Chapter 12

I walk to the shadow of the nearest tree, letting myself fall through the bark until my body relaxes. I see her approach with two bottles of water. I take the one he offers me and I thank him properly, I leave it by my side and it accidentally falls. I watch my hands, they tremble.

- Well?

<< Can I tell you a story? >> She nods as she sits next to me, stretching her legs. I feel the air enter my lungs and I release it very slowly, gathering all the strength that I have accumulated for years. She is the only one. She will be the only one to know. << I don't know how to start. >>

- What do you think of the beginning? -Her laugh is carried away by a lonely breeze. I feel her gaze fix on mine. - You seem to have aged.

<< A long time ago, a couple of teenagers met in the small Allamand Institute, they were so similar that they immediately knew they were made for each other. His love was a smooth, slippery stream, without problems, storms or snow.

Like any couple, they had their ups and downs, minor, but existing.

One warm summer night, the man proposed to the beautiful woman who filled all his dreams and aspirations. Loving, strong, humble. She was perfect. The wedding took place that same fall. >>

- Hey, if you're going to tell me a story about lovebirds ...

- Let me finish, - I was not aware that I used it on her, my clumsy power. - please.

<< They received news from heaven, a baby. Barely a month pregnant, the complications began. After a risky pregnancy and intensive care, a healthy girl was born.

Her mother, however, was left sterile.

They loved her little miracle with her souls. They gave everything for her. Until they decided that she was not enough. Because of the woman's condition, they decided that their only way out was adoption.

On the girl's sixth birthday, she received a little sister, just four years old, as a gift from them. At first, the welcomed one was the princess of the house.

Days, months, even years went by.

On the eldest's tenth birthday, a terrible misfortune occurred that turned the world upside down. She fainted while blowing out the candles. They rushed to the hospital, fearing for her life. The doctor did not give good news. But there was a treatment, there was still hope for the older sister.

Thus, without further ado, the little sister went to the background.

Forgotten by them, her own parents, she saw how the hands that had previously led her away from lonneliness, ran away from her without looking back. She tried to get her attention. She chased them wherever they went, until, in the end, she began to be a shadow of all that she could have been.

The little sister fell into silence, darkness, and voices echoing in her head. They were her only company. At the age of eight, she accompanied her parents to the hospital for her sister to receive treatment.

When they arrived, the doctors transferred little Selene to a room with white walls. The little sister snuck away seeing that her parents were distracted by the doctor's comments. And she wished with all her might. In a whisper she put all the anger that she had hidden for months:

-I hope it doesn't work ...- She moved away from her the moment she saw her parents enter the room with her sick older sister. She felt like a ghost, no one noticed her.

Time passed and her parents were increasingly tense, more nervous. She didn't like the atmosphere at home, so she would lock herself in the room until she heard her parents go to sleep. She then let the tears wash away all that she herself had caused.

But it wasn't her fault, it was her sister's. If she hadn't gotten sick, none of that would have happened. They would be happy again. The problem was her older sister. So, Selene had to disappear.

However, she couldn't do it, she was too afraid of what might happen if her sister left. Calmer, calmer, she snuggled between her teddy bears that she promised herself she would keep for a lifetime. They were the only ones saying good night to her.

That same morning, a small hope was born inside her when she saw the reeling body of her father enter her room. She tried to call him, big mistake. He pounced on her little being like an animal. >>

I look at my hands, the little tremor is no longer so small. I rest my head against the trunk of the tree and take all the air from my lungs, I can only do this once.

<< When he finished, he left without even looking back.

Selene's little sister's bed was covered in blood, her face swollen from the occasional blows. She had finger marks, bruises all over her body. But her mind didn't react to the pain. She had begged, begged, cried... he hadn't stopped. Why had her father hurt her like that?

What had she done wrong?

A very dangerous storm swirled through the skies over the small town of Allamand. It lasted for days of grief and bewilderment, weeks that the little sister was locked in her room without showing signs of life.

Finally gathering the little courage that was left in her small body, she left her room. Her mother looked at her as if she hadn't seen her in years. Despite the fact that she heard her cry at night, days of grief.

She screamed at her, she casted all the rage and anger on her daughter like an implacable God. All hope died in a small heart. And she made the wrong decision.

That same day, without her mother taking a second look at the ghostly body of her own daughter, they went to see Selene.

With tiny, almost feline steps, the little sister walked alone into her older sister's room. Seeing her, she smiled at her, told her that she had missed her, she asked why she was so thin, why there was a trace of bruises on her features. The little girl showed Selene the true look of the Devil.

- I want you to die.

The constant beeping of the machine still reverberates in my worst nightmares. >>