It was never effortless to love Aaron Warner. He was a difficult teenage boy who seemed to forget a lot of the time that that was what he was-a teenage boy. He'd always felt that loving or even caring for him would be impossible for all the world to...
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THERE ARE A few crickets outside, making the morning feel like the night.
I've been awake for three hours already and I haven't moved from Warner's bed one bit. I assume we're in his army compound thingy, only because I've never been here before, only heard stories from Juliette and Isaac. I've been staring at the wall, trying to comprehend everything that happened yesterday. I was shot by Anderson and Warner completely broke down. I remember seeing snippets of Sonya and Sara, although I don't know where they are now. And I remember Warner helping them heal me with his abilities. After that I must've fallen asleep.
I sit up, blowing out a breath and wonder when I'll get to leave. I'm too traumatized from what happened with Anderson to even think about leaving this room, even if I'm really eager to kill him myself this time. And really make sure the man's dead. Like full on corpse-never-getting-up-dead. I have never in my life fantasized about murdering people but the urge with Anderson has also never been stronger.
I just want to get out of here. I need to. I need to know if my friends are okay. I need to know if Isaac and Kenji and Juliette got to safety and if James and everyone else at Omega Point is alright too. I have an inkling that the battle's over because I can't hear anymore shots being fired or bombs exploding violently. It only terrifies me even more because—
There's a knock at the door and it opens two seconds later. In the doorway stands the blonde boy named Aaron Warner, the one whose father shot me. The one who's a liar and a villain and evil. The one I kissed. Made out with. Had sex with. The one I loved. The one I shouldn't love.
I clear my throat. "Hi," I say.
He walks in, concern swirling in those green eyes of his. "Are you alright? Do you feel better?"
I stammer, my mouth opening to say something but then something entirely different slips out—"You're insane."
Even Warner seems so confused he can't even be phased by my insult. "What?"
I point at him and get to my feet but I nearly fall over. He quickly rushes to my side but I push him away and breathe heavily as I say, "You're insane if you think I can stay here. Why didn't you wake me up? I need to look for the others and right now—"
"The others," Aaron says with sorrow eyes, "are most likely dead, love. I am so sorry, but after that battle, there's hardly any chance that—"
"No," I shake my head. "No way, no—you're insane and you're wrong!"
"I'm so sorry, Mara."
Tears flood my entire face. God. Oh my god. How can a human hurt this much? How is it possible that the world allows the universe to inflict such horrendous pain on one person? I wish for nothing but death at this moment. My heart is pounding and I'm weakly fighting the sobs to come. If it's true—if Aaron's right, I won't survive. I've never had a real family so I made myself one at Omega Point. And if that's gone forever, I might as well be too.
