***** If I missed any of the swaering please tell me and I'll edit it*****
“A bit late to be out here isn’t it Vanessa?” she asked her face twisted in some form of a demented smirk.
“Get out of my way.” I said.
“But you only just got here. Aren’t you having any fun?”
“F*** off Melody.”
“That’s not very nice is it? After all we have done for you.”
“Ha! Maybe you would like me to return the favour before I leave then? Hard object around the head wasn’t it?”
“Oh I do hope you’re not threatening me Vanessa. I would hate to see anything happen to that little girl of yours.”
“Is that it? Is that the best you have? Always fall back on threatening a little girl? Why don’t you grow some f****** b**** and threaten me instead?”
“I was wrong about you, you know.” She said. How she remained calm, I have no idea. I wasn’t shouting, but my voice was hard, layered with all the hate I had for the woman in front of me. “I thought you were like your mother, but your not are you? You’re like your father.”
“I am nothing like my father.”
She raised her eyebrow at me as she thought over what I had said. Did she honestly think I had any respect for him? So much that I would actually want to be like him?
She stepped forward stretching her body as she moved and I placed my hand round my back, resting my fingers on the gun, just waiting.
“You don’t know as much as you think you do, do you Melody?” I said.
“Oh little girl I know more than you think. I have been watching you for a very long time.”
“Then why wait till now? If it’s me your after why wait till now?”
“Things had to be set up Vanessa, things take time.”
“So you mean you’re slow?”
I saw her hand raise and I pulled the gun from the back of my jeans. “Go on do it.” I said daring her. Her hand stopped midway as if she was waving.
“You wouldn’t have the guts Vanessa. If you did you’d have shot us all by now.”
“What do you want Melody? I don’t have time for this. Now like I said before get out of my way.”
“Do you not wonder why?”
“Why what?”
“Why we are doing this,”
“Because you’re all f***** in the head?”
“Nice language Vanessa, but no.”
“It’s all because of my mother, your grandmother. So when your little girl dies you can blame her.”
“She has nothing to do with this, and if you ask me she was right to dump you and your brother, if I was her I would have drowned you both at birth, but then that’s hind sight for you isn’t it?”
Melody stepped forward and her hand came up fast, the bone of her wrist connecting with my bruised arm. The gun left my fingers and flew into the darkness. Something shined in her other hand as she brought it up to my face.
Defensively I brought my other arm up automatically protecting my face, I felt something sharp slice through the flesh of my forearm and in that split second she looked to the damage, she had just done. I saw my moment and brought my gun hand up, using the ball of my hand to smash into the bridge of her nose.
She fell back a step, blood pouring out between her fingers, her knife still in her hand. She focused her eyes on me, nothing but sheer hatred reflected in her eyes. She charged forward launching her self at me and we fell together onto the floor. She held the knife above my face, the only thing stopping it was my weak grip.
Pure adrenalin ran through my body and I screamed, as I forced all that I was worth into my arm that was stopping her, I pushed hard as she pushed against me, trying to get the knife level with my chest.
She leant all her weight onto me, on her arm. I pushed back, lifting myself off the ground. In an instant as her grip wavered her hand, wet with blood from her nose she slipped and I sent the knife deep into her, just below her rib cage. I twisted it as all the anger and pain they had put me through rode me.
Her body was heavy; I rolled her off me onto her back and got up. The knife still in my hand, I had pulled it out as I moved. Melody was gripping her body; blood was seeping through her cheap top. She stared at me, her face contorted in pain as I watched her die in front of me. I showed no remorse.
“For my mother.” I spat at her. “Your life for hers.”
I looked back towards the house, a light had come on, but I couldn’t see anyone. I was going to save my daughters life and Marks even if it meant killing Ethan.
Melody was dead when I looked back down, her eyes stared up blankly at the sky, and her blooded arms had fallen loosely by her side. I had never killed anyone before. I always imagined that if it ever happened it would be an accident and I would never get over it, but looking at Melody’s lifeless body, I felt nothing. There was no pride that I had killed her, but there was no regret either. She got what she deserved and I had done it for my mother, for Robin and Mark.
I knelt down next to her body and put my hands in her pockets. Her body was warm against the material of her clothes and I kept my eyes locked on hers while I searched just in case, because the heat coming from her made her feel alive and I expected her to get up any time. They always get up for one last scare.
She didn’t move though and I pulled her keys from her trouser pocket, standing up I dropped the knife next to her, turned, and ran into the dark. I ran until I just couldn’t run any further, following the faint path on the other side of the trees. I still hadn’t come to a road though and it felt like I had been running for hours. I couldn’t see any cars, there were none at the house, but Ethan had driven us here his must have been somewhere. Cramp started in the back of my calves and my chest hurt as my body tried desperately the take in every piece of air that it could.
Bending over I placed my hands on my knees and breathed in deeply, trying to control my breath before moving on again. Their cars had to be here somewhere. They hadn’t walked here it was too far.
I walked for a few minutes trying to shake of the ache that was taking residence in any part of my body that it could find. I couldn’t see the house any more, but as I walked, further I could see what looked like a barn. There was a lane leading off from the path I had been following. If I hadn’t have been walking I would have missed it, it was so concealed.
I stood at the edge of the trees and searched for signs of anyone before running across the path and up the lane. The barn stood cheerfully at the end, shadowed by the farmhouse beside it. The whole place looked dark and abandoned, but still it held some kind of homely picture, like the Walton’s would come skipping out any moment.
I reached the barn and pulled on the door, but it wasn’t a barn at all. Inside were three cars. One of them I recognised, it was Ethan’s, but the other two I had never seen before. I assumed they belonged to Melody and Luke. Apart from the cars, the barn was basically empty. A few old boxes littered the far corner with a broken broom resting against them, but aside from that, there was nothing.
I pulled Melody’s keys out of my pocket and pressed the key. A white Audi flashed its indicators at me and the locking mechanism on the doors clicked open. The car smelt new when I opened the door. Its leather upholstery was still showroom stiff as I slid onto the seat.
Placing the key in the ignition, I paused, listening for anyone that might have followed me. Ethan as far as I was aware was still in the house and Melody was dead in the woods, but I had no idea where Luke was. Hopefully he was lying dead somewhere too, but I doubted that very much.
The car came to life first time and I cringed, as the noise of the engine seemed loud. God I hoped they wouldn’t hear it from the house. I put the car into first and let it crawl out of the barn. I kept the headlights off. I didn’t want to attract them any more than I had to. Getting out of the house had been too easy this had to be some kind of setup and I was ready for them to pounce any minute, but I kept on going just in case I was going to make it out.
