The Dead Crime (Draft)

Chapter#21

Camille woke up thinking everything must have gone back to normal but it was still the same. Kevin passed them both a murderous grin at the breakfast table and they had an awkwardly silent start to a bloody day. Kevin picked an apple from the basket set in the middle of the table, rubbing his thumb across it making it shine.
He looked at Camille waiting for her to meet a glance with him, when she did he smirked,

"Would you bring me a knife from the kitchen."
Camille shuddered looking at him in horror trying to read the unpredictable expressions over his face. Kevin noticed that she hesitated when he asked her for the knife which at that time she thought was meant to shed blood and kill.
"I have to cut the apple." He gave the apple in his hands a shake to make it more visible in her view. Camille got up from the chair casting a glimpse on Emily who seemed to be doing great in controlling her face expressions although her hand was shaking as she lifted the spoon to eat the cereal in her bowl.
Camille scanned all the kitchen cabinets to find a small and blunt knife but there were only huge, sharp ones everywhere she looked. Would Kevin have done that on purpose or they always had huge knives at their home? Camille hadn't noticed that before but right now she wanted a safe knife to appear in front of her, even if there aren't any knives that are safe. But it seemed much safer than the razor sharp knives in the cabinets. After looking around a bit more, she took the one which seemed smallest among the others and handed it to Kevin. They both watched the blade sparkling in his hands while he cut the apple recklessly into pieces. He was humming a peaceful and pleasant melody that sounded scary if you hear it from a murderer cutting an apple with a big sharp knife. Shivers crawled across their spines as they shoved spoons full of cereal into their mouths to finish it quickly so they can run into their room and lock themselves. Camille was more desperate, she wasn't sure what her father was planning but she knew it wasn't something good. She wished she could rewind time back to where she followed Kevin to the forest to rescue Ethan's mother and would pull a disguise before hitting him with a rock and running away with Ella. But could Kevin have still found out it was her? At that time, Emily's weeping face kept popping in her mind, begging her to help her, to run away from the horror-stricken tiger's den. Have they been safe if she listened to her then?
Emily raised the bowl with both her hands sticking it to her lips and drank all the remaining milk in a gulping swallow. She banged it back on the table, letting out a breath and got up thinking she could outsmart Kevin's clever instincts. But she was wrong.
"Sit down, I'm cutting this for you." He said with a sweet voice as he peeled off the skin taking all the time he could possibly take.
"I'm good." Emily spoke, shoulders stiff and chest bulged out, hiding her fear with fake courage. Just then she walked around the table out of the kitchen and flinched with a gasp, startled by the knife with stroke the canvas on the wall a pinch away from her nose. She stepped back rapidly, hair rising all over her skin.
Kevin grinned cracking his fingers after a perfect throw,
"Oops, slipped from my hands." He shrugged and gave a mocking stare to Camille who was still processing the entire situation,
"Go and get it." He ordered her then moving his attention to Emily who was advancing towards her room with her shaky legs in panic. Her steps slowly became fast when she discovered Kevin walking towards her. He pulled her hair, she screamed trying to free herself but his grip was too strong for a skinny girl like her. She looked at Camille with hopelessness spilling through her teary eyes.
"Why are you running away, making me feel hurt." He hauled her to his chest giving her a back hug, his arms around her neck almost choking her. She shrieked scratching his arms to get them off her. Kevin pushed her towards the table violently making her sit on the chair. Her heart was thumbing fast and she kept sobbing.
"You like apples, that's why I cut them for you." He said close to her, his breath brushing across her ears. "You should eat them before dying." He completed compelling both the sisters to look at each other, Camille holding the knife she had just taken out of the canvas and Emily crying, her eyes and nose swollen red.
Kevin placed his eyes on Camille and directed, "Now kill her."
Camille wanted to unhear what her ears had just caught, she looked at her father, his expressions turning into frightening seriousness.
"Kill her, I said." His tone was becoming harsh. But Camille didn't move. It made Kevin angry and he went towards her grabbing a duct tape from the shelf. He clapsed her hands together with the knife in between and tied them together with three to four rounds of the tape across her hands. It happened too suddenly while she was still in a shock of what was happening wondering if it was just a nightmare or reality. She couldn't resist, she couldn't snatch her bounded hands from his grasp. She felt weak all of a sudden. He dragged her near to the kitchen table and said once again with a calm tone,
"Now do it, stab her. You were going to pay the price weren't you?"
It wasn't what she wanted, even if Kevin was going to kill Emily, she never expected her to be the killer. No matter how much she had hated Emily to the extent to want her dead, she never wanted to do it herself.
"It's not that hard, just do it. You'll know it's no big deal once you do it."
Emily hiccuped, throwing her hand over her mouth immediately to stop it. Camille stood still at her place, she wanted to do something, something to run out of here, but she couldn't think. Her mind had become blank, only thing she could do is to hope for someone to come and save them.
Kevin pulled her closer to Emily, her hands holding the knife pointed towards her.
She got off the chair falling on her knees before Kevin and began to rub her hands together crying,
"Please don't kill me, I'll be good. I'll do anything you say....I won't tell anyone about your secrets...I swear...please."

"Pathetic." He said under his breath putting his hand to his nose as if it was a smell rather than sight. He stared back at Camille as if saying, 'what are you waiting for?' she could read it on his face. She stepped back lowering her hand.

"Stab her I said." Their father rebuked, widening his eyes.
"Why...why do I have to!?" Camille shouted backing towards the wall behind her.
"Didn't you always wanted her dead, I'm giving you an opportunity. Go on."

"I refuse." She pointed her knifed hands towards Kevin instead, pushing herself more into the wall as the distance between her and Emily didn't seem very safe. Kevin tugged Emily from the floor by her sleeve and held her ahead of him, pointing a dragger he pulled out of his pocket, to her neck.
"Do it, or I'll kill her." What a joke, he wanted to kill her either way. Camille knew he was playing with them. She smiled, curving the corners of her mouth slightly.
"Then kill her."

Her words stroke Emily as bombshell. She glanced at Camille in an upsetting manner. Camille knew what she was doing, she knew that whatever the reason, Kevin can never kill any of them because they were his blood. That's why he had never killed Camille when she saw Lina's dead body and when he had to bring a new wife to the house so he had hid her in the attic instead. She knew now too that he didn't try to kill Emily back in the forest. He never tied her tightly or closed the cabin door so she can't escape. He was only playing with her. The fire without gasoline was dry and it didn't spread quickly.
But something Camille had never imagined happened just then.