I Chose to Die (Siren Suicides, Book 1)

Chapter 15. Restroom Stall

Four sirens open their mouths as one. I'm arrested by their terrible beauty. There is Pisinoe, looking no more than a thirteen-year-old if you met her dressed in normal clothes; innocent and cute. Yet, her face opens into a grimace of utter malice. Behind her is Ligeia, tall and lanky like a gazelle, with delicate facial features that transform into a ghostly yawn. Next to her, Teles forms a perfect O with her lips, but there is nothing adorable about it, never mind her slightly chubby cheeks. Her mouth is open wide, her lips stretched to the breaking point as if she's about to reek audible poison. And Canosa. Canosa's skull looks like it will break in two, with every single tooth exposed, her tongue trembling, and her eyes ablaze with hatred. If you dared to lay a finger in her mouth, she wouldn't just bite it off, she'd swallow you whole. Me? What about me? I sit bolted to the floor, dumbstruck.

"Die, siren hunter! Die!" They yell in perfect harmony. Sound waves hit the air and travel outward in one gigantic circle. Walls shake, and the stall door flies off its hinges and drops with a loud clank on the tile floor, barely missing my father. Particleboard dust rises in a cloud, and faucets fizz with water. Mirrors shimmer as a pond's surface shimmers from a light breeze. I cover my ears, so does Hunter. We cower.

The sirens continue yelling at the top of their lungs.

"Lose your mind! Shed your skin! Let your bones rot in a pile! Vanish into our sweet siren meadow!"

Following each of their cries, one by one, other stall doors fly off their hinges, crowding the floor, adding to the dust in the air. The pendant lights zap above us. Shaped like tiny barrels and emitting a yellow glow, they flicker at first, then go out one by one, shattering into a sparkling shower of broken glass.

I watch it in a trance, my gaze fixed on my father. A solitary figure, he stands not more than five feet away, dust on his polished shoes, glass shards in his hair. Yet, he does not move. Only the skin on his face tightens and looks pulled back as if he stuck his face out of a fast moving train, letting the cruel wind hit him. His eyes are on me, and I freeze. He holds a sonic gun in his right hand, and he slowly moves, pointing it at me without hesitation.

Hunter raises his head and looks back and forth between the two of us. From the corner of my eye, I see beads of sweat prickle his forehead, his knuckles going white as he clasps his hands over his ears to shield himself from the sirens' shouting. I don't need to turn my head to know he's studying me, deciding what to do next.

The sirens keep yelling, deafening me.

Papa keeps standing, aiming at me.

Hunter keeps shaking, staring at me.

I feel like I'm in the middle of a terrible dream, where everything that could go wrong, did. And everything that could go right went wrong anyway, just to show me that it's no use dreaming. Life sucks and so do dreams, whether I like it or not, and I'd better get used to it. There are no hopes. Nothing ever turns out the way I want, and there is nobody to blame except myself. I'm the one who plunged into this game, starting from the moment I stepped into the bathtub full of water. Then I ran away. Then I jumped from the bridge. Then I dared to die and be born again.

Maybe Canosa is right, maybe there is nothing more to it than having fun while we can. All people die anyway, so why should it matter if they die as babies or adults? And who says your family is the one you were born into? That's utter bullshit. Who says that guy over there is my father? Who says I have no right to snuff him out like a candle? Who?

I make up my mind.

The rest happens in slow motion. Papa squeezes the trigger on his gun as I tense and jump up, my eyes glazed, my mouth opening in a scream. The skin on my forehead tightens from my eyes bulging out of their sockets. I lightly touch the ceiling with the back of my head as Papa's gun fires and hits Teles instead of me. It only touches her right side, so she shimmers for a moment, a cloud of particles ready to burst into air. Then, she collects back into herself, though her shouting dies at once.