Chapter 18: chapter 17

I couldn’t think of anything. My mind was blank. I felt nothing. No, I did feel something. I felt like I was floating. Like I was in the skies just floating and feeling like I had no worries. It felt like I was free, for once in my life.

Sadly, that didn’t last long as I could feel myself start to become hotter and hotter. I was burning up to the point where it felt like I was being set on fire. The intensity of the fire became worse and worse. I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. As much as I wanted to cry out, my mouth wouldn’t even move. My voice would not make a sound. I couldn’t even whimper or groan. The heat was becoming unbearable until I felt something cold touch my forehead. I couldn’t open my eyes but I knew it was a hand. Then the hand left and I really did whimper this time. Quickly, something cold returned to my forehead. I don’t know what it was but it was soothing.

My senses started to come back and I realized I was in a bed. I don’t know whose or where but it was comfortable. I try to open my eyes but fail. I then attempt to speak and my mouth opens but nothing comes out at first. Then I finally get a sound out.

“Wha-?” I couldn’t finish as my throat was so dry.

I hear movement as someone touches my hand. I try to open my eyes again and finally, they do. At first the light blinds me but then my eyes start to adjust. I look around and see that I’m in my bedroom. Then I notice whose holding my hand. Tristan. He gives me a worried look. I look past him to see that Gale is also in here. He’s sitting at the end of the bed in a chair, watching me intently. I try to speak again but start coughing violently. Tristan quickly puts me in a sitting position after taking what was on my forehead off and lightly pats my back. After I finish, he hands me some water. I take it right away and drink down the cool water. I finish the drink in seconds and hand the empty cup back to Tristan. He sets it down and looks back at me. I try speaking again.

“What happened?” I ask hoarsely.

Tristan grimaces at my voice but gives me a soft smile.

“You fainted. You’ve been out for a few days and have had a high fever.” Tristan looks down. “We think it’s due to all the stress you’ve had for the past few weeks.”

That makes sense. I didn’t realize so much happened in the time span of two months. I squeeze Tristan’s hand and he looks up and I give him a reassuring smile. He smiles back but it seems forced.

“So what happened after I fainted?” I ask.

This time Gale answered.

“After our training, you seemed to be swaying and all of a sudden you fainted. I caught you and took you to your room. Everyone was really worried. We called a doctor and he just said you had a high fever due to stress. You’ve been out since.” Gale says.

“What day is it?” I ask frantically.

“Wednesday.” Tristan says regretfully.

I groan as I lay back down.

“I was out for 3 days? I wasted so much time being sick and couldn’t even spend time with Cassy.” I say sadly.

Thinking about Cassy, I sit back up quickly, only to feel dizzy. Tristan pushes me back down before I can do any worse damage.

“The princess must rest. Do I need to kiss you to make you better?” He asks.

Well he seems back to himself. I stick out my tongue.

“Don’t tease me princess. You don’t want to know what I’ll do if you stick out your tongue again.” He says smirking.

I would blush if my face wasn’t so flushed.

“Anyways, if you’re worried about Cassy, she’s fine and is just worried about you. She wanted to see you once you woke up. Actually, everyone did.” Tristan says.

“I would love to see them.” I say.

Tristan nods and looks at Gale. Gale gets up to go get the others. Once Gale left, it was just me and Tristan. I start to feel a little nauseous and close my eyes and breathe deeply. Tristan takes my hand and I smile, thankful he’s here. I’ve never had someone look after me. It’s weird but also nice. It’s nice not having to worry about anything and just rest. It’s nice knowing people care enough to look after me. This warm feeling is different compared to all the times I was with the guys. It was just like those times with him. I open my eyes and realize that everyone is in here. Cassy runs to me and hugs me. I hug her back. I then look at the other boys and they all smile sweetly at me. I don’t ever want to forget this moment. I don’t want to forget this warmth. Not again.

“Cassy, I need to talk to the boys for a minute. Do you mind?” I ask.

Cassy looks up at me pouting but just nods her head and leaves. Once the door is shut, I look at them all and sigh.

“You know, I only ever felt this safe one other time.” I say.

The boys look at me puzzled, but don’t speak.

“It was when Kelsey was still alive and I was on a mission and met some wonderful people.” I say quietly.

Understanding crosses their faces. They know that I’m about to tell them about Kelsey and my past. Everything.

