AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"W-w-what are y-you s-s-s—" He gasped. "D-d-d-did y-you just... I w-w-would n-n-never... Y-y-you th-think th-th-that—" He cut his words short with a growl, bending forward, squeezing his neck.
She looked at him in horror. He'd never stammered this bad before.
Her heart broke for him, but there was nothing she could do. Chris was the one who'd taught her not to feel sorry for the bad guy, and now that he was revealed to be one, she couldn't bring herself to feel more sorry than she was angry. How could she ever trust anyone after this?
Another growl ripped from his throat, and she moved back a step. Chris choked himself, as if trying to squeeze the words out, his tears falling.
Horrified, she called, "Chris!"
He looked at her, seeming to have aged several years in one moment. Exhausted. Devastated. "I c-c-can't b-b-believe y-y-you would th-th-think—" His face scrunched in agony, he punched his chest once and let out the loudest roar she'd ever heard from him, "F-fuck!"
Her body shook, and she stumbled back.
He stared at her, looking broken. "D-d-d-do I s-s-scare y-you?" He exhaled as if talking was draining him of all his energy.
She'd broken him.
Never had she ever seen him this helpless. He'd never cried like that before. He'd never choked on his words like that before. He'd never tried to force himself to speak like that before.
She sobbed, wanting to apologize, but nothing came out. She didn't know if it was the accusation that had torn him apart, the realization that she was not going near him ever again, or the fact that his crime was revealed. Whatever it was, it had shattered him on the inside.
He opened his mouth once but didn't say anything. His face scrunched in torment, he hit his chest with his fist once, huffed, and opened his mouth again. No words came. He gulped and looked at her with a tear-streaked face as she gaped at him.
Shaking his head, he turned on his heels and walked out of her life.
She stared after him, her vision blurred with tears, her mind unable to comprehend anything.
What had she done?
Chapter 38
Giselle didn't sleep that night.
She tossed and turned in bed, wondering if Chris was okay. She didn't have the strength to go to his house and ask for answers, though all she wanted was for him to prove her suspicions wrong. She wanted him to tell her that she was, indeed, overthinking and that even though all the evidence pointed toward the unthinkable, Chris was just as Giselle remembered—a hero.
Walking out of her gates after informing Ana, she looked at Chris's house across the street. The curtains were closed. She knew he was home, but it was too early to wake him up and discuss the situation or force him to prove her wrong.
She sighed and walked in the opposite direction toward the nearby park. She needed to be alone, to think, to decide. Slipping her phone out of her blue jeans, she unlocked it and froze, realizing she had no one to inform of her whereabouts.
Her father and Chris, both, used to worry about her so she had a habit of informing them whenever she'd leave the house and reach her destination. She'd call Chris her worry-bat, but nothing was the same anymore. Putting her phone back inside her pocket, she folded her arms over her beige sweater and resumed walking.
The houses on either side of her were halfway adorned with Halloween decorations, and she realized with a pang of her heart that her father wasn't going to be there with her this year. Not that they used to celebrate grandly, but they'd always have a wonderful dinner with Halloween-themed dishes, lots of candy, and a spooky-movie marathon. In recent times, it had only been Abbott, Chris, and Giselle. And one by one, everyone had left.
Autumn leaves crunched under her feet, and the morning breeze chilled her. She stepped inside the public park. No one was there except a few elderly people walking on the track and a few athletics jogging. A small group of people sat cross-legged on their yoga mats farther from her, their eyes closed, their faces expressionless, and their breathing evened out.
She sat on the ground and looked at the grass. Plucking some out and throwing them away, she got reminded of Petrichor. An ache found its way to her heart. Why did everything have to fall apart? She'd been betrayed by everyone she'd loved. Maybe not everyone had betrayed her intentionally, but she got hurt nonetheless. Yet, she missed everyone.
Hating herself for thinking of Xavier along with the others, she hugged her legs and placed her forehead on her knees.
Taking a deep breath, she looked up again, her eyes stinging. How could life be so cruel? She was stripped bare of everything. Nothing mattered anymore and she wondered if the method Xavier used to lessen his pain would do her any good.
Life was unfair. As much as she wanted it to be black and white, it was just a sum of different shades of gray. Nothing in this life was entirely right or wrong. It was the circumstances that turned a choice into either beneficial or destructive. She wondered if the circumstances had been different, would Xavier have killed her father? She wondered if Chris wasn't in Aquaville when they assaulted Xavier's sister, would he still get involved in someone else's doom? Did he have it in him to ruin someone's life?
She wanted to rip her hair out at the unwelcome thoughts.
Was it black to reach out to Chris or was it white? None. It was a shade of gray, and she was left confused trying to yield its meaning.
Betrayal, she thought, was like the color black. Sometimes it was as clear as a black dot on a white surface. But mostly, it was engulfed in darkness, making it difficult to discern, impossible to point out to someone. That was the most dangerous kind.
