Blood Bond

Alex

“Gwen what did you do? Is she…” I bite my lip, hoping that stopping the question will make what happened just a fairy tale.

I can barely breathe, but Gwen looks calm. Calmer than I’ve ever seen her.

“She’s not dead.” She says coldly, removing her fingers from Faith’s neck and rising up off of her knees.

“Were you trying to kill her?” I try to ask, but my voice comes out too loud and I dart my eyes to make sure the coast is clear. When I look around I don’t see any lights. No houses. Just trees, bushes, and Gwen.

“No.” is all she says as she pulls her backpack off her shoulder and drops it to the ground. She reaches in and after a moment of rummaging around pulls out two large knives.

“We’re just giving her a taste of her own medicine.” She hands me a knife and kicks her backpack to the tree.

I stare at the weapon in my hand, unable to look at my sister.

“This is revenge. This is for all the lies she told. All the friends we lost. All the pain she caused. Everything.”

I hear the leaves shift and look around when I see Faith start to move. Gwen looks at me and nods, holding the knife in a fighting stance. I try to follow her lead but the weight feels awkward in my hand and my pose is unstable. Faith starts to pushes herself to her knees before noticing us standing there. Her eyes go wide and she immediately throws her hands in the air.

“Woah! You don’t have to do this, whatever you’re planning. It was just meant as jokes, I’m sorry! I won’t touch you again I swear!” she cries out, but Gwen doesn’t change her stance.

I catch a glimpse of her eyes and am horrified by the anger I see there. She lunges forward into Faith and pushes the knife into her side. Faith cries out as her shirt turns red but Gwen keeps swinging the blade in. I stand there, watching the horror scene play out in front of me unable to move, unable to scream. Finally, Gwen throws Faith to the ground one last time.

She stands up wordlessly, grabs her backpack and tells me to turn around. All I can do is listen.

After a few minutes she tells me I can turn around again and once I have I can see she’s changed into new clothes. She now wears a black T-shirt and sweatpants, her once yellow tank top and blue jeans discarded on the forest floor. Her black hair is messy but she’s managed to shake any lingering leaves from the tangles.

Carefully she takes a matchbox from her backpack and throws it into her pile of clothes. The flame of the match flickers and then bursts across the pile.

“We have to go.”

I still can’t speak, so I let her drag me along out of the woods and back into the house.

Once in my bedroom she turns and locks the door.

"You can't tell anyone what happened today." She says grabbing my shoulders tightly.

"I.. wouldn't even know how.. What happened out there? You said-"

She cuts me off. "I said revenge. That's what happened out there."

I try to wrap my head around those words but all I think about is the anger I saw in her eyes and the blood on her shirt as it lit in flames.

"I miss dad." Is all I can choke out as tears begin to fall again.