Red As Roses and Black As Night

5. Lips Are Sealed

I woke up to screaming. That alone was enough to make me shoot out of bed. I couldn't tell who was screaming, though. It was late, too. I must have slept through my alarm...wherever it was.

I threw open my bedroom door, running though the halls. I nearly crashed into my sister standing in the doorway of the kitchen. She was holding my school stuff, crying. She turned to me, shoving the book bag to me. "Go!" she screamed, not letting me see into the kitchen. But I could smell it. Blood. Lots and lots of blood.

And the tea.

"Emma, what--"

"Please! Daddy told me to make you go!"

"But--why do I smell blood? Emma, what is in the kitchen?"

"Nina is trying to escape, Maya is drinking it...Go, Fane! GO AWAY!" my sister screamed at me, throwing herself at my feet. I still dropped my book bag and pushed into the kitchen. I regretted it.

My mom sat in the middle of the kitchen, a knife in her hand. She wasn't facing me, but I knew something was off. Her hair was matted, coated in blood. I couldn't see any blood. Just the tea, black as night. All over the floor, spilling from my mother. Her robe was coated red as roses, and she was sitting still. I couldn't hear her heart beating at all.

My sister stood in the doorway. She was holding herself now, muttering. I didn't listen, because my mother turned around, moving, despite the fact her heart wasn't pumping any blood. For all intents and purposes, she should be dead. But now, she was looking at me, the whole of her eyes as black as the tea at her feet. She had red stains down her face as if she had been crying blood.

"Mom?"

"They said to get rid of it." she whispered in a husky voice.

"Get rid of what? Mom, why do you have a knife? What did you do? Where's dad?"

She blinked at me slowly. "In the bedroom. He wouldn't let me get rid of it."

"Get rid of what?" I asked, feeling like an idiot. I was scared to the limit of leaving the house right now, but I had to know.

She blinked again. She turned back around, then stood. She had something in her other hand, and my heart hitched as I began to realize what it was. My mother swiveled on her feet, allowing me to see her front. There was a gaping hole in her stomach, some of her organs hanging out. They were grey, and blood was gone. There was only that...that tea. In in her hand was a tiny little thing that barely resembled a baby. It was dead, too. Just like my mom. She started laughing, and told me, "The voices told me to do it. Don't be mad." the she began coughing. She dropped the knife and the unborn baby, holding her stomach. She began to foam at the mouth, until she fell over. Maggots crawled from her stomach and her mouth as more black stuff oozed from her mouth. The maggots died quickly in squirming masses, coated in wet dirt and the tea. I backed away, slowly. Then I went to check the bedroom where my dad was.

He lay in a pool of blood, knives sticking out from his stomach. I backed out of the room, heart pounding. I hit the doorway, jumping in surprise. I quickly ran from the bedroom and grabbed my book bag at my sister's feet. And then I listened to what she was rambling about.

"She said that the sun is setting. It's rising right now. She said that the child is living. It's dead right now. She said my brother is dying. He's alive right now. And she said that she loves me. But she tried to kill me just now." she whispered, and then repeated it, over and over again. I took her hand and ran out of the house. I had seriously nowhere to take her, and I had to get to school. Did I? I mean, surely a dead mother and father should warrant me able to skip.