Night slowly began to trickle its path inside the confines of my room, its gloomy appearance melting its way through glass throwing shadows across pockets of dim light my lamp projected along the walls. The small rhythmic sounds of droplets of heaven’s moisture pelting against the windowpane provided the soundtrack to an otherwise quiet stillness. Its gentle pounding against the earth impeded the space as if trying to infiltrate the otherwise stifling charged silence that had come to befall between me and my sister.

“Do you remember when things started to go really bad between mom and dad; you’d wake up screaming and crying?” Andrea asked, my fingers stagnant as I clutched a pair of blue skinny jeans within my palms. My eyes refused to meet hers and yet I knew without looking that she remained sitting in her usual place at the window; her eyes on the view instead of observing the reaction her sudden words would cause.

Refusing to be drawn back into memories I ignored her question before moving towards the closet to grab the duffle bag from the top shelf.

“Momma used to come rushing to your side,” she continued as if I had answered her silently. “She’d smooth back your damp curls and whisper how everything was going to be alright. She’d tell you of how she’d always be here, and how nothing could every hurt us as long as she had breath in her body.” I listened to her snort depressingly devoid of any true humor, “I guess she stopped breathing a long time ago.”

Unintentionally I paused, gazing up at my sister’s sad features before those sapphire eyes clashed with my own. “Marie, when did it all change? Did everything really go wrong the night Daddy got arrested?”

I sighed tiredly; a sound akin to someone who was much older than my meager sixteen years, “I think things started to fall apart long before then, Drea.”

Her head shifted back towards the view, her long golden strands only further blocking my sight of her hidden expression before she confessed, “I was so jealous of you.”

Placing the duffle on the bed, my fingers swept repeatedly across its smooth surface while trying to make sense of her unexpected admission, “why?”

“You got to be the baby that everyone protected, hid the dark secrets from. I’ve always envied that.”

My brows furrowed in aggravation, as I shoved my jeans inside my luggage with more force than was truly needed, “I don’t think being shoved into the dark about everything was any better.”

“Yeah, but for a little while longer you got to remain a kid,” a tear trickled its way from her thick lashes, her fingers quick to brush away the unwanted weakness. She swallowed with difficulty before continuing. “That first night,” her voice broke; her lids fluttering close as more droplets fell from damp lashes, “the night he finally came to my bedroom I already knew no one would wake me from my nightmare.” She sniffled noisily, her fingers dabbing harshly against her cheek as if she was angry with her lack of composure. “No one would brush away my hair, wipe away my tears, no one would comfort me with lies of a better future.”

Trembling fingers absentmindedly folded and refolded a pink tee until wrinkles lied where what was once smooth before I found the courage to ask, “Do you regret luring Rick to your bed instead of mine?”

Andrea’s cerulean irises’ whipped around to clash with my own, an unconcealed intensity burning within such a haze of blue “not even for a minute. If it allowed me to keep you safe for even a moment longer I would have endured whatever I needed to do.” Her eyes stayed glued to mine without even a hint of regret to taint the truth of her words. “Anna, even if I could somehow go back to that fatal night with the knowledge of what would happen to me once I got into that car I would do it all again.”

Dropping the tee onto the bed I felt compelled to say the words I’d never managed to say to her. “Drea, you know that I’ll always be grateful to yo-.”

“I didn’t do it for gratitude, Anna,” she interrupted harshly almost as if my need to express my appreciation was as good as an insult. “I did it for love. You’re my little sister and there isn’t a thing in this world I wouldn’t do to protect you.”

My gaze dropped to my fingers repeatedly rubbing against the soft pink fabric as if I could somehow brush away the creases, “that’s what I’m worried about.”

She stilled, completely motionless before her body turned towards me completely, “what does that mean?”

Shoving the shirt and a set of pajamas inside I gradually forced myself to meet her defensive gaze. “I mean that… that kind of love can be smothering at times. Andrea, I’m worried that in your quest to keep me safe that you’ve done something unforgivable.”

Silence falls between us once again as I finished placing my things inside, the sound of the continuing rain and the zipper closing plainly heard.

“Your eyes opened and what did you see?” Andrea finally questioned as I slung the light duffle atop my shoulder.

“I saw darkness… blood. I’m not sure if it was mine or somebody else’s. Then yellow before red.”

“Colors,” she scoffed, “you saw colors?”

“No Drea, I saw long golden locks glowing in the darkness but its all still jumbled up in my mind. It’s like trying to see the picture before all the puzzle pieces are put together. The only thing clear to me is that I was not the only one in that house that night, and you seem hell bent on me forgetting the truth.”

Her eyes drained of all earlier suspiciousness to leave behind only this blind sense of earnest desperation for me to understand, “you saw blonde hair and suddenly I receive the cold shoulder? Did we forget that the night all this happened I was lying in the street somewhere dying?”

Her words of simple logic seemed to alter my dreams into such unreasonable moments of absurdity that my head pounded in effort to comprehend it all. My hands dug deeply into my loose curls as I whispered wearily, “nothing makes sense anymore.”

Andrea rose suddenly, her body tense, her eyes pleading, “Anna, we can figure this out. Just the two of us. No Gabe, no other half. Just us, like always.”

Her palm extended waiting for me to take hold, and yet I couldn’t move. My grip on my duffle tightened in my resolve not to give in. There always seemed to be this unshakable force inside me willing to do anything to cling to my sister’s side, and at last I saw the legitimacy in my darker identity’s words. My love and connection to my sister would most likely be my downfall. Hadn’t Andrea just admitted that even with the knowledge of impending death she would still court it to save me? Was that truly love, or merely insanity?

And although I felt that our blood bond to each other was stronger than most; that I cared for my sister in equal measures that she cared for me it didn’t stop me from wondering why it seemed so important that she remove every other person from within my corner. Or how Andrea still seemed obsessively intent to eradicate a vital piece of myself that even I could not eliminate. To remove my darker half was to lose that part of me that my sister still couldn’t accept, a piece of myself that inwardly I still worriedly wondered knew of secrets Andrea would rather stay concealed.

Taking a deep steadying breath my eyes traveled pass her palm to collide with such desperate royal blues, “I’m sorry Drea, but I have to go.”

Her expression was something I would expect had I literally plunged a knife into her heart; its undeniable sense of devastation was so intense that I felt compelled to turn away from it just so that I wouldn’t have to endure it any longer.

My footsteps shaky, I paused within the doorway at her words, “even if you no longer trust me or believe in my attempts to safeguard you, you should believe this. Don’t go tonight.”

My mouth opened to respond but the quick raising of her palm halted me, “Marie, I’m not trying to keep you in the dark right now. I’m not trying to prevent you from being normal.

I’m telling you that something about tonight doesn’t feel right.”

One side of mouth tilted weakly, a dimple forming within a solitary cheek, “sounds like an average Saturday evening for me. They’ve already sliced into me, attempted to suck me dry of everything I once was, driven me almost to the point of insanity. Tell me big sister, what else can they do?”

With sadness falling silently from her trembling chin she exclaimed frantically, “so much more. You just have no idea…”

Swallowing down my hidden need to comfort her I replied, “Then hiding under the bed seems a little redundant, don’t you think? Maybe the smarter thing to do here is enjoy the time I have left.”

I watched Andrea openly sob at my words, words that seemed to cruelly inadvertently toss everything she sacrificed to keep me protected back into her face. “Please Marie, you have no clue the lengths I went to in order to give you the luxury of this moment. I’m begging you to just listen to me.”

An abrupt flash exploded before my sight; an unearthed recollection of a pair of eyes so fearsome, so reprehensible in its need to invoke misfortune took over my vision. It was like staring up at the devil himself, and suddenly I felt like that girl again. That helpless girl with nothing more than a bloody palm to shield me from Courtney’s attack. Those eyes… those ominous scarlet lenses with the unstoppable ability with one glance seemed to slowly suck out my soul. Desolation inducing orbs that unquestionably I immediately knew were not that of my little sister.

“I can’t Drea. Not this time,” I at last answered unevenly, knowing to listen to her words was to extend a line of trust. A trust that in this moment I didn’t believe was capable between us. I may not know all that went on that night, and everything in my head might not make complete sense, but I trusted my gut. And right now my gut was screaming to me that my big sister wasn’t being completely honest.

