You guys have been outstanding in your reviews, I feel so loved! I've never gotten so many reviews for one story before. And now, we're coming into the home stretch, readers, only a few chapters left to go. So please review and, most of all, enjoy!
Chapter Twenty-Six
Gravedigger
Altessa handed Kimberly a Styrofoam cup of lukewarm coffee and sat down beside the brunette, who numbly took the cup and continued to stare straight ahead. The two girls were seated on a worn couch in the back room of the police station, waiting for Thomas to get done talking to his follow officers so they could retreat back to their apartment. Kimberly had been given a change of clothes from one of the female officers, but her hair, and Altessa's, was still matted with blood and gore.
Kimberly set her cup aside and rested her head upon Altessa's shoulder and sighed. "Is it time to go yet? I need a shower." She grumbled, feeling more exhausted then Altessa had heard her sound yet. It unnerved the teenager slightly that it sounded as though her friend was beginning to give up, when she had been the only source of strength that Altessa had had in a while.
"Almost." The teenager answered. She didn't know what else to say, wanted to encourage her to keep trying to fight but couldn't when she didn't much feel like fighting either. So, instead she just sighed, biting but an exhausted sob, as she laid her check against the crown of Kimberly's head.
"This is never going to be over, is it? There's only three of us left and we're not any closer to figuring this thing out. How are we going to make sure that we don't end up like Scott and all the others?" Kimberly questioned, sitting up and looking at the teenager, locking eyes with her.
"Kimberly, listen to me, we can't give up. No matter what." It sounded as though Altessa added the last trio of words as an after thought, praying that there wouldn't be any 'no matter whats' to have to deal with.
The brunette nodded once, half-heartedly, trying to take to heart what the teenager had told her. Both girls turned away from each other when the door banged open and Thomas walked in, eyes falling immediately on his girlfriend, dressed in oversized clothes, hair darker then normal. She looked exhausted, beaten, but not ready to give up yet, something that truly surprised Thomas, though he wasn't quite sure why. "We can leave now, if you're ready." The question was address to both girls but he was still gazing at Kimberly as he spoke.
"You don't even have to ask." Kimberly mumbled as she stood up, motioning for Altessa to stand as well, which the teenager did without comment. Without another word, the three remaining survivors left the police station, heading to the only place that still felt the least bit safe.
* * *
Kimberly felt as though she could stay in the shower for hours and never be completely clean; she didn't feel like she'd ever be clean again, felt as though she'd always felt Scott's blood upon her hands and what it felt like to wash bits of his flesh from her hair. However, she left the shower after only an hour of scrubbing beneath the near scalding water until she was raw from the coarse washcloth.
Dressed in clothes of her own, Kimberly exited the bathroom, still toweling her hair as she entered the living room to find Thomas seated on the couch, channel surfing. When he noticed his girlfriend, he turned away from the television before clicking it off and motioning for her to join him upon the couch. Tossing the towel aside, Kimberly dropped down beside him, eagerly letting Thomas pull her into a tight embrace, leaning her head against his chest.
"Are you all right?" Thomas questioned, kissing the crown of her head as he spoke. "I can't imagine how you must feel right now."
Kimberly couldn't really put her hand on how she was really at the moment either, but that didn't stop her from trying. "I feel strange, detached, but oddly alive, like I'm not ready to quit. I think that's Altessa's doing; she told me that we could never give up and, if she can keep trying, after she's lost so much." She muttered, pulling away from Thomas' embrace as a thought dawned upon her. "Where is Altessa anyway?" It made her nervous not to know where the girl was, even though she wasn't in immediate danger at the moment.
Thomas frowned slightly, saying, "I actually have no idea. I haven't seen her since we got home." He was slightly worried about the teenager as well, though he figured she could take care of herself long enough for he and Kimberly to have some 'alone time', which apparently wasn't going to happen judging by the concerned look upon his girlfriend's face. Kimberly had become like an older sister to the troubled teenager and Thomas worried about just how attached she was becoming to a girl they had only known for a few days; he worried that they weren't all going to come out of the Design alive and there was nothing he could do to keep her from getting hurt again.
"I think I'm going to go try and find her, see if she's all right." Kimberly said, standing up and vanishing down the hallway toward the small bedroom they shared. Thomas watched her disappear with a sigh, leaning back against the couch and resuming his channel surfing.
Kimberly found the bedroom empty, but saw that the window was open; the window led to the rickety fire escape ladder, which led down to the ground and up to the roof. Slightly nervous, the brunette mounted the ladder and began to climb upward, certain that she was find the missing teenager upon the roof, which was her favorite spot to come to think when something was troubling her.
