Chapter Thirty - The Memories

I'm really proud of this chapter and it's one I've been wanting to write since I began this book. I hope you enjoy :)

NOTE: The words italicized like this are meant to be flashbacks (if you didn't know that already)

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The doctor waved a light in front of both of my eyes before flicking it off and giving me a smile.

            "You're good to go, Taylor. Thanks to some of your healing friends, you're in better shape than you were before your expedition!"

            I didn't smile. I didn't thank him. He expected my lack of conversation and just nodded his head and left.

            I sat there in the hospital room that I had come to live in for the past few days while I continued to heal. From the huge battle with Katherine to my return to the island, I had gathered my fair share of physical wounds. Mentally was a different story. I didn't talk. I barely ate. My teammates would come in and try to coax me out of my shell, but it wouldn't work. Mackenzie, little naive Mackenzie, would sometimes even some in to show me some of her drawings. However, as she would flip through the pages, even I could see the details she had accrued from her own prison cell back on the island because her drawings were a coping mechanism. She tried to hide those pieces from me, the ones detailing her torture and the battle, but it didn't work and just brought back more unwelcome memories.

            I couldn't help but feel an insane amount of guilt from leaving Cole in the hands of Katherine. It was my fault that I couldn't save all of us and teleport everyone out. It was my fault he was even taken in the first place--as it was a ploy to break me. Instead, I have been in solitude, taking in each second to try to wrap my head around the crazy, life changing events that have happened in the past week.

            Over the last couple of days, I've come to figure out a lot of things happened while we were gone. Several Catchers had broken into the facility and kidnapped Jenny while she was asleep, which is why she was on the island. The purpose was for choosing her amongst everyone else was unknown, but security has increased tenfold since then. They hadn't thought Katherine would have done something like that when we were already there, but they didn't know her like I did. They didn't know that she would do anything in order to hurt us the most.

            Sophia also sat me down and made me explain everything that had happened to me. I had to go into detail of my family's history with Katherine and how everyone in the Big Six came to be, the tests and punishments she gave us, everything. However, as I was about to tell her the details of the Catcher-turning process, I shut down and couldn't speak of it. It was a more personal issue now since Cole had gone through the same thing I had witnessed. I'd have to tell her eventually, but I couldn't right now.

            Next to my bed were some bags that had been haphazardly thrown together. They had some clothes that I've been changing in and out of since I've been in the hospital. Thankfully, the infirmary ward was attached to the same building we had all our rooms, so it would be an easy transition back to that. After that? I didn't know what would happen. We lost. Cole's a Catcher. Now there's only five of the six left and it's no longer possible to beat Katherine once it came down to the fight. We had failed all the Supernaturals who looked up to us for freedom from Katherine and the Catchers, but I was truly the only one at fault in all of this.

            My bare feet touched the cold tiles as I stood up to leave. I expected to feel some sort of happiness that I would finally be escaping the white, pristine walls of this room but in actuality, I felt nothing... as usual.

            I've heard the others talking about me since I returned.

            "She's like a corpse."

            "All she had today was a piece of bread."

            "Go talk to her! She needs someone right now!"

            I didn't fault them for their gossip. If the roles were reversed, I'd be talking with Cole about someone being broken too. They didn't know how to help this, but neither did I. I guess everything that has been happening over the past few months--going to SA, meeting Cole and the others, training, realizing my role in the Big Six, Katherine--was finally taking its toll on me, weighing down like I was being suffocated.

            I had nothing to say to anyone. I had no reason to act like there was any hope left. I saw what Cole had become. I looked for any kind of flaw in the system, anything that Katherine could be doing to mess with my head, but I fell short every single time. I could either waste my whole life trying to figure my way out of this whole mess, trying to find some way around the laws, but I knew it was useless.

            I walked out of the room, taking a deep breath as I set out to find my room. The path came easily, but when I approached the door, I hesitated. I hadn't been in this room since I was with Cole and we were gathering our stuff to leave for Katherine. Even then, I couldn't stop the memories from pouring into my head from when we both first laid eyes on this room.

"So you're with me, Shorty?" he grinned down at me. "This will be fun."

I felt myself turning bright red as he opened the door and met with a very bare room. Luckily and unlike SA, we had our own bathrooms and television. There were two beds, as promised, as well as dressers and tables. It was more like a hotel room than anything we had back home.

"This isn't as good as our honeymoon suite, but it'll do," Cole commented.

            I shook my head, wanting nothing more than these thoughts to stop haunting me. They came at random times and always had a way of twisting my heart. Those memories would never return, I'd never get that same Cole I once knew ever again.

            I finally opened the door and I almost dropped my bag when the scent that filled my nose was entirely of Cole. My breaths came out in quicker huffs while I hurried in and slammed the door shut, not wanting anyone to see my mental breakdown from a single look into a room.

            Everything was just as we left it--clothes lied haphazardly everywhere from our hurried departure, items strewn across the room. I sat down on the bed, the one we shared, and looked around as my heart beat rapidly. I couldn't help but feel a huge wave of loneliness, wanting nothing more than to have that blonde-headed asshole next to me right now, comforting me like he always did.

            I felt myself relaxing as I gave into the kiss. Separate from his fire powers, he had an uncanny ability of calming me down in the most desperate of times. We practically had to force ourselves to stop, neither of us really wanting to. He immediately pulled me into a hug as my heavy breathing finally slowed and the only thing abnormal was my rapid heartbeat, but I don't think that was solely from my panic attack.

            "I promise to never leave you. Didn't I say that to you a few weeks ago?"