Squaring my shoulders I twisted away from her tragic expression before I strode purposely from the room. My curls blew gently pass my shoulders, my grip tightening around the strap of my duffle as for once I turned my back on the one person I had so hysterically beseeched to return to my side. It only took a second to dispel that implausible moment of stunned disbelief from Andrea’s shoulders before she stalked my movements with an unyielding sense of despondency.

“I gave up everything for you,” she tossed to my retreating form. I could literally feel her eyes scalding my back as I headed quickly towards the stairs.

My fingers glided along the banister as she continued to try to break through my resolve, “I surrendered my childhood for yours!”

Ignoring the photos of happier times of our youth hung along the staircase’s walls as I hurried down its winding steps and still I couldn’t block out her voice.

“I took him inside me,” she screeched, almost to the point of hysteria at the knowledge that I wasn’t stopping this time. “I allowed him to rip apart my soul in order for yours to remain whole!”

Tears stung the surface of my eyes, my breathing became labored and yet still I moved towards the looming doorway.

“Anna Marie,” she screamed causing me to finally pause before quietly she continued, “can you really walk away from the one person who has truly loved you?”

My fingers stilled upon the doorknob, my heart shattered as I rounded to confront Andrea still lingering at the top of the stairway.

“It’s simple, Drea. I’ve asked you over and over again, and so I’ll ask you this just once more. Just tell me, tell me what exactly happened that night? Please, tell me what it is that you’re hiding?”

I waited anxiously with baited breath before heartbreakingly she simply whispered, “Just don’t go.”

“God! For a person willing to sacrifice the world for me why can’t you just give me the one thing I’ve always needed?” Piercing open the door with dejection heavy within my heart I greeted the night gladly. “All I ever wanted was the truth.”

I heard my name screamed just before I embraced the physical pain that in no way compared to the emotional anguish I endured as darkness wrapped around me and quickly I faded from sight.

I reappeared mere footsteps from Gabe’s front lawn while trying to put a lid on my erratic emotions before I forced myself to go in. The night like an ally hid my tragic expression from the world as did the rain help aid my concealment; the use of my hood cloaking my uncontainable sense of melancholy. The world seemed empty and I knew it was not only the sudden lost overwhelming me inwardly that had gifted me with this hasty sense of forlorn.

No, in actuality the streets remained deserted, and for the carelessness of my open use of powers the desertion of the human population felt like that of a blessing.

“I was worried about leaving you two alone.”

The abruptness in which he spoke startled me and yet seemed to finally puncture this bubble of sadness I had allowed to encase me. Grinning in spite of my wayward dam of emotions I turned towards Gabriel, “why, never seen two sisters fight before?”

“Not one with a connection as strong as you two. You two have an ability to form secrets around each other that even I have no way of infiltrating. Besides I’ve never met a set of siblings with the ability to suck the life from ones body, nor one whose life has been extinguished for a while now.”

My expression turned suddenly solemn, “Andrea would never really harm me.”

“Maybe not intentionally.”

I smirked ruefully, “funny that you oppose the one person who was actually trying to protect you.”

His waves looked slightly damp even hidden under his blue baseball cap, his expressive eyes soothing, “if I believed that was her only motivation I could forgive her attempting to hurt you, but your inner self is right. Andrea's hiding something, and I can't trust her until I know what that something is."

My eyes fell from his dejectedly before murmuring, "Join the club."

The sound of the side door leading to the basement as it opened pierced the air while allowing a beam to eradicate the shadows. The noise of laughter spilled into the night before a smiling bouncing Abigail appeared while forcing us into silence. Beaming as she raced towards me, she exclaimed joyously, "you came!"

Forcing a small grin onto my lips I attempted to push aside my gulf of misery as I retorted, "well, you did invite me."

Her pink flowing blouse drifted out behind her as her skinny jean covered legs sprinted to reach our side, her black Uggs soundless against the pavement. Her dark liner covered brown eyes alive with honest mirth remained playful, "Yes, now that you mention it I think I do recall extending you an invite.”

She gazed around the yard oddly before I realized what she was looking for, “I thought I heard Gabe out here.”

“Apparently you started the party earlier than I expected,” I jokily retorted while trying to play off the fact that Gabe’s sudden unexpected disappearance certainly didn’t make me look any saner.

Abby slung an easy arm around my shoulder, the scent of cotton candy engulfing me, “let’s just keep that between me and you. You know Gabriel can be sort of… a saint sometimes.”

I smirked at the way she implied saint to be a bad thing while an unwanted voice exploded within my head, “saint only when compared to her.”

“He is a bit of a know-it-all,” I agreed while inwardly listening to his obvious disagreements.

Ecstatically grinning Abby smacked her hands together deviously, a brow lifting over wicked eyes, her coffee colored hair falling over one shoulder, "you know what they say... while the cat is away the mice will play."

Ignoring Gabriel's continued annoyance at our conversation I at last retorted silently, “well that’s what you get for ditching me. You’re not really going to listen in the whole night, are you?”

He openly scoffed at even the notation, “of course not. I believe I can find more stimulating conversations than who’s doing who.”

Pulling me towards the open doorway Abby announced excitedly, “follow me, tonight is all about fun."

And just as I felt those familiar doubts began to creep in I heard Gabe whisper, "Abby’s right. Let it go for tonight, Marie. Enjoy yourself and remember I won't be too far away."

Forcing my grin to remain on shaky lips, I took a deep breath while allowing Abby to guide me towards the brightness. Attempting not to experience again that awful moment only a short while back when I was ordered to leave these very grounds I whispered a silent prayer that Gabe was right about tonight. Praying that by not following their mother and Andrea's fervent wishes I had not just made yet another dim-witted oversight.

................................................................................................

You know that moment when you face a crowd of people and suddenly you feel completely naked, bare to the world’s judgment? I feel that way every time I enter a room and all conversation ends. When mothers shield their kids from my view as if my mere existence could taint them into becoming the monster they claim me to be. When you hear whispered details of rumors of your supposed life that are so horrific you find yourself wondering who exactly has the sicker mind; the one they assume to be guilty, or the one trying to imagine such appalling images within their own mentality?

I experienced this unendurable moment yet again as we stepped inside.

It was as if Abigail and I had suddenly been carelessly flung into a silent film as eight pairs of eyes turned slowly to stalk our every move. We paused just within the doorway, my sweaty palm gripping the handle of my bag that much more tighter while inwardly I berated myself. Imagine one of the future’s most powerful beings in the world petrified to face a few ordinary teenage girls.

“Come on Anna,” Abby whispered gently, her kind eyes taking notice of my slightly pale skin. “They don’t bite. I’ll introduce you.”

We walked pass the workout machines, the weights, the blue mats Gabe and I had practiced on and took a few steps down towards the carpeted level that held her friends, their eyes watching us the whole time. They were spread out in a semi- circle on top of a series of multicolored sleeping bags; magazines spread open in piles before them, the low sounds of music playing in the background, a huge television remained black; silent while fingers continual moved rapidly upon cell phones. Most likely updating Face book to the fact that the nut job had just arrived to the party.

I hoped my smile didn’t look as strained as it felt as Abby introduced me to a blur of faces I already knew I’d have no way of remembering. As I gazed out upon her inner circle of friends what stood out wasn’t the instant look of distrust on their faces, nor the hidden fear, or even the evident look of curiosity because quite frankly those things I had already expected. It was Abby’s dismissal of it all. Clearly Andrea was right about Abby’s friend’s approval not being as forthcoming, but it was Abby’s complete disregard of their feelings towards me that truly threw me. They obviously didn’t want me here and I wondered just how far she had pushed to force their acceptance.

“You guys this is Anna,” Abby finished, her cheeks flushed at the sudden tense silence. A silence that forced Abby to clear her throat in an obvious attempt to stop the awkwardness of having several pairs of eyes blatantly gawk up at us. She turned back to me, “I saved you the sleeping bag next to mine.”

