hands across my face, I huffed in defeat, stalking away, the image of Jay's fallen body fixated in my brain.
"Tempest." Chris called, coming over to me. He looked tired; shattered. "I've talked to the guys. They've repeatedly apologised for... Murdering Jay, as one would expect. They said we could stay in their camp for the night, and when we leave we can take the majority of their supplies for retribution." Nodding, I looked last him to see the three men, my eyes instinctively narrowing.
"What're their names?"
"Charlie, Josh and Malcolm." He replied.
"Which one killed Jay?" My voice quietened as I voiced my question, more tears spilling down my cheeks.
Chris placed a hand on my shoulder. "Josh did." He whispered in the same blue tone. I pulled him into a hug, a sob escaping my mouth.
"I'm sorry. I just can't believe he's dead." I hiccuped.
Chris was momentarily rigid, but he soon returned the embrace. I heard him sniffle. "Me neither. Me neither."
CITEȘTI
Monotone | ✔️
Acţiune"If we were so riveted in the spectrum of nature, why did we stand, petrified, as we became corrupted by idle technology, stupefied by glowing screens, stolen from life as we know it from enemies right under our noses? Why did we relent to this obvi...
