Death By Her Hand

The Choice - Katerina

When I arrived home, my mother was waiting for me.

"Let me be alone, mother," I said. I was not in the mood.

"I just wanted to let you know that you can have your 18th birthday party before you decide," she called after me as I walked up the stairs. I paused.

"What's the budget?" I asked.

"Whatever you want," she replied. "It may be your last so make it your best."

I smiled without humour and made my way to my room. I dropped my things on the floor and slammed my door shut. Then I screamed in frustration. How could they force me to chose? Either way my life would be over it just depended on who I wanted to drag down with me. I wanted to think this decision would be easy, November or my parents, but it wasn't as simple as that, was it? Nothing ever was.

I pulled out my phone and began to text November. "There's something I have to tell you," I typed. Then I deleted it. I couldn't tell her yet. I wouldn't, I shouldn't. I hadn't even decided yet. She could help me decide I suppose, but if I got her involved I knew what I'd chose. And I couldn't. Correction: shouldn't. Of course I could chose either option but deep down I knew which one I should chose because, it wasn't really November versus my parents, was it? No, it was: give up my life and protect November or give up my life and endanger everyone I cared about, including her.

It shouldn't have been a difficult choice. Logically that was. Emotionally, it was the hardest decision I'd ever faced. Hopefully, I'd never encounter worse though who knew what my future held now. Even my parents, who had presented me with the conundrum, had no idea what would happen, whichever option I chose. Of course I was even more clueless having barely even heard of the KGB before.

Now I understood why I'd never been close with my parents, why they'd never tried. They had known this day would come. At least they gave me the choice. It was a lot to take in though. A whole lifetime of secrets they'd never told me about. I knew they couldn't have though. It was a secret for a reason.

Hours passed as these thoughts flew around my head. I simply lay on my bed. The options were simple and yet the decision, highly complex. I had to think about the consequences of each for every person I cared about.

I didn't have much family, only my parents really, but I had a lot of friends to make up for it and a beautiful girlfriend to worry about. I loved her very much. You may say that I couldn't have known at the age of 17 but I understood enough about love to know that I loved her. One option would mean I'd never get to see her or my friends again but the other would put them in terrible danger. Danger of death. I couldn't even pretend to understand why but that's what my parents had said, and despite the lack of relationship between us, I trusted them with my life and the lives of my friends.

I knew what I had to chose. Though it broke my heart to do so, I chose to leave, to protect November and the others from the demons in my parents' past. From the KGB.