VI – Leader's Puppy

“I am sure that I saw her walk in this direction”

“She is beaten up, so she won’t get that far. She also doesn’t have any weapon”

“SPILT UP IN GROUPS, AND FIND HER”

I closed my mouth with the palm of my hand because my breath is unsteady. When I made sure that they are gone, bushed the bush out of my way and I started walking slowly in the direction of my mother’s house, ignoring the burning pain in every inch of my body. I angrily wiped the blood from my nose and I walked faster. It has been almost two hours since everyone saw my sign, which is impossible; there no one that ever existed had both signs. As soon as my father saw my sign, they dragged me to his office and started beating the living soul out of me, until I gathered the strength to fight them and escape. Besides, here I am, trying my best to take a few more steps until I reach my house.

I closed my mouth when I heard footsteps nearby, I jumped behind a bush, waiting for however is behind me to leave.

“Devika” a girly voice slowly whispered. I closed my eyes shut, trying to decide whether I should trust her or not. She is your best friend Devika, you can trust her.

“Amaris?” I said with a broken voice, I managed to stand up, I looked around me to find her, and she was standing to my right. She gasped when she saw me. She ran to me, she opened her arms to hug me but I raised my hand in her face to stop her.

“I don’t have time for your pity Amaris, I need to see my mother before anything happens,” I said as I turned around to keep walking. Amaris surprised me by running to me and wrapping her hand around my waist.

“Let’s go,” she said as she helped walk faster. A few moments later, I found myself standing in front of the door again, Amaris knocked on the door. The door flew wide open with a blink of an eye; mother gasped when she saw me, she quickly grabbed me and pulled me inside.

“WHAT HAPPENED TO HER” mother screamed as she helped lay down on the couch, Amaris locked the door and mother helped her by closing the curtains.

“Her sign” Amaris whispered, Mother raised a brow at her then she rushed to me.

“What is your sign?” she asked me, I opened my mouth to answer her but I started coughing, my mother handed me a tissue and I grabbed it and I started coughing harder; when I finished coughing, I noticed red dots on the tissue, FUCKING FANTASTIC.

“Amaris what is her sign?” mother asked Amaris, who nervously rubbed the back of her head.

“She has both signs, half-moon, and half-sun connected,” Amaris answered. Mother looked at me with pity inside her eyes, yet she did not give me the slightest hint that she is shocked.

“Why aren’t you shocked?” I asked her and she roughly rubbed her forehead.

“Is there anything you need to tell us?” Amaris asked her, mother took a long sip from the glass of water that was sitting on the table.

“Someone told me, a person informed me that you will be special, but I didn’t want to believe it,” she said as she looked away, to avoid my gaze.

“You didn’t want to believe it, or were you scared of my father?” I angrily asked her, she closed her eyes and nodded slowly.

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?” I screamed on top of my lungs, ignoring the burning pain in my body. Both Amaris and mother flinched; they both opened their eyes wide in shock.

“Devika I can’t explain or your father will kill me,” mother said and I scoffed at her.

“OR HE MIGHT KILL ME FOR FUCKS SAKE” I screamed at her, this is where I have reached in life, screaming at my mother for being scared of my father.

“You don’t understand; you are not the only one” mother angrily said, I swallowed the gulp in my throat.

“Come again?” Amaris and I asked in unison. Before mother had the chance to answer, we heard rough footsteps fill the entire neighborhood.

“Stay here,” Amaris said and she opened the door and walked out, closing it behind her. Mother took out an envelope from her pocket and handed it to me.

“Guard this with your life; don’t open it until you escape. I am pretty sure that the soldiers will walk in here any minutes, I want you to hide in the big cabinet in the kitchen, and when it’s time, run and never look back. You will find multiple weapons in the cabinets. Grab them and protect yourself” mother carefully said, and then she grabbed me and hugged me tight, tight as if this is our last hug, which will not be.

“Go,” she said as she helped me stand up and walked me to the kitchen, she gave me two shotguns and a dagger, I stuffed ammo in my pocket and I looked at her deep in the eyes.

“Don’t….look…back” she gritted in between her teeth, and then she closed the kitchen door. I sat down in front of the door, looking through the small hole in the door. Also, that is when the main door flew wide open and barged in around six soldiers and my father.

“Where is she?” father roared. Mother stood up to face him.

“She is supposed to be in the center of the town” mother calmly told him, he scoffed at her.

“Amaris?” father said, and at this moment, I felt my heart drop down to my feet.

“She is lying, Devika was laying down on this couch a few moments ago, she is hiding somewhere in the house, there is no way she escaped” a female voice happily said, and that is when my eye landed on Amaris. She just betrayed me, she just betrayed both mother and me. At this exact moment, I am no longer sure if I will be able to keep the tears in any longer.

“You fucking bitch, if anyone harms my daughter again, you will be the first one to be killed by me” mother screamed at Amaris, Amaris did not bother giving any reaction besides laughing.

“I warned you,” father said, mother opened her eyes wide in fear. She turned around but my father yanked her by her hair. She yelped in pain.

“DON’T DO IT, I AM BEGGING YOU” mother screamed at top of her lungs. Father just looked at Amaris and they both smirked. What is going on?

“I gave you one last warning, and yet you help her hide. What a shame, I never imagined myself killing my wife” father said, I quickly closed my mouth before the gasp went out. No, he will not do it; he will not do it I am sure. Father placed the pistol on the back of her head. Moreover, that is when my entire world stopped.

“DEVIKA RUN” mother screamed on top of her lungs, and everything now went slow motion, the bullet breaking through the back of her skull, coming out from the other side, blood splashing everywhere, a tear rolled down her wide-open eyes, before she landed down on the floor, in her pool of blood. I screamed on top of my lungs as I grabbed my weapons and quickly jumped from the window, I started running as fast as I could with tears running down my face. History is repeating itself when I helped that person and his sister escape, but this time was different, this time I am the one who is escaping. This time is going to be different.

“DEVIKA” a male voice screamed from behind me, but I never stopped running, I just started running faster than ever.

“WAIT” that male voice started getting closer and closer. Then that person managed to grab me by my wrist to stop me from running, I turned around and I found Stephen.

“w-what’s wrong?” he worriedly asked. I just looked at him with tears running down my eyes, yet I did not have any facial expression.

“My father killed my mother,” I whispered and he opened his eyes wide in shock. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

“And Amaris helped him,” I told him, I never realized how much I can hide my pain until now. The pity in his eyes instantly replaced rage and anger.

“I tried to warn you but I couldn’t, I wanted to warn you that Amaris is no longer the person we knew before, she is now the leader’s puppy. She is his left arm, and her sign is a moon, so she is willing to do anything to satisfy him, including snitching on you” he angrily said. At this moment, I stopped crying, all I knew is that I will kill both my father and Amaris.

“I am killing them both,” I angrily told Stephen. He nodded at me.

“Let’s leave this place,” he told me, I could not help but open my eyes wide in shock.

“Y-you want to escape?” I stuttered and he nodded. He raised both of his weapons to show me that he is ready.

“I have a sun sign; the soldiers were too busy with you. So I forced a woman to remove my cloth privately, and when I found out that I have a sun sign, I quickly escaped,” he said and I nodded at him.

“Let’s leave this place”