Catching Feelings

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Nothing Left (Derek)

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Nothing Left (DEREK)

I watch her as she pulls the knife from her dress; her hand is shaky, unsure. She looks conflicted, like her head and her heart weren't on the same page of what to do.

I can't help her, I can't stop her; all I can do it bang on the invisible wall and hope she knows exactly what the hell she's doing.

Her father stands very still, his arms stretched out, his head tipped back as he belts out the words of whatever spell to end the world he was trying to preform. He doesn't see her pull out the knife, doesn't see the anger and resentment and sadness she battles as she makes her decision, doesn't see her until its too late.

Skylar looks at us briefly, her eyes locking exactly with mine and I notice that they bear so much guilt and regret; nothing like the beautiful blues I've peered into so many times before.

And then it hit me; that girl wasn't Skylar at all; something had changed.

She looks away and plunges the knife deep into her father's stomach area, tears streaming down her face.

While it happens, I think of the fact that he didn't see her as she pulled out the knife, he didn't see what was coming for him and I can't help but think that it resembles Skylar's relationship with he father so perfectly.

Malum never considered how Skylar  would feel when he did all the things he did. He never saw her as this broken girl hidden behind the face of his daughter, who couldn't deal with the fact that her mom died even after many years passed.

He didn't see her break down every night before she went to bed because she missed her mom so bad she couldn't breathe.

He never saw her for who she truly was-all the good and the bad and the imperfections that she struggled with and the human feelings she felt-all he saw her as was a powerful weapon he created.

Aislinn's scream from somewhere beside me draws me back to reality and I take notice that Aidenn is deathly quiet, and I stand there in a much similar position.

Because none of us could believe she had actually just done what she did.

She killed her own father.

But she had to, because he was going to destroy the world and everything in it if she didn't.

She lowers herself to the ground beside him; still sticking by his side even after all the horrible things he had done in the past; to our parents, to her mom, to her.

Malum manipulated her more than he did anyone. He built her up on lies and broken promises, on a fake identity, and watched her fall to pieces when he ripped away the illusion layer for layer.

She loved him; you could see it, and not even the weight of his betrayal could change the way she felt.

She remained loyal to him until the end, despite of what they'd both done.

It was disturbing and twisted, but then again, so was Malum so it only seemed fitting.

Malum's chest stops moving and then his body lights up in flames, and despite being a great distance away, I could still feel the intensity and heat coming from the fire.

I look away but then I come face to face with Skylar's grandparents, dead and lying lifelessly on the ground, my aunt standing just a few steps away, her look distant.

Skylar gets up slowly after his body stops burning, and tilts her face to the sky, a broken smile appearing on her face.

I saw the look in her eyes when the knife went into her father's navel chakra; she looked angry and scared, but she also looked dark and powerful. It was a side of Skylar I had never seen before.