I had to force myself not to cry but I knew it was for the best and so did Derek. With everything that had happened we both needed time apart. Whether it was a month a year or five years. No one knew what the future held least of all us.
We were both sitting on the edge of his bed and we'd both gone silent not really sure what to do next. I slowly stood up and Derek followed suit. I swallowed and smiled at him before giving him a hug. The smile was easy so was the hug. The next part wasn't. I gave him a final kiss on the cheek and left. I paused at the door and looked back at him still standing in the same place glancing and me and the floor repeatedly. I sighed and walked out, instantly feeling my stomach turn and regret, but it was for the best. At least right now it was.
As I walked down the streets of Beacon Hills everything seemed blurry or like it was spinning. As if matching my mood it started to rain. I was overwhelmed by my emotions, but I could also feel Scott’s seeping through. His grief over Allison was heartbreaking and I didn’t know what to do.
I had to see Isaac, I knew that, but I didn’t know what to say or where to start, but I was hoping it would come to me once I saw him. I slowly made my way to Argent’s apartment building and stared up. My feet didn’t seem to want to move and I was probably standing there for at least ten minutes.
“Anna.” Argent’s voice said from behind me. I spun around to meet him. He hadn’t been crying, that wasn’t who he was, but his grief was written all of his face and I could tell every fibre in his being was fighting back the tears. “I just dropped Isaac off at Scott’s. He was looking for you.” I nodded unable to speak. He started to head for the building and just as he was about to open the front door I finally managed to find my voice.
“I’m sorry!” He spun back around and took a few more steps towards me, curiously. “For Allison… Victoria, even Kate and Gerard… what are you going to do now?”
“I’m planning on going to Paris for a while.”
“France? Permanently?”
“Maybe. My profession is difficult to retire from and now I don’t really have a reason to stop. I’ll see how it goes, I may find my way back here. You should know that I asked Isaac if he wanted to come.” I tensed a little.
“What did he say?”
“He said he’d think about it and that he needed to talk to you.” I tear escaped and fell down my cheek. If I kept crying like this I was going to die of dehydration. “I know you and Allison weren’t really friends for a long time, but she told me you worked it out in the end.” I nodded. “You should know that I wanted to shoot you with one of the arrows.” He said referring to when he was killing the Oni.
“Maybe you should have.”
He shook his head. “No, Allison was the one that convinced me to let you live before she died. You’re not a bad person, Anna. A lot of terrible things have happened to you… and your friends, but with Scott’s help you’ll be able to control it now.” He walked up and placed a hand on my shoulder before looking me in the eye. “Isaac needs to leave, you know that. You can’t, you need to stay with Scott, but if Isaac stays here it will be the end of him. He would have killed the twins over Boyd and Erica. I don’t want to see him become a killer and neither do you.”
“I’ll talk to him.” I whispered. Argent nodded and took a step back.
“Good luck, Anna.” He said before walking away.
I let out a shaky breath before wondering back down the street to Scott’s house… and I guess my house as well now. Melissa was in the kitchen comforting Scott. She saw me as I walked passed and gestured upstairs to where Isaac was. I found him in his room packing his clothes into a bag. I stood in the door way just watching him. He seemed to be too focused on his task to notice me.
“So you decided to go with Argent.” I stated.
He froze and slowly turned around. “How did you…”
“I spoke to him.” I stated as I walked up to the desk in his room and picked up his sketch pad from art class. “What are you going to do there? You don’t speak French.” I said with a small smile.
“I guess I’ll have to learn.”
“I’m…”
“Don’t. Don’t do that, don’t apologize. If you do I’ll just start crying again and I don’t think I can take anymore tears, but I know and I’m not angry at you.”
“Why? Why is no-one angry at me?” I said, my voice starting to rise. “You should be, you should all hate me. Kira should have…”
“No. No, it worked. That’s all that matters. I know you blame yourself, but you can’t. You need to find a way to get past it. It’s hard, but you have to.”
“So going to Paris is your way of getting past it?” I said a tear falling down my cheek yet again.
He walked up to me and brought me into a hug as I cried into his shirt. “I have to… Chris is right if I stay here then… I’m not afraid of dying, not for the people I care about, but this town corrupts and at the first chance you have you have to get out. Promise me.” he said as he brought my chin up to look at him. “If I could I would take you with me now, but I can’t, so you need to promise me that the first chance you get you’ll leave. Please.” I nodded and hugged him again.
“I promise.”
“I’ll ring whenever I can.”
“Don’t say that, the last person who did, didn’t live up to it.”
“Derek doesn’t have skype though.” He joked and I couldn’t help laughing. “Come on, you need some sleep.” He said as he led me over to the bed. He took the sketch pad from my hands and placed it on the dresser.
I fell asleep on his chest and never wanted to wake, knowing that when I did he’d be gone.