A New Chapter

"Get up!" he ordered. "Now it's their turn. Finish what you started."

Trembling, she looked at Zhao Ping and Lin Tao, who stared at her in fear.

"Please, Ma Lifen," Zhao Ping cried "Please don't kill us… I have a little sister… you know her right ? " 

"I can't—" she choked out, the words thick in her throat as she recalled Zhao Ting, a child who would be orphaned after her brother's death .

"Don't waste my time!" Fang Xuan barked, pressing the sword's tip against her back. 

His eyes held no warmth; they were cruel and empty. "Kill them, or I'll make you wish you had," he hissed.

The sounds in his head kept looping, drowning out reason and clarity, each words echoing like a nonstop rain. 

'Kill her '

'Kill her'

'Kill her'

It took his whole will to fight back these intrusive thoughts .