I shifted to follow her whilst feeling the wake of shifting pupils hug my moving form before I slung my duffle atop the one lonely sleeping bag as far away from the other girls as one could get. I eased down upon my knees wondering how drastically different the atmosphere had to have been before I arrived. How different these girls must have reacted to one another before my existence forced their suspicious eyes to secretly shift back towards me. How much at ease they once were before my presence made some bluntly ignore my quiet figure to break off into small intimate conversations apparently too good to even converse with the likes of me. Before these friends felt compulsorily compelled to share breathing space with someone they deemed no better than a convicted killer.

A short denim skirt riding high on tanned legs was the first glimpse I received before a red headed girl with generous curves bounced down before me. Her powder blue tee fitted tight along her boobs, her wild fiery tendrils spilling over one shoulder, and yet it was those eyes that captured me. Those green slightly unfocused orbs surrounded by an impish expression, an open liquor bottle extended towards me as if a small peace offering before she simply said, “its not truly a party if your systems still pure.”

Dimples barely creasing the center of my cheeks; I shook my head in denial, “no thanks.”

“A virgin,” she said with a grin while quickly noticing the flush along my skin. “In more ways than one I’m guessing.”

“I-.”

She shrugs her shoulders, those eyes forever seeming to mock as several girls around her seemed to join in with her laughter. She took a long swallow before pursing her cherry red lips, “it’s cool. We’re all friends here.” The warmth in her gaze instantly vanished as those lenses shifted from me to Abby, her hand offering the bottle towards the hostess, “isn’t that right Abby?”

“Of course,” Abby muttered before taking her own generous swig, her eyes never leaving our new companion. The lack of friendliness between the two was certainly not lost on me. It made me wonder why Abby invited her at all before my sight clashed back towards this unwanted cohort, noticing how while in my inner reflections she seemed to be slowly taking stock of every freckle I possessed as if I were a caged animal being observed at the zoo.

A blonde beside her passed her something that was obviously not a cigarette as I watched her inhale deeply; relinquish a healthy amount of stale smoke into my face before grinning at my quick attempt to fan away the sudden cloud of annoyance, “I knew your sister back in her party days.”

“That’s funny, she never mentioned you.”

Another cloud of smoke was blown directly into my face.

“But then again why would she? I’m sure back then you weren’t privy to everything precious Andrea was into. The drugs, the drinking… the boys,” she happily informed, the tightening around my lips only seeming to cause the glee to further explode within her gaze.

“Rachael, don’t go there,” Abby warned only for Rachael to innocently retreat.

“I was only sharing good times with our new friend here, right Anna? Not everyone’s a prude when it comes to sharing secrets, and sharing… was something Andrea did quite well and… quite often if I can recall.”

“Just drop it,” the birthday girl warned much to Rachael’s amusement.

Her scarlet lips wrapped around her chosen preference of tainting her system, her cheeks sinking in as she inhaled deeply, the tiny flicks of red embers glowing at its edges. My eyes became entranced with its flame before those tiny flickers of fire weirdly engulfed quickly what was once white before rapidly burning her perfectly pursed ruby tinted lips.

“Aw fuck,” Rachael screamed as she tossed what little was left onto the beige carpeting while hopping onto her feet running for the table full of food. Her friends instantly surrounded her as she hastily shoved open the mini fridge to place a cold drink upon her singed lips.

“They said inhale not consume the whole damn thing,” another girl joked as she hurriedly stomped at the tiny trail of smoke coming from the seared carpet. Her black combat boots effortlessly smothering what Rachel easily discarded.

Hearing the joke at her behalf enraged Rachael easily as she turned quickly back towards us, almost pushing one of her friends over in the process “you know what, screw you Casey!”

Casey’s brown eyes clashed easily with green, her black bob falling back from within her gaze, the expression upon her caramel complexion was that of pure untold fury that clearly had much more to do with the past than what had just happened here tonight. “Stop acting like this is the only time you’ve been burned! We all know that’s not the first time you were surprised by what formed on those lips.”

Rachael’s face turned beet red as some of the girls including Abby openly laughed.

Casey’s black skinny jean clad legs walked easily up towards Rachael, her expression fearless as she ridiculed, “you wanna talk secrets? Because I’m pretty sure hooking up with a guy isn’t your only sin.”

I could see the mental wavering that consumed Rachael’s vision before quickly I noticed defeat take over. Taking a step back she resumed picking up her chosen ice pack while openly glaring at anyone who dared gaze upon her.

The beginning of Miley Cyrus’s, Wrecking ball sounded out into the room before Casey quickly reached into her pocket for her cell phone. Sprinting towards the side door she yelled back towards Abby, “that’s my Dad. I’m gonna take this outside.”

The door closed before I heard Rachael mutter to her friends, “You won’t be missed.”

“Ignore her, I certainly do,” Abby instructed as she handed me a Pepsi.

“Is she always like that?” I questioned, my eyes forever straying to Rachael’s slightly swollen lips while oddly feeling not even a glimmer of guilt. I knew that flame obviously had help by my uncontainable anger but in this instance I couldn’t find a shred of remorse for doing it.

“No, sometimes she’s mean.”

The look on my face made Abby laugh out loud. “That’s her being nice?”

“No… that’s her being Rachael. She’s only nice when she wants something.”

“Then why are you friends with her?”

Abby sighed before flipping through a fashion magazine, “I’ve known her forever. Probably longer than I’ve known Andrea, so she knows most of my secrets. She’s on the cheerleading squad, and… sometimes its better to have someone like that close than far away.”

A brow rose over my incredulous eyes, “explain that comment to me?”

She glanced up from her magazine to openly stare at me, “look, if she’s within my inner clique then her venom is aimed at someone else. Plus, I can keep a closer eye on her and know when she’s about to stab me in the back.”

My brows furrowed in confusion, “that’s crazy.”

“Welcome to girl world,” she concluded as she gazed out a number of girls still listening avidly to anything Rachael said, some still watching me cautiously while a few continued to ignore my existence all together. “This,” she gestured with a sweep of her arm, “is what you’ve been missing.”

“Hey Abby,” the blonde glued to Rachael’s side yelled over the noise, “where’s Gabe tonight? Doesn’t he normally chaperone when your mother isn’t hovering?”

I felt Rachael’s keen eyes zero in on my features as I listened to Abby groan.

“He had a class, thank god! My mom never trusted me every since Troy threw up in the living room vase the last time I threw a party.” Abby turned towards me with a mischievous smirk, “hence the obvious no boys rule, and the all girl slumber party.”

“I’m sure Anna is used to all girls by now,” Rachael remarked as she slowly made her way back towards our side of the room.

Taking a tact from Casey I boldly asked her, “and what is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” she replied innocently as she sauntered in her four inch heeled black boots, her skirt nearly giving me an unwanted eyeful, her expression oddly haughty even for someone with ridiculously bee stung swollen lips. “I only meant you’ve been surrounded by nothing but girls for a while now, isn’t that right? Maybe the no boys rule hits more closely to home then we all thought.”

“Oh God, Rach give it a rest!” Abby exclaimed.

“What?” Rachael ingenuously asked as she tossed her burgundy waves over one shoulder of her blue tank. “Fine, I’ll address the other elephant obviously in the room seeing as no one else will.” Her menacing eyes collided easily with mine before boldly she plainly stated, “so rumor has it that you chopped up your parents into tiny little pieces, burned the remains, and you never got to finish off your little sister?”

“Rachael!”

She once again shrugged nonchalantly, unremorseful as the crowd of girls all watched for my reaction avidly.

“What?” She asked in forged cluelessness. “That’s what I heard. Besides it’s not like everyone in this room has suddenly come down with a sudden vicious case of amnesia where her story’s concerned.”

She turned back to me, her expression mockingly remorseful, “Oh sorry Anna, of course I didn’t mean that like it sounded. I’m sure somewhere out there someone believes you truly can’t remember murdering your loved ones.”

Clearly seeing me at a loss for words Abby quickly interjected, “that never happened!” She turned to the others, “you guys remember when Alley had a nervous breakdown after Tyler broke it off, and she tried to take a bunch of pills? That’s kind of what Anna went through, but she’s sensitive about it so obliviously she doesn’t want to constantly talk about it.”

