NightTide: The Girl With Red Eyes

Keith was screaming. “What the hell is your problem!?”

She was trying to get him to let go but it wasn’t working, I covered my face and felt around for the mask… Someone handed it to me and I put it on. I sat on the ground and turned towards them. I was watching them, but Keith didn’t know that.

She was trying to fight him off, he yelled at her again. “Do you think it’s funny to punch a blind girl?!”

She yelled back at me. “Let me go you! I don’t give a shit what’s wrong with her!” He tossed her to the side into a bunch of boxes, and then two other guards dug her out and then escorted her away.

He walked over to me. “Are you ok?” I nodded and he helped me up. He put his hand on my back. “I’m really sorry, I don’t know why she’s like that...! You have the option to press charges, do you want to?” I shook my head, she wouldn’t have done that if she knew it was me. “Are you sure?” I nodded. “Alright then.” He waved to the guards. “She doesn’t want to press charges.” They nodded and walked off, they dragged Elizabeth. She wasn’t willingly going with them… “We should probably go for the meeting hall wait for them to finish. It’s my fault she was able to hit you so I can’t guarantee your safety out here.” I followed him there, he wanted me to hold onto his shirt again…

When we got there, I saw another lady at a desk. She seemed surprised we were there. “Oh hi, may I ask why your visiting?”

Keith smiled at her. “Just waiting for them to finish. There was an incident outside with one of their associates. I brought her here for her own safety.”

She seemed more surprised. “Oh, ok then, um, I guess you two can take a seat over there. It might be a while though.” He nodded. I sat in the chair next to his, they were comfortable.

Not getting much sleep hit me pretty hard once I sat down, I was out in just a couple of minutes. I woke up to the sound of some doors opening, Keith was gone though… The Pathfinder seemed surprised that I was here but he quickly got over it. They all finished up what they were saying and three of the other guys walked away, Jessica was watching us though.

The Pathfinder walked up to me and I asked him a question. “How did it go?”

He replied confidently. “Very well, negotiations are all finished and we’ll be returning home tomorrow.”

I looked towards Jessica and then back to the Pathfinder. “Can I see her then?”

He thought about it for a second. “Yes, but wait until we’re all away. I imagine you would like to have a chat and we’ll leave you to your privacy.” She glared at them as they walked out.

I got up and walked towards her once they were gone, she was scowling. “What do you want?”

I stopped in front of her. “Hi Jessica.”

She gave me a weird look. “So, you know my name. A lot of people do.”

She was being rude. “You’re being rather rude…”

She scowled again. “And you’re starting to piss me off.”

I feel like I should wait for her to calm down. “I’m glad everything went ok. I was worried something would go wrong.”

She still looked angry. “I’m not going to discuss this with you. What do you want to talk about, or are you just trying to irritate me?”

I don’t think she was going to calm down. “Aren’t sister supposed to do that?” Her faced twisted into anger and I took the mask off. I smiled at her, she froze for a second and then punched me. “Ow! What was that for?!”

She got on top of me and grabbed my neck. “Who the hell are you, and why do you look like my sister?!”

She was angry! “Jessica! Calm down! It’s me, Red!”

She looked angrier. “I watched her die! How can you be her!”

She didn’t watch me die. “What are you talking about!? You watched me get kidnapped not die!” The lady at the desk was froze in shock, she didn’t know what to do.

Her face still looked angry. She looked towards the lady. “Don’t you dare talk about this, I’m going to have a chat with her!” The lady nodded in fear. Then Jessica dragged me into a room and sat me in a chair. She was overreacting badly. “If you’re Red, then how old are you?”

Really? “I’m twenty-two now, same as you!”

She asked me another question. “Who’s your girlfriend.”

I answered. “It was Elizabeth, I haven’t seen her in years though. Same as you!”

She still looked angry. “How did we meet?”

I answered that as well. “In a fight. You almost killed me by breaking all my ribs.”

Why didn’t she look convinced? “What’s our last name.”

I answered that as well. “Krauss. Jessica what’s with all this? I was happy to see you but you seem really angry to see me!”

She scowled. “Come with me.” She grabbed my arm rather tightly and pulled me along. People were watching and they looked concerned. Eventually we got the medical area and Jessica stopped a doctor. “I need a DNA test immediately!” He seemed surprised at first, but then he scrambled to get it done. Someone came by and took a swab of my mouth, then they walked off. She had me sitting in a chair. “Don’t you dare move!”

We sat there for several hours before anyone came back. It was a doctor he had a paper, Jessica snatched it… She read it for a minute then looked at me, she seemed to have calmed down. “Red, Krauss…” She froze, the doctor was visibly nervous. “You can go, I have what I need.” She handed him the paper and then grabbed my arm again, she dragged me out of there.

She was pulling really hard. “Hey, hey! Can you ease up a little!?” She ignored me, we were heading for the gate. Was she going to confront the Pathfinder?! They opened it up and she dragged me towards the tents. The Pathfinder was standing outside of his.

He seemed calm. “May I ask what this visit is for?”

Jessica snapped back. “How long have you had my sister!?”

He answered. “She’s been with us for around three years now, why do you ask?”

She still sounded angry. “Were you the ones who took her?!”

He answered. “We did not, she was found during the purge of a raider base. We brought her back us and nursed her back to health, she’s decided to stay since then.”

Jessica screamed. “LIAR!” This was going to get out of hand.

I had to stop her. “Jessica calm down!”

She glared at me. “Shut up!”

Why was she freaking out? She let go of me for a second and went to attack the Pathfinder, I put my foot out and tripped her. I jumped on top of her. “Jessica calm down! Why are you acting like this!?”

She pushed me off and glared at me. The Pathfinder looked like he wanted to intervein but he chose not to… “Why the hell didn’t you come back!?” She was crying. “Why did you make us all think you were dead!?”

She ran up to me, was she going to punch me? I braced for it, there’s no way I could dodge it anyways… I smiled at her and opened my arms, maybe a gesture of acceptance would calm her down? She hit me in the stomach, it hurt; A lot more than it should have, my vision was blurry… I ended up screaming, I fell… I saw blood, why was there blood?

Jessica froze, she didn’t have any blood on her… “N-no, what have I done!?”

Before she could do anything, the Pathfinder punched her away from me… I think he was angry, I was shaking… He put arm around me and lifted me up

He sounded scared. “Red, please stay calm… Just stay calm, everything is going to be ok.” My vision was blurring, why was there blood?