The sister in the dark

Chapter 19

I wake up screaming. Nightmares of Hamika plagued my sleep, and somehow I know they shall never go. I have seen someone die, been half the cause of it, and I can never forget that.

Hirah is still sleeping, so I decide to make myself helpful by gathering food. We aren't having the luxury school breakfast, after all.

I remember the days when Rose and I would go looking for nuts and edible plants in the forest. Maybe there could be some around here? Within 5 minutes, I have found enough sweet chestnuts, hawthorn leaves and wild garlic to feed both of us, plus an egg from a bird's nest.

By the time I get back to the grotto, Hirah is awake.

"What's that?" she asks, looking at the plants I'm carrying.

"Breakfast," I reply. At first she looks suspiciously at the leaves and nuts, but when I light a fire and cook them into a soup, using some leaves as bowls, she starts wolfing it down like a savage.

I smile to myself. Rose never liked the food I made. She preferred cake and biscuits.

I take a sip of the soup. It's not that bad, actually, considering that it's mostly made of wild garlic, sweet chestnuts, and a blackbird egg, all of which were barely cooked.

"What time is it?" asks Hirah.

I check my wristwatch. "Six am."

"Wow. I think I need more sleep - my conscience kept me awake all night." She says it so simply, but there is pain beneath the words.

We settle down, wrapped up in the blankets and I begin to drift off into sleep.

I'm standing in a clearing, Hirah by my side. Rose comes out of the bushes. I'm running to meet her, excited. Then I hear the familiar sound. A knife whizzing through the air and the thunk as it makes the wound. And the scream of my dying sister.

I charge at Hirah, yelling, but she ignorantly keeps on throwing.

My mother.

Milly.

My stepfather.

Hamika.

Baby Aderinola.

All falling to the ground, dead. Soon I'm standing in a pile of the bodies of everyone I've ever cared about. The bodies of the people that cared about me.

I wake up, sweaty and terrified. Hirah is fast asleep and there are no bodies in my vicinity. Phew. It must have been another nightmare. Though, when I think about it, it doesn't seem any better.

Leaning over, I nudge Hirah awake. According to my watch, It's 8:30. We should get going, find Rose and finally have our lives come back to normal.

Together, we walk through the forest, discussing our nightmares and the voices of our consciences. Mine is still talking to me quietly, an incessant voice that just won't shut up, no matter how hard I try to block it out. I can tell that Hirah has the same problem as me, but probably worse, because she is muttering things like, 'Shut up' 'Be quiet' and 'Why are you still talking?'

We journey through the woods, trying to clear our minds with the calls of winter birds filling the morning air.

Before I know it, I'm standing outside the Saxon Deities. Taped to one of the statues is an envelope, addressed to me. Inside is a short poem in my sister's handwriting:

Rivers of blood;

Death is now nigh;

Her spirit above;

Her ghost in my mind.

The shadow of a twin,

The cry of a lark,

The cold glint of steel,

The sister in the dark.

No clue at all, so I pocket the slip of paper and we continue our search for the tunnel. In roughly five minutes we find it, hearts beating hard for the hope that it is the right one.

Half an hour of trudging takes us to a large, dark room. Before pushing the door open, I hope to myself that all this searching was worth something, and step inside.

No one is there. I call out my sister's name, hoping she is just hiding in the shadows, but my voice just echoes back through the empty room.

It's obvious now.

Rose isn't here.