Rolling her eyes at the obvious cover story Rachael resumed her seating upon her own sleeping bag, her skirt barley covering her ass, “I don’t see what the big deal is. I mean I’ve thought of chopping up my boyfriend plenty of times… well at least one part of him anyway.” Flipping through her magazine as if nothing had just happened she muttered, “Maybe then he’d finally stop cheating.”

Smirking teasingly another nameless girl drunkenly fell atop her butt, her expression happily buzzed as she retorted, “I highly doubt even that would get him to stop.”

Laughing, Rachael playfully shoves the tipsy girl causing her to fall over, “shut up, at least I didn’t get so fucking drunk I couldn’t remember who my last guy was.”

Outraged and yet by the slight tilt of her lips I could tell it was forced the girl rose back into sitting position exclaiming, “You promised not to tell!”

Blocking out any further ramblings of their conversation I concentrated on breathing to stop my intense craving of ripping Rachael’s pathetic throat open and happily consuming her blood. Abby’s hand on my arm actually snapped me out of my daydream of literally holding Rachael’s beating heart in the palm of my hand.

Concerned brown eyes took in my own, “Are you okay?”

Taking a deep breath to calm my darker murderous impulses I forged a pathetic grin, “I’m fine.”

Abby gave me a look of complete disbelief, “come one Ann, even I wanted to smack her.”

My grin became more genuine, “If I gave into that impulse then I would only confirm all she’s said about me.”

Casey appeared back at our side, taking a seat beside Abby, “hey guys, what did I miss?”

At last a person actually included me into the conversation and not only as the butt of her jokes, or horribly demeaning slurs, but out of legitimate kindness. Abby answered for us both, “nothing, just Rach being a bitch like always.”

Casey’s full lips tilted into a full blown smirk, “yeah, what else is new. So Anna, what school are you enrolled in because we haven’t seen you around ours?”

Stumped for a good enough answer I simply answered as honestly as I could. “I’m taking some time off.”

“So you dropped out?” that loud voice questioned interrupting into our conversation effortlessly while causing us to become the center of attention once again.

“Rachael!”

My hand covered Abby’s calmly while quickly realizing I’d always have to face people like Rachael at some point in my life, and flying off the handle only confirmed their alleged rumors. “No, as I’ve said I’m-.”

“I’m just saying,” she interjected. “You’ve been in the psyche ward for what… a little bit over a year now? How much more time off does a girl need?”

A few girls laughed at her foolish question as if a mental institution was a vacation, as if I’d spent the last couple of months sunning myself on a beach instead of running for my life. As if I had been surrounded by hot guys instead of those deranged enough to have admittedly done truly awful things to themselves or to others.

How vapid could these girls get?

“Rach, you promis-.” Abby attempted to reprimand only for me to halt her.

Andrea’s words of warning just seemed to continual slap me in the face. These girls were no more accepting than Abby’s mother. I seemed to only be their enforced form of entertainment for the night.

Stone faced I tuned to my newfound nemesis, “well, why don’t you watch your whole world fall apart, people you’ve known your whole life suddenly cease to exist, and then come back to me and I’ll repeat that last question to you?”

That uncomfortable quietness fell over us once again as Rachael’s eyes fell back towards her magazine, her expression completely devoid of sympathy before she muttered, “dramatic much?”

“Oh cut the shit Rachael!” Casey snapped clearly as fed up with this red head as much as Abby and me. “The girl’s been through more than any of us combined, and I’m sure she doesn’t need you forcing her to relive it.”

“I was just-,” she attempted to defend.

“You were just being a bitch like you always are, and I think everybody but Anna knows why.”

Green eyes narrowed hatefully, “why don’t you just stay out of this, Casey!”

“Why don’t you just admit it? You’re crushing on a boy that doesn’t want you and most likely never will. Gabe has known us since we were what… eight? He didn’t want you then and he sure as heck don’t want your bitter ass now.”

Rachael’s face flushed with a resentful mortification, her skin appearing almost the color of her hair as several girls snickered around her before those livid orbs at last clashed with mine, and finally I saw the truth in Casey’s words unmistakably showcased inside those expressively hateful lenses. “I guess he has always had a thing for lost causes.”

I felt darkness stir within me as my nails bit painfully inside my palms and yet not harshly enough to break skin but just enough to hold back this chasm of unreleased abhorrence I felt towards this idiotic girl. Just as it began to consume my struggling soul it dampened considerably with the appearance of Abigail’s apologetic features.

“Anna, its okay. She’s not even worth it,” she whispered, her hand holding my own until the fury departed enough for me to allow her to take the hidden nail file that I hadn’t even realized I clutched from within my grasp. “She enjoys baiting people, but as you said she only wants a reaction to prove her claims true and we certainly don’t want to give her that.”

I took another calming breath before smiling weakly to verify to Abby that I was okay before she rose to confront her guests.

“Okay enough of this crap! It’s my birthday, or did some of you forget?” Her eyes focused on a chosen few before she walked purposed towards the flat screen and plopping in a DVD. “Look you have a choice to make. You can either go out the way you came, or chill the heck out and lose the snide comments and dirty looks. Just make sure that you choose quickly because I for one am tired of the mean girls’ routine killing my fucking buzz.”

She observed the party waiting a few short meaningful moments for one of us to rise, but as minutes passed and no movement erupted she commenced with hitting the play button before striding back to her position next to me. “Finally, now let’s focus on something we all can agree on… how hot Chris Hemsworth looks in Thor.”

…………………………………………………………………..

Grabbing a handful of chips I contemplated on just leaving this place, but then what did I really have to look forward to by going home? Andrea and her veiled I told you so? I was just slowly beginning to realize that no matter how hard I tried, wished, dreamed of an ordinary life it was just not something I would ever obtain. I would never get to be Abby where the worst thing you worried about was snide comments from bitchy girls and your mom grounding you over some guy vomiting in the living room vase. No, those seemingly trivial things would never happen to me. I knew no matter how far I ran from the truth my biggest concerns would always be living through the next moment, and what demon would attack me next.

I glanced around the party taking in the seemingly timid group of girls wondering how much longer I could stand this. I was so tired of Rachael throwing me hateful stares, tired of the other girls, excluding Abby and Casey, regarding me as if I was some animal about to snap at any moment now… but honestly I was just tired of putting up the front. The front I had perfected that nothing around me affected me. Being around these girls was no different than being with my Aunt at the supermarket. The hushed whispers, the wary looks, and the way they seemed able to always keep me at a distance. I don’t know what ridiculous notation in my mind made me believe anything about this night would be any different. Acceptance and a forgiving nature weren’t things associated with my story. This was no fucking fairy tale. This here, every second I continued to exist was a living nightmare.

“Hey,” Abby whispered suddenly materializing by my side, her gaze appearing slightly worried.

“Hey.”

“Look, I’m sorry about-.”

“Its fine,” I interrupted, the chips in my hand all but forgotten.

“No, it isn’t. I never would have invited her if I knew she’d pull that crap.”

I shrugged my shoulders carelessly as I lied, “I’m used to it.”

“But you shouldn’t have to be.” I watched her sigh as she mechanically dunked her chip into the bowl of dip before suddenly her appearance transformed into her former joyful expression. “Well on the bright side-.”

My brow lifted in surprise of her abrupt subject change, “there’s a bright side?”

Her grin suddenly turned mischievous, “at least Rachael doesn’t hate you for your past. She hates you purely because of my brother. That’s progress.”

Her oddly ridiculous use of logic forced me to return her grin with puzzled eyes, “If you say so. To think I’m disliked for a person I’m not even dating.”

Smirking mischievously Abby inserted, “whatever you have to tell yourself.”

“Nothing is going on between us.”

“Well, that nothing looked pretty cozy in his bedroom the other day.”

Attempting to smother the blush I could feel rising towards my cheeks I murmured, “You’re delusional.”

“Yeah, Rachael wishes she was in that kind of delusion with Gabe,” she paused as if pondering something of great importance before she admitted; “actually now that I think of it most of my friends wish that.”

Our laughter died as one of her nameless friends approached us cautiously, her eyes never acknowledging my existence, “Abby, do you have the money for the food? The pizza guy should be here any second now.”