Altessa was indeed up on the roof, sitting on the ledge with her feet dangling over the side, her back to Kimberly. The brunette called the teenager's name so not to startle her as she approached; Altessa turned around to face her, smiling slightly before turning back around to gaze at the sprawling landscape before her.
Against her better judgment, Kimberly sat down on the ledge beside the teenager, who seemed to welcome her company. "Are you okay, Altessa? I mean, really." Kimberly questioned.
Altessa didn't look over at her, continuing to stare at the cloud filled sky that promised rain and the sun that was beginning to set. "Sometimes, I wonder if things would be different if I had died that day instead of lived. My parents and friends would still be alive." She mumbled finally, her voice flat, devoid of emotion.
Kimberly closed her eyes, feeling all the pain that Altessa refused to show. "Don't say that, all right? Don't say that. Without you...if you hadn't been there that day then Thomas and I would have died in that explosion. But now, we have a chance, a chance to finally beat this thing." She said, trying desperately to make Altessa understand that they did still have a chance to, that, even though it seemed that way, not everything was completely lost.
Kimberly and Altessa sat for a while in silence upon the roof, watching the dark clouds swallow the sun, listening to the rumble of thunder in the distance. It wasn't long after the thunder that the clouds finally split and rain began to trickle down from them, falling upon their heads.
"Come on, let's go inside before it gets too heavy." Kimberly suggested, standing carefully, feeling much more relieved when her feet were back upon the solid roof. She glanced at Altessa, who didn't seem to be interested in moving so suddenly.
Instead, the teenager held out her hand, palm cupped, to catch the rain that was falling around them. "I used to love the rain when I was little, though I was never quite sure why. I liked to catch the drops on my tongue like other kids liked to catch snow flakes." Altessa remarked.
Kimberly remained silent, staring at the teenager, unwilling to say anything, deciding it best to remain silent in case Altessa wanted to continue speaking. "When I die, I hope that the gravedigger makes my grave shallow so that I can still feel it when it rains."
Altessa's comment made Kimberly want to cry, though she wasn't quite sure why. There was a sense of loss in the teenager's voice unlike anything Kimberly had ever heard before and she wanted to comfort the girl and make everything all right again. However, she knew that nothing would be okay again, for any of them, which made her sense of despair even deeper.
"Come on, Altessa, let's go inside." Kimberly offered again as the rain began to fall heavier.
Closing her hand, Altessa stood up and turned around, falling Kimberly back down the escape ladder and into the apartment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I got Altessa's lines about the rain from the Dave Matthews' song "Gravedigger", which is a great song by the way. Please review!
Chapter Twenty-Six
Gravedigger
Altessa handed Kimberly a Styrofoam cup of lukewarm coffee and sat down beside the brunette, who numbly took the cup and continued to stare straight ahead. The two girls were seated on a worn couch in the back room of the police station, waiting for Thomas to get done talking to his follow officers so they could retreat back to their apartment. Kimberly had been given a change of clothes from one of the female officers, but her hair, and Altessa's, was still matted with blood and gore.
Kimberly set her cup aside and rested her head upon Altessa's shoulder and sighed. "Is it time to go yet? I need a shower." She grumbled, feeling more exhausted then Altessa had heard her sound yet. It unnerved the teenager slightly that it sounded as though her friend was beginning to give up, when she had been the only source of strength that Altessa had had in a while.
"Almost." The teenager answered. She didn't know what else to say, wanted to encourage her to keep trying to fight but couldn't when she didn't much feel like fighting either. So, instead she just sighed, biting but an exhausted sob, as she laid her check against the crown of Kimberly's head.
"This is never going to be over, is it? There's only three of us left and we're not any closer to figuring this thing out. How are we going to make sure that we don't end up like Scott and all the others?" Kimberly questioned, sitting up and looking at the teenager, locking eyes with her.
"Kimberly, listen to me, we can't give up. No matter what." It sounded as though Altessa added the last trio of words as an after thought, praying that there wouldn't be any 'no matter whats' to have to deal with.
The brunette nodded once, half-heartedly, trying to take to heart what the teenager had told her. Both girls turned away from each other when the door banged open and Thomas walked in, eyes falling immediately on his girlfriend, dressed in oversized clothes, hair darker then normal. She looked exhausted, beaten, but not ready to give up yet, something that truly surprised Thomas, though he wasn't quite sure why. "We can leave now, if you're ready." The question was address to both girls but he was still gazing at Kimberly as he spoke.
"You don't even have to ask." Kimberly mumbled as she stood up, motioning for Altessa to stand as well, which the teenager did without comment. Without another word, the three remaining survivors left the police station, heading to the only place that still felt the least bit safe.
* * *
Kimberly felt as though she could stay in the shower for hours and never be completely clean; she didn't feel like she'd ever be clean again, felt as though she'd always felt Scott's blood upon her hands and what it felt like to wash bits of his flesh from her hair. However, she left the shower after only an hour of scrubbing beneath the near scalding water until she was raw from the coarse washcloth.
