The Rain: The End by Marietta Standlee (good summer reads TXT) 📕

to spit on it, pummel it, kick it, but all energy has left me. I feel spent, I feel a hundred years old. The fight went out of me with my last swing.

When I look up, Claire still stands by the door, a look of triumph on her face. The faceless bodies that were once Ryan and Jason lie on the floor. I feel nothing towards them. Only a faint hint of lingering sadness for something that once was, but it's too vague to even acknowledge. My heart is too heavy to feel anything but the pain from knowing I lost Colin.

"We have to get you out of here." Claire finally states with a look towards Ka.

"What will you tell the Gorongiaths about what happened here?" I ask without much real concern. It doesn't matter to me. Nothing matters to me any longer.

"The truth." She points to her tablet. "Remember, I taped it all."

"You knew this was going to happen?" A terrible suspicion awakens inside of me.

She shakes her head. "Not the details, not the timeframe."

"But you knew," I state accusingly.

"I'm so sorry Viv, I really am sorry for what took place, but I had to let it happen. I had to get his crimes recorded, for the Council, don't you see?"

A renewed wave of anger hits me. I want to kill her. I want to kill her so badly my hands shake. She sees it in my eyes, my body language, but doesn't flinch. Her gaze meets mine. "You would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed. You would have sacrificed my love for the greater good."

I tilt my head and consider her words. Would I? Am I that ruthless?

And since I can't answer her question, my rage evaporates some; I'm still mad as hell at her, though, and know I'll never forgive her. "Well, I hope you got everything recorded then. I hope it was worth the death of a great man."

"I'm sorry, Viv, I mean it. If there would have been any other way…. trust me, I would have taken any other way." The tone of her voice is regretful, but the set of her jaw and her body posture defends her actions even now.

"There is always another way," I reply between clenched teeth.

This was not how Colin was supposed to die. We both knew the risks, were both willing to die for the cause, but not like this. Not mowed down by some would-be assassin. Some coward, we both despised.

"What will this prove, anyway?" I ask, somewhat deflated.

"At the very least, it'll bring his father and the main company down, but with all the other stuff we have, we can accuse several council members as well as President Koralen herself." Claire enlightens me with a glee I can't share.

Disillusioned I ask. "This is far from over then?"

"It brings us a huge step closer." She states determined.

I hate the political way; I'm sick and tired of it. Nothing seems to get resolved. It's always We'realmost there, We're one step closer, it's never We did it. Never!

Resolution steels my body; I'm done with the political way of trying to get things accomplished. Done. Now it will be my way. Our way, the way Colin and I planned it. There will be blood, but it won't be human blood any longer. I will finish this once and for all. I'm done waiting.

"But you still need to get out of here. When they see Ka, they might scream for your blood, but if you are not here…" she trails off.

I nod at her; I'm ready to get out of here. I want nothing more than to leave this place. "How?" I ask simply.

Just then, the door opens, and I stiffen as I see Parm and another Gorongiath I don't know enter, but they're followed by Blake, and seeing his familiar face makes me smile.

"Blake," I scream out, but my happiness to see him is restrained because I know what this also means, and my heart sinks with any hope it may have harbored of Colin still being alive. If he were alive, he would have come for me.

"Vivian!" Blake is at my side with a few steps and takes me into his arms, encircles me. "Vivian. I was so worried about you."

I close my eyes. He is so similar in statue to Colin and he too has the smell of salt and woods on him. For a moment, just for a second, I pretend it's him.

He turns towards Claire, "Thank you."

Anger rises again. "Don't thank her too much; she could have saved Colin." For one brief minute, hope rises again, and with a choking feeling in my throat, I bring myself to ask the question that will shatter my heart. "Colin?"

He doesn't even look me in the eyes. He lowers his head and shakes it. And it's then that I break down, not caring who sees me anymore. I'm done, I'm spent; all that is left is a grieving woman.

Blake picks me up and carries me out of the room, down the hallway. I don't want to see anyone, so I bury my face into his shoulder and just cry. The sobs rake my body, and I have a hard time breathing; it's as if somebody put a rope around my throat and is slowly cinching it tighter and tighter.

As if somebody is drilling tiny holes into my heart, over and over, until there is nothing left. As if somebody is pummeling my chest and stomach, over and over, nonstop.

Doors open and close, but I'm not even aware of it; how can I exist in a world without Colin? I know I'll have to keep on fighting, for us, he would have wanted it, but I suddenly feel so tired. So tired of fighting and everything else.

Chapter 14

"Vivian." Blake has to call my name several times before I realize he has put me down on a chair. I feel a slight vibration and notice