Vanished (I LUV U.) - Abide With Me Book 1

Chapter 15 - Hate and Revenge

This is it... no turning back... Chapter 15 is the antepenultimate chapter... And in case you don't know what antepenultimate chapter means... it's the chapter that's second before the last one... So there! :D

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Chapter Fifteen - HATE AND REVENGE

June 7, 1499

Anita felt drops of rain falling on her forehead. At first, it was bearable. But then, the drops started to echo around her skull. It was getting more tormenting each drop. A sledgehammer seemed to drop on her head every time. She couldn’t take it.

And then, it stopped. Anita opened her eyes.

“A-atz?”

Everything was dark. The sky was grey and the trees seemed pitch black. Only a shadow shielding her from the rain protected her. Its soft dark brown hair caressed her soft skin. The shadow wiped a piece of red cloth on Anita’s forehead and gently said, “Do not talk, Anita. You will use up your energy.”

Alaya’s voice brought Anita to life. She arched her back, but pain from a million areas stopped her from raising her head for more than an inch of the ground. The girl fell back to the ground with a thud.

“You think she won’t try to stab you?” a boy far away to her left asked. It must be atz’s husband, she thought.

“I trust her with all my heart,” Alaya replied. “She will not.”

And then, a brief flash of memory shocked Anita. “Atz, you have to run,” she said with tears. “Please, you must run!”

“Why should she run?” Alaya’s husband asked suspiciously.

Emotion started to overwhelm her. She sobbed, “Atz, I am so sorry!”

Her atz caressed her hair and gave her a teary smile. “I forgive you for trying to kill me,” she said.

“No, that was not the only monstrosity I have created.”

Anita quickly stood up, nearly knocking Alaya to the ground. She spotted the gleam of her Pyramus knife on the soil. Upon picking it up, Zenzu extended his arm and opened his hand. The girl couldn’t move her weapon.

“Don’t try if you know I can stop metal,” he said with confidence.

But Anita didn’t pay attention to him. Instead, she looked her sister with pained, regretful eyes. Her heart started to feel like a thousand tons. Air seemed to get thinner and thinner by the second.

“I cannot live like this,” Anita said. Slowly, with all her strength, she pointed the tip of her knife towards her heart. Zenzu, using his earth-jori, tried to point the tip away, but his wife’s sister was too strong.

“No!” Alaya said, approaching her sister. “Ending your life is not the answer!”

“Atz, I created a monster!” Sweat started compromising Anita’s grip, but she stubbornly refused to let go of her knife. Her whole arm started to shudder. Zenzu put his muscles to their limits, keeping the knife steady.

“What do you mean ‘monster’?” Alaya asked.

“I created it to kill you!” Anita cried with pain. “B-but instead, it killed E-Edur! I killed Edur! I k-killed him!”

Alaya shook her head, not believing anything her younger sister was saying. She gripped Anita’s shuddering right arm. “Please!” she wept. “This is not how you redeem yourself! You are the only one in our family who ever loved me! Please! Please do not leave me!”