Revolution

Dad

Jasper shifted from one foot to the other as I slowly picked the lock. It opened with a soft click and I slid the door open. I pulled my blade out and snuck up the wall to the service steps. Jasper tapped my hand and pointed to a tea set. I shot him a stupid look and continued to open the door to the hall. Guards walked past us laughing at nothing in peticular, and I cracked the door a little as they walked past. They stopped for a second and I pushed Jasper to the wall when they both came crashing into the stairwell. We both pulled one down and cut their tags. I plunged my knife down through his artery and wrapped the tags around my wrist. We pushed out into the hall and stood in front of the study door. Jasper opened the old wood slowly and let me in. The desk faced a window and a fire roared in a corner. It smelled smokey, like cigars and urine but the old man sat in his chair just like expected. I crept down to a crouch and pulled my knife against his throat. "You have a knife pointed to an old man's throat." His voice was familiar. "You are observant." I dug the metal into his neck. "I miss you Onyx. Every day I think of you and your brother." My breath caught in my throat. I flipped the chair around with a squeal from the gears and choked on the air. "Dad." The blade shook in my hand but I held it firmly to his throat. His face was washed out now, his hair grey and long braided back down his neck. "My brother is dead. You should be dead." I snarled and dug the blade in deeper. It drew a streak of red where it touched. "I will be dead tonight. You will be the one to end me but first-" He reached back and handed me a book bound in leather. "This is for you. I'm so proud of you little one." He shut his eyes and leaned forward into the blade cutting his own throat. I choked back a sob and ripped away the knife. His body thumped uselessly to the ground and I reeled back out the door where I crashed into Jasper. His eyes were crested with worry cut short by the thumping of feet.

        We dove from a window and landed on soft grass, taking off to the forest. The camp was in sight when he pulled me down to hide. "What happened in there? What is this?" He took the book from my hands. It was now stained with blood. "Give it back!" I clawed out for the book. I gripped the pages to my chest and took off from him, making my way to cave without him. Everyone was laid out asleep by now, the fires burned low and I took a moment to toss logs on the three. "Onyx" Clarke called to me from the opening of our cave. I turned to meet her eye. She stood draped in fur, her golden hair was messy and her eyes were clouded. I smiled at her. I walked to her and wrapped her in my arms, her hair tickled my nose and she put her head limply against my shoulder. "I missed you" Her voice was tired. "And I missed you. We're you asleep?" She nodded slowly and wrapped her arms around my middle to support herself as she let her knees go out. I chuckled. "Off to bed we go." I twirled her around to face the cave and gave her a little push. She slugged off to the cave and I went in after her, tossing the book to the side and stripping off the bloody clothes I had on. I crawled next to her and let the tag dangle. "Another one? If you keep killing them all now we won't even have to go to war." She poked the tag and cracked a smile. "One less for them means one life saved for us." I pulled the tag off and tossed it over to the bloody clothes I had abandoned. She turned towards me and buried her face in my chest.

      "My dad was there. I killed him." My fingers twitched against her thigh. She pulled away from me and opened her mouth to talk. I pushed against her and she clamped her mouth shut. "Don't say anything." I wrapped my teeth around her throat and moved to cover her body with mine. My fingers danced through her warmth. "You can't always bury your saddness in sex." She looked away from me but opened her legs wider for me. Saddness tore up my throat and I pulled my hand away. She exhaled sharply and sat up to pull my head into her lap. Her fingers tangled in my hair and I cried. Tears that were hot and salty rolled from my eyes to her legs. My body shook violently trying to keep the sobbing silent. "You can't keep everything in like this." Her words were as soft as the hand running through my hair. I wrapped my arms around her stomach and buried my face in her legs deeper, my breathing calming and the saddness had all but left. "Go to sleep, we have a big day ahead of us."