Chlorine Halos

Exes & Oh's

A low, rumbling growl filled the silent void before the quick ripping sound of the curtain took the palpable tension to the edge. Maestro stormed down the hall of the fort, his stomps fading into hushed thumps.

Shoving Jake to the side, I shot to my feet and shook my fist at her, clenching the bronze bracelet. "What's the matter with you? What the f—"

"Is everything okay in here?" Krysta asked, standing over the curtain on the floor with her hand on the doorframe. As she moved her incredulous stare from me to Jake, then back to me, her mouth fell open. "I don't know what either of you are thinking, but—"

"Mrs. Oswald, you don't under—" She silenced me, holding up her hand. 

"No. I do not want to be involved in this," she snapped while bending down to pick up the book Maddie had dropped—a collection of poetry, Mountain Interval. "And I didn't pack my ten-foot pole, so I can't show you how much I don't want to be involved in this. Avian, whatever's going on, fix it. We don't have time for this teenage drama."

As she walked away, I glared at Jake, frustrated, furious. "Explain. Now."

Her whispers were barely discernable. "You were supposed to be the one who understood, but now, you never will."

Scoffing, I started lacing up my sneakers. "Why do I even bother?"

"Avian, please," she begged, grabbing my forearm. "I need you to bother. I know this will never make sense and I know I will never be able to justify it, but I... I needed to feel something."

"Feel something?!" I shouted, pulling away from her. 

"Yes! Feel something!" she countered as she quickly stood. "In the last two years, I have lost half of my family, most of my mind, and all of my faith! I have been haunted by every mistake I have ever made! And for what? To save a world already gone? Avian, we cannot beat this. Nobody wants to admit it, but this grid—it was over before it began. So, yes, while I wait for the inevitable, I want to feel something. The way you look at Maddie, the way you love her—I wanted to feel that..."

I sighed, lowering my head, not ready to forgive, but willing to listen. "Jake, Maestro loves you. If he didn't, you would have seen a very different reaction."

"I saw what you saw; Thomas, yet again, leaving rather than showing any signs of a spine."

"That's not fair. He was blindsided. I was blindsided." Opening my hand, I studied the bracelet. "Where did you even get this?"

She bit her bottom lip, hesitating. "I was told not to tell you..."

"Jake."

"Your dad gave it to me."

I took a step back, pushed by the words. "M-My dad?"

"Yeah... he told both us not to say anything to you."

"'Us'? Who's 'us'?"

"Me... and Maddie."

The bracelet dropped to the floor as I took another step back, the anger reddening my face. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me." My emotions ran together, stripping the statement of any inflection.

Ignoring Jake's pleas to stay, I raced outside the fort, mumbling jumbled words as conflicting thoughts became pinpricks to my heart. Omissions sat atop lies, masquerading as half-truths, breaking trusts I once believed invincible. Before I could wallow in the broken pieces left behind by the ones I loved, I reached the border of the barren terrain, courtesy of the Conflagration. Staring out into the distance, Maestro stood where sprinkles of life started—sparse patches of grass and soil.