Groaning in annoyance Abby rolled her eyes, “I think my mom left it upstairs on her dresser. I’ll be right back.” She made a move to sprint upstairs before she halted in mid-step twisting back towards me. “Do not even think of leaving while I’m gone.”

My smile lingered upon my lips just long enough to watch her figure vanish before it completely evaporated as I turned to confront Rachael’s sadistically jovial features. My expression hardened instantly, reverting back into its mask of indifference before I bothered to speak, “is there something I can help you with?”

I watched as Rachael’s smile widened with rage simmering at the base of my spine as I struggled to contain my need to unleash the pent up darkness I caged inside.

“Actually there is. You’ve just been released from the nut house…”

As if anybody here needed reminding of that fact, I furiously reflected while watching as she took in whatever pathetic pleasure trying to constantly bring me further down brought her.

“And I’m sure they’ve got you on something, right?” she questioned, that hateful smirk permanently etched on her pretty features. In my silence several girls quickly surrounded our figures, eagerly awaiting my reaction. The only face appearing as pissed off as I internally felt was Casey’s.

“Drop it Rachael,” Casey warned only for this unwanted annoyance to merely ignore her admonition, those reddened blistering lips smirking as those livid emerald eyes remained focused solely on me.

“Black Barbie, I don’t believe I was talking to you,” she ridiculed her sight glued to my own even as she insulted another.

Casey’s jaw clenched before she spoke, “I know you weren’t because if you had been you’d be picking your teeth up off the ground, like you just might be in a second.”

Rachael snorted unconcerned while twisting towards the other girl, “all I’m saying is that she has to be on some kind of meds, and since she didn’t put in on buying the liquor the least she could do is contribute to the party.”

Rolling her eyes in disgust, “Rach you’re an ass, and Anna’s not even drinking.”

Dismissing Casey all together Rachael turned back to me, “hey, we’re all friends here. What’s the problem with a little sharing?”

My gaze remained fixed with menacing emerald orbs even as another girl came running up to us with the missing pizza money. Casey cautiously stepped between us while easily dismissing Rachael in the process. She held out the cash to me, “why don’t you take this up to Abby? She’s probably going crazy upstairs looking for it.”

Finally releasing my livid trance off Rachael I grabbed the money before making my way up the stairs while internally still trying to hold back my unleashed fury. Easing my way up the steps distant strums of conversations floated back up towards me while managing to do nothing to squash my inner rage.

“Is it too hard for you to be nice for one night?” Casey fumed, her irritation barely contained.

“I shouldn’t have to be. Why should I have to walk on egg shells just because Abby suddenly decided to play saint and invite the fucking Looney tune to the party?”

“Man, you are ridiculous!”

“Whatever, I’m just being honest. You and Abby try and play Girl Scout while I tell it like it is. I don’t care how much you two like to pretend, but you try bringing THAT into your house and see what your parents say.”

Rachael’s words harshly said were the exact fear I always secretly nursed inside. Would there never be a way to break away from my past? Even if by some small miracle I could escape the inexorable dark forces always intent to ruin every piece of happiness I captured, would I always be tainted by what happened that night?

“It’s Abby’s birthday-,” Casey exclaimed tiredly.

“Which is the only reason we’re dealing with her at all.”

Closing the door to Andrea’s forewarnings come true I numbly entered the dimness of the kitchen. The house seemed eerily quiet up here without the noise of the girls or the television. It felt as if up away from the cruelty of harsh words laid a cocoon; a shelter of warmth protecting me from the world’s coldness. The moon cast stray beams of light in from the windows, the backyard throwing shadows of trees along the hardwood floorboards. My eyes traveled the cheery yellow walls. Drifted pass the paintings and drawings taped to the refrigerator door. Traveled pass the word family stenciled in black just above a framed print of a joyous bunch so unlike the dysfunctional parents that bore me and Andrea. My feet as if with a will of their own silently moved closer gazing upon it with a slight tilt to my lips while wandering fingers swept over the image of a laughing Gabe, the coldness of the glass freezing my fingertips. Envy was like a burning consuming sensation as I gazed at such an uncomplicated display of love until my lenses halted at the sight of the handsome beaming man with his arm thrown over a younger Gabriel’s shoulders.

And slowly that envious grin slipped from my lips as I realized… maybe I wasn’t the only one fate had been unkind to.

Hearing a surprising noise from above; I froze, my eyes looking upwards towards the unexpected sound, “Abby?”

I listened but found nothing but silence in response to my words, the floorboards protested under the weight of my sneakers as I moved towards the back stairway.

“Abby, Casey sent me up to give-,” my fingers were abruptly wretched from the start of the railing as a rough palm claimed my mouth jerking me harshly back towards my unwanted captor. Shock seized my limbs as my eyes widened in horror as an inescapable grip drug my unyielding form into the darkness of the walk-in pantry.

My first thought was of red soulless eyes trying to force me into a docile tormented existence, a mental image so horrid it at last gave me the much needed strength to hastily force my elbow into my assailant’s stomach. My body was instantly released as I listened to this unknown fiend double over in pain. Spinning around in the dim lighting my vision caught sight of a cord dangling between us before I yanked it harshly, preferring to see the eyes of the person I’d be forced to kill. Illumination almost blinded me as in the midst of countless shelves of food stood Abby furiously glaring back at me. I barely had a chance to react before a noise erupting from above caused terrified limbs to scurry with a speed I would never have associated with her as Abby quickly yanked the cord once more, eclipsing us back into darkness.

“Abby, what the hell is going on?”

“Shh,” she said quickly, her hands swiftly covering my mouth again until the noises over us finally went back into silence. My eyes adjusted to the dimness once more until I could just make out the real terror etched into her pale features. “You have to be quiet.”

Her fingers gradually slipped from my lips while at last allowing me the freedom to whisper, “What are you talking about? Why are you hiding in the pantry?”

Tears filled her once carefree eyes as her lips trembled, “there’s someone in the house, and from the sounds of the footsteps upstairs it’s not just one intruder.”

My mind instantly went back to Andrea’s words of warning. “I have a bad feeling about tonight.”

“We- well, maybe it’s just Gabe,” I suggested while wondering who the hell I was trying to convince with this obvious lie; her or me.

“It’s not my brother. He has a key, and there’s glass all over the floor near the back door,” with every word spoken Abby’s body began to shudder more until tears bounded down cheeks tumbling down a quivering chin. “No, they broke in.”

Quietness fell over us as we both looked up towards the second level as if somehow we could suddenly see pass wood, as if we could glimpse the evil that had entered uninvited. Jumping in unison as the sounds of things being thrown about ensued; glass breaking, loud voices murmuring through the walls as a slow devouring guilt began to besiege my soul.

Oh god, had I really lead them here? Were these mere thieves or something much worse? More importantly, how was I going to get them out of this house while keeping these girls safe and unknowing of what evil really lied in wait within the shadows?

I turned back to a now almost hysterical Abby, “Abby, look at me,” I demanded while waiting until her brown eyes focused in on my own. “Now, I need you to think. Where’s the phone? Did you call the police?”

Her silken brown hair swung out as she shook her head vigorously in denial, “I came upstairs and saw the broken glass, but before I could do anything I heard one of them coming this way so I hid in here.”

Frustrated that I was once again alone to deal with evil lurking I snapped, “And what was your plan? Let them eventually find us, find you?”

Tears tumbled down her face ceaselessly, “there was no plan, Anna. I was scared. You don’t exactly plan for things like this to happen!”

My arms rose quickly in a gesture of surrender, “Okay, okay I’m sorry. Calm down.”

“Calm, calm?” she exclaimed in hushed whispers. “You haven’t been hiding in a cupboard for the last ten to fifteen minutes.”

I closed my eyes tiredly, while secretly trying to communicate desperately with her brother or my sister before despondency crept upon me when the only response I received yet again was silence. “No, I’ve been living clueless downstairs.”

I soundlessly began to pace back in forth along our small confinement, my brain going into overdrive trying to think of a way to separate us so that I could quickly rid this house of its unwanted trespassers. Turning back towards her panicked form I reasoned gently, “Look, you tell me where the phone is, and I’ll go get it.”

