NightTide: The Girl With Red Eyes
Kayla...

They waited for me to get my weight back before having me do anything. I was scrawny when they found me. The injuries I had mostly healed up, I still had to wear bandages but they didn’t hurt… The Pathreplaceer came in, he had a stack of papers.

He seemed to be in a good mood. “I need to get an idea of how well you can keep up. Just carry these papers for me.” He handed them to me and I followed him out of the room…

We walked around for a while, he walks rather slowly… It was largely uninteresting… Not much happened… He told me stay outside of a room and he headed in to talk to someone, I could still hear them.

The Pathreplaceer started talking first. “What’s the progress?”

The other person replied. “Almost finished.”

The Pathreplaceer sounded pleased. “Good, let me know when it’s done.” Then he walked outside of the room… I wonder what that was about? He looked at me. “We’re done for the day, I’ll take you back to your room. You’re not authorized to roam without an escort.” I guess I can’t argue… I shouldn’t expect them to trust me, nor do I want to trust them.

We ate and I couldn’t leave the room for the rest of the day, nothing happened anyways. The next day it wasn’t the Pathreplaceer that came into my room, it was Owen…

I was confused. “Hi Owen?”

He looked like he wanted to say something. “I’ve been told you’re the one who killed me? Is that true.”

That was sudden, I didn’t want to answer but I shouldn’t lie… “Um, y-yes.”

He walked up to me, he had a look in his eye… Then he hugged me. “Thank you…”

That wasn’t the response I was expecting… “W-where is this coming from? That’s not something you should be thanking me for!”

He let go… Then he whispered into my ear. “I felt a piece of him when he died, he was broken… You don’t need to feel guilty, he wanted to die.” He ran out of the room after that… How does a person respond to that?

Owen was broken? He always seemed happy, was it another lie I’m being told… Does this Owen even have a reason to lie to me? I know so little about the people I’ve been around… I wonder how it would have gone if Jessica hadn’t taken me… I went to sleep after that.

I woke up feeling depressed, I didn’t feel much motivation to do anything… I missed Elizabeth and Jessica… The Pathreplaceer came in, he had more papers for me to carry… I walked with him that day as well, he went that slow pace again. I’m less involved in his business than I was Jessica’s, occasionally she would ask what I thought about what was going on, he just wanted me to carry the papers.

I was curious about why he had me carrying them. “Why do you want me to carry the papers?”

He waited a second before replying. “While it is rather embarrassing, I struggle to carry papers without putting indents in them. Sensitive documents must be in pristine condition.” If they’re sensitive why does he have me carrying them though? I guess it doesn’t really matter, not like I could do anything with them. “After we deliver them I would like you to spend time with Owen and Kayla.” That was sudden. “You haven’t been doing that and it may be best for both of them… Kayla won’t say it, but I do think she is angry… She’s a kind soul, I doubt she’d want to worry anyone.”

I don’t want to, but I should… “Ok.” After we finished he took me to a restaurant… Kayla and Owen were there, he had me sit down… He went off somewhere else during it.

Kayla frowned but quickly smiled… Owen waved to me. “Hi Red…” He seemed more cheerful. Seeing his teeth still made me feel bad.

I didn’t know what to say. “Hi…” I was uncomfortable…

Kayla seemed cheerful, at least with how she talked. “How are you doing Red?”

Something felt wrong. “F-fine…”

She still had that smile… “That’s good to hear.”

I didn’t like this feeling. “Kayla, can we go outside?”

She frowned for a second, then smiled again. “Sure…” We walked outside the restaurant…

I got her to walk away from the window, we were in an alley. “Kayla, I’m really sorry.”

She smiled. “Red, I already said it’s fine.”

She was lying. “No, it’s not!”

She was still smiling. “Red, really it’s ok.”

I felt pressure in my throat, this guilt… “It’s not ok! I’m really sorry! I wish it hadn’t happened!”

Her fist was clenched, but she kept smiling. “Red… really… It’s ok.”

She was angry. I know she was. “HIT ME!”

She acted shocked. “W-what?!”

I yelled it again. “Hit me! Your angry! Take it out on me!”

She was still acting shocked. “R-Red…!”

I got as close as I could. “HIT ME!” Before I realized it, she hit me in the stomach…

I bent over in pain and she punched my face. Saw tears running down hers. She wasn’t talking but she kept punching me. It hurt, but it felt worth it. She kept hitting me, swinging over and over again. I was on the ground and she kept punching me… Her punches slowed down and she was crying… Eventually she stopped.

She looked at me, I smiled. “I’m sorry…” Her face tightened and she punched me one last time… She put everything into that one, I watched a tooth fly out. It was lying on the ground next to us…

She got up and covered her mouth. “Oh my god! Red, I’m so sorry!” She helped me up… I picked up the tooth.

I looked at her and smiled. “Do you feel better?” She didn’t reply, I gave her a weak laugh. “let’s go eat…” I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the restaurant.

She stopped me. “Red… Why would you do that? Letting me hit you.”

I don’t know. “I felt like I needed to… I wanted to come back here when I was first taken. I feel in love with someone there, I found my sister… Now that I’m here, I want to go back there… This, made me feel better about being here… If you don’t hate me, and I can be friends with Owen again… I might be able to get over them… Despite how much the thought hurts.”

She started crying again… “As angry as I am about what happened to Owen. I’m glad you’re back… Please don’t leave this time!”

I said something, hearing myself say it felt like my chest was going to burst, it hurt. “I promise, I’ll stay.” I don’t know why I said it… Maybe I can see them again without leaving?

We went back in and sat down… Owen looked incredibly concerned. “Red! What happened!?”

I grabbed a napkin and wiped my face, then I wrapped the tooth in it… “Nothing… It’s fine.” He didn’t believe me but didn’t press further. I looked behind him and saw the Pathreplaceer in the back, he gave me a nod… of approval…