The Goddess Crystal

Chapter 18: Replay

Both Skye and I stare at the reflection. One of my eyes, after waking up, seems to have...cracked. Instead of the normal purple, it is blue with a fracturing green cracking through it. I suck in a breath. Look up at Skye. "Skye?"

He only shakes his head. "What happened?"

Try to find my voice. Croak. Try again. "The Goddess..."

Skye seems to realize what I'm trying to say, despite my obvious incoherency, but doesn't get have the chance to say anything as a harassed looking Doctor enters the room.

"Ms..." he raises an eyebrow, as if asking for my name.

"Jill Brook," I croak, setting down the container. My throat feels unbearably dry, like a desert.

"Ms. Brook," he says, fixing his glasses, which had been askew, "You must be counting your lucky stars. You barely survived the bullet that entered your skull."

My hand goes to my head, which I feel is wrapped, but the bandages nor the wound are wet. "How long has it been since I got shot?"

The Doctor narrows his eyes as he studies me, then, after glancing down at his clipboard as if to confirm something, he looks at Skye. "Mr. Blackthorn, I thought you said she had purple eyes. Plural. As in both eyes."

Skye simply blinks, and I am the one to have to answer. "I used to, anyway."

The Doctor hums in thought, and writes something down with a grim expression. "It seems to me you've been struck with heterochromia."

"Hetero-what?" I ask.

"Heterochromia: a condition in which the sufferer's eyes are of differing colors."

"Is it bad?" I bite my lip, hoping against it. I never heard of this.

The Doctor shrugs. "Not necessarily. It can be a birth defect, or you can acquire it later in life, which seems to be the case." He shakes his head. "But the condition itself is not life-threatening."

"How would I get heterochromia, then?" I almost add by getting saved by a Goddess? But of course that would make them move me to the psych ward.

"An eye can be hit by an object made of iron, and iron particles from said item can remain lodged in the eye, causing color change."

I wince. "Do bullets count?"

He frowns. "No, I doubt so." Coming over, he takes my face in his hand and stares at my eye. "I've never seen such a color..."

I want to swat his hand away, but instead wait until he lets go before asking, "When can I leave?"

I'm afraid he might take my head in his hand again, but he simply touches my bandage, then seeing how I don't show any signs of pain, starts to unwrap it. He makes me lean forward instead of answering, but his sharp intake of breath lets me know.

His voice is disbelieving. "It's...it's completely healed! Only hours ago..."

After he has a few Nurses come in to make sure that he isn't just seeing things, the Doctor allows us to leave, with a warning to take it easy, which I think is unneeded.

I'll ignore it, either way.

Once the Doctor has gone back inside the Hospital (the actual one I worked at) I turn to Skye, and he seems to realize what I'm about to suggest. "You heard the Doctor, Jill—"

"I don't care," I say, but it comes out harsher than I intended, and Skye winces. "We have to find Leith."

"And do what?"

When I stop to think about that, Skye sighs and says, "See, you're just like a dog who chases after cars; he doesn't know what to do with it if he ever caught one."

"Yeah, but..." I rap my knuckles on my head, which only makes me wince slightly. "Don't you just want to return the favor?"

Skye rolls his eyes. "I think one person with a lopsided gaze is enough. We don't need two."

I roll my own eyes, which only makes Skye stare, presumably at my 'lopsided gaze'. "Who said the Goddess would save him?"

Skye convinces me enough to take precautions, so we won't blunder into an ambush, or something.

It doesn't take much to find out where they are; all we have to do is head back to the cavern behind the waterfall.

The cavern is a wreck. As expected, jagged shards of green crystal are scattered everywhere, pieces ranging from the size of a grain of sand to the size of Chime, my cat.

Skye has what looks like a softening black eye, and he winces every step he takes. He's obviously in worse shape than I. And I'm the one that a bullet put in my head.

"Are you sure you're okay? They took care of you at the Hospital, right?" I ask as I eye a particularly sharp piece of crystal before nudging it out of the way with my boot.

"Yes, I'm fine, Jill." The way he mutters—curses—under his breath only makes me even more worried. But I know he wouldn't appreciate my worrying.

"Have you seen Celia recently?"

Skye thinks for a moment before nodding. "After you...left," he means my running away from the base in tears, of course, "she said she was going to see some relatives she has in a different city, I think."

"Which city?" I ask, eager now to at least know her whereabouts.

"What was it? I think she said Mineral Town, but I could be wrong."

I nod. "Ah. Okay. What's that?"

The last sentence is because I see a metallic shine. When I bend over and retrieve it, it turns out to be a shell casing. It sits in a relatively small pool of blood. Dry blood.

I drop it, disgusted. "Where do you think he went?"

Skye shrugs. "We can always check the mine."

"No, Thief, Leith isn't at the mine." My blood runs cold at the voice. "In fact, he's much, much closer than that."

We turn around slowly. Leith stands at the entrance, leaning on the wall, with a weird look on his face. It takes me few seconds to realize that look is one of hatred. He smirks. "Surprised?"

"How did you find us?" Skye asks, voice wavering.

"Aw, are you scared of me, Thief?" Leith asks, grinning maliciously. "You should be. But I don't want to hear the fear in your voice." He looks at me with icy red eyes. "Would you like to say anything, Jill?"

"No, not really," I say, swallowing. "Why are you doing this, Leith? I was there for you when you were younger—"

Lazily, he pulls out his gun and studies it as he turns it in his hands. "Yes, you were. You were there when I was down, when I needed it. When I needed a hug." He motions viciously towards Skye with the gun. "But then he came along. Are promises broken that easily, Jill? What would Momma think? She died for me; that's what you told me. What would she think about the person who abandoned her son in his time of need?"

I blink, but indignation flares. "She would think this was wrong, Leith. What about what you're doing, trying to reinstate the Law? Gemima was trying to save you from it."

Leith's face contorts. "Don't you dare try to turn the tables on me, Jill. You're no better. You were a Nurse, you abandoned me—" he chokes there, and I realize he's starting to cry, "—for an idiot!"

I freeze. "Leith, I hated the job. And I never abandoned you, trust me."

"You didn't care about me. You wouldn't have left. Here," he says, sniffing, throwing the gun at me and walking up to me. "You clearly hate me. Kill me."

The gun drops to the floors between us. "What? No!" I feel Skye shift beside me.

Leith picks the gun up and shoves it into my hands. When I don't move, he grabs my arms, puts them into position, with the muzzle at his chest. "You hate me. I can tell."

"Well, after what you've done," I stammer. "No, no, I don't hate you. I'm not going to shoot you. Stop it."

Leith is sobbing now, and I feel sick. "Do it! Please!"

"No, Leith, stop it." I drop the gun.

He picks it up again, and I'm afraid we're going to have a repeat. But he keeps the gun in his own hands.

Leith presses it to his temple.

"No, Leith, don't kill yourself," I beg, afraid he might pull the trigger if I were to try and stop him physically. "Please."

"Give me three reasons."

"Because you're better than this, because people care—"

"Give me good reasons," he snaps. "Ones that are real."

"They are real!" I yell. "You are better than this, people do care, and your mother wouldn't want you to do this—"

But, obviously, that's the wrong answer.

The gun goes off.

Tempest Bound: AHHHH! I'M SO, SO, SO VERY SORRY FOR THE WAIT. I hope this helps? T^T