Dressed in clothes of her own, Kimberly exited the bathroom, still toweling her hair as she entered the living room to find Thomas seated on the couch, channel surfing. When he noticed his girlfriend, he turned away from the television before clicking it off and motioning for her to join him upon the couch. Tossing the towel aside, Kimberly dropped down beside him, eagerly letting Thomas pull her into a tight embrace, leaning her head against his chest.
"Are you all right?" Thomas questioned, kissing the crown of her head as he spoke. "I can't imagine how you must feel right now."
Kimberly couldn't really put her hand on how she was really at the moment either, but that didn't stop her from trying. "I feel strange, detached, but oddly alive, like I'm not ready to quit. I think that's Altessa's doing; she told me that we could never give up and, if she can keep trying, after she's lost so much." She muttered, pulling away from Thomas' embrace as a thought dawned upon her. "Where is Altessa anyway?" It made her nervous not to know where the girl was, even though she wasn't in immediate danger at the moment.
Thomas frowned slightly, saying, "I actually have no idea. I haven't seen her since we got home." He was slightly worried about the teenager as well, though he figured she could take care of herself long enough for he and Kimberly to have some 'alone time', which apparently wasn't going to happen judging by the concerned look upon his girlfriend's face. Kimberly had become like an older sister to the troubled teenager and Thomas worried about just how attached she was becoming to a girl they had only known for a few days; he worried that they weren't all going to come out of the Design alive and there was nothing he could do to keep her from getting hurt again.
"I think I'm going to go try and find her, see if she's all right." Kimberly said, standing up and vanishing down the hallway toward the small bedroom they shared. Thomas watched her disappear with a sigh, leaning back against the couch and resuming his channel surfing.
Kimberly found the bedroom empty, but saw that the window was open; the window led to the rickety fire escape ladder, which led down to the ground and up to the roof. Slightly nervous, the brunette mounted the ladder and began to climb upward, certain that she was find the missing teenager upon the roof, which was her favorite spot to come to think when something was troubling her.
Altessa was indeed up on the roof, sitting on the ledge with her feet dangling over the side, her back to Kimberly. The brunette called the teenager's name so not to startle her as she approached; Altessa turned around to face her, smiling slightly before turning back around to gaze at the sprawling landscape before her.
Against her better judgment, Kimberly sat down on the ledge beside the teenager, who seemed to welcome her company. "Are you okay, Altessa? I mean, really." Kimberly questioned.
Altessa didn't look over at her, continuing to stare at the cloud filled sky that promised rain and the sun that was beginning to set. "Sometimes, I wonder if things would be different if I had died that day instead of lived. My parents and friends would still be alive." She mumbled finally, her voice flat, devoid of emotion.
Kimberly closed her eyes, feeling all the pain that Altessa refused to show. "Don't say that, all right? Don't say that. Without you...if you hadn't been there that day then Thomas and I would have died in that explosion. But now, we have a chance, a chance to finally beat this thing." She said, trying desperately to make Altessa understand that they did still have a chance to, that, even though it seemed that way, not everything was completely lost.
Kimberly and Altessa sat for a while in silence upon the roof, watching the dark clouds swallow the sun, listening to the rumble of thunder in the distance. It wasn't long after the thunder that the clouds finally split and rain began to trickle down from them, falling upon their heads.
"Come on, let's go inside before it gets too heavy." Kimberly suggested, standing carefully, feeling much more relieved when her feet were back upon the solid roof. She glanced at Altessa, who didn't seem to be interested in moving so suddenly.
Instead, the teenager held out her hand, palm cupped, to catch the rain that was falling around them. "I used to love the rain when I was little, though I was never quite sure why. I liked to catch the drops on my tongue like other kids liked to catch snow flakes." Altessa remarked.
Kimberly remained silent, staring at the teenager, unwilling to say anything, deciding it best to remain silent in case Altessa wanted to continue speaking. "When I die, I hope that the gravedigger makes my grave shallow so that I can still feel it when it rains."
Altessa's comment made Kimberly want to cry, though she wasn't quite sure why. There was a sense of loss in the teenager's voice unlike anything Kimberly had ever heard before and she wanted to comfort the girl and make everything all right again. However, she knew that nothing would be okay again, for any of them, which made her sense of despair even deeper.
"Come on, Altessa, let's go inside." Kimberly offered again as the rain began to fall heavier.
Closing her hand, Altessa stood up and turned around, falling Kimberly back down the escape ladder and into the apartment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I got Altessa's lines about the rain from the Dave Matthews' song "Gravedigger", which is a great song by the way. Please review!