Urgent arms surrounded my stunned figure as if intent to keep me at her side, “no, you can’t go! Besides you don’t even know your way around my house. They’ll catch you before you can find it.”

I disengaged from within her crushing hold pointing to the closed entrance, “well considering there’s no lock on this door I’d say the possibility of them finding us in inevitable.”

“But”, she stuttered as I saw that desperate hope suddenly overwhelm the sadness drowning in her gaze, “but what if they take whatever it is they came for and then they just leave?”

And what if that something that they yearned to find was me…

My thoughts instantly vaulted back to the numerous demons I had faced over the seemingly endless months knowing of how skilled they were, of how relentless they could be, of how blood thirsty. Of how they would easily slaughter whoever stood in their way. Some so malevolent in their nature would kill if only for the taste of terror on their tongue, or simply for the pleasure of adding to the collection of one more soul to their ever growing list. Lately, as if realizing the error in sending mere minions the skill level of the underground’s hired captors had advanced, and depending on just how many resided upstairs hunting for my existence I feared that not even I would be able to stop them.

Determined to convince her I countered, “And what if one of your friends sees that we’re taking too long, and naively comes up the stairs?”

Even in the dark I could see her indecision and I quickly pounced on it, “Abby, we can’t just stay in here.”

Sighing shakily, I watched as she squared her shoulders before bravely suggesting, “Okay, I’ll go and you stay.”

Groaning inwardly at my plan gone astray I quickly improvised, “no, I should-.”

“You’re only here because of me inviting you.”

Yeah, and they’re only here to capture and enslave me.

“Look Abby, you should stay here,” I ordered before I held a hand up to halt her protests. “If one of your friends comes upstairs you can lead them safely inside. They’d never believe me. They already think I’m unhinged, that I’m off my meds, but you could get them inside quietly like you did for me.”

I watched her tears continue in its progression to tumble towards the ground knowing she unjustly blamed herself while secretly I was relieved at the sight of them, for it meant defeat for her argument.

“Abby, all you have to do is tell me where the phone is.”

“It’s upstairs in my mom’s room. On her bedside table.” Our eyes strayed back up towards the never-ending clamor knowing what stood in the way of my search before her frightened eyes frantically fell back to mine, “this is crazy. The phone in the kitchen is dead, and my cell is downstairs in the basement.”

She paused at my unresponsive form unknowing that I was too busy listening to the distant sounds of footsteps leaving the landing up above and slowly descending the front staircase.

“Anna, maybe we should just make a run for it towards the basement. It has to be safer to use my cell down there, plus we can escape from the side entrance.”

“Shh,” I whispered while vaguely listening to her plans for I was too focused on the foot steps stalking throughout the front entrance of this house, how they now lingered just outside the kitchen’s door. Calmly almost trance like I informed her, “We can’t do that.”

Almost panic-stricken at the idea of me not agreeing to her logical solution she raged, “and why the hell not!”

My fingers quickly clamped over her lips, her eyes widening at the speed I moved to quiet her before I whispered, “Because the basement is on the other side of the kitchen, because we’d never make it in time, because as we speak their lingering in the living room and one noise would instantly tell them our exact whereabouts.”

I took the pasty pallor of her skin as clue to her finally realizing the truth in my words as I allowed my fingers to fall back to my side before I continued, “I’ll sneak upstairs now that I know they’re not up there and find the phone. You stay here.”

Fingers dug unintentionally into my skin, her eyes anxious to find another solution, “shouldn’t we just wait? They might just leave.”

“And they might not, and I for one do not want to know what will happen if they find us,” I eased her fingers from my wrist knowing that her grip had loosened considerably not with agreement to my plans, but with defeat of finding no other way of convincing me not to.

“Stay here,” I insisted just before I eased the door open allowing only a slither of light to penetrate the darkness. I peered into the seemingly empty kitchen before I tiptoed my way out. Closing the door on Abby’s tearful expression I quickly maneuvered my path away from her hiding place hoping that should the worst possible outcome were to come to pass and they found me that they would not discover her. I soundlessly skulked up the stairs; one footstep for every fragile heart beat pounding inside my heaving chest as I paid close attention to the not too distant enough sounds of the living room being destroyed from below.

I paused at the start of the landing my eyes traveling over strewn chaos of treasured mementoes of everything that once infiltrated this family’s lives. Smashed photo frames of chubby babies and backyard cookouts, broken toys, glass figurines shattered, crumpled blankets covered the carpet while pillow stuffing shredded appeared over it all like fallen snow.

What I couldn’t seem to quite understand was if it was me they were after why were they bothering to make sure a mess? Why not search every room until they caught me? Why destroy everything these people loved?

This unnecessary pandemonium felt reckless for a higher level demon. They normally preferred to remain under the level of consciousness humans usually chose to ignore, not court attention without reason. And to stay in one spot so surrounded by human life that at any moment now the police could be alerted?

Was it possible Abby could’ve been right? That these were not acts of real evil, but just malicious feats of mere criminals?

All the rooms remained eerily alit as if within their small spaces lied the presence of its usual inhabits. I carefully stepped lightly against the spots that revealed floorboards while cautious to the placement of my feet so that I did not stumble, with the obvious knowledge that were I to fall it would instantly alert them to my location.

I eased my way down the hall with skill rather than speed while quickly my plan to decimate whoever was foolish enough to come into contact with my retribution altered drastically at the idea that these fiends could be nothing more than humans. Revealing your powers to the human race seemed to be a huge no-no on both sides. Demons seemed to only reveal their true nature right before taking that life, and if they bothered to be cautious with this rule I didn’t even want to imagine what the punishment was if you were found guilty of that particular crime.

Halting in front of the nearest closed door I placed a trembling palm against its cold surface only pausing slightly at the small creak the hinges made before peeking inside. Taking in the sight of nothing more than a toppled doll house, scattered toys, and shambles of hurled kid’s clothing allowed my heart beat to reduce to its normal pattern. I stood within its door frame, my ears as usual straining to hear the sounds from below. My brief moment of elation at finding this room bare of unwanted guests lasted only mere seconds for as soon as it emitted within me the realization that I’d have to continue my search altered my emotions to its former panicky enforced sense of apprehension. Sneaking further down the hall bypassing the obvious closet spilling of a disarray of coats I became alarmingly aware of the fact that I was perilously running out of precious time.

How long before they finished with the front of the house and moved on towards the kitchen, or god forbid the basement?

My distressing thoughts did nothing to ease the mounting guilt continuously piling upon my shoulders and I almost toppled in relief at the sight of the master bedroom. Squeezing through the break between the partly open double doors I stumbled over the piles of clothes scattered along the floor. Catching myself on the overturned mattress I gripped the headboard of the bed before launching myself over its surface. Frantic hands seized hold of the exterior of the bare wooden night table before hysterically searching around its cluttered surface desperately rummaging around for the phone. I dug through stacks of discarded papers, costume jewelry, books, bed sheets more anxious with each minute that passed until finally sticking out from under the edge of the bed I found what I had been hunting for.

My fingers shook as I dialed the numbers, my breathing labored even as I stood motionless. I think it took a while for my stunned brain to finally devastatingly register that there was no dial tone blaring into my ears. Frantic, I shoved objects from the ground uncaring of the noise I now made as I searched for the ending to the cord while foolishly hoping against all odds that the cord had just slipped from the jack during all the chaos.

Staring at the wall in pure disillusionment, a lone tear trickled down my face as I whispered, “you have got to be kidding me.”

The cord was plainly attached to the jack; it was just that the jack no longer remained attached to the wall. A huge hole lied where it used to reside, its sight killing every minuscule since of optimism I held inside. It decimated that irrationally naïve notation that I could end this easily without more blood on my hands.

Why was it that fate constantly seemed to screw me over!

With my eyes squeezed shut my fingers tore through my curls wishing I could rip them from the roots if it propelled me awake from this hellish existence I called life. Before at last I yanked my eyes open, pulled myself together and crept back the way I had came. I began to ease further towards the front staircase when the sound of movement forced me to duck behind the nearest door. With my eyes on the partially closed entrance I reversed away from it until my back actually slammed into the sink behind me. Their voices sounded so clear it was as if I was in the room with them. I twisted towards the noise almost jumping out of skin at the unforeseen sight of myself reflected in the mirror.

