The Purge
Chapter 21: Conleth

“Something was starting between us. But it would finish me if it ended.”

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer; Michelle Hodkin

Stay with me.

The darkness came to me. I was falling deep, deep, deep…

Stay with me.

I saw my hand reached out to the light miles above me.

Stay with me.

Bri. I reached for her light.

And I woke up.

CONGRATULATIONS! APOCALYPSE CANCELED.

My display said. Shouldn’t I be appalled that it remembered to congratulate me first for winning the Trials than actually surviving it?

My lungs hurt like hell as my medulla oblongata remembered its purpose. It’s strange that I can even hear my heartbeat in my ears. They made a sound of a ticking clock. My eyes scanned the room until it found hers. She was far away from me. Maybe I was just imagining things. I thought I saw her crying. I thought I heard her calling me back. But she just left the room without even looking back at me.

“We thought we lost you.” Halley said as she separated herself from me. She wiped her tears with the cuffs of her uniform.

I smiled tiredly. “I’m one lucky bastard.”

“Bri almost popped her eyes out, crying.” Sigourney sighed. She leaned her head on one side.

I felt a shock wave all over my body. I sat up. My eyebrows knitted. “Bri doesn’t cry.” I turned to Athren to justify this. But his smirk only confirmed what Sig has said.

So that wasn’t a dream at all.

I leaned my head back on the pillow and I closed my eyes. Halley started to unbutton my shirt and she gasped. I opened my eyes to find them all gaping at me.

I raised an eyebrow at them. “What? Did I grow hair on my chest?”

“Your wound.” Halley said. Her eyes stayed on the scar on my chest. An ugly claw wound should have been there but I couldn’t even explain myself. “It healed.”

A moment of silence passed between us before Sig sat beside me and mounted her injured ankle on the stretcher. She simpered at Halley.

“Halley,” she pouted. “My ankle needs your doctor skills.”

Halley sighed, rolled her sleeves up and the alarm went off.

WARNING!

I sat back on my stretcher just as the others stiffened in their posts. I cannot believe they are doing this again. We barely got our bearings and now we’re done for. I got out of my seat and I rushed out of the room. I could see Bri halfway out of the hallway and into a throng of people.

People started panicking and the chaos was like the replay of the alien scourge episode. My scar burned on my skin. My body felt heavy.

Bri ran towards the bivouac and I followed suit. Terrible mistake. I didn’t anticipate that I was running into another dagger in the heart.

Bri threw her arms around Fygun and she pulled him close to her. I stopped—frozen on my tracks. My feet forgot how to walk away. Fygun shifted and his lips found hers.

I felt my hands ball into fists. Temperature rose in my palms.

That kiss should have been mine. She should have been mine. But I only stood there and watched as they unravel their love towards each other. So I painfully forced myself to look away—walk away Conleth, while you still can.

No stars dared to drop bombs of light at the ceiling. I stayed in bed for hours looking at the dull and boring metal ceiling of my bedroom. Suddenly I thought of dying. Earlier I was almost there. But it seems my soul made a U-Turn and here I am, breathing and bored to death. Ridiculous.

I wanted to find a way to get rid of Bri in my head. She’s starting to be a nuisance. A very heavy kind of drug that had me an addict. I’m a super martyr who’s ready to die for her 24/7. And yet my love remained unrequited. Poor me.

My mind kept on going back to her voice. Her face. I was lost in her maze. Did she really cry for me?

Irritated, I got off my bed and I went to the training room. I didn’t plan on doing drills. I almost died earlier and I don’t want to further tire myself with things that could kill me. I’ll leave that to the aliens. I just needed a place to get a peace of mind.

The second floor of the Wyvern Training Room was a home to huge foams used in sparring and free falling from cinematic air moves. Mostly, Athren benefits from this. But overall, the second floor served as a boring bedroom with no boring windows. The third floor though felt like a happy place. It’s windy and it’s open. It’s almost our so called “balcony” with the exclusion of barricades. I used to sit right at the edge before Bri caught me and scolded me to go back at the first floor and do 700 push-ups.

But then Bri’s not here. So this is where I’ve decided to stay.

I took off my shirt and I wiped away the remnants of sweat in my body. I got far more scars than other people’s tattoos. But at least I worked for them. Looking up, the stars shined like light bulbs. I remembered I wished on them whenever they fall from the sky. But I never got the chance in here. The walls were up too high that I almost forgot what human nature was. I looked east; to the Barriers that had stopped buzzing in my ears. I looked at my hands and they were drained with energy I couldn’t explain.

The door cracked open and Bri stepped in. She had let her hair down in dark waves on her shoulders and disregarded her usual ponytail hairstyle. She looked so young like this. So fragile. When she saw me, she took a tentative step back.

“Sorry. I thought this place wasn’t occupied.” She turned her back and started to leave.

“Stay with me.” I found the words in my mouth.

She paused and looked back at me from her shoulder. I’d recognize her voice anywhere. If it was a dream earlier then I’d let it be. At least it was a beautiful dream.

“I wouldn’t mind sharing.” I smirked at her to lighten the atmosphere between us. I moved at the edge of the platform to give her some space.

She walked up towards me. When I looked back at her, she was so close to touch that I could almost hold her in my arms. But her eyes skimmed the line of angry scars on my forearm. My body started to burn from within. Her touch was light but lethal. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. And when she finally met mine, I was lost in hers.

“Why do you keep them?” she asked in a voice so close to whisper.

“It reminds me of how stupid I am.” I simpered down at her but she didn’t take it as a joke. She stared at my scars as if she wanted to heal them. To erase them. “They make me sane. A reminder that I survived no matter what happens. I am still alive. They are better than tattoos.”

