Prehalia's Demons(Completed) I #Wattys2019

9 I ALL THAT IS MESSED UP

The scream of the bullet cuts through the air as I look at the ground shocked. Did my mother just fire a gun at me? And why am I not feeling any pain? And then I hear the loud bang as the metal pierces through the set of expensive plates that were neatly placed on top of the counter behind me.

Did she miss or did she not want to shoot me?

A sudden panic starts spreading from my chest to each part of my body. Does she know? That I have only one life left?

It all happened in the year that she was absent. I lost all my eight lives then.

"Look at me."

I do as I'm told because I'm reminded of the monster my mother is. I see her still pointing the gun at my head but I don't miss the slight tremble of her hands and the redness of her eyes. She's drunk. Again.

Back home for twenty minutes and already intoxicated to the point of firing a gun at me.

That's what I call motherly instincts.

When she sees the fear in my entire presence, she finally lets her hand go limp and the gun hits the floor a second after. Her stare is empty just like her heart and her soul. All I can see is a shell. And she knows that very well.

Without a word she speed walks through the kitchen and straight to the stairs. She's probably going to lock herself in her room for one whole day.

I finally take a shallow breath when I hear her door getting shut. I hug myself and let my body fall on the floor. I can't stop myself from shivering.

Now I have not one, not two but three things that might kill me.

One: The fact that I'm a Rat living as a Pretorian.

Two: Leonardo Sanchez.

Three: Elisa Samuels.

How much I wish for my sister to come back home as fast as she can. I need her. She has always been there for me since day one. Even when I was going through what I did she was still ready to help me and make me move forward.

She wanted to stop me.

She wanted to...

"Keely?" I hear a familiar voice at the entrance of the kitchen. "Oh, Keely..."

Jessica slides on the floor beside me and hugs me tightly. For the first time in a while I allow myself to cry. My life is getting gradually more messed up every time I open my eyes and I can't do anything about it other than, other than... I stare at my sister as she gets up, opens up a jar of pills and using a cup of water chugs the pill down her throat. I feel a familiar sensation. My palms start itching, my throat becomes dry.

Pills.

"Keelian? Keely?" Jess waves in front of my face when I don't respond. I guess she saw the pieces of what used to be plates behind me. "Keels don't tell me...Is our mother back?"

I only nod but it's enough for both of us to feel the terror creep up our spines and leave a track of cold sweat afterwards. That's the effect our mother has always had on us and judging by the events of today and the mental scar that it left, she always will.

After a moment of hesitation, my sister clears her throat. "We should ask someone to clean this." Her eyes roam worriedly the mess behind me.

I don't really care about those plates right now. I feel drunk even though the last time I drank was a year ago. "Jess?"

"Yeah, Keels." Suddenly her attention is back on me. I scan her face only to be met with what looks like a worried expression but mixed with something else...

"I, I met him today."

"Him? Who is him?" I look straight at her with the most stone glare I can muster and the realization sinks into her features only moments later. Her baby blues turn huge and she once again crouches beside me and grabs both my hands into hers. "What happened? Keelian, tell me everything."

I let her hug me and handle me like a child. I've hardly ever felt this even as a baby, so I enjoy every second of it as I tell Jessica the short moment of me meeting Leonardo.

And then it's time for the hardest part of it all to leave my lips. That single phrase he told me that we knew would turn my insides out and make me feel the way I did before. The way I felt last year.

"He told me..." I take in a shaky breath. "He told me that our brother is alive and he wants us dead."