“Why did you do it?” she swung her legs back and forth, looking at the stone seven meters below her feet. “Why?” The branch holding her was rough under her fingers, the bark cutting into her hand.
“Annik. They were going to hurt me. How else was I supposed to react? I’m a person!”
“That’s the problem,” she retorted, bitterness staining the air between them. “You’re a human. And a liar.”
“A liar?” he asked, and Annik almost believed he was surprised at the accusation. He ran his hand through his mouse brown hair.
“I saw you. Talking to those people. You were prepared to give me over. You took the money they offered. You promised that I’d either ready to be handed over, or you’d kill me.” Tears started clouding over her vision.
“I’m sorry Annik. I don’t know what came over me at that moment…” She almost softened, but immediately hardened herself against him.
“Yeah right. I’ve also seen you meet them several times after that happened. Including when I had to wait for you to meet me here.”
Annik looked over at him, and saw his usually soft grey eyes steel over. “You were spying on me?” he asked quietly, with a small bit of menace in his voice.
“How else was I supposed to trust you? Or at least keep a close eye on you? Who knows when you’d do something?” She glanced over at him, and he was fiddling with his cloak. “Now what option are you going to choose? I’d like to know now.”
He whipped around, and Annik felt sharp, cold metal pressed up to her neck. It took a second to register that it was a knife.
“Leo…?”
“The second option is so much easier. Why did you think I’d befriend you, a sorry little Puppet? Why’d you think I’d let you on this far?” he sneered. The knife dug a little deeper, causing a trickle of blood to flow down her neck.
As the realization of his betrayal speared her heart, rage boiled inside her, churning her stomach.
“Say, ‘Good bye.’ You’re done for,” he mocked, his eyes soulless, no trace of remorse visible. There was a fake smile plastered on his face.
“Never,” she hissed, and kicked him off the branch.
There was a moment of shock in his dark grey eyes, and grabbing at air, he started to fall. His cloak fluttered around him like broken wings, completely useless. Annik steadied herself on the branch, not daring to watch.
A soft crunch as bones met stone made her take a sharp breath. She nimbly clambered down the tree and ran to the stationary body. ‘Oh god, oh god, oh god,’ her mind screamed.
A dark pool of blood was forming around his head, and his face was frozen in a grotesque mixture of surprise and pain. She knelt beside him and tenderly closed his eyes. Sobs racked her body as all the pain of the betrayal and the realization of what she had done hit her. Her blood mixed with his, her tears dripping onto his clothes.
“What have I done?” Looking up at the cold moon, she tried to search for answers. None was to be found.
-Kiki
How deep did the knife go? :/
ReplyDeleteit's only a shallow cut, don't worry
ReplyDelete