Selcouth

I paced around the room, looking at the door. “We’re screwed. How the hell did I not figure it out sooner?” I looked at Roman.

He was sitting down, looking at the floor. “I wish someone would give me some clothes, you know? And let me shower to get this blood off me.” He looked at his red-stained skin.

I leaned against the door. “I can’t even imagine it. Kara must have been so shocked when I turned up found on the news. She knew I was her missing sister. She became my friend and all this time, she was my sister. She was angry with me over something I could never control.”

“It’s nice that the boys can breathe but it’s still pretty awkward being naked and all,” Roman said.

I looked at him. “What are you talking about?” I crossed my arms.

He looked up at me. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about my sister that I apparently have who’s trying to kill you.”

“And I’m talking about the fact that I need a shower and clothes.” He gestured to himself.

I walked over to him, sitting next to him. “What are we going to do? We have to do something. I... I don’t want to do it but I have to. I have to kill her to save us. Kara has gone bonkers.”

He asked, “And how do you suppose you will kill her?”

“I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll figure it out though. I have to. I’ll figure it out because we deserve to be happy. She doesn’t. I haven’t tried to hurt people just because I had some hard times in my childhood. She has.” I put my head on his shoulder. “We need to find a way out of here.”

“What’s your plan?”

“I’m not quite sure. I need to use the fact that Kara is my sister to my advantage. I have to play the player. I’m going to make her trust me like she made me trust her, then I will crush her heart. I mean that literally. She tried to crush yours.” I nodded a lot.

The door flew open as those two men walked inside. Their faces were burnt as well, and some other areas of their bodies. They walked towards us.

The stalker grabbed my arm, pulling me up. “Kara wants to see you.”

“Tell her I don’t need her to be my big sister anymore.” I snickered.

The other guy grabbed my other arm and they led me to my sister.

They closed the door behind me, leaving the two of us alone. Kara’s back was facing me. This room was similar to the other one. It only had a chair and a table. The rest of it was made of concrete.

I leaned against the door. “You didn’t have to come to get me, you know. You didn’t have to be my friend. When you saw the news, you could’ve kept to your own life. I never would have known.”

She turned around, glaring at me. Her skin on the right side of her face was burnt flesh. “Where’s the fun in that?”

“For starters, you wouldn’t have had to give up your flawless face.” I gestured to her.

She walked around the table, charging at me. She wrapped her hand around my neck. “You make me so sick.”

I smiled at her, grabbing her wrist and burning it again. She screamed and stepped back after letting go of me. “You’re going to pay for everything.”

“Am I? It’s you who’s screwing up. You’re using your experience as an excuse to hurt others. You are the one who’s going to pay. Karma can be a real bitch.”

I opened the door behind me, leaving. She followed me. “Stop.”

“And what? Let you kill the man I love? What kind of girlfriend would I be then?” I looked at her.

She smirked as the two men grabbed my arms. “You have no choice.”

I looked at the two men holding me. “You two are so pathetic to be taking orders from this woman. You could’ve had so much more.”

“This is what we want.” The stalker tightened his fingers around my arm.

I squinted at him. “Oh, you poor man. You have to hurt a woman smaller than you to feel more like a man.”

“Keep your mouth shut.”

“And what? Let you kill us?” I lifted my eyebrow.

He gritted his teeth, holding a huge amount of hatred.

“Hey, Chris, stop that before I make you pay, too,” my sister threatened him.

I smiled a bit. My hands tingled and I closed my eyes, painting a great picture in my mind.

Tears were streaming down his cheeks, putting the large man to shame.

“What is happening?” Chris yelled.

I opened my eyes to see what he was whining about now. I looked at his face, seeing the same image in my head come to life. I began laughing, unable to control myself. “You’re crying!”

The other man started to point and laugh at Chris. I smirked to myself, picturing this guy doing the same exact thing. His eyes were puffy and red and he could not stop.

“What the hell is wrong with you two?” Kara screamed at them.

“We don’t know!” Their grip on my arms was gone as I walked to my sister.

“I guess I found a new power.” I smiled big. “It’s a good one. Two grown men crying like babies and they can’t stop. They’re not such tough guys after all.”

Chris grabbed the wall, wiping his eyes. He looked at me, wanting to kill me immediately. “You stupid cunt.”

I tried to picture the image again, but I couldn’t get him to cry.

“Looks like your new gift has already worn out its welcome,” Kara whispered in my ear.

“That’s all we needed to do this!” a male voice yelled. A large horse came running, stopping to use his back legs to kick Chris in the chest.

