Until Death Do Us Part? (Completed)

Chapter Seventeen: Murdered

Even after we watched Suri blink out of existence right in front of our eyes, Alex and I continued staring at the place she'd been standing on just moments ago in stunned silence, as though she were about to reappear at any second.

"Wow," Alex spoke finally, after a few seconds of silence.

"Wow doesn't even begin to cover it," I agreed, letting out a short, humorless laugh. I didn't speak anything after that, trying to wrap my mind around the events of the past sixty minutes.

Watching Suri disappear rekindled the strange, grey emotion I'd been feeling before, when she told me she wasn't dead, but only experiencing an OBE. I didn't know what it was, only that I shouldn't feel that way for my sister.

Now that Suri disappeared, I was starting to wonder if I'd dreamed up the whole thing, after all. Maybe visiting my own funeral had made me experience an extremely vivid daydream. It wouldn't be the strangest thing that had happened to me in the last couple of days.

But then my eyes wandered over to Alex, and all thoughts of funeral and daydreams evaporated from my mind.

Yes, I realized. It was real. My living sister had come to see me in the land of the dead. We'd talked. And I'd watched her disappear right in front of my eyes.

Alex was proof of that.

"Alex?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you—" I hesitated, wondering if I should speak what was on my mind. But Alex turned around to look at me just then, and something about the intensity with which blue eyes were staring at me made me continue, "Do you really think that Tris could do that? I mean, do you think that he could—he could—" I broke off, being physically unable to speak. I felt as though there were fingers pressing on my throat, choking me, making it impossible for me to continue.

Alex's expressions softened, and he stared at me with an almost pitying expression on his face. "I don't know, Tara," he replied. "I didn't know him like you did. Do you think that he could have done that to you? Do you think that he could have killed you?"

I flinched, realizing that it was probably the first time anyone had said those words aloud. I thought back to all the time Tris and I had spent together, and immediately felt guilty about even considering the possibility of him doing something so horrible to anyone, let alone me. Tris loved me as much as I loved him. Alex was right: he didn't know Tris the way I'd known him. No one did. Tris was a kind, generous person. A person who wanted to feed the world's poor. He wouldn't do this to me.

"No," I spoke aloud, my voice firm, looking Alex straight in the eye. He matched my gaze unflinchingly, his expressions unreadable. "Tris wouldn't do that to me. He loved me. And I'm sure that he still does. You're right, you don't know him. I do. He could never do that to anyone. Tris is not—I mean, he's—" I broke off, struggling to find words to describe my husband. "He didn't do this to me," I spoke finally, unable to say the word 'kill'. It was too horrible. "Tris isn't the one responsible for bringing me here, I'm sure of it."