NightTide: The Girl With Red Eyes

I opened my eyes… I was in a different place, it wasn’t the same infirmary… I must have been home then, I heard sobbing… I looked over, it was Jessica… She was sobbing to herself. “Why would you do that? I keep getting you hurt, you should have just let me die.”

This isn’t the Jessica I know, she was always so confident… “Shut up! Stop talking like that!” It hurt to yell, it also scared her.

She jumped back and almost knocked her chair backwards. “R-Red! You’re awake!”

She was being annoying. “Stop crying over it. It’s already done.”

She stood up. “Why? Why would you save me after what I did?”

Does the reason matter that much? “Why does it matter?”

She stuttered. “B-but!”

I yelled again. “Stop!” it hurt.

She looked down. “I’ll stop… T-thank you.” She sat back down and stayed quiet…

Later that day a doctor came in. He saw me awake and seemed surprised. “Oh! You’re awake! Are you in any pain?”

I wasn’t. “No…”

He smiled. “That’s good to hear.” He stared at Jessica then looked back at me. “I came in to check on you… I’m surprised your awake… I’m sorry about what happened.” Please don’t do the apology thing. “I heard what you did though… I don’t think I would have been able to do that. You’re a very good person.” He walked out.

Jessica looked at me. “What are you going to do?”

What does she mean. “I’m not sure what you mean by that.”

She seemed nervous. “I can’t go back. I’ve lost my rank as commander, and I don’t have anything here… What are you going to do with me?”

Is she worried. “What do you mean you don’t have anything here?”

She had a weak laugh. “You know what I meant by that.”

I did. “I’m sure you can find something. Preferably something that doesn’t involve fighting.”

She looked down. “That’s all I’ve ever done…”

It was quiet the rest of the day. Someone brought us food later, she slept in the room with me… That chair couldn’t have been comfortable. The next morning the Pathfinder came in…

He looked at Jessica, then back towards me. “How are you feeling?”

He was asking as well? “I feel fine. I can’t move that much though.”

He seemed to be in a better mood. “Given the circumstances we couldn’t ask for anything better then… I have something to tell you, it’s rather important.”

What? “What is it?”

He made a sigh of relief. “We’ve had a policy that a NightTide couldn’t live within the city limits… It’s been lifted, and we’re expanding the wall to accommodate such a change.”

Oh? “Why is it being lifted? Also, how have me and Owen been living here?”

He answered the second question first. “You lived within the government building. As for why it’s been lifted, this should explain.” I hadn’t noticed before but there was a tv in here… he turned it on.

There was a lady talking, she was going on about the change, most of it didn’t really mean much to me; until the end. “This change has come around due to one of the few NightTides that did live here… She’s gone by the name of Red, some of you may know her from several years ago when we were attacked… While it was initially thought that she has passed during the assault it turned out that she was captured, she’s come back to us since then… It is unfortunate the reason why this change has come about.” She went on for a bit talking about how bad it was instead of actually saying it. “She accompanied the Pathfinder to the negotiations for a treaty. While no one was aware of it she was pregnant… Shortly after the treaty was signed she was attacked, the baby didn’t survive the encounter. She could have done a number of things, instead she chose to forgive the attacker…” She paused for a moment and wiped her eyes. “It is because of this, that it’s been decided that humans and NightTides can safely live together within our walls. If a NightTide can forgive such an act, maybe they’re more human than us.” He turned the tv off.

She pulled out one of the chairs, Jessica was staying quiet, then he sat down. “They make it sound, interesting, more emotionally charged; but I suppose for this circumstance it fits. You’re the one responsible for this. I would like to personally thank you for this. I’ve been pushing it for a long time, but the citizens didn’t want it.”

He looked towards Jessica. “Now the question for you. What are you going to?”

Jessica waited a while to respond. “I don’t know…”

He leaned back in his chair. “Then spend that time being what Red wants you to be, her sister… Since you no longer have a role in the western government then make one here.”

