Well as of yet, nobody has tried to be violent with me, so I'm going to assume nobody is all that mad at me for killing Riley. This chapter is not going to have a lot of dialogue seeing as how it's going to be Chris's thoughts as he mourns Riley. Be sure to check out my collaboration story with precious18 if you like the Riley/Chris pairing. Its called Taken in The Night. This isn't one of my longer chapters, but I did get tears as I wrote the last bit of it. Please read and review.
Chris pushed the swing slowly with his foot, not really wanted to swing. His eyes were red from where he had been crying, but there were no more tears left. Now, he was just a shell, nothing inside. Riley had died a few hours ago, but felt like light years ago. She had been the last person he had, and now she was gone. It was weird to think that 5 hours ago she had snapped at him about how things changed. And then they did change, but not for the better. Riley had gotten herself killed, and in the process, killed a little bit of Chris. Chris looked up when he heard the sounds of little kids laughing. He saw a red haired little girl and a sandy haired little boy playing on the slide, obviously enjoying the company of each other. Chris remembered how he and Riley had done that, and the ache in his chest just got worse.
He had done so many things wrong in his life, but being friends with Riley was the one thing that had gone right. They had been friends for 15 years, neither growing tired of the friendship. They had discussed it one time, and they came to the conclusion that they'd be friends for life. You hear kids talking about it all the time, but they lived it. When you're loved ones died all around you, you grow closer. But now he was alone, with nobody to turn to when he was scared, when he was happy, or when he just wanted to talk.
He knew Riley had been hurt when he proposed to Bianca, but at the time he hadn't really cared, he figured she'd warm up to Bianca eventually. But that hadn't happened. By the time Chris realized that the two girls' loathed each other, the damage was done. Riley had looked at him with wary eyes, he knew she was wondering when he was going to bolt, ditch her for Bianca. If he had the chance to make things different he would.
When he saw Riley in the attic he felt as though he was being given a second chance to make things right with her. He wondered if, wherever she was, she knew that he was sorry for everything he had done to hurt her over the years. He really hadn't meant to. She told him one time about a saying, you hurt the ones you love. How true that was. If only he hadn't hurt her, if only he had told her how he felt about her, if only he had seen that she had a death wish. Huh? Where had that thought come from? It had sounded like Riley's voice, but that was impossible, thanks to him she was gone.
"Riles, I'm sorry. I should have been a better friend. I should have gone against my instincts and followed you. I knew it was dangerous, but I thought you could handle yourself." He said out loud, thinking of what Piper had said. She hadn't used any of the potions they had sent with her, just the one to get her there, and the one to free Leo's powers. And that had brought their next point round. She had been dead a minute or so when they got there. Leo checked the wound, remembering stuff from his days as a medic in the war, and told them she had had that wound for at least 5 minutes before they got there. She had waited until the last possible minute. It was almost as if Riley had wanted to die. But why? He hadn't imagined anybody could hurt this much, but he was hurting more with every passing second. A clap of thunder was heard overhead, and the rain came pouring down. It was almost as if the Elders' knew the pain he was in, and were paying tribute to the woman who had saved one of their own.
As rain dripped down Chris's face, he realized something that he hadn't thought of before. He would never see her smile again, feel her touch his shoulder to calm him down, or hear her voice, or her laugh. He wondered if he hadn't come back to the past, would she still be alive? Was this his punishment for messing with the Grand Design? How was her death supposed to make him want to go back? If anything, he was more determined to find who turned Wyatt, and give him a slow painful death. But in the back of his mind, he knew why. He now had to live with Riley's death. Cold wind blew across his face, and he looked up. The rain came down harder, and lightning started to flash. He hoped she wasn't mad at him. Maybe she expected him to follow her anyway, like he'd always done, but if that was the case, he'd let her down
"It has everything to do with it. When Bianca died, you cried and forgave her for her mistake of turning evil. I almost die and accidentally spill a secret that shouldn't really be a secret, and I catch hell. Guess we know who's more important. You knew her a year before you put her before me, someone you knew practically your whole life. Great Job Champ, you picked a winner." Her voice came into his head. They'd had that fight a few days ago, and finally, Chris broke down. He fell to his knees as tears started down his cheeks, mixing with the rain, becoming one.
"Riles I forgive. But please come back. I need you, and I'm so, so sorry. I should have told you how I felt; I shouldn't have put her before you. Just please, come back to me." He sobbed, his voice breaking. But all he got in response was more cold wind across his face, telling him she was really and truly gone.
He had never felt so alone.