VILLAINESS [TWD]

➴126

The force of the gunshot makes my entire left side jerk backwards. I catch myself on the wall. Leah swears under her breath and rushes at me. I duck a punch and bash the gun upward against her chin.

Mom's chair scrapes on the floor as she fights to untie herself.

Leah shouts and charges again. I try to punch her, but the pain of the gunshot screams in agony and I miss. She takes advantage by swiping a big blow across my temple. It makes me fall recklessly to the floor and I cough a sound of pain.

Leah stalks over to me as Mom shouts 'no!'. She stands over me, then crouches so she's straddling my stomach.

"Still as impulsive as ever," Leah comments, punshing me across the face. "That's why Pope trusted you so much- he loved the chaos."

Another two hits and I feel blood run down the side of my cheek.

"You say he drugged you, but you wanna know the truth?" Leah asks, grabbing my collar and pulling me up to stare me in the eyes. "I did it."

I try to ask what she meant, but my jaw was already swollen and it hurt to move.

"I got you clean. I kept you sober. And then I saw that you were slipping because you regretted attacking that place and I drugged you that night," Leah explains, delivering another punch that makes my head bounce on the wooden floor. "I had to kill you before you killed our family!"

The empty gun slips from my hand. My chest burns at the bitterness of a realization and confession. 

Weakly, my injured arm comes up to her throat to push her away. Leah simply digs two fingers in the gunshot wound and my back arches as I scream.

"You know what else?" Leah asks, leaning down to get in my face. "Brandon helped me do it."

A sob retches from my throat. Leah smiles, so sickening and cruel. My right arm flies upward and I hit her across the face, then drag my left leg up to kick her off of me.

Mom sweeps Leah's legs out from under her and jumps up from her chair. I roll onto my side and spit some more blood out onto the floor. My waist raises from the floor as I try to stand, though my face and chest felt like it weighed tons.

I hear Mom and Leah fighting to the side. Mom yelps in pain then Leah shouts. My knee slides out from under me and I fall back to the floor. I look over to the pair fighting and see that they both had knives out. Mom cuts through the air, slicing Leah's side. Leah retaliates by doing the same up Mom's leg.

Mom limps backwards and when she goes after Leah again, Leah flips Mom over her shoulder. Mom hits the floor with a 'thud' and coughs as the air escapes her. Leah straddles her like she did me, holding a knife over Mom's face.

I pick myself up again and slam my injured shoulder into the floor if only to make myself feel the pain. I stand up and fumble my way over. Mom was just barely keeping the knife away from her skin, though it was getting closer.

I pick up some rope from the floor and wrap it around Leah's throat. Leah tries to reach back and stop me, but my own injuries catch up and I fall again. We fall to the floor, the rope still around Leah's throat. I hold my foot to her collarbone and shove her down to apply more pressure around her neck.

Mom coughs and tries to sit up.

"I didn't want this!" I cry to Leah. "There was a side that.. that loved you.. And Brandon.."

I make an 'X' with the rope at the back of her neck, pulling tighter. Her hands claw at my leg and arms. Her feet kick madly as she fights to breathe. I choke on my own sobs as I cry.