The Light At The End Of The World

Sam

I watched across the field as it began to become colder and the rain became a mixture of snow and rain. I hugged my knees and buried my nose deep in the collar of my coat. I tried to keep out the cold, but it was no use. My rain soaked jacket had started to take its effects on my body causing me to shake violently. I wished everything could go back to the way it was. Before the dead. Before I lost everything I cared about. I had nothing..

I could feel my cheeks turn pink and they felt warmer than the rest of my body. I held onto that little piece of warmth.. It was almost all that I had left. I knew that Daniel would kill me even if I was ten feet away. I was finally alone in the world but my old life kept trying to catch up with me.

After an hour passed I was shivering to the bone and the old man finally came out to me and invited me inside he led me to a bed where Grace laid unconscious and breathing slowly. She was alive.

"She'll recover just give it time, I bandaged her up as best I could. I'm no doctor but I do know a few things about dressing a wound. She will be just fine." The man said as he stood in the doorway.

"Thank you.." I said as I knelt down beside Grace.

"I never got both of your names. My name is Sam." Sam said as he extended his hand towards mine.

I just looked at the hand and turned my attention back to Grace. "I'm June. This.. this girl is Grace.." I said as tears welled in my eyes. "She's all I have left.."

"May I ask how she lost her hand? She's very lucky that I was here to patch her up. She could've died." Sam said.

"We were overrun and her hand was bitten.. I had to amputate it to save her.." I said. I touched the bandage where her hand used to be . It was different now and nothing will be the same ever again.

"That was very brave of you June." he said as he pushed up from the door frame and turned to leave.

"Do you know anyone by the name Daniel Atlas?" I asked causing him to turn and look back in the room, his face was half covered in shadow.

"No, but I do know some people that are directly affiliated with him. Why do you ask?"

"He's my brother.. He is a horrible person, I've heard that he has hurt countless people. Including me.."

"What kind of things has he done?"

"Let me show you something," I said as I rolled up one of my sleeves revealing old scars. Scars that I had inflicted on myself. Because of him.

"June.."

"These scars are because of him. You know why I felt the need to inflict such pain on myself? Five years ago, after my parents got into a fatal car crash. It was raining and they were on their way to pick me up from school. If only I had stayed home that day.. I was there at the hospital with my mom, I held her hand as she passed away.. Her last words were to tell me that she loved me.. And that she was sorry.."

"That's such a tragic story June, I'm so sorr-"

"My story doesn't end there. After that, I was picked up from the hospital by my older brother Daniel, we didn't exchange words In the car. There wasn't a need to. When we arrived back at my house, He instructed me to head up stairs and lock the door. I was Twelve at the time he was my brother. I looked up to him.. So of course I didn't question him. My twin sister, Alexis wasn't in her bed waiting for me when I got home from the hospital. I heard screaming coming from downstairs. I went to investigate.. When I got to the stairs I saw Daniel on top of Alexis. Their clothes were off. He raped her.. The same day of our parents death.. With tears in my eyes I ran back to my room and slammed the door, forgetting to lock it. As soon as this happened the screaming stopped and It was replaced my crying. I heard running footsteps coming up the stairs, I panicked and layed in my bed under the covers pretending to sleep. At the time I wished I met my maker that day and joined my parents somewhere in the universe. I bet you can guess what happened next. I was raped by my brother, one of the few people I looked up to.. That's the reason Daniel must die. Maybe I can help the girls he tortured and maybe the ones that are no longer around anymore, avenge their deaths and free their souls." I said before I started crying. I didn't like reliving that memory. I don't know why I don't end my life. Join the other girls that were killed not knowing when or if their tormentor would be brought to justice. Maybe I hoped I could live with the guilt of knowing that he did this to other girls before me.

"I'll leave you alone June, just to give you some time to comprehend what happened today. We'll talk more about what we will do on from here tomorrow morning. For now get some rest." He said as he blew out the candle that lit the small bedroom.

"Sam," I said right before he left for the final time. "Thank you for helping my friend it really means a lot to me that someone still cares. You mind if I smoke in here? It relaxes me after a really stressful day."

"I don't like the smell of tobacco. Please take that outside, you can use the barn if you like." He said before leaving the room.

I didn't get up from where I was kneeling, I really needed to quit. I was surrounded in the darkness of the room alone with a sleeping Grace. I watched her sleeping watching her chest rise and fall in quiet breaths. Her lips were parted slightly. She once again looked peaceful as she slept. I stroked her hair away from her face and locked my lips onto her's. I backed away slowly thinking about what I had just done. I kissed Grace.. I don't know why I did that, I didn't hate it. Nor did I regret it. The kiss was sweet, maybe I'd tell her about how I felt in the morning, I probably wouldn't.. But someday, I would.

Humans are weird creatures. They search for perfection in others, although there's no perfection in them. We sit around judging people simply because of a poor judgment or choice. Their interest in the same sex. Not being the right kind of shape or color. Or a tragic outcome of a family affair. The point is that it's not our place to judge. But we do.When you point at a person, five fingers are pointing back at you, or that's what my sister would say when I would rat her out. I smiled at that thought, those were the good days. There will always be something shameful in the eyes of society. We judge to feel superior, to feel good about ourselves. Oh, she did this, which is not as bad as what I did. It seems as though what we did isn't bad anymore. Someone does something much worse and it seems to completely erases what you have done. That's what we do, whether we are aware of it or not. For the reason that we are human. Sugarcoating things have become second-nature to us. We blind ourselves from the the truth in order to allow ourselves to believe we are doing right. Just so we can sleep better at night. Is anything truly perfect in this world? Is there such a thing as the perfect body? The perfect face? The perfect family? Or even perfect love?

As humans we try to create and work for perfection. Something pretty or successful to show off the world. We can do evil things to achieve our goals, if we want it bad enough. It is just instinct. In all truth, perfection does not exist in the world. Now more than ever. This is what I have led to believe. We may reach for perfection, but we will always fail. Because we are humans. We are flawed and whatever we create will be flawed also. We all have have urges, whims, a long yearning to do things we are not suppose to or things we shouldn't want. Everyday is a battle. A battle to not fall into those sinful desires. I was in that battle too. Unfortunately, I was not victorious.

My final thoughts ran through my head before I closed my eyes hoping to never wake again..