NightTide: The Girl With Red Eyes

I was in a bed, in an infirmary, Owen was there… He had his face buried in his hands, Kayla was here to… her leg was shaking, I think Owen was crying…

What’s happening. “What’s going on?”

They both looked at me. Neither of them wanted to speak… I tried sitting up and had pain rip through me. Owen jumped up. “Don’t move!” he lightly pushed me back down… his hands were shaking…

Kayla was biting her finger, where were we? “Where are we right now?”

Owen answered. “We’re at the medical area of that base. They didn’t have time to get you home.”

I asked again. “What happened?” They didn’t answer…

I could feel bandages wrapped all around my stomach, did Jessica punch me that hard? “Did Jessica almost kill me?”

Owen did answer that. “Y-yes… She did more than that though.”

He let something slip. “What else?” He didn’t answer.

Kayla got up. “Red… We’ll let the doctor tell you…” So, they weren’t going to tell me?

Owen hugged me. “I love you Red, none of this is your fault.” What happened?!

Why weren’t they telling me?! What could possibly be so bad that they can’t tell me? Then there was a knock at the door… It opened and I saw Elizabeth.

Owen was still hugging me, she seemed shocked. “R-Red?” Owen and Kayla looked towards her. She glared at Owen. “What are you doing here?”

Owen was confused, this Owen never met her. “Do I know you?”

She looked angry, she was going to say something but I interrupted her. “He’s a NightTide, he doesn’t know you.” She calmed down…

She walked into the room. “Are you ok?” She was being, sheepish… That’s not like her.

I answered. “I don’t know, they won’t tell me what’s going on.”

She looked down, then towards Owen. “So, you’re?” he nodded… She knew to? Why am I the only one that doesn’t know? “I’m sorry…”

Owen replied. “It’s not your fault… You don’t need to be sorry.”

Elizabeth had tears in her eyes. “It’s been three fucking years, and this is how we meet again!” She walked up to us, she hugged Owen, then me. “All this time we thought you were dead…” She kissed my forehead. “Now’s not the time, I hope we can talk under better circumstances.” She walked towards the door, gave us a weak smile and left…

They weren’t telling me anything… “Take me to Jessica.”

Owen and Kayla looked at me in shock… “R-Red!”

I interrupted them “I don’t care, take me to Jessica!”

They kept that uncomfortable look. Owen spoke up. “Are you sure?”

I insisted. “Take me to Jessica, now!” Kayla walked out, she was holding her arm… She came back a few minutes later with a wheelchair.

Owen lifted me up carefully and put me in it. Kayla didn’t want to do this. “Red… Do you really want to see her?”

Now they were irritating. “Yes, I do!”

She pushed me in silence, Owen stayed in the room in case the doctor came by. I don’t know the layout of this place, but it took a long time. We kept turning around different corners, I started to think Kayla was stalling. Then we got there, it was a metal door…

Kayla didn’t do anything. “Open it!”

She was quiet. “R-Red.”

I didn’t care how she felt at this point. “Open the dam door!”

She slowly opened the door and pushed me in the room… Jessica was in a chair, she wasn’t awake… Kayla pushed me closer. I looked at Jessica, she had a black eye and busted lip… I guess the Pathfinder would have done that.

I turned to Kayla. “Leave me alone with her.” She tried saying something. “Stop, I don’t want to hear it!” She didn’t say anything after, she just, left the room.

Jessica was asleep, or unconscious… I used the handles on the wheels to push myself closer to her… I touched her face, she was warm, so that meant she was alive. I snapped my fingers in her face to try and wake her up, nothing happened.

Then I smacked her, that woke her up. “OW, what the hell!?” She stared at me a second, then she noticed the wheelchair. “R-Red…!” She wouldn’t look me in the eyes.

I put my hand on her chin. “Look at me!” She reluctantly looked at me. “No one’s telling me what’s going on. I want you to tell me!”

She stared at me for a few seconds. “W-what? You didn’t know?”

Know what?! “I don’t know anything right now! I haven’t been told a dam thing! Everyone’s looking at me apologetically and I don’t even know why!”

She looked down again. “Red…”

I was getting even more irritated. “Don’t your dare do the same thing! I don’t know what’s going on but you caused it! Tell me now!”

She looked up. “You were pregnant…”

What? “What are you talking about?”

She shouted this time. “You were fucking pregnant! I killed your baby! Red, I’m sorry! I can’t do anything to make up for that!” I was, pregnant… She started crying… “I’m supposed to be your sister! How could I have done this!?” I didn’t know what to say, but her incessant apologizing was pissing me off. “I’m sorry!” I punched her, it hurt my stomach but I did it. Her nose was crooked. “Hit as much as you want! I deserve everything you can do! Beat me to death for all it matters!” I wanted her to shut up, I hit her again. She kept screaming for me to hit her. Every time she yelled I swung again. I just wanted her to stop screaming at me. Before I realized it, Kayla had grabbed me and pulled me out of the room. I could still hear Jessica crying.

Kayla stared at me. “Now you know…”

I looked down, she pushed me back to the room. Am I supposed to be upset, crying… Wanting to kill someone. I don’t feel anything, why? I looked at my knuckles, they were bloody… How many times did I hit her? We got back to the room, Owen saw my knuckles… He looked worried, I also noticed the doctor was in there… Emilia, she was here…

She saw my knuckles and immediately said something. “You didn’t!?”

Kayla interrupted her. “No, she didn’t.”

Emilia pulled out a radio. “I need someone to check on Jessica.” She didn’t believe her.

After that Emilia walked over and started cleaning my knuckles… She was staying quiet, after she cleaned them she started wrapping bandages around them.

She looked towards Owen, then Kayla. “I need you two to step out for a minute.” They didn’t argue, after they shut the door Emilia look at me. “Did you know?”

I didn’t. “No…”

She had a solemn tone. “As bad as it might seem, that is good. The fact that you didn’t know will help with the pain… The pain of losing a child is unfathomable, I can’t sympathize with you, and I don’t feel trying to empathize would help… This is something difficult, you’re a strong girl… I don’t think even this will break you… I’m not a psychologist, but that man; the Pathfinder. He seems to be a strong leader, but he also seems to care for you… He reacted the same way a father would… You two may not be related by blood, but he may see you as his daughter…” She finished wrapping the bandages… “Take it easy, and stay strong, you’ll get through this.” She walked out and let Owen and Kayla come back in. Why don’t I feel anything?

I should put this here, I'm not a parent. I've don't know what the love a parent would feel for a child is like, nor the pain... I find this topic to be incredibly sensitive in nature and am doing my best to represent it well, along with how Red feels about it.