Out of Focus |finished|

47- the night of

It's almost 10 pm and Abby is washing a bowl on her balcony when she sees Elder walking out of the hostel. She wouldn't have bat an eye but Elder is dressed in all black and looks around him before he opens the main gate of the hostel. She knows immediately that something is up.

Abby quickly moves into her room and changes into black leggings and a large dark blue over shirt. She breaks into a light run to the hostel main gate, saying hello to a few acquaintances so she doesn't look suspicious.

When she gets outside the hostel, a drop of rain lands squarely on her forehead. There are two roads that lead out of the hostel. The one to the right led to a cluster of hostels and the other led to the university campus.

Abby stands in front of the gate and squints her eyes in the direction of both roads. No figure in black, no one at all.
Damn it Benson, where did you pass?

She checks the ground using her phone flashlight and finds two fresh footprints leading in the direction of the road on her left. Abby immediately runs in that direction and to anyone, it might have seemed that she was jogging.

A few minutes later, she stops and watches as Elder walks fast, his black hoodie covering the back of his head.
Abby follows him stealthily, hoping she is too far behind that if Elder turned, he wouldn't see her.

A faint sound blasts through the air and Abby almost squeals, thinking that it was her mobile phone. When she realizes it isn't, she looks towards Elder to see him with his phone in his hand. The phone is in his hand for a while and he puts it back in his hoodie.

Abby watches him take a turn and stop at a large crevice in the school wall. It's big enough for a person to pass through and the main shortcut for many students for entering the campus. Even though the school administration warned them it was dangerous.

Elder looks around him and when he thinks no one is watching, jumps through the opening and lands on the grassy other side of the wall. He pulls his trousers up to his knees and walks through the long grass, wincing at the dampness of the grass.

On the outer side of the wall, Abby waits a few minutes before passing through the opening herself. She follows El at a distance and almost chuckles when she hears him cursing as he walks through the grass.

Soon, they are on one of the campus main roads and Elder is so focused he has stopped looking out around him. The light poles are dim but enough that Abby sees him.

What are you up to Benson?

Almost five minutes later, Elder passes by the Civil Engineering building and moves towards the Electrical Engineering building. When Abby sees him meet a guy, she realizes that because Elder's back is facing her, the other guy is likely to see her. She runs to the Civil Engineering block and stands under one of its outer staircases.

Elder points at the guy and the dimness of the pole lights obscures the guy's face to Abby. There's something about his stance that reminds her of someone and when he throws his head back in a laugh, she's sure of who it is and lets out a breath of relief.
It's Peter, the intern at the University Hospital who is also undercover like her.

At least I know Peter won't hurt Benson, Abby thinks.

Her eyes don't move from the two boys as they exchange words. Elder is clearly agitated and Peter is smiling too broadly for it to be real. He picks a schoolbag and throws it to Elder, who catches it with his hand and turns almost immediately to leave. That's when it happens.

A girl appears behind Elder with a long metal object in her hand. She moves so fast that Elder doesn't see her and strikes him on the head with the object. A soundless scream escapes from Abby and when Elder falls to the ground, she sees his attacker clearly.
Julia Benson, Elder's sister.

Abby clamps her mouth with her hand and struggles to keep her screams inside as tears roll down her eyes. She watches in agony as Julia bends down beside Elder and injects him. Elder's body begins to spasm on the ground and a white foam filled his mouth and trickled down to the ground.

As the spark in his eyes dims, his head turns, his eyes met Abby's teary own and he lets out a final breath.

Peter's voice suddenly rises and he's shouting at Julia. Abby sees him making angry gestures with his hand the grief mixed with guilt is tearing her apart. One of her close friends is dead right in front of her eyes because she was too much of a coward.

Julia manages to calm Peter and when they run out of the scene, Abby gathers strength and rushes to where Elder lays, his eyes still open. She sits on the ground beside and picks him in her arms, the foam on his mouth smearing her hand.

"Benson, Benson," Abby holds El's face in her hand and pleads with him. "Talk to me, please talk to me Benson."

She shakes Elder's body and when there's no response from him, her tears fell harder and she screams her lung out into the night.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Benson. This is all my fault," she hiccups and snot falls down her nose. "Please Benson. Please, please, please."

She closes Elder's eyelids over his eyes and sits there on the ground, cradling Elder in her arms for more than half an hour. Abby stands finally on trembling feet and almost falls down. She steadies herself and calms her mind.
They can't see me here. This will compromise everything.

She takes a last look at her friend, turns away from him and with every step Abby takes as she walks away, a piece of her heart shatters. The tears rush back and she almost runs back to him.

I'll find out why Julia did this to you Benson. I swear I'll find out and they'll pay for it. All of them.

Discussion Area
Who else cried a little bit? I know I did.
There you go guys, Elder really was killed by one of the people he trusted most in this world.