Cresswell Shots

C.J.M. Part 6

"Why were you trying to kill Thorne?" Cinder asked.

Cress glared at the floor as she sat on the bed. "Because he deserves to die," she mumbled. Why was Cinder taking his side? Did she really believe that he was actually trying to start the revolution with her?

Cinder stared at her, wide-eyed with fear. "What did they do to you?"

Cress growled, "They showed me the truth! Thorne doesn't care about me, about any of us! He only used us to get out of jail. He doesn't care about the revolution, about Earth or Luna. He just wants to ditch us and help him escape the law. He'll leave the minute he gets the chance."

Thorne couldn't even look at her. Probably because he was faking guilt since Cress had figured him out for the coward he really was. "Is that really what you think I am, Cress?"

Clenching her fists, she replied, "I don't think, I know."

He nodded, and said, "Okay. Then there's no need to talk about this anymore." Begging to get out of the room, he dashed to the door and left.

"Thorne!" Cinder called, and went out of the room after him.

Cress tried to follow them out, but the door was locked and wouldn't open on her side. "Let me out!" she demanded. She pounded her fists on the door and ordered whoever was on the other side let her leave this room.

And it just had to be Thorne's room, too. Didn't it.

Her insides were churning as she looked around the room. She hated being near anything Thorne related now. Why couldn't she have been locked in someone's room, that wasn't Thorne? Of even in the engine room? Sure, being in the same room that Kai and Cinder made out in more than once would be weird. But she would prefer that to here.

...................

Thorne trudged down the halls of his ship as Cinder walked behind him. She wanted to talk to him, to tell him Cress wasn't acting like herself – that those Lunars tampered with her head.

But Cress was right. He did want to leave. He did care about the revolution and his friends. But he wanted to escape the war to prevent someone from getting hurt. He wasn't that person, Cress was. Ever since the desert, he'd wanted to whisk her away somewhere safe to keep her from getting killed. Most of all, he didn't want to see her in pain because of him.

Now, his worst nightmare was coming true. He left her, and she got captured. She thought he never cared about her. That he would leave her again if he got the chance.

He loved Cress. He never wanted to leave her alone like that. Yet, the only thing he would ever do for her is make her unhappy. He'd only bring her down and make her miserable. He couldn't give her the companionship and affection she deserved.

"Thorne!" Cinder shouted. "She's just spouting out what they put in her head. She must have been brainwashed or something."

It doesn't matter, he thought. She has every right to hate me anyway.

Cinder sighed – probably rolled her eyes too – and ran in front of him to block his way. "Are you going to help me fix her not?"

Thorne gulped down his self-pity and retorted, "What if she doesn't need to be fixed, Cinder? What if, she's fine .. and she's not one of your machines that you can just switch a few wires and make it all better? What then, Cinder? What then?"

Cinder gave him a stare that he'd seen many times. A cross between her "how stupid are you?" face and her "what in the name of stars is this thing" face. Together, it looked like she was trying to scare away a bunch of crows.