On Opposing Sides

  The night air was frigid as I watched my sister warily as she moved towards me, a fireball in her hand.  I couldn’t believe it had come to this; we used to be so close and now look at us, standing in the middle of an empty local park, ready to kill each other.

 A breeze swept through the trees and blew our identical caramel hair around in a crazy dance. Cicadas sang and frogs croaked as we stood eying one another cautiously.

 “Emma please, it doesn’t have to be this way,” I attempted to reason with her.

 “It has to be exactly this way and you know it Tessa,” she replied, her tone as chilly as the night air.

  She took a step closer to me and I instinctively stepped back. Sister or not, she was dangerous; he had made her dangerous; evil. He had made my beautiful little sister evil.  I remembered back to before he had come into our lives, back when we were sisters fighting on the same side, not enemies fighting on opposing ones. Back then we had told each other everything and vanquished demons together; now we were standing here, waiting to kill one another.

 “He’s just using you to steal powers Emma; he’s a warlock, that’s what he does! You have to know that!” I tried again, hoping to get through to her. “He’s evil and he’s turned you evil as well! But I can help you! Please Emma, just let me help you!” I begged her.

 “No, he loves me. He’s made me powerful and you’re trying to destroy that! You’re trying to destroy him! I can’t let you do that!” she exclaimed. “I won’t.”

  “Please Emma! I don’t want to hurt you!” I pleaded.

 She simply looked at me. Then suddenly she threw the fireball at directly at my coat-cover chest. I threw my own hand out and directed the fireball to a nearby shrub telekinetically. The shrub lit up in a magnificent eruption colours; orange, red and yellow on the purple flowers of the dark green shrub. Emma glared at me before preparing to throw another but I waved my hand and threw her to the ground with my magic.

 “I said that I didn’t want to hurt you Emma, not that I wouldn’t,” I reminded her.

   Although hurting her did cause me a great deal of pain, I refused to show it to her. It was tough love; I had tried reasoning with her for months, and all that had gotten me was frustration and a couple of broken ribs when he had shown up and thrown me into a wall before taking off with my sister. Now was the time to use whatever means necessary to get her back to me. And that was exactly what I was going to do, whatever was necessary.

  She continued to glare at me as she got to her feet.  I could tell she was trying to figure out a way to defeat me, evil or not I could still read her face. Her green eyes that used to sparkle with happiness were now cold, her full pink lips that used to smile at me now twisted into a sneer.

  “Emma,” I said, a warning in my tone.

  “The time for talking is over, Tessa,” she told me.

 And then it was on, she threw fireball after fireball at me, and I deflected all of them, sending them to the ground around us, quickly killing the luscious green grass that someone had fought to keep alive in this cold weather. She didn’t give me the chance to go on the offensive, she just kept throwing her fireballs at me, and waiting until one inevitably hit me.

  Then with a shimmer he appeared, the warlock who had started all this mess, who had turned sister against sister.

 “Conrad!” Emma exclaimed at the sight of him. Her tone was both happy and confused.

  I didn’t even hesitate, as soon as I laid eyes on him I was reaching for the vial of vanquishing potion I had made for him months earlier. I threw the green filled vial at him, and it smashed square in his chest. Conrad quickly erupted into flames that consumed his body and destroyed him in mere seconds.

  “Conrad!” Emma screamed, despair in her voice.

  He was gone, just as quickly as he had appeared. Emma turned towards me, her face a mask of rage and hatred. It was then that I knew I had lost her, my baby sister, forever. In killing Conrad the warlock I hadn’t broken whatever spell he had placed on her and brought her back to me, I had done the exact opposite. I had made all the things he had whispered in her ear more valid, I had just proved to her everything he had ever told her.

 I had just lost my sister.