The Madness That Rose

Annette

Chapter 38

Alia

When we arrived back to the liquor store, we all parked our van away from sight, so we wouldn't attract any unwanted pests.

"You girls left my damn door unlocked." Dane huffs.

He opens it and walks in with his stupid radio, checking his surroundings if anything has been stolen. Miles and Charlie sits down and grabs some beer from the shelves.

"You guys are like sixteen." I tell them.

Charlie relies as he opens one, "Correction, I'm fifteen and a half."

I roll my eyes and let out a small laugh as they begin drinking.

"Lighten up, Alia," Miles remarked after drinking a big gulp, "It's the end of the world."

"Can you guys at least tell me where the blankets are," I say to them, "We need to rest."

Charlie put his bottle down and pointed to the restroom.

"I put it in there," he informs, "It's in a black duffel bag."

I thank him and begin making my way to the restroom, which was at the very back of the store.

"Guys," I hear Dane shout from across the room, "I'll be in the closet. If you need anything, I don't care."

I hear him close the door and lock it. As I turn back to open the restroom door, I hear sobs inside. I look around me. Goldy was drinking with the guys, but there was no sign of Annette. I quickly opened the door to see Annette in front of the mirror with tears in her eyes and a knife in her hand. She looks at me with the most depressing green eyes I've ever seen. Her hair was all cut up horribly short and uneven.

I run up to her and take the knife away from her. I grip onto her wrist as she tries to fight.

"Alia, I don't want to- to do this anymore! I don't belong here." She cries.

"So you're going to try to hurt yourself? You're only ten, Annette, of course it's hard out here-"

"I'm thirteen... See, you don't even care enough to know how old I am! I'm just a bother to all of you."

I hug her with all my love.

"Annette," I mutter as I lay my head on her shoulder as she sobs, "I love you. You're my family, and you are no bother to me. Annette, you're alive and standing right here with me. If you didn't belong here, you'd be dead, but for some reason, life doesn't want to kill you. You've been living. You've been fighting. You've been surviving."

I pull away from her and out my hands on her shoulder.

"But you're the one who kept me alive. You're the one who fought for me. You're the one helping me survive." She tells me.

"Johnny..." I murmur, "Johnny and Quinn, they looked up to you. You were a hero to them, a leader."

"But they're dead because I didn't fight." She declares as she turns away from me.

I stated, "You can't save everyone, Annette, but you can be a leader, a fighter, a human being..."

I look down to her feet to see her long dark hair on the tile floor.

"Why did you do this?" I ask her.

"You risked your life to save me just because of my hair... I had to punish myself for being too stupid to keep my long hair in this world where anything can kill you," she explains, "And I don't want to be the thing that kills you."