7 Days of Darkness

Chapter 12 - Ashes

Day 7

Chloe:

The morning was cold and damp. Ashes from the smouldering houses surrounded Mournstead blotting our the sun and filling the air with an odour that smelled of sulphur. I stood in the town square, my clothes were ragged and dusty from last weeks terrors. My normally blonde hair had become grey from the falling ash and smoke.

As I stood I lowered my head and looked at the ground. I wasn't really looking though, I was mourning for my fallen friends. I had gotten no rest after last night, and am only alive because Tanner, my own brother, the man who orchestrated the whole endeavour and who was standing just a few feet in front of me, had given me a choice.

We stood face to face as a broken family. The gallows behind us were ominous in the heavy ash. I looked up towards him with disappointment and shock on my face. We both had been blessed with beautiful blue eyes, but I could see that his had become several shades darker.

"I'm sorry." He said, his hands deep in the pockets of his baggy grey trousers. His shaggy brown hair that covered most of his forehead had also turned a shade of grey.

"For what?" I replied. "For lying to me? For burning innocent people? Or for murdering my friend–our friend?!"

He lowered his face and frowned. "It doesn't have to be this way y'know. We can leave this town once and for all and live normally again."

"How can we live normally? You are a psychotic killer without a conscience!" My voice started to break from both the ashes entering my mouth and the sheer disappointment I felt. I turned around and started walking towards the vehicles parked at the entrance to the town. "You really are dad's son."

"Please, don't leave." He said very calmly and I stopped. "I want your help."

"How can I possibly help you?" I turned again, now facing back towards my older brother.

As he spoke he walked back towards me "We can find him. Dad. He might've left us in the dirt but we can go back to him, and show him what we've become. Wouldn't you like that? Don't you want to prove to that psychotic bastard that children are not something you just throw away?"

I couldn't help but remember our father. He was a drunk who killed his wife when we were young and then literally threw us out of his car and onto the highway. We later found out that he had been arrested and taken to the institution right down the road. When we got there, the doctor said he escaped the night before and the only town within 10 miles is Mournville. We thought he might've came here but we were wrong.

"I can't." I said, tears filling my eyes. "Even if we found him, someone would be killed. Whether that is him, me, or you." I still loved Tanner, he is the only family I have left but I don't want anyone else to be murdered by my family.

While I was thinking, Tanner had gotten closer and I started sobbing. He wrapped his arms around me and at that moment I realized that he hadn't lost himself completely.

"I will never let any harm come to you." He whispered "so long as I am sane, I promise that you will be safe." And with those few words he pulled a cloth over my mouth and the world went black.