The Truth (2)

"That's Kristin." Ciaran paused as he pointed at a girl with dirty blond hair. "She is the reason why my second chance at life was destroyed.

Cas didn't have time to ask questions as the scene before her started playing. The scene showed Ciaran, who looked completely different than he does now. He was older than he was now and had facial hair, but one noticeable thing was his gray eyes and how they were the same.

Cas saw him in the library and flipped through a book larger than her head, and Kristin sat next to him. She watched as the two kept talking, and Kristin occasionally laughed at something he had said until she pulled a small rectangular box out of her pocket and began speaking into it.

"We met one day during class, and we became close." Ciaran said after a moment.

Cas watched as Kristen finished speaking into the box and put it away before getting up to leave, but not before kissing Ciaran.

"I don't understand." Cas began but was interrupted by him.

"Her father was a rich and powerful CEO, and he didn't like that his daughter was dating someone with nothing to his name." Ciaran said.

"CEO?" She asked in confusion.

"Think of it as a merchant guild, and he controlled the guild." He replied while swiping his hand, causing the scene to move forward rapidly.

The rapidly moving images suddenly stopped and showed an older man sitting behind a large desk while Ciaran stood in front.

"I have no choice but to expel you." He said. "The accusations labeled against you are too credible to ignore." He finished, not even bothering to look Ciaran in the eye.

"Headmaster." Ciaran began. "If what they say is true, why are they not filing criminal charges against me? Why are they pushing to have me expelled?" He asked.

"They said they didn't want to ruin your life, and by expelling you, they hoped it would teach you some humility." The headmaster answered in an almost robotic voice.

"So, four girls claiming that I had forced myself onto them only want me to be expelled?" Ciaran said as he scoffed.

"Need I call security, or will you leave peacefully?" The headmaster asked.

Ciaran said nothing for a moment as he looked at the headmaster before finally turning and heading out the door, and everything faded to black.

"Kristin's father didn't approve of our relationship, so he paid off multiple students to level charges against me and got me kicked out of college." Ciaran said that when everything turned black. "Kristin believed her father over me, especially when he showed her that I had gone through multiple orphanages before ending up in juvenile."

Cas watched as the space around her suddenly changed and showed a distraught Kristen and Ciaran, who had a blank face.

"Is it true?" She asked.

"Everything but me attacking those girls." He replied.

Kristen said nothing for a moment before quickly slapping him and turning away. "Leave before I call the cops on you."

Ciaran said nothing as he turned away and walked off, and the image faded away.

"That was the last time I saw her." He said as he walked toward Cas. "In my world, money triumphs over all. So the more money you had, the more powerful you were against those who had less."

"I still don't understand why you are showing me all this." Cas said.

"Because." He said as he stopped in front of her. "No matter how far you fall, eventually, you reach the bottom." He paused as an image appeared. "This was the night I had hit rock bottom. But, it was also the night I began my ascent."

The image began playing, and it showed Ciaran. Only now he was worse for the ware. His once shining gray eyes were dull, and he had a disheveled appearance. He stood on top of a large building and was drinking.

Cas watched as he drank from multiple glass bottles, and every time he finished one, he would smash it onto the ground and stumble to grab another. Eventually, he had run out of drinks, and before she knew it, she watched him jump up onto a ledge of the building.

She was about to jump forward and try to stop him, only to realize it was a memory, when the real Ciaran had grabbed her.

"Don't worry." He said with a smile and pointed.

She turned her head to the image and watched as the image of Ciaran began playing again and showed him wobbling on top of the ledge. She watched as he looked down for a moment before closing his eyes and was about to walk off the ledge. Only to stop as he turned around and began throwing up.

After he was done throwing up, he looked up and froze.

Cas was confused until she saw what he was looking at and gasped.

"It's an ad for a game." Ciaran said.

This image showed Leonardo Whiteguard and multiple other people she knew, including herself.

"I was ready to throw everything away because, in the game of life, I had failed." Ciaran paused as he looked at the image. "Until I saw you." He added.

"Me?" Cas asked.

He only nodded his head once before turning towards her. "You have no idea how special you are to me."

Cas didn't say anything as she felt the strength leave her legs and collapse onto the ground. The anger within her dissipated, and all she was left with was guilt, and it wasn't long before she began to cry.

Thankfully Ciaran was there as he embraced her and talked to her for a while. What was said between the two, only one could guess. But one thing was clear, the despair within her had been ruthlessly flushed out, and all that remained within her was a determination to see his dream come true.