Her smile doesn't even worry her. She's been waiting so long for this day and it was finally here. She wouldn't let anything bring her down. She has to stop a laugh from escaping her throat, not wanting Cale to think she's a psychopath. But what if she is? She doesn't even care. She's free at last.

''Zenna!'' her brother yells from ten feet away, his eyes wide with alarm, ''We have to go! We have to go right now," he screams, his voice turning raw with effort. She turn to him then, her expression fading when she see his and just as suddenly, a sinking feeling grows in her chest. Mother was right, she thinks, like a woodpecker picking at her brain, taking away what made her strong and leaving her with nothing but numbness. I am foolish. I will never be free.

Her expression hardens and Cale runs towards her until he's up in her face and he's shaking her and shaking her and shaking—"No!" she cries before clamping a hand on her mouth, her grey eyes widening. "I mean—Cale.." she tries to recompose herself but he's shaking his head in confusion, his hands leaving her shoulders and tangling in his hair which is already coated in ashes from the fire.

"No?" he repeats, staring at me in disbelief. "Your sister is in there—and, and what? You're just gonna watch?"

"That's not what I meant!" Is she trying to convince him or herself? Foolish, foolish, foolish.

"Forget it, Zenna. You're hopeless," he sighs and runs through the fire, going towards the village where their house lies. Cale's never been disappointed in her before, never like this. This is wrong. She hears another scream coming from somewhere, louder and more piercing than anything she's ever heard.

It isn't until it stops and her throat aches that she realizes she was the one screaming. She drops to her knees, her head falling into her hands.

"Miss?" an unfamiliar voice calls, getting louder as it approaches. "Miss! Are you all right?"

She lifts her head, her eyes shining as they meet that of a young man, probably around the age of her brother. Her brother—

"No," she shakes her head violently, getting to her feet in a rush and darting towards the fire as her brother had. The boy stops her, clutching onto her arm and pulling her back to face him.

"Miss, I can't let you go in there," he says forcefully, his grip tightening.

Zenna's eyes fill with tears, her entire being shaking with something she's never known before. "I have to!" she sobs, "Let me go!" she rips her arm away, three long cuts forming from the boy's nails, she assumes. She grunts in frustration and rips a shred from her filthy skirt, using it as a bandage to cover her wounds before she rushes towards the villages, succeeding this time as the boy just stares after her, unsure how to react.

The second she steps through the wall of fire, a burning sensation fills her. Sweat beads her forehead and the lack of oxygen hits her like a truck, her chest tightening in response. "Cale," she croaks out, trudging through the burning stands, trying her best to avoid the flames. She squints through the fog trying to catch sight of their house, which was most likely where her brother had gone and where she would find him again. She had to find him. He was right; they have to save Kattie.

"Cale!" she tries again, going faster and faster with every step. "Kattie!"

Water drips down her face, her tears mingling with her sweat. She's absolutely terrified. Fear is weakness, she reminds herself. After this, she would never let herself be afraid again.

She finally comes up to an old rusty house with bricks and cement falling around her feet and sparks flying everywhere. The entire house is in flames. The entire house is in flames. She swears under her breath, not bothering to care about being ladylike in that moment. She opens the door and it comes off its hinges completely so she flings it to the ground behind her uselessly. She steps into her wreck of a home and the walls all come undone around her. She nearly falls to the ground, her hands covering her head to shield her from the impact. She coughs up dust and yells at the top of her lungs, "CALE! KATTIE! ARE YOU IN HERE?" There's a rustling in the background and she hears someone call her name, however faintly. Zenna runs towards the stairs, taking them two at a time until she reaches the room she shares with Kattie. Cale is there, using their old fire extinguisher to try getting rid of the menace, but the damage is already done. Kattie, her little sister, the only good one in their family, lies on the ground at the foot of her bed, her head propped up on a pillow.

Kattie's round eyes flutter open and they find Zenna's, emotion pouring out of them. Zenna could feel more tears wetting her cheeks. She chokes, collapsing to her knees next to her sister. She takes her sister's hands in her own, rubbing her thumbs over the rough, charred flesh.

"Zenna," Kattie squeaks out, her voice tiny and broken. "Where are Mama and Papa? Are they going to be okay?"

Zenna doesn't know the answer. She sees her sister slowly fading in and out of consciousness and her heart lurches. "Yes, they're fine," she lies, brushing her fingers through Kattie's disheveled hair. "We're all going to be fine. You're going to go to school tomorrow and see all your friends and everything's going to be okay. I promise." The words rush out of her so fast and she wishes she could believe them because she couldn't live without her sister even if she would be free at last.

"Good." Kattie coughs, blood tinting her lips. She whimpers, tearing her hands out of Zenna's to wrap them around her stomach. Cale stops what he's doing and turns to them worriedly but Kattie brushes him off, pulling Zenna closer, bringing her lips to her ear. "You've always been my favourite," she whispers before sending Zenna sliding into a pile of debris. Confusion crosses her features until she realizes that the dagger she hid in the waistband of her skirt has gone missing. She swears again when understanding floods over her like a cold wave in a frozen wasteland. "Cale!" she blurts out and her brother whirls completely, noticing what she was seeing. He lunges forward, trying to grab her before it's too late.

But it was already too late.

Kattie has the hilt in her hand, the dagger pierced straight through her heart. Her blood tinted lips hung open and her blue eyes were cold and dead.

A perfect kill.

--
Authors note

Wooh. How bout that ending though. Sorry if this chapter is confusing to you, things got pretty intense when I was writing.. Anyway! Hope you enjoyeddddd, let me know what you thought? :)) -Dalia