Excerpts & One Shots

[One Shot] - Why Are You Running? (C)

"THERE'S NO POINT!! JUST STOP!"

I stopped listening to her pleading long before I lost the feeling in my legs. I clung tightly to my sister's hand and kept running. People keep telling me that you can't run away from your problems... but I will outrun this. I have to...

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT?! STOP!" The tone in Raeshielle's voice shot drastically from her defeated pleas to stern and commanding. I felt my legs somehow go more numb than they already were and fell to the ground with my sister following immediately after. For the first time since I started our escape I lost hold of Raeshielle's hand. We tumbled and slid across the leaf riddled land and stopped a few yards apart from one other. I struggled to lift my head from the ground and started scanning around for her, and there she lied as still as the night that sheltered us.

"R-Rae...?" My voice cracked, mustering less than a whisper, "Raeshielle!" She held her place, not responding.

From the waist down I felt the dead weight of my unresponsive legs as I tried to get to her, "why.. aren't they working..!" I dug my hands into the dirt working to bridge the gap between us. With each inch I made, another ounce of hope was boiling out of me, "Raeshielle! Please... tell me you're ok!"

I finally got close enough to reach her and gripped her arm firmly, using her as leverage to close what little distance that was left. I sat myself up by her side and dragged her into my lap. I shook her frantically trying to wake her up, the tears blurring my vision falling onto her face. 

"Rae-... shielle.... no!"

I spent every last bit of energy I had trying to pull her out of what I knew she would never leave. I willed my arms to keep moving, but in reality I was just as still as she was- crying being the only thing I was able to do as I stared at her. After a few moments I forced my eyes shut, letting my mind only focus on what little warmth there was emanating from her. I almost believed the illusion I cast myself into, that we were back at the vineyard sitting on the swinging bench with her had in my lap as we watched the stars above.

The sudden sting of ice against my face shattered the foundation of my happy place. My eyes sprung open. I was feeling a mixture of relief and confusion when I set my gaze on my older sister, staring up at me. An unshakable feeling of dread sat in the pit of my stomach... I wanted to  believe that Raeshielle was still with me but those eyes didn't belong to my sister. Its sclera were pitch black, its irises had stolen her emerald green luster and replaced them with a piercing amber color.

"You tried to delay my arrival," a voice came out colder than the touch that laid upon my cheek, "weren't you told that trying to run from this was pointless?"

Tears began to fall again, as my resolve reached absolute zero... I failed to keep her here, and I gave up on the idea that I was capable of saving her.

"Death isn't something you can run from, boy. It finds you no matter where you are and devours your essence in one foul swoop," my sister's body sat up then stood, shooting me a look from the side of her eye. 

"But you are the first to try running from me, literally... you definitely are a special one."

Then she was gone.