All the Lies (Lies & Truths Duet #1)(2)

“One.”

We say the last word together.

She nods, eyes hardening again. “Remember when we used to play hide and seek with Mom?”

“I do. We’d go in different directions to distract them.”

She grins. “Diversion.”

“Okay, okay,” I mutter with resignation I don’t feel.

The last thing I want to do after reuniting with Reina is to part from her again, but I have to believe we’ll find each other like we always do.

“I’ll take the window, you take the door.”

I pull her in for a quick hug, my chest constricting and full of all types of chaotic paranoias. “I’ll meet you outside.”

“I love you, Rai.” She ruffles my hair.

“I love you, too, Reina.”

The moment I let her go, my heart squeezes so tight it nearly bursts.

I watch my sister hop up and climb out the window. She’s so agile, which is no surprise considering where she lived all this time.

We’ll change that. She’ll get her fresh start.

With one last look, I sprint out the back door.

When we were with Mom, Reina and I learned something important.

Never look back.

If you don’t look back, you run faster.

If you don’t look back, no one will catch you.

I sprint through the woods, the smell of earth and the forest filling my nostrils.

Dirt smudges my white shoes and my breathing deepens as I cut across the distance. I search sideways for a place to hide then notice my bracelet is gone.

No.

I come to a halt and break my own rule.

I look back.

Flames devour the old wood of the cottage we escaped minutes ago. Smoke and fire erupt in the middle of the forest.

Someone dressed in black trousers and a hoodie drags Reina back into the cottage as she fights and claws at his hand. Masculine hand. Tattooed hand.

My heart stammers and my legs weaken. I take a step forward then stop when she meets my gaze and shakes her head.

She’s pleading with me to remember our vow from all those years ago.

If one is caught, the other needs to run.

I made that mistake before. I ran away without looking back.

That day, I lost my only sister.

But I’m not a kid anymore. We’re not running away with Mom.

This time, I’ll save her like she once saved me.

Energy buzzes into my veins as I charge forward. My fists are balled by my sides. My hair is in disarray around my face, the blonde strands sticking to my temples with sweat.

I’m only a short distance away when Reina shrieks, “Noooo!”

Something hard and heavy hits the back of my head. I fall to my knees with a thud.

Black stars form behind my lids as they flutter closed, filling with tears.

Through the small slit, I stare at the burning cottage. Her loud, pained screams filter from the inside. The sound is raw and…lethal.

“R-Reina…” I croak, reaching out a weak hand before it falls limp in front of me.

All sounds disappear.

Reina is no longer screaming.

No longer shrieking.

No longer…fighting.

A sob lodges at the back of my throat as darkness swallows me whole.





Decimation is an interesting process.

It starts with one crack. Then two. Then everything crumbles and falls apart.

The art lies in starting that first crack. It has to be precise and to the point.

It has to be unmistakable and with the purpose to hurt.

Better yet, it has to come out of nowhere. Victims are easier to handle when they’re ambushed, when their world is flipped upside down in a fraction of a second.

Today, a process of decimation has started.

Reina’s life is now mine to own.

Mine to torture.

And mine to finish.





One week later





Help!

Someone help!

Please help me!

“No one will help you, monster.”





I crack my eyes open and wince. The back of my head feels as heavy as metal.

Constant beeping. Smell of bleach and coffee. Classical music.

The moment blinding white light penetrates my eyelids, I screw them shut again.

I’m obviously at the wrong place in the wrong time.

Isn’t there a song about that?

“Reina?”

Someone’s fingers force my lids open and shove another blinding light into my line of sight. My pupils burn with the intrusiveness of it.

“Miss Ellis, can you hear me?”

“Reina, honey, open your eyes.”

Reina? Who the hell is Reina?

There’s something wrong about that name. Completely freaking wrong.

Wrong place. Wrong time. Wrong name.

The voices continue drifting in and out around me. Someone calls me Miss Ellis. An older voice keeps calling me Reina. And then there’s another presence, someone I can’t quite pinpoint.

His masculine voice is like a dark forest in the middle of a starless night. It’s deep and rough around the edges as if all the ruthlessness in the world has been injected into it. It’s scary how much a voice can relay.

It’s almost crippling how much a voice can become a subject of nightmares.