She let her hand slip away. I didn’t help myself. I reached up and I grazed my fingers on her hair. I tucked some behind her ear and I felt her cheek. She was so close. So beautiful. But not mine.

“I like it when your hair falls like this.”

“Why?” she sneered at me. “It makes me less scary?”

“Beautiful.”

She knitted her eyebrows at first but then she laughed and shook her head at me.

“How is it you can still give a compliment when you almost died earlier?”

I snorted. “I’m very appreciative with beauty.”

She smiled softly. Her eyes went to the newly formed scar on my chest.

“Thank you for saving my life.”

“You know I’d do anything for you.”

“You’ve fallen in love with the wrong girl.” She looked up at me.

“It’s too late now.” I held her gaze.

“Too late.” She smiled despite herself. “But I am grateful, Conleth.”

I smirked at her. “So… you’ll let me love you?”

“In one condition,” She smirked back.

My smugness disappeared with the wind. I think I know what she wanted.

“Promise me you won’t try to save my life again.”

I ran a hand through my hair. “I can’t promise you that.”

“You love me too much.”

“Yes, I do.”

She sighed heavily. “Then I’d be more careful next time.”

I snorted. “You’re Bri Tyranica. What could possibly happen?”

She smiled weakly like her thoughts were in someplace else. “Yeah, I am.”

“What’s your real name anyway?” I asked and that distracted her from those haunting thoughts. It made her smile like I was the most ridiculous guy in the world. “Briana? Briel? Brynne?”

She chuckled and I laughed with her. “You’re not even close.”

“All right… Aubrey?”

“That’s so not my real name, Conleth.”

“Then what is? I’m curious, chief.” I leered at her.

She raised an eyebrow at me. “I don’t want to kill you.”

I smirked at her. “Because you care about me more than your name.”

She rolled her eyes at me.

“You know, my chest wound disappeared when I woke up.” I started to change the topic. I know she wouldn’t tell me even if I try to pull it out of her. “I wonder how.”

“Lucky for you. You’re Addonexus. Your body condition will eventually regenerate faster than any normal being.”

“But you said I almost died.”

She shrugged. “Don’t really know, Con. Look, I’m really sorry.”

I frowned at her as I put my shirt back on. “What are you sorry for?”

“For… putting you in danger and for breaking your heart. You don’t deserve it.”

I grinned widely at her and she blushed. But she covered it up by looking away. “Now don’t be so happy about it. I still care. Besides, you said so yourself,” she tilted her chin up high. “It’s not a sin.”

“Progress.”

She let her shoulders sag. “I don’t really hate you, okay?”

“So the truth finally came out. Do I really have to die so you’d admit it?”

Her shoulders sulked. “I didn’t really mean what I said before the Trials.”

“I knew it.”

“But that doesn’t mean I like you more than a friend.”

I shrugged at her. I don’t care. At least she doesn’t hate me.

“Fine with me as long as there is progress.”

She grunted. “Conleth, you need to stop fancying me.”

“Oh but chief, I really can’t. You fill my head with unimaginable dirty thoughts.” I smirked at her.

She crossed her arms. “I’ll break your heart.”

I leered at her and she uncrossed her arms. “Maybe I’ll break yours.”

She leered back as she stared up at me. “No, you can’t.”

I leaned it closer to her. “Let me try.”

She tilted her head that our noses almost touched. “You’ll die trying.”

I pulled myself away from her. “Maybe I will.”

Her face stiffened. “You don’t really mean that.”

“I love you.” I said. “And I mean it.”

“I love him.” She said and it breaks my heart.

I smiled painfully. “I know. It’s what kills me.”

She looked away to the Barriers and she hugged herself.

“They’re sending the Sentinels back to the Gates.”

“What for? Did the aliens break in again?”

She wiped her hands on her face in exhaustion. “I don’t know. I haven’t heard from them for hours.”

I looked at her and I realized why she was here. Her tear stained face were evidence of her sleepless night. It was almost dawn. She turned to me. Worry filled her eyes and dark shadows casted beneath them.

“I don’t know if they’ll come back.”

“He’ll be all right. He’s the best Sentinel Pilot there is, isn’t he?” as much as I don’t want to say it, I have to say it. I just couldn’t erase the sound of mockery behind it. “He’ll make it.”

We both stared at Argos in front of us. It almost seemed peaceful. The state had slept serenely not knowing what was happening behind the Barriers. Bri hugged herself tightly.

“If the Barriers had been shut down, we would have known.” I said instead to divert her attention.

“I felt weak these past few days. I must have been too tired from the Trials.” she doubtfully said.

“Or it must have been the Barriers.” I countered. “It must have been sending a message. Do you feel power drained too?”

She straightened up. “At times, yes. You?”

I nodded and her jaw clenched.

The Dark Hour’s very close.

I slid my hand down to hers. The feel of her hands in mine sent trickles of flames into my veins. I gently brushed my thumb at the back of her hand. Our eyes met and for a second I couldn’t explain but I wanted to know the answer. Her lips parted as she held my gaze.

“Thanks for not leaving.” she whispered.

“I would never have.” I smiled and she returned it.

“Good. Because I won’t let you go.”

I looked away and guffawed. Despite the seriousness of the situation she still managed to make me laugh. I turned back to her and I felt her lips brush mine. We looked back at each other in shock. It must have been a quick peck on the cheek. But we both didn’t expect that one. It wasn’t even a kiss. But I wanted so bad it to be.

For a moment, we stood there facing each other, letting the stars stare and letting the wind brush silent waves on our skin. Neither of us wanted to move or maybe breathe. We were so close that a small movement would bring our lips back together. I looked down at our lips.

I wanted to kiss her.

I leaned in

and the alarm went off again.

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