Resident Evil: Oblivion

Burn It

I just want to reiterate that Leon and Selena have no real blood relations, and she is of age.

I didnt ask why or how she was in the apartment. I didnt ask why she was eating our nonperishable food. She just sat awkwardly at the kitchen table while Leon took a shower and hid away in his room. I didnt really know what to say to her. I was just as mortified as she was.

"So...you and your dad.."

"He's not my dad," I intercept quickly. She purses her lips and looks away awkwardly. "I dont know how it happened. I never looked at him as more than my guardian."

"I mean...I guess it's not so bad."

"Can we just forget this all happened," I ask exasperatedly while standing from my spot at the table and rounding my way towards my room. I heard more than saw Aleine get up and follow after me. Why hadn't I kicked her out of the apartment yet?

"No we cannot! Are you going to keep doing it with him?"

"No," I say in a voice that's almost a whine. Please, please, just drop it!

"Did you like it?"

It felt much better than being with Sebastian. "I dont see how that's any of your business, Aleine. And anyway, what are you doing here?"

I was gathering some clean pajamas so that I could go to sleep clean in my own bed. She must not have been here long because my bed was still made, just a little wrinkled on top from being sat on, and a spare blanket had been thrown haphazardly to the end of the bed. My tablet was also on the bed with an episode of The Originals still paused on it.

"I helped find you," she whispers and I pause.

"What do you mean by that?"

Instead of answering me directly out loud, she reached under my bed and stands up strait again with my moms journal sitting guiltily in her hands. I feel frozen in my spot, my eyes slowly trailing from the peeling cover to the girl holding it. Aleine shifts her weight from one foot to the other, nervously.

"I never meant to snoop...okay. Yes I did, I was wondering where you were when you didn't come to school. And then I saw your picture on the news and came here and Mr. Kennedy was leaving with a woman all dressed like cops and I snuck in." She spoke so fast I was barely able to understand her. Some time during her ravings I had reached out and taken the book from her.

Aleine plucked her glasses from her face during her tangent and was fidgeting with the glass part, roughly cleaning them with her shirt.

"I came back like two days later because I discovered your secret...and I told Mr. Kennedy everything, only he had a different woman with him. Someone who really likes the color red. And they were trying to come up with a plan to get you back. I showed them the book and it mapped out your location. It was like magic," she finished off dreamily.

I turn the book over in my hands, speechless. Flipping it open, I sift through all of the pages, memories flitting before my eyes. Aleine was still talking in a hurry, but by now she was only white noise. Everything started with this book.

"We should burn it," I say outloud. Aleine stops talking long enough to turn and stare at me.

"Are you crazy?"

"This journal has caused my family more problems than any good that's come out of it. My mom was kidnapped..a couple times...I was kidnapped. I dont like the trend."

"But the journal is the reason we are here right now!"

"Aleine...please just go home."

"Dont burn the journal! What if...what if you burn it and all the magic is undone? You would never have been born."

"I dont think even this book can bring back my mom. But if it did...then at least I wouldnt feel the pain of losing her." 

"Selena, listen to yourself! I'm sorry your parents are dead, but you're life isnt that miserable! Look at the family you do have. They really love you. Youd throw all of that away?"

I sigh and stand up, tossing the book on the bed and lightly pushing Alein towards the front door. She kept talking.

"You can still be happy! Even if it is with a guy twice your age."

Rolling my eyes, I open the door and push her out. "Goodbye, Aleine."

"Lock it up if you must, but don't burn it!"

I shut the door.

"Well goodnight!"

Shaking my head I turn the deadbolt and doorknob lock. Next, I check all of the locks on the windows, and go back to bed.

Leon didnt come out of his room at all. Even the next day he avoided me and part of me was grateful. As happy as I was about being home, after what happened I wasnt sure how comfortable it would be.

I still debated burning the book. It sat in my lap every night and I had a trash bin near by and a lighter in my hand, but I couldnt bring myself to do it.

Tonight, three nights of being home, Leon finally knocks on my bedroom door. "Um...come in," I call nervously. The door cracks open and Leon takes a half step in.

"Hey...are you hungry," he asks. I glance over at the alarm clock on my night stand.

"It's ten pm...I ate about two hours ago."

"Oh..well," he trails off, looking at his shoes. He looks like he just got home from work. He even still had his gun holsters on his torso. "Goodnight, then." He started to close the door.

"Wait!"

Leon hesitates and peers at me from beneath his bangs. I shift my legs and stand up, still holding the journal. "I guess I could eat again," I continue.

A smile starts to cross but his eyes dart over my shoulder and widen. "Selena move!"

I didnt even have time to process his reaction. The window smashes behind me and Leon dives towards me. A gunshot behind me makes my ears ring painfully and Leon crashes backward into my dresser. A rough hand closes around my mouth and I feel a sharp pain of a blade entering my back near my spine. I scream and fall backwards accidently into the person, shoving the blade further in my back.

I couldnt handle it and my vision blurs. My bedroom spins and I'm not sure if I was falling or just passing out.

Either way, my vision went black.