Fear and Fate(poly)(bxb)

Six

I count four stars in the sky and then they multiply. Ferocious birch trees reach towards them, surrounding us. I blink twice before my hearing starts to come back and even then it's still too far away.

"I didn't think you'd make it out alive, Mia." Diana is positioned by a fire pit. "You're a resilient little fuck, aren't you?"

My neck and throat hurt at the stretch but I turn towards her. There's grass and pebbles underneath my touch. Diana's bob is atypically disheveled, signs of her independent hard work here and there. She pokes at the fire pit with a log before speaking again.

"At first we didn't want to kill a cop because we knew it would start an all-out war, but to think you would take advantage of our mercy." The fire crackles as she drops the large piece of wood. "I gave you so many alternatives and here you are leaving me no choice."

It's then I notice my father is lying on the ground beside her. A tear rolls into my hair once I confirm he's alive. His skin is ashen and we're both covered in dirt.

"Don't you care about your daughter's life at all?" Diana asks.

"What did you think I was selling your information in exchange for?"

I'm shocked by my father's voice. I inhaled so much smoke I couldn't speak so clearly if I wanted to. What he's saying is secondary.

He's completely still as he speaks from beside Diana. "No matter what happens here it will be over for you soon." His head falls back onto the grass below him.

I don't expect much from her. She taught Von his impulse control or lack thereof. Diana stands, kicks my father's ribs with the front of her boot.

"No, Diana! No!" I scream until she stops, soot scratching my vocal cords beyond repair.

"He got your mother killed and you're next." She stuns me into silence with this revelation. "He's a fucking coward." Diana kicks him again. "His little gang killed my son, so you know what he did? He ran away to the feds. He thought that would keep him safe."

"I didn't kill that kid," my father gurgles on blood. "Do you know how many times you put mine in harms-"

The sound of impact is deafening. Diana kicks his head this time. She makes him face me.

It hurts too much when I try to speak this time. If he knew all along, why didn't he come to save me? Which one of them is telling the truth and why is it so hard for me to tell?

"You know what?" Diana strides over to me and pulls me up by my hair in the next breath. "I'm gonna make his little bitch work for me for the rest of her life. Maybe then it will stick."

"I'm going to take them down, Mia. The police know everything. We've been collecting information– ah!" I've never heard my father sound like this, never heard him scream like this.

I didn't feel pain when Diana pulled me up and I don't when she drops me down. I feel a sharp tear in my heart when she shoots my father to death right in front of me. Six shots.

I'm so dehydrated none of my senses are fully here, yet I cry nonetheless. I cry harder than I have in my entire life. The sensation of pain slowly comes back to my entire body, to my shoulder, to my head. I pull myself up so that I'm sitting and can attempt to curl in on myself.

Diana watches me almost in awe, but I don't pay enough attention to worry about her next move. I listen as her footsteps fade away between my choking. I have nothing left in me. Nothing left outside either.

•••

I don't know how long I've been walking but it's cold now and I feel it in my bones. I'm wet with tears and blood and my clothes are burned and tattered. I walk along the familiar road holding one arm over myself because I can't raise the other.