A little chameleon climbed up to my shoulder. “Hola, Rapunzel. I could never let you get hurt. It took me a while to find the horse but he finally listened to me.”

Bors pushed himself up on his back legs, neighing. He used his front hooves to kick the other man in the face. “That is how it’s done.”

Kara looked at the animals. “How the hell?”

I looked over at her, crossing my arms. I shook my head. “I guess I forgot to tell you I can make animals talk. These are my friends, Bors and Esclados. Animals care about humans. It’s something you should try.”

I twisted my hand, forming the ball of light. It hovered over Chris’ body and I lowered it to his skin. “This is for everyone you have hurt and will hurt in the future.” I brought the ball down on his body, letting it burn through his chest. He screamed out in agony, trying to get away. It was mere seconds later when the light burned his heart right up.

I repeated this same process on the other man, watching him burn up until he was no longer moving.

I looked at Kara. “I told you that you would be the one to pay the price.”

Her eyes were the size of small candle lips.

“We could’ve had something, Kara. We could’ve had a real bond. You gave it up for this life. You chose this fate. We can’t always choose our fate but your actions have consequences.” I walked over to her. “It wasn’t nice knowing you, big sister.”

I wrapped my hand around her throat, using the light to burn through her skin. She choked and tried to scream for help but they were silenced by the severed skin and vocals. Her head fell back, letting go of her body. The head rolled onto the floor and her body collapsed to the ground. The blood spilled from her body like milk being poured from a milk jug.

I looked at my hand and shook my head. “Sometimes you have to kill people to save yourself. And I have a right to defend my life and the lives of those I love.” I looked up at Bors and Esclados.

I walked to the room where Roman was. I opened the door and he stood up quickly. “What happened out there?”

I showed him my bloody hand. “Justified murder happened.”

Bors peeked in, looking away immediately. “Put some pants on! I don’t know what Rapunzel sees in you.”

I laughed a bit, shaking my head.

“Well, horsey, did you bring me some pants?” Roman asked firmly while crossing his arms.

Bors mumbled, “No.”

Roman scoffed. “Then I can’t put some damn pants on.”

I cleared my throat. “Hey, both of you, shut up. We need to leave before they find the bodies. Nobody knows who my family is. They’ll never be able to trace this back to us. Let’s go.”

Escaldos spoke, “I agree with that one. Let’s leave the crime scene like smart killers.”

I went over to one of the men, pulling his pants off. I threw the pants at Roman. “Put these on.”

“Thank you.” He pulled them on, buckling the belt.

The four of us left the place, stopping just outside. “Where the hell are we?” I asked.

Bors looked at us. “It’s a long walk from here. We’re far from New York City.”

I shivered, nodding my head.

Roman grabbed my hand. “Hey, it’s going to be okay now.”

“I don’t believe that,” I whispered. My cheeks were beginning to get soaked by the liquid in my eyes.

Roman grabbed my face, making me look at him. “Why’s that?”

“They’re all dead. My entire family is dead. I’ll never know what my last name is. I’ll never know my parents or where I really came from. My parents killed themselves.” I covered my mouth. The sobs became unstoppable.

Roman pulled me into his chest. “It’s not fair. You deserve so much more than this.”

“Why do bad things happen to good people?”

Roman kept his hold on me. “Because this world is fucked up. Evil exists and humanity pays the price. Everyone pays the price for humanity’s mistakes. It is a tragic world we live in.”

“It didn’t hurt this much when I was Mother’s prisoner. I didn’t hurt this much.” I sobbed harder into his chest.

“I know. I’m sure your parents loved you very much. They probably lost all hope when they lost you to do what they did. They never thought you’d be alive after all these years.”

“Will I ever see them again?” I looked up at him.

Roman’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as a single tear rolled from his eye. “I... I don’t know. I wish I could answer. I hope you do get to see them again.”

“I have to have the hope that I will. Otherwise, what is even the point of living?”

“Love. Hope. Faith. These are things that keep us going. I know it’s hard in times like this. It was only a matter of time before you saw the truth of humanity. I will be here every step of the way,” he promised.

I didn’t know how to handle this. I had never dealt with so much grief. I lost a family before I even had them. They died before I did and I was the one who had gotten kidnapped. How did that make sense? I wanted to see them. I wanted us to be happy. I wanted to have a family.

I didn’t know how else to deal with this grief. It was hard to have hope when everyone I had hope of meeting was gone. My parents killed themselves because of me. I had to live with that for the rest of my life.

I buried my head in his body again, refusing to show my face. I couldn’t face the world right now. It wasn’t wonderful. It wasn’t marvelous. It wasn’t strange. The world was cold. I was just another victim living within it.