In The Face of Tragedy

In The Face of Tragedy
OPAL

I can't believe my eyes as we approach the rogue settlement that has been attacked this time around. 

This can't be. 

I had an idea in my mind when he explained to me that these people were attacked and that their houses were burning, but maybe my sheltered, privileged life didn't allow me to fully grasp the gravity of the situation. 

Kyle and I walk among the rubble. My heart is threatening to beat right out of my chest. People are running out of burning houses carrying their belongings with them. 

I can't help but ask myself what the purpose of all this is. People are being killed mercilessly, and for what? I can't believe that this is happening. 

I'm horrified and feel incredibly guilty. So much that I can't even breathe. 

Kyle is walking way ahead of me, helping a woman with three small children get away from the flames. The children are all crying and it seems some of them are hurt. 

I don't stop to think about anything. I rush over to help them. The heat from the flames is unbearable and in time, I have sweat running down my face. 

Kyle hurries inside the burning house to fetch someone. It's an older man who appears to be the woman's father. She throws around him, crying, and he shakes his head. 

"Everything's gone," he tells Kyle. "I couldn't salvage a thing. I wanted to get my late wife's photo...I couldn't find it. I don't know where it's gone."

"What happened?" Kyle asks tensely. "Who did this? Did you see anyone?"

"The same people who've been tormenting our neighbors for weeks," he explains as I tear a piece of my shirt and wrap it around the little girl's bleeding knee. "The Alpha King's men. Curse him! Curse that man for doing this to us!"

Kyle snaps his head in my direction and I meet his gaze steadily. I don't know what to say to this. The woman leaves her father's side and approaches me. She smoothes her daughter's hair, then tells me, "Thank you for helping my little girl."

"You're welcome," I assure her, wondering how she'd react if she found out that I'm the Alpha King's wife. "I...I could do with some water to wipe the blood from her legs."

"There's a tap behind the house," she claims. "I'll just—"

I rise quickly. "No, you stay here. I'll go get some water."

"Please be careful. We don't know how far the fire..."

"I will be."

I walk all the way around her house, carefully avoiding the house and the burning lawn. I look around and find an abandoned bucket, the edge of it melted. It looks like a bucket kids fill with sand and play with. 

The tap isn't burning, thank heavens for that, or it would be too hot for me to touch. I fill the bucket, the whole time, fighting back tears. 

Why is Bruce doing this?

I can't believe I was in love with a monster. I feel so guilty. So stupid. 

He tricked me completely. 

I start to turn back but cry out and drop the bucket when I come face-to-face with Kyle unexpectedly. His expression is cold. I tell him, "You scared me!"

"I thought you were going to run."

Oh. I stare at the bucket and pick it up, then I step back to fill it again. It didn't even occur to me to run. 

"Why didn't you?"

I glance at him, but I don't answer him. When I rise again, he blocks my way. I tell him, "That little girl needs help. If I don't—"

"Why didn't you run?" he repeats in a louder voice. "You had a chance to. You wouldn't have gotten far, but you could've tried."

"I have nowhere to go."

He draws back a little at my response, but I don't elaborate. I stare at his face for a few beats before sidestepping him and returning to the little girl and her mother. They've moved farther away from their home, and they watch it helplessly. This settlement is far away from the city, but it's not as rough as I would've expected it to be. The houses were small, but well-made. They were out here, not bothering anyone. 

This isn't fair. What kind of coward would attack helpless people?

I help clean the little girl, but there are more injured people all over the place and Kyle is forced to move while he asks people for more information. They say the same thing, and someone even claims that they heard the soldiers say that they were doing this in the name of the Alpha King.

I feel like shit. Genuinely. I do as much as I can with a bucket of water and a rag. More rogues show up to help out. Kyle keeps an eye on me even though he doesn't try to make it obvious. I see him anyway. 

I’m not stupid enough to try to run. That might sound like the most ridiculous thing in the world, but it’s the truth. 

Where do I go? To my biological mother? To my maternal uncle? Back to the man who’s ruthless enough to do all this?

I get weird looks from the people who don’t know me and have never seen me before. I answer their questions carefully, never once giving away who I am. 

After around three hours, all the rogues are working together to put the fire out and see what they can salvage. I stand aside and watch the whole thing unfold.

Kyle approaches me. His arms are folded across his chest. “You've done a good job today. You helped out. You didn’t have to.”

I shrug. “I guess it's only fair that I help out since—”

He interrupts me. “I'm sorry you're caught in the middle of all this.”

I meet his gaze and find him already staring at me. There’s a regretful look on his face, and I don’t know how it makes me feel. Something passes between us then, something strong and undeniable. A connection that comes from out of nowhere. 

“I had to do what was best for my people,” he explains. “You were the only ticket I had out of this war.”

Little does he know that they were planning to use me to make the rogues comply. At this point, I realize I don’t know what Bruce even wants from the rogues. What’s the cause of all this bloodshed? “Yeah. It's all very unfortunate.”

“Kyle?”

At the sound of his name, we both turn to look and I see his girlfriend walk toward us. She doesn’t notice me, not yet. 

“Why didn’t you call me?” she asks almost angrily. 

His response is, “I didn't think you'd pick up, Cassie.”

Cassie opens her mouth to say something but immediately changes her mind when she sees me. “But she's here?”

“Cassie, you’re overreacting.”

“Am I?”

“Yes. She's my prisoner. Does that register to you at all?”

Her jaw is set and she throws me another angry look before telling him, “Stay with her then. Have fun.”

Kyle watches her leave, then turns his head to look at me. He tells me, “Don't mind her. Cassie's always been this way.”

I nod, determined not to pay any mind to her. In the face of all this strategy, who the hell has time for arguments? But all around us, people are looking, and I have the feeling that they were listening to the conversation.