ODE TO THE END: A BALLAD OF BROTHERS

CHAPTER 22

Brielle was pushed back by the booming question. Shell shocked, the shy girl was pinched in place with lips stuttering. Such a showing was proof enough for Naomi, and she pressed the point as kindly as she could.

"Y-You don't have to lie," Naomi said. "I promise it's okay if you know who Achim is, because I can tell you're a really good person. You're a good person that wouldn't hurt anyone."

    "...You don't know that," Brielle muttered.  She clenched her stomach all the tighter. The growls were getting louder.

"But I do," Naomi replied. Naomi took a few steps forward.

Brielle responded by taking twice the distance back.

"Brielle, I promise that everything will be fine. You can be honest with me," said Naomi.

The shy girl clenched her abdomen as she tried to ease out of Naomi's reach. Her fingers dug at her stomach, scratching a gnawing itch Naomi was far too focused to notice. The sun-kissed girl approached and kept on approaching, until her feebler companion was pressed against the grungy walls.

"I-I-I should really get back," said Brielle. "F-for dinner, I mean."

"Brielle. I know you're lying," Naomi declared.

"B-but I really don't know that guy," Brielle responded. "Not before we bumped into each other today. I-I promise I'm not lying, now...I-I'm sorry, but I really need to eat. C-can you please let me pass?"

Naomi had no intention of doing that. With a face inflated with frustration, her feet melded to the muddy pallet below. She aimed her bright eyes on Brielle and allowed them to rip through the lies the stuttering girl so poorly told. Brielle may have no longer graced the sun-kissed Caitlyn with a look, but Naomi knew the reason. Brielle, in Naomi's eyes, was weak.

All of Naomi's previous observations proved this to be true. She had been dragged into her and Achim's custody and backed into this corner for no other reason but that. It was true that Brielle had finally shown some semblance of a spine in this direct confrontation, and her conviction proved surprising to Naomi, but it was too late now. Beneath the backdrop of lamp light and filth, Naomi knew that the stalemate would end the moment Brielle caught her accusing stare. Yes. This was a crucible of wills, and Naomi knew that she had this shadow of combatant under her heel.

"I know you're lying, Brielle," Naomi pressed.

Brielle's belly bellowed again. The strange sound was the stuff of thunder; even Naomi could feel the depths of Brielle's empty stomach. Needless to say, the shy girl keeled over as if she were hit by a sledgehammer. She fell so low that Naomi dove to hold her up. The sun-kissed girl forgot her mission in that moment, but, even in such a dreadful state, Brielle did not.

"I-I won't tell," Brielle said. "I promised. And I always keep my promises."

It was at this moment that Brielle, who had been but a baby star before the sun, dared to glow. Naomi fell victim to the pitch black stare of the little shadow and saw the smile of what one would only call a monster. Brielle bared her teeth with that toothy grin and between her gums stood jagged fangs that dripped with hungering spittle. It was the maw of a beast so beyond Naomi's experience that, as she sat stunned by the absolute terror she thought to coddle, she wondered how she had missed them. It soon became clear that Brielle was used to hiding those cutting canines. The war of wills began anew and, on the eve of the reveal, Naomi's bright gaze shuddered in the shadow of a girl she thought so low.

Naomi would have been the rightful loser, but she would not suffer the impending defeat. The bashful Brielle shoved Naomi backward, out of the way of an unseen harm. Unseen, until Naomi heard the brick wall burst.