Inner And Outer Demons

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Tris's POV

The air conditioning is cool against my skin, and my ears hear a familiar tune that hums through the sound system. The fluorescent lighting flickers in one of the aisles, while in the others it shines overly bright for my eyes. The bell chimes near the front door, the same little jingle that played when I walked in minutes ago. It catches my attention and I find myself moving towards the front of the store.

The man that entered the store is staring straight at me now. It's just him and I. The rest of the store is empty, a ghost town. I can't see his face, it's faded out somehow. As if someone erased his identity from my vision. But the rest of his body is real before me, dressed in black and holds a gun at me. Raised and ready to fire.

The music playing on the intercom drowns out as the thumping of my heart replaces the song, sounding like a drum solo now. Thump. Thump. Thump.

I raise my weapon at the man who won't put his down, and he steps closer to me. And his finger pulls on the trigger, just as mine does the same. His bullet escapes the gun, yet it disappears when it hits the atmosphere. Vanishing before me. But mine, is real. My bullet goes straight through the man who shot at me, and raised his gun at me first. And like the man was never there to begin with... he fades.

Like a ghost he disappears from the store, from my vision, from this moment. But what he leaves behind... doesn't fade. The body left bleeding on the store floor from the bullet I shot from my gun, is real. The man on the floor is alive in agony, and doesn't vanish from view like the previous man did.

I run towards the blue eyed man my bullet pierced, and lifting his head off the ground I rest him on my legs. His breathes are labored as he stares up at me with those eyes that are so bold, so familiar and so intense. I know this man...

"I'm sorry." I cry. My voice chocking on the tears lodged in my throat, as I stare down at the man dying in my arms.

"I'm so sorry."

The man doesn't speak. Just stares up at me, his blue eyes staring straight at me. Watching each tear fall from my eyes as he breathes his last few breaths.

"Please don't leave me Tobias," I whisper as I watch the blue in his eyes slowly fade. All color around us erased leaving us in a room full of black and white, and his eyes are the last piece of color left. The blue that once held place in his bright orbs slowly drains, dark blue fading to a paler shade till finally grey takes over.

"Please," I whisper as I bring his head upward for my lips to meet his forehead. "I love you."

Placing him back down across my legs, I watch the very last bit of blue fade from his eyes. And I know that the blue I fell for resembles his life... and watching it vanish before me... I know I just watched life leave his body.

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Clutching my chest as the sheets fall to a pool around my waist as I sit up, I gasp for air. My heart beats at a rate that flies inside of my constricting chest, and touching my other hand to my forehead I'm sweating. I'm sweating and hot to the touch, but my entire body shakes as if a winter wind blows straight at me.

As minutes pass, and I finally catch my breath, tears leak out the corners of my eyes. Night four... the same agonizing nightmare for the fourth night in a row. The nightmare where my bullet that killed a man who didn't have to die... turned out to be Tobias.

Throwing the sheets off of me, I stand and walk to the window in my bedroom. The room is quiet, except for the soft sound of rain hitting the window pane. And stepping closer, I watch each raindrop run down the glass. Chasing one after another, until they met up and become one.