Reliving the Nightmare
By Kuro Kin'youbi
Chapter11
"All I did was watch you sleep." I said to Torn. "You were so helpless, I just couldn't bring myself to leave you alone."
I could feel Torn's eyes on me as I faced away from him, looking over a paper. I pretended not to notice, just continued what I was supposed to be doing.
"… You wanted a coffee, right?"
Tess left the room, and slowly closed the door. He would be fine for a while. Just a while. She'd pop back in to see him in an hour or so.
She left the Underground hideout and locked it from the outside. Putting away the keys, Tess smiled to herself and walked into the more bustling areas of Haven City. Which was where she saw Ashelin.
"Ashelin!" She called, going over to her.
Ashelin turned slowly, and saw Tess standing there. She frowned slightly.
"What?" Tess said. "Don't look so miserable! You don't need Torn! You'll both be better off without each other, don't you think?"
Ashelin thought a long time on this. "You're right."
Tess smiled. "So how are you getting along? I see you've gone back to working for your father. How is that old life, anyway?"
Ashelin had a quizzical look on her face. "What do you mean, old life?"
"Think about it." Tess said. "How do you feel, working once again for the man that most people in the city hate, yet you were having fun with your friends regardless of if Torn was there or not."
Anger flared across her face, but Ashelin held her tongue.
"Did I say something to upset you?" Tess said. "Oh, I'm sorry. I had better be going too. You see, I have my real life to live, not my fairy-tale one. See you later."
Ashelin glared at the young blonde as she walked away. But a comment made to her father and her life like that was not going to be easily forgiven.She pulled out her gun and aimed it carefully. Tess didn't even scream as the bullet lodged into her back. She just fell. People all around the place started screaming as soon as they heard the gunshot, but they somehow didn't see who was the shooter.
"Miss Ashelin? Did you see that? Someone shot that woman! Do something!"
Heaps of people were around Tess already. By the time Ashelin had made it to the center of the crowd, someone had already picked up Tess and had helped her into a 2-seater zoomer. The zoomer lifted up and was flying away. Ashelin felt guilt and anger. Guilt for shooting her friend, and anger for letting her get away alive!
Torn walked into the main area of the Underground later. Tess had left, he assumed. Someone had been in however, and left him a message. He picked up the bit of paper and read it slowly:
Torn,
Go to the Hospital. Tess is there. Someone shot her and people around at the time thought it was Ashelin because they got into an argument. Come down here as soon as you get this!
HarmonyTorn had to re-read it several times before it actually registered. Ashelin had shot Tess? The thought horrified him! He grabbed his coat and left the Underground. Forgetting to lock the door. He jumped in his zoomer and headed directly to the hospital.
When he got there, Harmony was there. She saw him and ran over to him.
"What happened exactly?" Torn asked.
Harmony thought a moment. "I don't know. I was told that Ashelin shot Tess after Tess said something about Praxis."
Torn was silent. "How many more people is she going to put in danger?"
"I'm sure she didn't mean to, Torn. Just like when she pushed you off the balcony."
Torn thought a moment. "Can we see Tess?"
Errol came out of a side room and grimaced. "Sure, if you like seeing bullets removed from backs."
Torn decided it would be better to wait.