He walked out, then she looked at me. “What do you want me to do?”

The Pathfinder said it well enough. “To be my sister. No more fighting, no more getting hurt. Life here is easy, you can finally take a break…” She smiled, I saw her eyes tearing up.

She got up and hugged me. “I’ll do everything I can to make it up to you.”

I hugged her back. “You don’t need to make it up to me. Just stay alive, I want to have a sister for a long time.”

She had a weak laugh. “Ok.”

Jessica spent the entire time I was there with me, she didn’t even leave the room unless I asked her to… Eventually it was time to leave, I hadn’t fully recovered but I could safely walk on my own. Owen was there, he hugged me. The Pathfinder was as well.

He had something to tell us. “It may have been a while since we last talked, but I have something for you two.” He was referring to me and Owen. “Please follow me.” They all went slow so I could keep up.

We walked for a few minutes. Jessica was staying close to us, Owen had his arm wrapped around me… I felt incredibly safe. I saw rows of houses… I guess these are the new ones, we stopped in front of one of them… I was larger than the rest… Three stories high, we went inside.

The Pathfinder turned to us confidently. “Since NightTides are now allowed to live within the city, we’ve provide a house for you… I feel it it adquate compensation given the failure to protect you, and your aid in making this change.” He opened the door, and handed me and Owen a key… “Let’s go inside.” He opened the door… Three floors, four bedrooms…

I looked at Jessica, she was uncomfortable. I looked at all the rooms. Two large ones, two small ones. Owen or Jessica helped me up and down the stairs, it depended on who was closest. Me and Owen decided on the room on the first floor… Jessica was still uncomfortable.

I grabbed her arm. “Aren’t you going to pick a room?”

She seemed surprised. “W-what!”

I asked her again. “Aren’t you going to pick a room?” Her face lit up… That must have been what she was worrying about… “I’m still surprised myself, but I’m not going to abandon you.”

She hugged me. “Thank you… It looks like the tables have turned, I thought this was going to be reverse when we first met…”

What did she mean? “What do you mean?”

She smiled. “After we started working together and I really started wanting to be your sister. I thought this scenario would have been me and Keith getting a house and letting you live there.”

She let go, I replied to what to she said. “I didn’t think I was going to live very long… I kept getting hurt, I thought I was useless. I figured I was going to die before anything good came… I saw that Keith was still alive.”

She looked at me with surprise. “Oh! Turns out he turned into a NightTide after you killed him. He was sent to that base shortly after we got it up.”

I asked her about him. “Do you still like him?”

She answered, a little sheepish. “Yes.”

I hugged her back. “Maybe you’ll be able to see him again.”

She replied quietly. “Hopefully.”

The Pathfinder left us all alone, we spent a lot of time there… Owen was in charge of moving stuff, much to his dismay.

This is where my story ends. Everything beyond is peaceful and not worth talking about, plus I’d rather keep those times to myself. It’s been ten years since then. We haven’t tried having another child. Jessica eventually got her own place to live, not all that far away. I still work for the Pathfinder, but now I do paperwork as well. Jessica, works a firing range… Owen is a guard for the city,along with Kayla. She’s not all that happy about me, Owen, and Jessica not ageing. She complains about it being unfair, it’s fun to pick on her about it. I haven’t seen Elizabeth since then, I wish I knew where she was, same with Keith; but we think Jessica likes someone. She just won’t talk about.

It was the Pathfinder that asked me to do this, he said that people would like to hear about my life… I don’t know if it’s true, but I guess anything’s possible. He’s developed a cough over the years, I don’t know how old he is and I still haven’t seen his face… No more fighting, no more pain… I’m happy with how everything turned out. My life started with pain, I’m going to make sure it doesn’t end with it.

This is the end for The Girl With Red Eyes... For those of you who made it this far, what did you think? If you have the time a review would be greatly appreciated. The next chunk of my time is going back through and correcting any errors within the chapters, I hope you enjoyed it.