Short Stories

Death in the Family

Claire struggled to breathe. Her chest had a large wooden spike through it. Dark was on the ground across from her, holding his leg and wincing as he tried to pull it out of the bear trap that Clarity had set for him. They both had very little time to live.

Dark coughed and looked at Clarity. "Well ain't that a bitch..."

Clarity groaned and pulled herself up to face him. "I've had worse. Y-You okay, kid?"

"No... my heads still bleeding from that last hit... and my leg."

Clarity smiled and coughed. "Looks like you got what we wanted in the end, huh? The last of your family line is dead... and so am I."

Dark laid his head back on the stump that he had burned during their fight. "You know... I don't even remember what color my mothers eyes were. I've never thought about it... only your deep red ones when we first met. And your new orange ones. Hmm..."

"What? What is it, Dark?"

"I think I'm... happy. I'm happy that it's ending... I didn't expect to be happy, you know? I doubt I'll go the same way my family went... I'll never see them again... and I'm sure that where I'm going they're never gonna let me rest for even a second, but... for now... in this moment... I'm happy that I can rest."

Clarity smiled and nodded. "Yeah... my family is safe... from both you and me... I'm happy too."

Clarity waited for a reply, but none came. Just the sound of a crow in the distance, and the wind as it slowly took her soul away, leaving her corpse there to freeze.