The sister in the dark

Chapter 18

They circle in, like they did in Rose's diary, tie me to the bedpost and gag me. The flint knife is a millimetre away from my arm when the door bangs open again and in walks a very angry looking Hirah.

"What are you doing?" she demands.

Olivia and Emily spin around, trying to block me from Hirah's view.

"N-nothing," Emily stammers.

"That can hardly be true. I saw her come in here, and she hasn't left. Unless you threw her out of the window?"

"Well she isn't in here," snaps Olivia, "So clear off."

I think Hirah is considering leaving when I manage to spit the gag out of my mouth.

"Hirah!" I scream.

Olivia's face swells with rage. Emily lifts the knife to my throat.

In a split second, Hirah is between Olivia and Emily. She pulls at the rope that ties me to the bed and I am free.

"Run," Hirah whispers in my ear.

We dash out of the room, into the corridor and down the stairs. Then out across the path between the tennis courts, past the groups of boys crowding around the field and into the woods.

"Hirah," I pant, "I need to tell you something."

"What?"

"I found the next clue. On the roof. And it told me to open the envelope my father gave me before I left,"

"And...?"

"Inside were pages from Rose's diary. You should read them."

"I already have."

In my stunned silence, she continues.

"Rose gave me the envelope, told me to read it and to mail it to your father."

I hear footsteps through the bracken. I look at Hirah to warn her and she gives me a look back.

I point at the tree and make climbing motions. She nods and starts her shaky ascent, snapping branches and rustling the leaves loudly.

"Shhh," I whisper, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Hirah is still clumsy as ever. I sigh inwardly to myself. I was never that reckless at any stage in my life.

A boy walks into the clearing, a boy I know very well. A boy that loves me.

It's Hamika.

"Come out Evelyn! I know you're there!"

I don't have time to explain what he did, but I just whisper to Hirah: "He tried to kill me." As soon as I utter those words, I curse myself.

In a swift motion, she pulls a knife out of her pocket, and before I can tell her not to, she throws it.

The whistle of the air around the blade is the only sound for a couple of seconds. And then the clunk as it lodges itself into Hamika's head.

I watch, shocked, as the boy I had once loved falls backwards into a pool of blood, his own blood, the blood that would have been mine someday.

I leap down from the tree and run over to the dying boy.

"Oh Hamika..." I whisper.

"I love you Evelyn," he whispers back. Then he takes his last breath and lies limp on the forest floor. I would laugh at the dramatics if this isn't so terribly real.

I turn to Hirah and say, "I think we should bury him. As a last way of saying he was loved." Tears dripping from her eyes, Hirah nods.

We set to work in the dusk light, digging a grave for Milly's brother. At last, the hole is fully dug and we can say goodbye for the last time. As a last touch, I gently twist his fingers into a heart shape and pull the knife out of his head. Then Hirah and I say sorry for ending his life and walk away, both with empty holes where our stomachs should rest.

"Should we sleep in the woods tonight?" I ask. I don't feel safe, and because of what happened earlier I don't want to be in the same room as Olivia for longer than I have to.

"Sure," I get the feeling she doesn't want to be near my roommate and Emily either.

We walk for a bit longer and come across an abandoned grotto. Better than nothing, but still a bit cold. There are blankets inside and almost immediately fall asleep, readily awaiting the next day, when I will see Rose again.