❝ ɢᴜɪʟᴛ ɪs ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴏʀᴍᴇɴᴛ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪᴠɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ
ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ: ᴛʜᴇ sᴏᴜʟ's ᴛᴏʀᴍᴇɴᴛ, ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴄᴀɴ ʀᴇʟɪᴇᴠᴇ ʙᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ
ᴍᴇʀᴄʏ ᴏғ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ❞
~~~
🇬 🇦 🇧 🇷 🇮 🇪 🇱 🇱 🇦 :
Four years ago; September 2011.
Sweat pools in my hand as I tighten it around the grip of the pistol. I suck in a sharp breath and let my finger find the trigger. My eyes lift, and zero in on my target.
Aurora sits at a picnic table with a teenage boy. I'm assuming her son. She passes him a sandwich, and I watch his lips as he mutters a simple 'thanks mom'. I move my eyes back to my target, zeroing in on her neck.
To kill quickly is to acquire the pulse and eliminate it.
My heart speeds up when I see the gentle up and down of her pulse in her neck. I swallow against the lump that forms in my throat, and my eyes move between the boy and his mother. It's a cruel thing to kill her in front of him, but do I really have a choice right now?
Without thinking about it a second longer, I put pressure on the trigger. The bullet glides through the air and lodges in her throat. The boy goes through multiple stages of shock as he screams for his mother.
But my eyes stay glued to hers. She found me hiding in the bushes once the bullet hit a nerve. I watched as her eyes faded of color, and her skin turned pale. I watched her son, and soon her daughter fall to their knees in front of her, sobbing their eyes out. Begging her to wake up when she never would. I watched all of it with tears in my eyes and regret embedded in my veins as I made my escape.
♡♡♡
The midday breeze brushes against my cheek in a feather-like caress. And the sunset turns the sky beautiful hues of oranges and reds. I pull my legs up to my chest and rest my chin on my knees as Theo takes a seat beside me.
Once we got home, not even twenty minutes ago, Hunter told us to grab something quick to eat and meet him in the backyard. I didn't bother getting any food just in case my body decides to bring it up again.
When I finally settled on sitting on the damp grass, Hunter sent me a text saying he'd be there in a minute and that he was just grabbing a few things. This might just be my impatience talking, but it's been well over ten minutes, and I'm tired of waiting.
Jason sits beside Theo and shoots me a smile in greeting before interlocking his hand with hers. My eyes soften at the sight. If someone's going to be happy in life, I'm glad it's Theo. Even if I've only known these people for a little over a week, this place is slowly starting to feel like home.
"Since we're on the path of telling the truth," Theo speaks up suddenly, "I don't think there'll ever be a right time to tell you this, so I'll just blurt it out and we'll go from there, okay?" My eyes find hers, and I nod.
"Okay— wow, your eyes are really pretty in the sunlight." A laugh bubbles up my throat, and I try to suppress it with a smile.
"Dory," Jason says, and it comes out almost as a warning. She turns to him, and his eyebrows lift up.
"Oh, sorry," she says with a laugh as she turns back to me. "Yeah, so, uhm— what was I saying?" I let out a light laugh and see Jason shake his head with a smile on his face.
"No right time," he offers her, and her face lights up with recognition. I can't help but find it adorable. Can't help but find them adorable.
"Right." She clears her throat rather aggressively. "I'm your sister."
At first, confusion floods my system, almost as if I hadn't heard her correctly. Then comes the shock. Then, more confusion for how that's even possible. Then, a little bit of disgust because Hunter could very well be my brother, and all I've ever felt for him was non-sibling like feelings.
I think I'm going to throw up again.
She must sense my feelings because she quickly corrects herself, "You and Hunter are not related. Hunter and I share a father, and you and I share a mother. We don't do the whole Sweet Home Alabama shit here." I drop my legs and stretch them out in front of me.
"Thank god—"
"I mean, if you're into that…" She trails off. Jason and I share the same look of utter shock.
"Theodora, we spoke about this. Some thoughts need to stay in your head." Jason says.
"Oh, yeah." She says with a laugh, as if what she just said was remotely funny. "Sorry, I forgot."
Before she can allow her thoughts to spill out of her mouth further, two cardboard boxes drop in the middle of us. My eyes move up to find Hunter looming over us.
As weird as it might be to admit this, I'll admit it anyway. Knowing that he could've been my brother and finding out that he isn't, makes him even more attractive.
He shoots me a heart melting smile and claps his hands together.
"Alright, let's get this started."
YOU ARE READING
The Heart Wants What It Wants
Teen Fiction❝ She wanted a fresh start, He wanted normalcy, But their past had other plans. ❞ ~~~ For the majority of her life, Gabriella had to endure all the things a child should never have to experience. After nearly two years of planning to start afresh...
