Life Support #wattys2015

Chapter 20: Isaac

Isaac rubbed his back, which was sore from where he landed on the boulder. The dragon turned around and took him back to Nellie's house. Isaac let out a long breath, watching as the dragon turned slowly and landed on the ground. "What do you want me to do?" He asked unhappily, but the dragon simply responded by glancing away.

 "You planned that, didn't you?" Annoyance filled Isaac's voice.

The dragon affirmed his guess by nodding its head. 

"Why do you want me to know that I can't die? I would've found out on my own, eventually." The dragon turned its head towards him once again and pushed his waist, the gun biting into his skin.

Isaac shook his head, "She's my sister."

The dragon pushed him towards the door. Isaac shook his head, "I can't do that. You know I can't." The dragon turned to the tree—this one seemed to be made of wood—and let out a fireball, its leaves becoming embers and its trunk becoming tinder. The message was clear: you kill her or I will.

"What has she even done?" Isaac demanded, his voice rising and straining, "What atrocity has she committed that murder is the answer?"

The dragon didn't answer, so Isaac sighed and said, "Look, if I go in, can I just see if I can talk her down?"

The dragon pushed him once more, and Isaac said, "I'm going, I'm going," before opening the door, surprised to find a knife pointing at his forehead. "Nellie?"

The girl's hand—not his sister's, not anymore—shook as she announced, "I told you to stay away." Her voice was strained and if Isaac dared look past the knife, he knew he would see her eyes closed. He knew she wouldn't be able to say something like that with her eyes on him.

But, as he slowly raised his eyes, taking a step back and putting his hands up, he saw that her eyes were indeed on his. He swallowed and replied, "Nice to see you too, sis." She wasn't his sister anymore, but perhaps she might have some sentimentality left for her brother. 

Nellie took a step forward, the knife still pointed at him, "Stay away."

"Why? What have I done to you?"

"You left me!" her eyes now filled with tears that disappeared with a few rapid blinks. Nellie looked at the ceiling. Isaac remembered how, even when she was a child, she would hate crying in front of people. Once the tears were gone, she continued, "You left me, and I've done everything I could to make the world a good place—and at first it was to make it a world you'd like to live in, but now it's changed, and this world is the best I could make it. There aren't any wars and there aren't any classes. I won't let you mess up everything I've worked for."

"Then why did Fai's parents beat him?" Isaac demanded, "If your world is perfect, how come there's still abuse and violence? It's not that there aren't any more wars, Nellie, they're just fought quieter on more easily-hidden battlefields," he took in a deep breath, "and there are classes. Two. The wanted and the unwanted. I would be in the latter, sister. Think about that."

"I never said it was perfect! I know there's still abuse—"

"Then why didn't you stop it?"

"And I know that there's still violence! But there will never be a world without those, brother! I don't stop it because I can't fix the entire planet's problems!"

"So you don't even try?"

"Of course I try! I punish people for bad parenting, of course I do. I was about to punish Fai's parents before he broke the world! It isn't my fault that everything literally came crashing down around me."