Dead Life: The Cure To My Madness

I Blew Tio To Kingdom Come, Sorry Mama

They stop at nothing to kill the person. The words felt like a slap in the face. Actually, I'd prefer the slap. I turned around so Matías wouldn't see the looks of fear, then sadness, then resignation. I was going to be killed by my favorite relative, to whom I had broken a promise. It sounded fair enough to me. Turning back around, I put on a brave face. "I won't let that happen. You won't lose me. I swear it, Matías," I lied. In truth, I was glad to be handed this death sentence. After all, I felt like all of this chaos was my fault, even if it wasn't. Matías nodded; he was too easy to lie to. "Okay." He smiled at me, adding to my mountain of guilt.

My brain started trying to work out what was going on. Even when in the midst of panic, I've always been like this. I start out deadly afraid, then go to deadly calm. I can almost always pick out the best course of action. "Mattie. Do you see that ledge right there? I need you to go get on it. Now." He looked around, then pointed. "That one, over the fireplace?" Nodding, I sighed. If he could do it, he might just be safe. No, not if he could do it, when he did it. Yeah. He'll be able to do it, he's a climber. He turned to start running when we heard a shout.

"Matías! Itari! Look out! There's-" Our mamá's sentence was cut short by a strangled scream. We quickly turned around to see Tío freeing his feet. Oh gods. We're screwed. Amazing thought process, I know. We all have our moments, okay? Behind him, though, was a scene almost too crazy for my brain to process. José looked like Tío Zayne,and he was running around chasing someone. A few other relatives from my papá's side had blood surrounding their lips. Wait- blood? What the junk?! "Mamá!" Matías screamed. She was cornered by one of them, and papá was nowhere to be found in all the chaos.

I pushed Matías. "Go! Get on the ledge!" I commanded, already running to my mamá. She was not going to be hurt. Not if I could help it. Tío roared and I heard him start chasing me, which only motivated me to speed up. Putting all of my energy into running, I didn't look back before I tackled the thing that had cornered my mom, didn't look back at the chaos that was filling me with so much fear. My arms tightened around the thing's neck and I squeezed as hard as I could, until it stopped thrashing. Mamá looked behind me. "Itari, look out!" She screamed. I was too slow to move, and I think she knew that, because the next thing I knew I was on the floor and my mamá was screaming in pain. Tío Zayne bit her. "MAMÁ! NO!" Fueled by a newfound rage, I stood. My mother's body crumpled at his feet. I could tell she wasn't breathing, and her head was at a weird angle. Dead. My beloved mamá was dead. I looked into my tío's cold, dead eyes. "You're dead. You hear me? No one hurts my mamá. No one." My tío-no, not my tío. My tío was dead. This was a monster. The monster looked at me, its face blank. I could only think one thing: Kill it.

So I decided I would. It was going to die. I turned and started to run to get to one of the open windows. Oh my lord, I'm so stupid. I should've made Matías run out of a window. No, he wouldn't have made it. The monster roared as I dove out the window and ran to a car. Please say papá left the door unlocked, I thought. Even if he didn't, I still had time to break a window or something, it's not like he can run through wall- oh. Wow. Nevermind. Of course he can break the wall by running into it. It makes so much sense. I reached the car right in time, and thank my lucky stars, papá forgot to lock it and left the keys in the seat. As fast as I could, I opened the door then slammed it shut, making sure to lock it. Sure, it might be a useless thing to do against something that can break through a wall, but it should buy me time while he figures it out.

Wait a second. There's a big hole in the wall. The room looks like a horror movie. I have a car that I know how to drive. Wall hole. Horror scene. Car. Drive. "Thank you to whatever or whoever is watching over me." I put the keys in and slammed my foot on the pedal, with as much force as I could. As the car shot forward I passed my once-uncle. His foggy eyes watched as I sped by, full of rage. I smiled at him. Sorry, you aren't getting anyone else. "Everyone, move!" I screamed out the slightly cracked open window as I honked the horn.

Wow. Never before have I seen so many looks of terror aimed at me. If I was a good driver, I might have been offended. Still, everyone got the message and scrambled to get out of my way. Well, everyone except for the monsters, whom I slammed into with the car until I hit a wall (because you can not turn around inside). I whooped and got out of the car, looking at the monsters trapped between the front of the car and the wall. "Hahahahaha! Take that!" My relatives all stared at me wide eyed. Wait, no. Not me, something behind me. I turned around and let out a choked sob. Mamá was looking at me. I hadn't hit her, but she was stuck under the casket, which had fallen when I crashed the car. "M-mamá?"

My mamá let out a strangled growl. She was trying to free herself. I whimpered and felt a hand grab mine gently. At some point Matías had gotten down from the ledge and made his way to me. "You can't help her. She's gone," he said softly. You know that saying, the truth is rarely pure and never simple? This is an example. I've heard countless adults say the truth can set you free, but now, face-to-face with my undead mamá, I wasn't so sure. The truth of what was happening felt more like a dead weight attached to my ankle trying to drown me as I hopelessly tried to bring my head above water.

I heard my tío enter the room but didn't turn to look, instead making eye contact with one of his friends. My eyes must have told him what I was thinking, because he (shakily) took off the clip on his belt that held a sheathed knife and tossed it to me. I caught it swiftly, unsheathing the blade and clipping the sheath to my own pants in one swift motion. Only then did I turn around, tears streaming down my face. Except, they weren't because I was sad. No, I was crying because I was done. No one, no matter how much I loved them- or who they once were- hurt my family like this. What happened next is a blur of screams and blood. All I remember is screaming something (that I will never repeat) and slamming the blade into the side of my tío's head. Over and over and over again, until I couldn't anymore and I felt someone pulling me off him.

Everything was in chaos; some of the most level-headed people I knew were crying about not knowing what to do. Matías tugged on my arm gently. He was crying, which snapped me out of my daze. Matty never cried, even that time he accidentally stabbed his foot. (No, please don't ask.) I looked at him, trying not to cry. "I'm so sorry," I whispered, then pulled him into a hug. My brother pushed me away, shaking his head. "Matías?" 

His blue eyes locked with my sea-green eyes, both sets full of tears. "I'm sorry too." I grabbed his shoulders tightly, searching his face for an answer. Praying it wouldn't be the answer I was afraid of. But no. He slowly lifted his arm. It was barely a mark, but long black lines were already spreading. "No! No, you're going to be fine! I promise!" Tears poured down my cheeks as I spoke.

Matías shook his head. "No, I'm not. But you will."

"Matías I swear to God-"

"Te amo, hermana."

"NO!"

Without me noticing, he'd grabbed the knife from where I slid it in my pocket and stabbed himself in the heart.

Tanner and Arty had to drag me away. They took me to our lean-to in the woods.

I didn't move for 4 weeks.