“My parents abandoned us when we were very young. Kelsey was only one year old and I was four. Our parents left us at a train station. I was very young so I don’t remember much but I do remember a man taking us. He didn’t kidnap us. He just knew we had nowhere else to go. From that day on, he trained me to become the number one assassin in Russia. I trained the hardest and studied the hardest so I could show him that he didn’t need to teach Kelsey. That all he needed was me and to leave her out of it. He agreed as long as I got the job done. My jobs were always to assassinate someone. Every once in a while I would get a different job. Whether it was to infiltrate a facility or protect someone. Whoever paid enough, we would take the job.” I stop and take a breather. This is when it really goes downhill.

“You don’t have to continue if you don’t want to.” Brock says.

I smile up at him.

“No, I have to. You all deserve to know.” I say.

I take another deep breathe and continue my story.

“So I got a job to protect the heir of a major company. She was just a high schooler. So I became an undercover bodyguard. No one knew who I was, not even the girl herself. Only her father knew because he’s the one who asked for our help. She was in a boarding school and so I became her roommate. Unfortunately, Kelsey followed because the man in charge of our organization or as we liked to call it, the Company, made her go so she could see me in action and learn. He broke our promise and was trying to train Kelsey. Furious was an understatement for how I was feeling. Kelsey was never supposed to experience this dangerous part of the world. She was supposed to stay innocent and pure. I almost dropped the assignment because I was afraid for Kelsey’s safety. But she talked me out of it. Telling me she wasn’t a little kid anymore. I thought, ‘what’s the harm? I can protect her so what’s the harm in showing her the ropes as long as she doesn’t become what I’ve become.’”

I stop and feel the tears starting to come but I hold them in. I used to never cry and now it seems I cry all the time. When did I become like this? When did I ever show such emotion to others besides Cassy? I’ve really changed, haven’t I? I can’t believe I trust these people so much, even after all that I have seen and been through. Even I know how cruel the world can really be. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Everyone is just looking at me, waiting for me patiently. A sad smile appears on my face.

“So I continued my assignment. I pretended to become best friends with the target. I snuck my way into her group of friends and became one of them. That was part of the plan. What wasn’t part of the plan was actually caring for all of them. I wasn’t supposed to become real friends with the target. She somehow broke down all my walls without even realizing it. And then one day she introduced a guy she met at the library. She said when they talked she realized he resembled me. She thought she would play matchmaker and get us together.” I smile at the memory. I even giggle a little. She was crazy, that’s for sure.

“Uh, Anna?” Jacks says.

“Yes Jacks?”

“What was your friend’s name?” He asks.

“Jessica.” I say.

Everyone looks down, knowing what the outcome is with Jessica. I decide to continue then.

“At first, I just said no and stayed away from the guy. But then it seemed like he actually took an interest in me. Now I’ve had where men have lusted for me on assignments because that was my job but this was different. He seemed like he actually wanted to get to know me. He seemed interested in everything I said. And slowly, we got closer and closer until we started dating. I couldn’t believe what was happening. I went from a cold-hearted assassin to a girl with friends and a boyfriend. It was a dream come true. It’s what I always wanted. I wanted to have a normal life and have normal problems. I wanted to have drama with my friends and fights with my boyfriend and not have to always care if my life was in danger. Sadly, that normal feeling didn’t last long. I lost sight of the real reason I was there. I got distracted.”

I look down. I really don’t want to tell this next part but I promised I would tell them. They need to know. This is my test to show how much I really trust them. I look back up with determination.

“One night, I was in my boyfriend’s room. We were just watching a movie when all of a sudden he tells me he loves me. I was so overjoyed that I just attacked him with kisses. I have never had someone love me in that sense and I knew I loved him too. It was the happiest I had been in my whole life. Our make-out session got a little out of hand and one thing led to another. Either way, I wound up in the bed alone a few hours later after waking up. It was late and I wondered where he went. So I put my clothes on and left the room. Once I left the room, I smelled smoke. I ran out of the boy’s dormitory and saw how everything was on fire. I started to panic. I kept thinking where’s Jessica, where’s Cassy, where’s Derek?-“

“Derek?” Alex asks.

“My boyfriend.”

Alex gives me an ‘O’ look.