            I vaguely remember that promise, the first night on our adventure to DC. At this point, I had no choice but to hope that he would hold true to that.

            "Yeah..." I muttered, pulling away from the embrace. "Thank you."

            This is it. This is how my life is going to be from now on. Alone.

            But he promised he wouldn't leave me.

            I couldn't fight the surge of anger that came onto me. Using a wave of telekinesis, I threw my suitcase against the wall and began sobbing. Every single thing in this room reminded me of him, from the bed--

            "Up, up, up!" I jumped up and down, earning a groan out of him while he rubbed at his eyes.

"Okay, you're cute and all, but not when you're trying to wake me up. Just come back down here, Little Miss Sunshine and let's sleep the day away."

            I slammed it against the wall.

            To the bathroom--

            "Good morning, sweetheart," Cole called from across the room to where he was sitting around with Claire and Alex. "Shall I run a bath now to soothe your aching body?"

            I knocked the bathroom door off the hinge.

            To the little stain on the floor from the food that had fallen when he jumped on me after I teleported back home.

            "Did you ever stop to think about how stupid that was? How you could've been recognized? How I would be when you magically left? You can't just do things like that, Taylor! I didn't know what to do so I called Sophia and Jack and anyone else I could. Claire couldn't get you because she's never been to your home and wouldn't even know where to find you if she did. Then, you came back, and I thought you were hurt! I--"

            He stopped talking when I wrapped my arms around his torso, burying my face in his chest. He hesitated for a moment before embracing me back, squeezing tightly.

Everything in this room reminded me of him and I wanted to break it all. I couldn't control myself as I cried out my pain, throwing everything off our dresser, shooting down the lamp in our room. I raised my arms, bringing out the drawers of our nightstands and slammed them together, breaking the wood and having everything that was in them be scattered through the now horrifying room.

            As things fell, a piece of paper lightly drifted down onto the floor next to me. Confused and breathing hard, I picked it up. I had to wipe away my tears first before I was fully able to make out what was handwritten on the paper in Cole's familiar, messy scrawl.

            Shorty

            Princess

            Brain

            Sweaty

            Blondie

            The list went on, dozens of names written on the paper before it dawned on me.

            It was a list of all the nicknames he called me.

            "Everyone calls you by your name, so all the nicknames I give you are special. Besides, we made a deal. I'll write you a book of everything I call you by the time we leave here. Now, that's a bit skewed with our positions now... so how about when we're free? When this war is over, you'll have a huge., long and loving list of all my adoring nicknames for you."

            I held back a laugh, not wanting him to know that I thought it was actually pretty cute. "Oh, I totally can't wait."

And this was it. This was the list that I had completely forgotten, and also didn't think he was serious about. This wasn't quite the ending him nor I expected, but the war was over and now I did  have a long list of all the things he has called me. However, I think he planned to be there with me at the end, him being the one to cockily hand me this paper after a huge victory, as opposed to me finding it while he was on the opposing side.

Cole might've been an asshole at time, teasing me 24/7... but this list right here is true proof that he cared a lot. To keep up with something like this, for months on end, really showed a lot.

            "Still not done with the nicknames?" I asked and went back to my food when Cole shook his head.

            "When are these names going to turn into 'babe' or 'cutie?'" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow in humor. "'Cause you two are getting pretty close."

            I could feel myself turning red but Cole remained calm. "The answer is easy," Cole started. "Whenever she finally accepts her love for me."

We never got that far. It never became that. We were never together, never being able to be able to go through those cute-pet names phase in our relationship, if that's even what it was called. What we had was never defined. The two of us had never even truly and fully admitted each other our feelings until the very end.

"No!" I screamed out at him, the hand attached to mine holding me back, "Fight!"

"I love you--" He screamed back at the same time a blast knocked him off my feet.

He loved me.

Those were the last words I heard from the Cole I loved.

My anger subsided, turning into complete brokenness as I put my head in my hands and just screamed. I wanted this feeling to go away, the guilt, the pain. Around me, I heard everything in the room swirling around in space as my powers had a mind of their own. I didn't even hear the door to the room be forced open until my name was called out.

"Taylor!" Claire called out. "Stop! You need to calm down!"

I felt her comforting hands on my shoulders pulled me down. I took my head out of my hands and noticed that everything, included myself, was propagated into the air. I let everything drop as I found myself face-to-face with my best friend.

"Taylor, please! Relax!" She begged me, her own tears welling in her eyes. "We're all here for you! Please!"

Behind her, I could see the others peeking in, from Will to Alex to little Mackenzie who shaking in fear. But behind everyone I saw the one person I never thought I'd ever want to ever turn to for comfort.

            "Sophia--" my voice broke as I fell to my knees. "Please--"

            My instructor wasted no time in hurrying over, ushering Claire and the others out before wrapping her arms around me. We cried together, both of us so similar like she claimed.

            No one else understood it. No one else knew the pain of having to leave the man they loved behind to be turned into a Catcher while saving themselves. And in that moment, we needed each other.

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So that's an emotional chapter! Only one more chapter left before the epilogue and then I'll post Book 3 :) If you want the title and cover reveal, head over to my instagram to check it out! Username - wpupthere

In Supernatural Abilities I also posted a piece of Cole's POV. Would anyone be interested in seeing another chapter like that? If so, what moments (either in SA or CTC) would you like to see in his perspective? However, I won't do Cole's transition into a Catcher scene just yet.

I hope you liked it! I'm really proud of how it turned out and hopefully it gave you some sort of feelings hahaha

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