In Paris 1723

Chapter Sixty-Five

Chapter Sixty-Five - 'Freaky Fred'

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"You're here to tell me that they're dead, right?"

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*Genevieve*

I whip my head around at the noise, my eyebrow arching higher when I find myself looking at someone who looked remarkably like the newborn that Edward described.

He was on the taller side, standing a few inches taller than six-foot, his thick and curly blond hair along with his broad shoulders and muscular frame helping to make him stand out in a crowd. For someone of his young age, he held a sense of endless knowledge behind his dark crimson eyes, but he also had a cloud of guilt surrounding him, making his handsome features seem unimportant at the moment.

"I'm Fred... Bree's friend," he continued, shoving his hands into his pockets as he stared at me.

"They didn't make it through the fight... I'm sorry. I heard that you two were close," I confess, fiddling with my ring as I watched him. His face stayed neutral as he took in what I had said, eventually though, a ghost of a smile appeared on his face.

"She was determined to find Diego..." he said softly, looking out at the empty park, the moon casting an angelic type glow around him.

"I knew the moment that as soon as I said goodbye to her that we would never see each other again. Anyone who was willing to follow Riley- no matter the underlying reason- wouldn't make it out alive... or rather dead," he said, offering me a weak smile as he tried to lighten the mood.

"She thought about you until she... died," I say, "she, um wanted to make sure that my coven and I would be nice to you if we ever crossed paths."

"She cared..." a ghost of a smile appeared on his face as he thought of her, "you know she was my first friend... she didn't bother me, didn't pester me at all. We just sat in silence and played cards. It was nice... like I had a true friend for once."

A true friend, those three words ran through my head for a moment as I looked ahead at the empty park, the swings swaying slightly in the wind. Immediately I thought of Eléonore, who had been my one true friend, not just hanging around me because of my family's status, or because of my engagement to Emeric.

"I get what you're saying... and I'm not going to sit here and give you false hope that it'll get better and that one day you'll magically feel better because you won't. You lost someone close to you, you lost yourself, your family, your friends... you lost your life all in less than a year. That pain isn't something that just magically goes away."

Fred stays silent as he continues to stare forward, his head turning slightly towards me as he continues to listen to my long speech.

"It's not like we wake up one day looking forward to our death... we want to live for as long as our bodies allow, we want to experience and see everything that the world holds... and I think that you're at a crossroad now..."

"Crossroad?"

"It's not that hard to tell that you're lost... I mean you said it yourself, you knew that Bree and Deigo weren't going to make it back to you when you split apart... but you're sitting on a park bench in what I am assuming is the spot that you were supposed to meet with them if they made it out alive... which they didn't. And- for whatever reason- you're still here, in the spot that you agreed to meet up at, when, deep down, you knew that you wouldn't see them. Which leads me to think that you are still clinging to the idea that they'll magically appear one day... which they won't. And you're at a crossroad, because you know that they're gone, but you still refuse to believe it-"