Open fire

Part 27 "Choices are never simple"

"But I do Tayla, all of us do. Xavier never took care of you, did he? He just used you for his tricks, illusions. He sent you to spend all that time with us for nothing and he didn't even care. Nothing that you did made him proud because he wanted just one thing: revenge. And you were just a pawn in his little game" Mali presses her down with furrowed brows and completely serious face.

"Stop. Just stop..." Tayla said almost inaudible, her eyes shut tightly, her whole body trembling.

"You know that I'm right! He never looked at you like a daughter, he looked at you just like every other person he used to become what he was. He never cared for you properly, raised you to become a good person and all you wanted was from him to say-" Mali took a pause for a short breath.

"I love you" Tayla and her said in unison while you and Calum couldn't believe what was happening. Was she really driven by this? All this hatred for all of her life, Xavier was the cause of the problem? A father that never loved his daughter? Tayla started crying slowly, some of her makeup getting smudged.

"Shut up! Fucking shut up!" she yelled at her, slapping Mali across the face. Calum tried to lunge at her immediately, the chair keeping him from doing so. You tried to do something, but it was pointless as well. Mali just looked back at Tayla again, her left cheek had a red handprint on it that must've hurt. She looked directly at her eyes, not blinking for a split second, they weren't glowing, they were their natural colour brown when she whispered.

"Make me" with a daring look. Tayla looked absolutely shocked, her mouth went dry as she kept closing it and opening it, at a loss for words. You kept looking at Mali, she was your idol at that moment and you could tell Calum had the same feeling. Tayla took a step back and just stared at the three of you, especially at Mali. You thought that from the look on her face she was going to start crying again, but it was quite the opposite. That same evil glint in her eyes returned and a smirk was now on her face again, almost as if that whole conversation never happend a minute ago. She started laughing at first quietly, but then really burst out laughing and you couldn't tell if she was acting or something could be this funny. Mali didn't buy any of it one second and neither did Calum, yet you were confused, but after all they did know her earlier and no matter how good an actor is, there is some truth at the core of his character.

"Listen to me closely now..." she started, eyes closed, head hung low, but a small played on her lips.

"You have multiple choices here and your actions will have consequences" she continues on. She looks up, her lips in a thin line and those blue eyes weren't good like the ocean, they were cold like ice.

"So we'll play a little game, and no talking anymore" she says, getting something from her backpocket. It was a weirdly shaped dagger, not like your, straight and light. This one looked like it could break with one wrong move, it looked very old, and it was bent in a moon shaped way, but cut off halfway.

"What are you doing Tayla?" Calum snarls, but he receives a shock for that with Tayla moving her finger left and right saying.

"Remember the rules".

She walks behind you and Mali, right in the middle, gliding her finger across the blade and licking her lips whilst staring at it like it was the most precious thing ever.

"Here's the catch, there are two cameras, the one where your friends can see and hear us, and the other one-" she smirks, still looking at the blade.