Only it wasn’t me I saw for red never truly consumed hazel when I controlled those lenses. My darker self motioned for me to remain quiet, as all sound around us lapsed into silence except the constant dribble of droplets falling from the sink’s spout. For breathless moments I waited dreadfully for whatever horrible thing would appear within the a-jar doorframe when at last noise resumed chaotically beneath us and in the room beyond this very wall as I finally allowed air to revisit my lungs.

“Why is it that I am always alone in these kinds of situations?” I hissed internally towards her slightly amused expression.

“Maybe because by now they figured you should be able to handle it,” she taunted in return.

“What the hell is a guardian for if they are never here to protect!”

Her grin grew as I spoke before she simply responded, “their job as guardians is not to fight your battles but to aid you in finding victory for yourself.”

I rolled my eyes in annoyance, “how very hallmark of you.”

“Fuck off,” she insulted before interrupting my reply. “You’re running out of time… unless of course you want to watch them all die. I personally wouldn’t mind watching the blood slowly seep from Rachael’s neck, but then again if I were in true control anymore I most likely would have done it myself.”

Ignoring her open display of bloodlust I asked, “What do I do?”

She smirked in her usual condescending fashion, “you already know…”

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion before they followed her line of sight towards the water dripping from the spout, my mind instantly recalling the incident with the water bottle in the basement. My eyes quickly rose back to meet hers only to find simply my pale reflection remaining in the glass. Porcelain connected with a distant wall, the sound of its shatter echoing throughout the halls forced me to hurry. I centered myself while focusing on the ability of forcing every cell in my face to become as light as possible before I moved towards the bare wall that separated me from them and literally allowed my head to disappear within its plaster. My nose was the first to emerge undetected along the bedroom wall, the stench of rotting flesh almost causing me to gag before I allowed the rest of my facial features to slither through as I finally took in the carnage that had become of Gabe’s room.

I watched silently as two men riffled through my guardian’s belongings, watched them break frames, throw clothes from the closet, and yet something was off about them. They appeared human and yet…

“I can smell her,” one hissed, his face finally twisting towards me. With every inhale of surrounding air he gathered into his lungs fury seemed to consume him until irises the color of emerald altered into its former glorious red. “I can sense her in this place and yet she seems cloaked to us.”

It wasn’t until he allowed me to glimpse of his authentic self that I saw clearly beneath the imitation, peered easily beneath the possession to his true darker essence. No longer did I witness measly humans but at last I became aware of their pasty skin; the flesh literally peeling off in some places, teeth decaying, lips beyond their natural hue, an angry crimson aurora around their hunched figures, and as always those hateful scarlet lenses.

Without warning the silent demon’s fist slammed into the other’s face propelling his decaying form into the nearby wall, a huge dent forming along the plaster. “You know of our orders! This is nothing more than a find and capture mission. We are not to harm any humans unless forced to! We make this appear to be nothing more than a home invasion while taking along with us the bounty over Anna Marie’s head. She is our objective. We return with her, or we might as well never return at all!”

I watched this propelled demon shake the white cloud of dust off his shoulder, small flicks of flesh falling off along with it before his eyes reverted back to its imitation green removing any physical appearance of decomposition within its modification. “I know, I know-,” he muttered bitterly.

“Then act like it. The council has chosen and he shall hold dominion over us all!”

Glaring at his cohort with sullenness etched into his features he retorted, “I know this already.”

“Then follow his simple instructions. We capture Anna Marie, and we bring her back to Rick willing or not!”

My shocked gasp was made known throughout the room. I froze waiting for the moment when they would discover me as they scanned the room meticulously only to faintly relax when they finally resumed talking.

“We need her alive to bear the next generation… after that what Rick chooses to do with her is his decision.”

My eyes widened at this news, the wall suddenly trickling with unnoticeable moisture as if it had a sprung a small leak.

Lust consumed the smaller man’s gaze, his grotesque tongue traveling over dry lips, “I’m hoping he lends her out.”

Shaking his head in the manner in which the wiser regards the young, “I’m hoping he doesn’t hear you say that, or his next orders might just be me mopping up what’s left of you up off his floor.”

Shaken I began to ease my way back towards the bathroom only for my hip to bump into the sink causing the toothbrush holder to collapse onto the tile floor. I silently cursed hoping to god they hadn’t heard it. Stilling once again, I waited anxiously for movement on the other side of the wall before I gathered up enough courage to ease my way back into my hiding place. My lids opened to peek from within Gabe’s paint covered walls before sighing in relief at the sight of the larger demon still trashing the room. Relief filled my chasm of fear until my sight scanned the area noticing the unanticipated missing enemy from within this room’s confinement. A frown settled on my lips just as a burning touch clutched my waist before physically launching my small form through the bathroom wall while causing me to crash hazardly onto Gabe’s cluttered floor. A cloud of dust settling around my battered figure.

“Didn’t Daddy ever teach you that it’s rude to eavesdrop?”

I raised my pounding skull, the taste of blood on my tongue dripping from my bruised nose as I glared up at his disgusting decomposing form climbing effortlessly through the debris. “I wouldn’t know. He was too busy teaching me to kick ass.”

My gaze landed on the shattered mirror before I quickly swept my hand out sending the sprays of shards of glass towards my opponent’s figure, watching in demented fascination as his screams littered the air as chunks wedged into the crevices of his skin. My figure became quickly unimportant as his attention became absorbed with building up the courage to remove the thick shard currently lodged into his eye. A surprising palm grabbed a generous hand full of my curls from behind me, yanking me up by the roots, my feet kicked uselessly up from the ground as he spewed into my ear, “now that wasn’t very nice.”

The incessant throb wrenched from my scalp was intensive but as the smaller fiend rose; glass removed from his enraged sight taking much of his orb along with it, blood pouring down his face I knew hair pulling was the least of my concern. Panting profoundly he progressed towards me with pure malice radiating off his form before the demon clutching my hair held out a palm to halt him. “This is not the time for revenge. Kill her and you know whom we’ll answer to.”

He grinned sinisterly, blood covering much of his flesh, “who said anything about killing?”

His brutal fist moved so fast it appeared no more than a blur as he quickly back handed my cheek, my pained gaze distorted while cherry colored droplets spurted from my lips. “Maybe she simply fell,” he continued as his fist plunged into the skin of my delicate stomach, the sound of my rib cracking was undeniable as I yelped out in agony. “Several times.”

Sounding slightly bored, the grip on my hair never lessening, “are you done?”

The minion abruptly released his malicious hold on me and I fell harshly onto bended knee before the other irate brute yanked my curls back so viciously that it brought tears to my eyes while managing to expose the naked skin of my neck. He gazed at smooth skin hungrily before taunting, “Do you even know how easy it would be to kill you right now?”

My dimples formed deeply into my blood splattered cheeks; the sight causing him to frown in confusion just as I felt the broken leg of Gabe’s chair vault its way into my waiting palm. “Not nearly as easy as it will be for me to kill you.”

Moving with a swiftness similar to his own I sent a rush of energy along my arm as I viciously impaled his neck, watching as the wood slid through his skin like butter as blood rained down upon me, drenching me as if I stood beneath hell’s version of a shower.

My lids closed at the feel of warm liquid covering every essence of my skin before the sound of movement alerted me to the fact that I was not alone. Red trimmed eyes opened; my palm ascended easily freezing my adversary before I rose onto firm feet. My hands emotionlessly slid the discarded body from my makeshift stake with ease as the deadened corpse fell woodenly to the ground; its inhibitor now a mere black phantom as Andrew once was quickly crept away sneaking back into cowardly shadows.

I slowly stalked towards my lone remaining prey slightly irritated that even when completely powerless he showed no fear.

He smirked humorlessly; the only thing his body had the ability to actually do before he mocked, “do you really think that you can escape the council’s decision?”

With an eerily calm voice, “my life is not for them to decide.”

