CHAPTER 136: 136-LEAVING EVERYONE BEHIND.

Clementine:

To my surprise, she didn’t pretend to be me or any of us. She kept using his sister’s voice, and that made us slow down.

"I’ve missed you so much, Haiden," she cooed. She was still trying to manipulate him.

We reached her quietly and stood behind. She was outside a pink house, and we could tell Haiden was inside. She suddenly stopped speaking and began to grunt as she realized we were there. We gripped the swords and mirrors in our hands.

The moment she spun around, her speed almost took my breath away. I held it, shut my eyes, and swung my sword blindly in case the snakes struck.

"My turn!" Troy shouted. I opened my eyes just as she turned to him.

That became our rhythm, whenever she turned to someone, that person would yell ’my turn’ so the others knew it was safe to look. Once my eyes were open, I slashed at the snakes. She screamed as we kept fighting, each of us closing our eyes, then attacking again. We cut them down one by one.

But soon disappointment hit when we realized the snakes grew back frighteningly fast.

"We’re going in circles, guys!" Troy shouted, fighting with all his strength to avoid the snakes’ strikes.

"What else can we do?" I yelled back. At this point, we were already too close to her. Running away would only cause more trouble. She’d come after us, and we didn’t know how fast she could move, or if she would strike only when we looked at her. But that wasn’t true. Even with our backs turned, she could attack us, and so could her snakes.

"Let’s not just focus on the snakes!" Yorick hissed, making it clear our plan was failing.

At this point, she started reacting erratically. Her movements were strange, more defensive than aggressive, even though she had been the one initiating most of the killings before. Now she seemed more like someone in distress. I couldn’t help but feel that way about her, even as we kept fighting. Then she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"I’m not a slut! I’m not a whore!"

She wouldn’t stop screaming those words. It was all happening so quickly that I couldn’t really focus on her voice. Still, I felt like I had heard it before. It wasn’t a completely new voice. At this point, I think Haiden had even opened the door to come out and fight her. But it was the first time he had come face-to-face with her. I don’t know what happened, but he just stood there. She turned to him, and in that moment, I realized she was staring into Haiden’s eyes. I couldn’t let her turn him into stone, so I rushed forward and raised my sword. Her snakes had stopped moving too. They were all staring at Haiden. His eyes began to widen. It all happened in seconds. Before her gaze could fix on him any longer, I swung my sword. The next thing I knew, I had cut her neck from her body. Her head rolled away, and she let out the loudest scream.

"No!" Haiden shouted, and I froze. I stumbled back as he rushed forward. First, he tried to hold her body, but then he reached for her head.

"No, no, no, my sister!" he cried, his voice breaking.

"Haiden, she is not your sister!" Yorick said, grabbing his arm as Haiden cradled her head in his lap.

She had already turned to stone. Her eyes were red and bleeding, her mouth frozen open in a scream, but her body was now just cement. The blood pouring from her eyes was real though, and it wouldn’t stop. It seeped down her face and into the cracks of the stone. Haiden clutched her, then hurried back to her body, trying to place the head back.

"My sister! This is my sister!" he cried.

As I watched him, the truth hit me. This was why she always spoke differently with Haiden, and why she often used Haiden’s sister’s voice. And that’s why, in the end, when she screamed, it was in Haiden’s sister’s voice, not because she was mimicking her, but because it truly was her voice. Because she really was his sister. I dropped my sword, stumbling back in panic.

"What? What are you saying?" Troy knelt beside Haiden, who was crying harder than ever.

"This is Maya! This is Maya!" he sobbed.

"Troy." Yorick looked at me, realizing what I had done. He suddenly looked so concerned for me, because it truly was a moment of concern.

What could have been a reunion, I ruined it. I killed her. I thought she was going to kill him. As Yorick knelt to comfort Haiden, I stepped back. There was no way I could look Haiden in the eyes again. I had ruined everything for him.

So I ran. I ran far, far away from them. I had killed someone who only wanted revenge, who only wanted to be free. And Haiden, after all these years, had finally found her. How could I not have realized?

I sprinted toward the main city, deeper and deeper into the north. I didn’t care where I ended up.

"Clementine, stop! We are entering dangerous territory!" my wolf called out.

But I shook my head. "No, Mint. I wanted so badly to be a hero that I ruined their chance." I screamed and cried. "It’s better if I just stay away from him. From now on, this will be my punishment." I pushed forward, deeper into the north.

"You’re just a teen full of emotions. It wasn’t your fault. You were only trying to help him." Mint kept trying to convince me it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t know how she could be so calm, where she found the courage to believe we had done nothing wrong, only made a genuine mistake that we would be forgiven for.

"Mint, I’ve suffered my whole life for my father’s sins. But this time, I’m the one who truly made a mistake. I can’t even imagine how much torture I’ll bear now. So it’s better if I just stay here. At the end of the day, this is my home anyway," I screamed as I ran far from my squadmates.