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T h e H o l l o w s   O f
H I R A E    T    H
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The doctor wasn't kidding when she told me it'd be better to stay in the room. The corridors were crawling with people running, shouting, some even crying. I pushed past them, suddenly realising that their inconvenience was more helpful than I thought it would be. With the crowds swarming around me, I instantly disappeared into the herd of people.

I tried my best to ignore the pain in my foot, but I soon found myself slowing down and leaning against the wall, heaving in and out. I looked back to where I had first emerged from, hoping that Jameson was stumbling behind, having defeated the intruder.

However, when I looked back, not only could I not make anything out past the millions of body's in my way, but I knew, logically, that the chances of my hope would be slim. No matter how much of a God Jameson was, I feared that this was going to be a hard battle for him.

After making that assumption, I regretfully pushed myself off the wall and continued to sprint. I rounded a corner, and was astonished to find it empty. I was relieved, though, to find it empty, but was also on edge at the eery feel to the corridor. I grimaced as the echoes of my feet against the floor made a racket, which, of course, would probably get me caught.

Not wanting to be alone or in the sinister silence any longer, I headed for the door that would take me to the main reception, where there was bound to be chaos. I pulled open the door and ignored the way that it smashed against the wall, focusing just on running back into civilisation.

The corridor lights flickered but I didn't mind as I saw the distribution ahead. I breathed out a sigh of relief as I practically ran into the swarm, pushing and shoving my way through. I nearly came to a dead stop when I saw who was stumbling towards me from the other direction—Jameson.

I'm pretty sure my face lit up as I sped up to him, he looked relieved too. And then, his face fell. He was frowning at something coming from my left side and I frowned back in response. Then as Jameson's eyes widened, I knew my fate. As he pushed his legs to go faster, only managing to trip over his ankles in the process, I turned to look left.

The person in all black outstretched their arms and that's when I saw it—the gun. My heart stopped as I tried to think of a way out, but I couldn't think fast enough.

"Sky!" Two people were screaming my name, but I only saw as one of them jumped in front of me. I caught the body as they jerked back from the impact. All oxygen left my body as I gasped in shock. I fell back with them in my arms, just as I had with Jameson, their blonde hair splaying over my face.

I entwined my fingers with theirs, squeezing their hand reassuringly. I looked at the blood seeping out of the wound that the bullet had cut, then quickly turned away, not daring to take another glance.

"Angela?" I shook her, my voice coming out hoarse. The girl in question smiled weakly at me as her eyes fluttered open, her eyes watering.

"I'm sorry," Soft sobs racked my body as I finally let the reality of the situation hit me. "I'm so sorry." I continued to ramble, my hands and voice shaking as I brushed my fingers through her hair.

"I may not have become a guardian–" Angela broke off before grunting weakly, a frown forming between her blue eyes. "But I know that you vulnerable people always come first." She laughed, or attempted to. Her voice was strained as she lifted a finger to point at me.

"We–" I swallowed the guilt in my mouth, "We need to bandage you." I rushed through my words, some of the syllables not even sounding right. Angela seemed to smile even bigger and I wondered how she was dealing so calmly with this situation.

"I don't need bandages, I'll go before you even find them." Angela grimaced as a small laugh left her lips and I blinked a few times before my eyes widened.

"I'll go." Is what she said. She'll go? No. She's not going. Not on my part, she certainly isn't.

"Sky." Jameson had finally reached us and was trying to coax me away from Angela's fading frame. I refused to go, holding on tighter to Angela with every attempt he tried at pulling me away. Tears fell from my eyes and the tiny droplets dropped onto Angela's face.

Angela closed her eyes and smiled, "Tears are only beautiful when you're strong enough to hold them in." She spoke, her voice barely audible underneath all the shouting going on away from the incident. That's something else I couldn't believe, how could so many people miss the entrance of a killer? More importantly, how could anyone be worrying about themselves when someone's life is dissolving into thin air?

I furiously wiped away the tears and sniffed before speaking next. "Don't go." I pleaded, hugging her tighter. Angela smiled again, her eyes opening.

"I'm not going anywhere, I'm laying right here." Angela's voice was barely a whisper, but I was so close to her that, if I tried, I could probably make out the steady beat of her heart.

I shook my head, "You know that's not what I meant." Even when dying, Angela was still the least serious person I've ever met, which could become annoying at times.

"Shh." Angela tried to silence me by pressing her index finger to my lips but her arm dropped after a few moments of reaching outwards.

"Death is supposed to be silent, that's why I was loud my whole life." Angela's eyes fluttered close and I actually laughed at her joke, though tears rolled down my cheeks, trying to take in every second of her last minutes. I won't waste them. Especially since this is my fault.

"This is my fault." I repeated my thoughts aloud, saying anything to keep her from falling away from me.

Angela frowned, her lips pursing, "Accusations aren't needed when the dying is the guilty," She slurred slightly as she began to speak, her eyes not opening as she whispered. "It's what they call free will," She continued, her eyes opening and her lips parting as if she was going to continue. Then as I leaned in to hear her words, her eyes went blank, her body went limp, and her last words got lost in the void, a faint trace of them ghosting somewhere in nowhere.

My lips parted and I stared at her in shock, her chest going stiff as she ran out of oxygen. Not wanting to believe that she'd actually passed on, I frantically searched everywhere I knew to check for a pulse. Behind her ear—no, her neck—no, her wrist–

"Sky," Jameson shook me, trying to break me out of my obsessive trance. When it became clear that there was no pulse, I began to despair.

"I can't–" My hands were trembling, "I can't feel anything," My voice shook and I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"She's gone," Jameson's voice was laced with concern, apology, but also with sadness too. He had lost a warrior too, official guardian or not. Jameson pried my hands off Angela's body and I felt my own go limp. Jameson pulled me into him and wrapped an arm around me, lifting the other up and placing his hand on my head, brushing his fingers through my hair in an attempt to soothe me.

But I was far from soothed as many doctors, nurses or just few members of the chaos crowd began to close in on us, now realising that it was all over. It was done. It was finished. She was gone.

The doctors began to do the pulse checks like I had, and all I wanted to do was scream at them, tell them that there's no point; she's gone.

However, Jameson's fingers running through my hair affected me in some unknown way, and I found myself keeping my emotions locked in tight in a box built the hard wood of regret.

She was gone.

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Oops

Sozzles

Soo

Er

Yeah

Bye

Funeral date: 23/08/16

😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈

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Next update: Friday
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CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE:

How does the academy deal with this breach of security?

How did the gunman get in?

Aftermath?

Will the academy ever carry on as normal?

Who was the gunman?

Do we already know the gunman?

And most importantly,

Was anyone else hurt?

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✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

QUOTE OF THE CHAPTER:

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