A Twinkle In The Stars

Chapter 17

I put my bag in my car as it began to rain. I sat in my car for a while, the car off, the rain the only thing I could hear.

I put my head down on the steering wheel and just listened to the rain for a while. Before I knew it hours had passed and I was still sitting. Idle in the parking lot. My mind racing but still coming up with empty thoughts and hollow solutions. I was angry, broken, and at the end of my rope. 

My friends were gone.

My girlfriend was gone.

My sister is gone.

What the fuck was left to take?

I snapped out of my trance when my phone began to ring. It was Madame Zay.

"H-Hello?" I answered trying to change the sound of my voice.

"Where are you? Your friends are at my home demanding I find you and in their words talk some sense into you. What happened today? And where are you?" Madame Zay reminded me of my Mother.

"I'm still at the Rocx Hotel. I have been sitting in my car for a while and thinking things over. My friends turned on me. That's what happened. Now they're coming to you because they think you control me." My voice was scratchy yet it didn't make me sound like I had been crying for the past couple of hours.

"Come to the house. They want to sit down and clear all this up on my account because they will bet their lives that you blindly trust me. Just come quickly so they can leave just as fast as they came." Madame Zay demanded.

I inhaled and then let out a shaky breath.

"Why are you even doing this for them? They literally question you at every turn and swear your the enemy? Why help them?" I questioned.

"Because. They think I'm the enemy, let's show them who the real enemy is." Madame Zay lowered her voice.

She hung up the phone and I started my car and drove to her house.

*

Once I pulled up to the house I saw the van in the driveway. I got out and Madame Zay was waiting for me in the foyer.

"Your friends have held themselves up in my office. We can show them just exactly what they wanna see." Madame Zay took my hand and led me up the stairs.

She opened the double doors to the office and they all stood up turning to the door.

"It's about time. We were worried about you." Margo spat. 

I just rolled my eyes and pushed past her.

"I'm here now. What is this little kumbaya meeting you guys wanted to have? Or was it to clear your guilty conscious?" I plopped down on the couch.

"We can't have a guilty conscious. We haven't done anything wrong." Star sat next to me folding her arms.

I just rolled my eyes.

"We have all done wrong in this room. But all the crap stops tonight. Here in this room. Our friendship is too strong to just end like this." Denver spoke up.

"And what wrong have I done?" I countered.

"You literally broke up with Margo without even giving it a second thought." Denver challenged.

"Hm, I didn't think it was a crime to break up with someone your no longer happy with. Especially when they refuse to fix the one thing that is making you so unhappy." I yelled.

"All because I refuse to pull away from Star?! She's my cousin the only family I have left." Margo screamed.

"That's cool. Find yourself a new girlfriend with Star because I'm done. I'm not dealing with this whole group construct anymore. I'm going solo. I'm going rouge. I can't take it anymore. You guys wanna own up to what the hell you do then I'll be willing to come back and possibly make things work. If not enjoy the rest of your lives." I snapped.

The room fell silent.

"Ok so you and Madame Zay here are innocent? Let's not forget she killed your Aunt. She killed someone." Denver tried to reason with me.

"So I'm evil because I give her things you can't? I gave her vengeance. And I'm willing to keep giving." She walked over to the door and opened it.

The next couple of moments felt like they were moving in slow motion. She opened the door and there stood Ailita.

At first we just stood there. Disbelief and confusion painting our faces as we stared at each other, approaching slowly. As soon as we realized what we were seeing was true, we tackled each other. Tears falling from each of us. Finally, the pain had gone and was replaced by something else:

Relief.

We had squeezed the life out of each other our tears wetting each others' shirts.

Everyone watched our reunion in shock. The idea of Ailita being dead had melted away and only left the question:

Where had she been for three years?