Pure - The Broken Society

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

"Now are you going to tell me where we're going?" I ask.

"When I was little, my mom always took me to this secret garden she found when she was little. We used to go here and just sit for hours, she always told me to never tell anyone about it, saying not everyone should see it. But," he pauses, glazing down at me for a moment still walking forward down the shaded path. "She said to me that if I ever met someone who deserved to see the beauty, that I should share the place with them." As the last word slips from his mouth, he stops in the middle of the path as he pushes vines aside to reveal a medieval styled door. A small gasp of excitement escaping me.

He takes a deep breath, and opens the door, and my eyes dilate in awe.

I walk slowly into the garden, my eyes taking in everything before me, and I can't help but stare wide eyed and mouth agape. Vines hang down from roots that arch across the rectangular space, one entire wall covered in vines with millions of white flowers blooming. Lilacs and hibiscus flowers bloom in beautiful patches on either side of the mossy path created by dirt covered cobblestone. Frogs and small insects jump and crawl along a small rivulet that flows down into a small cocktail pond. Lily pads with large lilys resting atop them peacefully float in the pond. I walk along the path, as Tate stays behind to watch my amazement.

I cross over a buckling wooden bridge that arches over the rivulet, the sound of trickling water splashing on stones relaxing and nostalgic. The moonlight shines over the garden, the garden closed in by natural stone walls. Trees grow overhead standing tall and drooping with beautiful cherry blossom flowers, just like the ones in the city. Seeds litter the path as grass blades grow at uneven lengths. I cross the bridge and come to the end of the cobblestone path that turns into a large circle big enough for two people. Standing in the circle gives a perfect view to the moon gleaming above, stars sprinkling the sky with gorgeous glinting ambiance.

I pivot on my heel to look at Tate, who slowly crosses the bridge pushing overgrown vines out of the way.

"This, this is...unbelievable," I manage to stamour, no words coming close to having the ability to describe the feeling running inside me as I stare at the natural beauty untouched by human hands. "Who else knows about this?"

"Just you and me," Tate says, joining me to stand in the circle. His emerald green eyes appear bright under the dimly lit sky, but the constellations in them glint even brighter.

"Why?" I ask, the question itching at the back of my brain like a nat.

"Why what?" He asks, taking hold of both my hands into his gently, his skin warm and soothing.

"Why the sudden change of heart. You've changed...you act differently now, why?" I say, not exactly knowing how to word my inquiry.

He takes in a deep breath, "Something inside me switched that day in the dining hall when you shouted to protect Sam. I don't know what it was about your tone...but it just made me snap. I just realized, I didn't want to be that person anymore. Working through this rebellion and getting to know Quinn, and everyone else closer, it just made me realize that my ignorance got the best of me. I realized that I had let it crowd my judgement, and I have been needing to let that go for so long." He intertwined his hands in my hair, holding my head softly as his other hand came around my waist to pull me tighter to him.

"I tried so hard to stay away from you, but something inside me just wanted to be near you. Everywhere I went you were there, and I couldn't keep my eyes off of you. That first night you came here, I recognized you from the alley, all I remember was seeing your brown irises...and when I saw them again I knew it was you," he takes another deep breath, staring at the ground for a moment as if in shame.

"I was mad, and angry, I didn't know what else to do besides come after you the way I did. That threat was vile, my ignorance and fury driving me to insanity. Something in my mind told me to make you afraid of me, to make you hate me...but deep down I wanted you to see me the way that I saw you the first time I laid eyes on you."

I stay silent for a moment, his tranquil tone simmering in the night sky. Hearing him speak, and explain this change erupted something inside me, and it's only now that I realize one side to the fight in my mind has a higher leverage than the other...and it's the side I favored least.

"That day in the alley," I begin to say, recollecting all the emotions that flooded over me as I watched him get carried away at the knees. "That day in the alley, I watched you in awe. And when those Patrolmen came, I had to fight every urge in my body not to jump out and scream at them to stop. It killed me that day when I realized that I couldn't do anything to help you.

I've been wanting to leave the city for so long. A piece of me died when my mom left, and another piece was chiseled away at the sight of that Patrolman's foot connecting with your ribcage. When I came here and saw you...I felt that attraction, but I knew you didn't want anything to do with me, why would you? I was just some defector crashing your party asking for help. The one thing I never understood, though, was your bitterness and your hatred. It oppressed that feeling of attraction, every time I saw you I couldn't help but feel dread.

But then...you changed, and I couldn't tell if it was real. I couldn't tell if I was dreaming. Part of me thought that maybe you were doing this to me to get something from me. But when we kissed...I don't know, it all just melted away."

I take a deep breath staring at him with hopeful eyes as he stays silent registering my thoughts. A small headwind weaves through the sky overhead, rustling the bushes and trees.

"I'm sorry," he says, "I'm so, so sorry," he stares me down with irises full of sorrow and guilt. "I don't want anything from you except a single promise," he says, reaching into his jean jacket pocket to pull out some sort of contraption. "I want you to promise me that you will wear this and listen to me as tomorrow plays out. I just need to know that you're there with me through it, please. I will give Quinn and everyone else one, too, so you can listen and talk with us the entire way through," he hands me the device as I stare down at the blinking light on the side of it. I stare down at it, figuring out how it works.

At that moment, a spark of hope catches fire in me at the pit of my stomach. For the first time in this entire process, I feel the hope everyone else has had all along. It burns up the sides of my stomach, running through my blood and reaching my heart. Finally...one side of the fight won.

I take one look down at the device, then stare deeply into Tate's eyes with a newfound emotion and pull of faith.

"I want to do it. I want to go to the city. I want to end this fight, and I want to be there with you when you do it."

A large smile paints itself on his crimson lips, as he takes me into a tight embrace lifting me from the ground.

That sudden flame within me turns into a blazing inferno, that rage I once felt towards the broken system ignited and awoken from its cage. And there's no stopping the fight that I am prepared to bring.