“Then you are more foolish than I thought. Even if by some miracle you escape those who linger downstairs this world is jam-packed with demons that the underground was too overwhelmed to contain. So many for him to choose from who will happily do his biding. Do you really think that once we’re extinguished he will not send more to apprehend you?”

“Then… I guess this just turned into a full time job,” I answered plainly before with a hand tingling with seemingly limitless power I brutally jammed the scarlet covered wood into his cranium watching as blood splashed out along the floor before he too fell lethargically into his own puddle of spilled life force.

Forcing my darker power to retreat was as strenuous to unleash as it was to imprison, its touch setting fire to muscles beneath limbs as I rose on slightly shaken feet before heading to the stillness of the hall. My jeans thick with spilled blood felt heavy, my sneakers leaving scarlet colored footprints in my wake. My eyes reverted back to its usual shade of hazel because to restrain my power was to conserve whatever amount remained for even without the demon’s foretelling I knew soon I would need it. The landing was soundless as I crept towards the front staircase, one hand now cradling my injured ribs tenderly while the other gliding along the now blood lined walls, my footsteps noiseless. It was the grief-stricken cry for help that forced my feet into a panicked sprint towards the steps. Slipping down to my knees, in shadows I watched as six demons cloaked as mortal men carried a resisting Abby into the living room.

Tape smothered her screams, her long tresses sweeping the ground as she was forced to take my place as captive. I could see the panic distorting her features as she fought their unbreakable grip, could see the terror as tears ran unashamed down her chubby cheeks as they roughly positioned her body atop the living room table, her arms and legs cruelly pinned to the surface. Her futile struggles only became that much more desperate, their smoldering contact melting her bare skin, her unconcealed distress adding to their sadistic amusement. Abby’s whimpers of pure suffering tore at my heart as I strived to gather up enough energy to fight back. There were just too many of them. I didn’t know exactly what hidden skill I would come up against, and after killing the other two honestly I just felt drained.

Pathetically, I silently called out to my sister, “Drea, where are you?”

My unsteady palm covered my lips fearing I would soon join Abby in her screams as trickles of liquid fell from my lashes mixing within the thick coating of blood that still clung to my skin. And even as they ripped open the beginning of Abby’s blouse easily exposing white lace, even as she gazed up at the lusting eyes of so many, and the burns destroyed the surface of her skin Abby’s cries remained oddly muffled. Her shrieks no louder than a tormented whimper in fear of causing awareness of her friends below.

Ruthless hands began to wander her flailing body as I hastily allowed dark power to consume my internal organs; to lay siege to my broken heart. A ferocious ribbon of crimson quickly encircled hazel as black and white forces inside me intertwined until rising seemingly sedate I slowly made my way down each step.

“Now boys, I can’t see Rick sending so many of you to simply defile a small girl.”

The sound of my voice lured their ardent attention towards me as I had furtively intended, their bodies swiftly twisted to gaze upon someone so coveted within their world. Their eyes abundant with much more than mere sexual lust. There in the mist of so much odious tints of red lied that rigorous hunger for inaccessible power. Here I stood; the most desirable possession the underground could never seem to obtain and within this nightmarish throng’s incensed pupils laid an undeniable desire to feed.

One demon larger than the rest eyed me fanatically, “I’d say it’s more of a bonus.”

I observed him step absentmindedly away from a frightened Abby still pinned down by her captors, his movements slow as he advanced towards me. “You see, we finally

figured it out.”

A mocking brow rose over my livid features, “figured what out?”

His venomous grin appeared comparable more to that of a grimace than a smile. “That we were going about this completely wrong. Human life has little meaning to us. They,” he gestured back towards the birthday girl as if she was no better than an abused animal tethered to a pole, “only exist to pleasure us, to replenish us as sustenance, and entertain us with how easily they can be dispirited, ruined, broken.”

With each leisurely measured step it brought him closer to me, my attention glued to his moving form more than his warped speech.

“You see Anna; you my lovely on the other hand are only half of such brilliance. You are tainted with the frailty of morality.” He indicates my stained cheeks as if evidence to his demented point. “And so you weep pathetically for a lesser race unworthy of our sympathy. It weakens you.” With his eyes fixated on mine, without even bothering to glance back he callously signaled the others to help Abby rise from the table back to her feet, her shirt lying open in tattered strips at her sides.

Surrendering to my so called disadvantageous humanity my irises connected to Abby’s, her eyes so consumed with unshed grief that I helplessly screamed, “you let her go, and I swear to you I’ll go willingly!”

The manic cackle of hilarity that pierced the room sent arctic shivers down my spine for never had I heard a laugh so vacant of any real joy as he gazed candidly upon my panicked features. “That my dear is obvious in the way you suddenly came out of concealment. As I’ve said we realized the error in our ways. To capture the illustrious Anna Marie Cortez is not to rush in guns blazing, but to lure her out with live bait, and I’m afraid that now that we have you…” His malevolent grin departed from his lips so swiftly I began to wonder if was ever truly there. “We have no need for useless enticements.”

My brows furrowed in bewilderment, my head moving as if in slow motion back towards Abby as the wind kissed my cheeks, my curls swinging out around me as I twisted towards her. Brown horrified lenses widened, a tear slipping from her long dark lashes as the merciless claw of the nearest demon effortlessly sliced the air swiftly while callously ripping open Abby’s neck in the process. A steady cherry tinted torrent poured from the vicious gash as her body now unbound fell inertly to the floor.

They killed her.

They had murdered Abby.

In their indiscreet haste to obtain me I watched in a traumatized daze as they unsympathetically stepped on her limp form as if she was nothing more than trash littering the ground before fury smothered my disbelieved sorrow. Enraged, I quickly formed a ball of white fire within my palm before tossing it towards whoever stood closest. The flame filled sphere literally sunk through charred skin before latching itself to every organ, muscle, and tissue their body possessed. Beneath their skin glowed as if in some way unpredictably illuminated by sunlight just beneath the surface of decaying flesh before its surface quite frankly melted from the inside out, falling off bone to the puddle of blood at their feet. Over and over again my rage fed darkness empowering my need to incinerate one body after the next until bones and blood covered the carpet and all that remained standing was my stationary figure.

A noise, a small tapping of ones foot is what eventually knocked me from my vengeful trance. The surge of hatred seeped from within me like air deflates from a balloon as all my strength like I once feared evaporated along with it. I gripped the banister crushingly as I eased my sluggish limbs down the last two steps. I managed a few meager footfalls through the crimson soaked chaos before my legs gave out completely and I fell hard into the massive puddle of blood, scarlet covering much of my skin. Crawling pathetically the rest of the way I gazed heartbrokenly upon Abby’s pale form finally noticing that the tapping sound was her foot still kicking out beneath her. I pushed back her long silken hair now caked with blood, my helpless tears hitting her cheeks as my hands placed pressure upon her slashed throat.

Those tragic eyes met mine, liquid agony still leaking out the corner of her lashes as I whispered, “it’s going to be okay.”

My head shook in denial to the thoughts trying to force me to see reason; my brain’s obvious contradiction to my words. I just refused to watch another person die, but …there was just too much blood. I knew even if I could somehow figure out a way to gather enough strength to try and heal her it wouldn’t work.

It was already too late.

Those big brown eyes remained fixed with mine, that foot still kicking as I apologized for acting too late, for not listening to Andrea, for damning her by accepting her invitation in the first place. I’m sorry was the last thing I whispered as her body became immobile, her fluttering lashes stilled, and the forever unselfish Abby died still lying within my powerless arms.

……………………………………………………………………………………

(Oh my god this took forever! lol I know it’s kind of long but I wanted it to end at this moment in the story and not before it. This begins the ending… so only a few more chapters to go! I’m sorry it took me so long but I planned out the rest of my story and I knew I wanted Anna to have a normal teenage moment (it was actually supposed to be happier than it turned out) but then it sounded so dull to me. Even now I dislike it but I’m not going to attempt to fix it anymore or I might never upload lol. I don’t know. I guess I just like the fear and blood and gore more than the happy scenes lol but thank you obviously to whoever is still reading this! I am still determined to finish this story!

Thanks!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and as always….

Vote if you liked it….

Comment if you want…

Add to your library if you’re into the story…

But always come back for more…

Until next time…