until the very end

part 24

I knocked on Brends door. No response.
I sighed. Sometimes, I wondered why I even bothered – my brother never answered anyways. The only point in knocking was that he would start screaming like a maniac if I would just burst into his room – and sometimes, even when I did knock he would still start screaming like a maniac.

I was just weighing my options to try and decide which one of the two would scare him less today – softly pushing open te door or bursting in, it always depended on his mood – when I heard a loud thund, followed by the piercing shriek of my brother and the low, furious growl of a voice I didn’t immediately recognize.

I slammed the door open and stormed into the room, my gun raised. “Get the fuck away from my brother!”
I stopped abruptly upon seeing the scene in front of me. I stared right into the wide-open, terrified eyes of Brend, pushed against the wall by a short girl, covered in mud and dirt, a machete raised high above her head, ready to strike.

I almost dropped the gun in shock. “Ellie?!”
Ellie stumbled back, taken aback for a second. Then she narrowed her eyes at me.

“You.” She curled her lip in anger. “Carl is dead because of you.”
“Oh. Right.” I closed my eyes for a second. “Ellie… I’m very sorry about what happened.”
“No, you’re not!” she yelled out. “You didn’t give two shits about him. He would have given you the world, and you used him as a human shield.”
I shook my head. “Ellie, that’s not what happened.”
Brend let out a soft, frightened whimper, making himself as small as possible.

Ellie stood up slowly, breathing heavily. “He sacrificed himself to you, and you didn’t let a single tear.”
“You weren’t there.”
“I’m not an idiot, Gwen.” She gripped the machete tightly. “When Carl didn’t came home, I went to look for him. Then I ran into this little shit of the Human Crew, I believe his name is Turk. And he told me…” She swallowed hard, blinking back tears.
I sighed. I really didn’t have time for this. “Ellie, the Human Crew is made up of a bunch of idiots. Their whole ‘strategy’ is based on trying to turn the moofs against eachother, to get us to kill eachother so that they don’t have to do the dirty work themselves. Ofcourse they would tell you their twist on the truth.”
She shook her head resolutely. “I don’t believe you, Gwen. I know what you’re like. My brother may have been too kind-hearted to see it, but I’m not. I can see right through you. You didn’t give a fuck about my brother. Because of you, I lost the only person I actually cared about… And now, you are going to experience exactly how I’m feeling.”
She took a step towards my brother and swung back the machete, ready to let it clash on his head.

I spread the fingers of my right hand, my left hand still clutching the gun.
Ellie gasped as the shockwave smashed her against the wall, along with the closet. A loud crack when the wood broke. Books and clothes fell down with a deafening noise.
Brend pushed his hands against his head, letting out a pitiful whimper.
I tilted my head to examine the damage. “I really need to practise more. They always come out bigger than I intend to.”
Ellie carefully reached out to her face. There was a bloody scratch on her cheek and a blue spot formed around her eye, as to where the book had hit her. But she quickly recovered.
“No! I won’t let you get away with this unpunished!” She jumped back to her feet and grabbed the machete to strike again.

I took a step towards her, an unfamiliar anger flaring up inside of me. “You know, Ellie. You may be a little girl, but you are right about one thing,” I said, calmer than I felt. “I don’t care about many people. But my brother just happens to be one of the very few people I do care about. And harming him, or even threatening to do so, is one sure way to sentence yourself to death.” I tilted my head, breathing out slowly. “But you’re also thirteen, and you’re Carl’s sister. So I’m giving you one chance. Get out of here, find a healthy way to deal with your anger, and don’t ever come near my brother again.”
Ellie raised her eyebrow. Then, she started to laugh uncontrollably.
“Did you really think my fear would be greater than my lust for revenge?”
I frowned. “Are you quoting something right now or is this your attempt at sounding cool?”
I stumbled back when something snapped in my face. It took me a few seconds to realise that it was her fist, hitting me from the other end of the room. I stared at her in confusion, struggling to keep my balance, as she withdrew the arm that she had stretched out until a length of two meter.