Loyalties

I stood silently in the hallway, twisting the shadows so they couldn’t see me. I could hear the laughter and snarky comments my so-called brothers threw around at each other. My uh- Father- was sitting at his usual dining spot at the end of the table, silently shaking his head and trying not to laugh. My oldest brother seemed to have stuck something up his nose- were those fries?! Dinner seemed to be the only time that everyone was together, happily eating my Grampa’s extraordinary cooking cohesively as a family. Everyone was chatting, joking, chortling... All except for me.

Everyone may be happy right now, but I knew well enough that this mood would be killed the moment I put one foot into the dining room. Dad would start calling out my mistakes, tell me to get in line, my brothers would keep staring at me unapprovingly, and everyone would be disheartened because of me.

It’s all my fault.

I’m too weak, too broken to be able to hide my pain. I love them, but I just can’t protect them. I sometimes think that they would be better off without me. They wouldn’t have to deal with the ‘unstable girl’ anymore. They would be able to finally breathe a sigh of relief after all these years of pretending to care for me. Tears started blurring my vision but I willed them away.

I’ve made up my mind.

I turn to walk away when my father suddenly called to me. I slowly started picking up my pace until I broke into a run. I could hear my brothers and father running after me, screaming at me to stop. But they don’t actually mean it. If anything happened to me, it would ruin the image of the family. Well, too bad. I don’t give a hades about that.

I sprinted up the staircase until I reached the terrace. I came to a halt by the edge of the house.

“Sis, don’t, please!” I heard someone call out to me, but I quickly blocked out their sounds. Images flashed through my head faster than I could decipher them, but there was one thing I recognised in them all - blood. I watched the blood seep out of my friends’ wounds, as they slowly died. I was screaming, knowing there was nothing I could do to save them.

But It’ll soon be over, I told myself.

“I’m sorry, Dad. I love you.” I whispered, knowing he could hear me.

I jumped.

I could distantly hear someone screaming, but I didn’t care anymore. All I felt was the calm before the storm. I closed my eyes, finally at peace. Then a piercing wave of pain shot through my body and the world around me went dark.

Harsh?

I tried.

Peace,

ArkhamKnightx