Of the Shadows

Chapter 11: Chris

It was bright outside; it had to be well past morning. Sleep clung to me like a fragile web that I'd haphazardly walked through. I shook the sticky silks of slumber from my frame and fought the blankets from around me. There was the loud knocking again, aggressive and sharp on the wood. I heard the door creak open, pulling tight against the latch.
"Would you shut that bloody knocking my daughter is trying to sleep!" Mum scream whispered at the uninvited guest.
"Yeah? Is my girlfriend in there with her?" It was fucking Chris and by the threatening tone of her voice, she was pissed.
"Who?" My mom asked.
"Who? Fuck off, you know who. Angie!"  Chris responded angrily.
"Considering I've never met you before I have no idea who your girlfriend is. So I would appreciate it if you slither away from my doorstep." I wondered why my mom hadn't slammed the door on her yet. If she wouldn't close the door, I would.
"Well ma'am she happens to be the useless whore your daughter is always hanging around." I darted from my bed met Chris's icy gaze with my fiery glare.
"Look who decided to wake up. Hope I didn't disturb your slumber, princess." Chris sneered breifly. She was steaming mad.  Her fists were balled her teeth were clenched making a muscle on her jaw pop out. She was taller than me, had broad shoulders, and sported spiky black hair with buzzed back and sides.  A lotus shape was etched into the buzzed part. If I had liked the person before me I wouldve complimented the cute style.
"Oh! You mean my Maura's Angie!" Mum cackled deviously, "I haven't seen her but I do hope she is fine. And if you're the ass hat that makes her cry I hope you die." My mum giggled and danced about in the foyer. The corners of my mouth curled into a smile as Chris's face grew red and she slammed her fist against the door.
"Where the fuck is she, Maura?" If I hadn't been consumed with rage I might have seen the hint of concern churning in her mind. If Angie were here, she would have revealed herself by now. Chris knew this. Greif and sheer hatred for Chris bubbled in my belly. Now was not the time for empathy. Chris took a deep breath and grasped the door. "I just want to know she's okay, Maura." Something in the swift and easy change of her tone angered me further. How quickly she steadied her voice and produced begging eyes. If I were naive it may have caught me off guard. I knew she was lying narcissistic trash though, and I wouldn't be swayed as Angie had so many times. In the next breath she proved my point. Mum's jubilant dancing continued and she muttered in a sing-songy voice "my, my I hope you die for dimming another's light.  Die, swine, die."
"You need to get your crazy ass momma under control." Her words were just what I needed to act recklessly. I shoved the door shut on her fingers, causing her to cry out in pain, then swung it wide. The force she used when she tried to pull her hand free from the door caused her to hurtle backwards. She didn't get a chance to get up before I was on her, wailing relentlessly on her face. My knuckles screamed but I kept going. She was hitting me back, hard, but I wouldn't budge.
"If you treated her like you should, if you were a better partner maybe you'd know where she was." I yelled to the beat of my punches. "I've been wanting to do this for a long time you abusive bitch." My fists were wet with her blood and my eye was starting to swell from one of her blows. Hellfire burned in my veins as I took out all of my heartache and chaos of the last week out on her. She tried to struggle from beneath me but I wouldn't allow it keeping my knees locked at her hips.
My mother scoffed wildly in the background.
"Please. Stop." Chris begged. I laughed and dipped my head too close to her. She caught my throat and held it tightly in her hands.  My temples throbbed at the interruption of bloodflow. I punched at her arms but I could no longer reach her face. I tried and failed to break her grasp. She bucked me off of her and was now on top of me. We threw dirt everywhere in out struggle dust swirled in the air. Black faded into the edges of my vision. I managed to get one of my legs loose from her hold and kicked her hard. That got her off of me. I gasped for air. She was about to launch herself at me again when her head whipped forcefully behind her and her neck broke in one crisp crack. I followed her dying gaze to my mother who was looking back, serious now, fingers fixed into the end of the snapping motion. 
I stared shocked at my mother. Chris's head hung awkwardly on her shattered vertebrae. After standing there a moment her corpse fell to the ground.
"I... I had it handled Mum. Th-thanks..." my heart grew heavy. No one deserved an early death. There was too much death lately. I hung my head and rested, catching my breath as I rested on my knees.
"So what the hell do we do now? You killed her." I couldn't process it completely, adrenaline still flowing through my capillaries.
"Well first, you're going to stop sniveling over someone the world is better without. Then you're gonna help me bring her to the woods." Mum answered. I hadn't expected her to actually answer.
"Why the woods?" I asked.
"Why? So the little people can have her of course! The skinwalker is not gonna take her now that she's dead... he's- they're picky... prefer the meat alive."