“So I ran to the girl’s dormitory only to find almost the whole place empty. I then ran to the school, hoping their not in there but I had to make sure. So I ran around in the school but I couldn’t get very far because the fire was everywhere. It was hard trying to maneuver around it. That’s when I heard a scream and knew right away that it was Kelsey’s voice. I ran towards the direction of the scream and found myself in the cafeteria. The place was surrounded by flames. All the tables were covered in the fire. You could tell the place was going to collapse soon. At first, I just noticed a body by the door I came through. When I looked down I realized it was Jessica. I just lost my best friend. I didn’t even care I failed an assignment. I just cared that I let my best friend die.”

A sob stops me from continuing. Tristan grabs my hand and rubs it gently.

“You know you’re still sick with a high fever. And I don’t think this is helping. How about we finish this later?” He suggests.

“No, no. I have to do this now or I won’t be able to do it later.”

Tristan nods but still seems a little upset at my stubbornness. I try to collect myself but I still feel the threat of my tears spilling at any moment.

“I realized right away Jessica was dead. Then I noticed in the middle of the cafeteria, stood a man looking down at another body. That body was Kelsey. Rage and desperation coursed through my veins. I was desperate to get to her but also enraged that someone would kill Jessica and try to kill Kelsey too. Kelsey wasn’t moving but I knew she was alive. There were no wounds and then the man kneeled down and put a gun to Kelsey’s head. I ran as fast as I could to get there in time. The man looked at me and smirked before he pulled the trigger. My screams were drowned out by the ringing of the shot. I got to Kelsey’s body a second later. I held her in my arms and just keep crying out her name, hoping she would answer me back. I looked up to the man as he put the gun to my forehead. And I thought to myself, ‘how could I have been so stupid?’ I shouldn’t have gotten so distracted. I looked up at the man I loved as he sneered at me. He said something but I couldn’t understand it. I was too lost. Too broken. I couldn’t feel anything. All I heard him say was ‘Your pathetic’ and then I heard a shot. I didn’t know if I was shot or not but I did black out after that.”

I stop and didn’t continue. I started crying and couldn’t stop. My body was shaking uncontrollably. I was too heartbroken. I didn’t realize how much emotions I had built up over the years. I never really did let it out.

“So what happened after that?” Connor whispers.

“T-then, I um, came to a-and apparently the police arrived and shot Derek before he could shoot me. Derek got away and now I don’t know where he is. Later, I found out that Derek was the one after Jessica the whole time. He knew it was me who was protecting her and tried to distract me. He DID distract me. I failed an assignment and since Kelsey was gone, I left the Company. My boss didn’t stop me like other organizations do. Our Company doesn’t kill their employees because they might need their skills in the future so they let them live and retire.”

That was my story. That was my life.

Someone grabs me and brings me in for a hug. I realize its Brock and relax. I cry softy on his chest and he tightens his hold. This is the second time he’s held me like this. He seems to always be around when I’m the most vulnerable. If he keeps doing this I don’t know what will happen.

Even though I told them everything and feel so vulnerable, I also feel safe. I feel safe because of the warmth from all the people I love. Brock pulls back a little and smiles down at me. I sniffle as I look at his chest.

“Sorry about your shirt.” I say, softly.

“Don’t worry about it.” He says.

I look at everyone else and they all seem to have tears in their eyes but smiles on their lips. They now know that I fully trust them. Even though it’s hard for me, I know I can trust them.

“Thank you for telling us, Anna.” Gale says.

I just smile as I wipe my tears away. Brock releases me and everyone gets up.

“You should rest. Especially after telling us all that.” Tristan says.

“Ok.” I whisper.

They all leave except for Alex. He comes over to me, grabs my hand, and leans down to kiss my forehead. I feel my heart skip a beat at the kind gesture. He pulls back and gives me a smile. I grin back and then I think that’s when he realized what he did because then his face became as red as a tomato and he ran out of the room. I chuckle to myself before laying back down and falling into a dreamless sleep.

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Sorry for the delay. I just started school a couple weeks ago and didn't have time to type the next chapter. So now I'm just stuck between two guys who I think she should be with. Depending on the guy, changes the ending of the story. Or I can do where she can't decide between two and then picks. Or I can just have her not end up with anyone but that probably won't happen unless you guys think that would be the best outcome. Anyways, thanks for reading!