Death in the family

I didn't like going to the forest in the middle of the night. Neither did I like my brother’s annoying girlfriend, Eliana. But on that fateful day, I agreed to help him look for her. When Edmund told me that she was missing, I told him it was for the best. Instead of laughing at my inhumane joke, Edmund started sobbing. He looked so sad and broken that I eventually agreed to help him which turned out to be a terrible idea.

The moon cast an eerie glow over the vast forest as we made our way through it. Edmund matched my long strides, struggling to keep up. As we ventured deeper into the forest, the silence become stronger.

“I don’t think we’ll find her,” I said, feeling tired. We had been searching for over an hour and had not got any lead. “Maybe she ran away.”

“Don’t say that,” Edmund said, making me roll my eyes. “She came in here to find some herbs. She must be around the Western plantation.”

“This is very risky,” I said, the same thing I’d said repeatedly. “Jackson King took over that plantation. If his men find us there, we will be killed. Maybe they killed her for trespassing.”

“I know that, but his men are not always here at night. Eliana said they spend their evenings and nights at Hive bar. That’s why she decided to come here in the evening.”

“Fine, I hope she was right. I can’t believe I’m risking my life for that brat.”

“Shut up.”

I gasped and stopped. “How dare you tell me to shut up when I’m here because of you and your stupid girlfriend who-

Suddenly, a resounding crack sounded as a bullet collided with the massive trunk of a beech tree. We ducked just in time as shards of bark flew in different directions. The bullet ricocheted and whizzed through the air. For a moment, we stayed silent and still. After recovering, Edmund crawled closer to me.

“What are we going to do?” he asked.

“How am I supposed to know?” I said. “I swear if I die today, I’m going to haunt you forever.”

My brother ignored my threats and moved closer to me. I could feel his body trembling. When I looked into his blue eyes, all I could see was fear.

“We’re going to have to run,” I told him. “It’s the only solution to this madness.” 

Suddenly, the silence was shattered by the sound of cracking branches and rustling leaves. I tensed as my ears perked up. I could hear the sound of footsteps traversing towards us.

“Let’s go,” I said and stood up, gesturing for my brother to follow me. We started running in the opposite direction to avoid the warriors. Silver bullets flew past our heads as we ran through the dense forest, occasionally using trees to shield ourselves. The warriors were faster than us and I could feel closing in on us. I could have run faster, but Edmund was slow and I could not leave him behind. 

I heard a thud and looked back, only to see my brother falling down. I didn’t have to think about it twice. I ran back and tried to lift him up, but he was very heavy. I could hear the warriors getting closer, but soon became more focused on removing the silver bullet that had lodged itself in my brother’s chest and was quickly shutting his body down.

“Stay with me, Ed.” I said, trying to get my hand through his chest. I could feel his heart losing strength.  Then it just stopped. 

“NOOO!” I cried as I dug through his heart, finally locating the small bullet and pulling it out. Unfortunately, it was too late. Edmund was gone.

“Ahhh,” I cried out, looking up only to see that two warriors surrounded me. The metallic M on their uniforms shone in the night.

I siphoned strength from my wolf as I stood up. The tallest warrior lunged forward, swinging his sword towards me. At lightning speed, I evaded the blade and countered the attack with a swipe of a poisoned dagger I had carried with me. I tore through his uniform, leaving a huge gash of red on his chest. He charged at me and I sunk the blade through his chest before kicking him. As he fell to the ground, the other one lifted his gun to shoot me, but I lunged forward and grabbed it. We both fought for the gun he was trying so hard to shoot at me. 

He managed to take control of it and push me to the ground and then tried to shoot. I closed my eyes, bracing for the worst. It never came. When I opened them, he was reaching out to his pockets, looking for more bullets. I grabbed the poisoned dagger from the other man and swiftly stood up, stabbing the second one before he knew what was going on.

When he was down, I reached into the pockets and removed the bullets before loading the gun and shooting both in their hearts. Dropping the gun, I went and lifted my brother before carrying him to the pack.

When I reached the pack house, I was exhausted. I placed Edmund’s body on the courtyard, knelt beside it and started wailing. Lights were turned on in different rooms and doors started opening. A minute later, there were several people in the yard.

Suddenly, I was pulled away from the body and forced to stand. Looking up, I stared into my father’s blazing eyes. I moved closer to hug him but he pushed me with so much force that I fell and hit my head on the ground. The searing pain I felt was nothing compared to what had happened. Edmund died because I refused to be an adult and stop him from doing something stupid.

“What is the meaning of this?” he growled. The crowd suddenly become very still and quiet, all eyes on me as I tried to stand up.

“It was his idea,” I said, feeling a lump in my throat. “I’m so sorry that I agreed to go along with when I should have stopped him.”

Without warning, my father appeared by my side. He grabbed my neck and started squeezing it tightly. I stared at him, wide eyed, thinking he was going to kill me.