Reminiscence

Chapter .41.

"Now you know the reason, brother. Now you know why I did all that. I can't let two people ruin my grand plan, now can I?" He seemed to have regained his composure, his dry tears ghosts of the pain that would always be there.

"Dawn, being you is the greatest thing you could ever be. I'm far from perfect, and believe me, my life is too. Please, just listen to me and come back home. Come back to Livia and Johnathan. Come back to me."

Dawn's face contorts into fury.
"I know you aren't perfect, Aiden, but I grew up thinking you were, and old habits die hard. Dawn is dead. I am Aiden now, and nothing, even you can change that."

"Please, Dawn, I'm willing to forgive you for all that you have done. I want you to come to us and complete our family." I say, putting all the agony I had felt from him into my words. Because pain, after all, is the best cure to pain.

I step closer to him and grip his shoulders. "You can fill the space in the pictures once and for all, Dawn. And we'll be right there, everything you ever wanted."

Dawn looked pained, torn between two things. Now I could see how unstable his erratic, confused mind was. He had grown up this way, and was scarred. Our father had made him feel worthless for reasons unknown, and I was going to fix that, because family is family, no matter how retarded they can be. Quite literally in this situation.

He let out a heart-wrenching sob and leaned into me.

I wrapped my arms around his tense, shaking body, elated that he had given family another shot.

Then I feel the sharp edge of a blade rip through my stomach and bury itself in my gut.

I don't even feel the pain at first, because of the waves of shock and betrayal stinging me, but then it comes, like the calm before a storm.

Burning, piercing pain flooding every sense. I cough as I feel the blood make it's way up my throat and spill across my lips. The dagger still rests in my gut, now staining my white shirt with crimson.

I hear Renesse howl in anger and tackle Dawn to the floor, throwing punch after punch at his face.

I fall to my knees as the blood loss makes the edges of my vision black.

I see a blurry Renesse run to me and clutch my face, her beautiful eyes dripping with beads of water and running down her panic-stricken face.

She heaves and tries to lift me up, but I see the blond man come up from behind her and hold a gun to her head. She freezes and a sob rips through her.

She stands up slowly, and turns to face the gun.

"Please," She says, and I had never heard her sound so desperate before. "Please just let him live, and we'll never bother you again. We won't ask any more questions, and stay out of your life, but please, please let him live."

Dawn gets up from the floor, wiping his bloody nose.
"Oh, but Renesse, there's only one Aiden isn't there?"

The gun clicks as Blondie repositions the gun straight at my head and rests his finger on the trigger, ready to take my life at a command.

"Kill him." Dawn says, and I hear his voice waver for a second.

"No!" Renesse screams and jumps in the way.

My heart stops beating as I watch the bullet rip through her skull and lodge itself in her brain.

I let out a guttural scream and pounce at Blondie. He wasn't expecting an attack from me, considering my situation, and was unguarded. I snatch the gun from his grip and shoot him straight in the head.

I didn't even think twice about taking his life. I just did. Adrenaline pulsed through my veins and numbed the pain. All I saw was red, and Renesse laying at my feet unmoving.

The man's eyes roll back into his skull and he collapses on the floor, his blood staining the carpet.

"What have you done?" Dawn says and crouches down as he examines his bodyguard's corpse, his voice breaking.

I press the barrel of the gun into his skull.

"Showed no mercy. Just like you did with everyone I ever cared about."

Then I pull the trigger, and watch his eyes widen as the bullet rips through his shirt and pierces his chest.

He groans in pain and slumps to the floor, life ebbing away from him.

It was like shooting yourself in the heart.

But I didn't have time to dwell on my brother. I turn my attention back to Renesse's limp body, slowly losing its warmth and the blood seeping out from the hole in the side of her skull.

I was aware that the dagger in my gut was bound to make me black out at some point so I brace myself as I clutch the hilt of the weapon and pull it out from my stomach.

I scream in pain and tie Blondie's Hello Kitty apron around the gushing wound to contain the loss of blood.

Then I pick up my dying best friend and drag myself to the car, because she's all I had left of my past, and everything I looked forward to in the future.

This one is dedicated to me, for not giving up on the ideas I had. Thanks, man.