24

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Petra had been heading to the graveyard to smoke on her own, it was the only think that took her mind off the pain she constantly felt in her shoulder. When she reached the door she was faced with two boys.

"You can't go out there" said one of them with his arms crossed like a bouncer, the other nodded as confirmation. Petra scowled for a second staying silent until she heard a scream.

"Who's out there?" She asked and the boys looked at each other and then back at the girl unsure on whether it was safe to tell.

"Some boy called out Persephone Gray for being a baby killer and she told us to guard the door. That's all we know" one of the boys said pretty quickly stumbling over his words every so often.

"Well it's a good job that I'm her sidekick then isn't it. Scram" she told the boys and they scurried away.

Sephy had blacked out a while ago, pretty much as soon as the boy had mentioned Mallory's name. She didn't know why her body reacted this way but she knew that he had to die.

She'd hit him multiple times but hadn't done much damage yet, which was lucky for the poor boy who still had a fighting chance of making it out alive.

Persephone held Mallory's hand tightly as she lead them down the sidewalk. Gilbert wanted to get a comic book from the local store and their mother had promised to take them though she had bailed and now it was their father taking them.

They entered the shop, Gilbert sprinting to the action section leaving Persephone and Mallory to wander around and look at the brightly coloured magazines.

"ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME" shouted Michael towards one of the store employees, the man looked startled. Of course he wasn't following him, he just wanted to ask what they were looking for.

"No no no" the employee tripped over his words looking around for someone to save him from the cold and feared glare of Michael.

Persephone stepped forward and placed a soothing hand upon her fathers arm and sent an apologetic smile towards the employee. He apologised profusely before scurrying off to help Gilbert.

When they'd paid for the comic book, the family headed back out onto the streets. The children had each begged their father to let them eat something but he'd refused and told them that there was something at home.

"Where's mommy?" Mallory asked and Persephone felt her heart drop, she looked across at her father who's eyes were frantically darting round the room.

Was she cheating on him?

"I'm here babies" smiled Ada appearing from the bathroom with a large sweet smile across her face. She picked up Mallory swiftly in her arms and placed a kiss upon her forehead.

Michael shot into the room that Ada had come from before returning out just minutes afterwards with a softer expression. He briefly kissed Ada on the cheek and pulled away before his lips and her skin touched.

"PERSEPHONE" shouted Petra sprinting towards where she had the boy held by his neck. She pushed her body backwards and told the boy to get out of there.

Sephy held her head and slowly like waking from a deep slumber allowed her face to soften and her body to become less tense. She looked around at where she was and then back at Petra who scanned her face for some sort of emotion.

Once she realised what had happened she climbed upon the ledge and looked down at the street below her, she wasn't afraid of heights though standing there made her heart beat twice as fast.

"Persephone what the fuck are you doing?" Petra shouted running to the edge to pull her down but Sephy held out her hand as a sign for her to stop.

"Did you know I don't remember why or how I killed my family?" She asked.

Petra gulped down her anxiety about her being on the ledge and shook her head, she knew if she was to get the girl down then she'd have to listen.

"I used to get these black outs, high blood pressure they said. I'd be in the play ground at one point and I'd wake up in bed being nursed. It used to happen all the time"

Sephy danced across the ledge, watching her feet as she did so.

"So I blacked out just before I killed them and woke up in the underworld where all the homeless live. I found some acquaintances and I survived.-

-I met this one girl her name was Emily, she hated if anyone shortened her name but after almost a year of friendship she let me be the exception. She'd killed her father something about mistreatment but I wasn't one to judge-

-she disappeared for maybe a week and came back with an offer of a better life. Turns out the lucky bitch had been spotted by Master Lin on the sidewalk and was brought in to live here. So I was brought along-

-at first they all hated me but Em settled me in quite well. We shared a room, worked on projects, gossiped about boys. We could've been seen as NORMAL teenagers"

Sephy spun on her heels and began to walk the other way, Petra had leant her elbows back onto a grave stone but she was still alert ready to jump forward at any time to grab her.

"One day Master Lin called me into his office, it was a usual thing because he liked to check up on my black outs, wanted me to use it to my advantage-

-he sat me down and told me that MY Em was plotting against us. Straight up. Just like that. He said she needed to be exterminated and I screamed and shouted and told him to go fuck himself-

-my Em loved me-

-we were best friends after all and the thought of killing her made me sick so for a few days after I became a little more observant but there was nothing to show that she was plotting. Things returned to normal, as normal as can be-

-one day Em goes out, tells me that she's got to take a phone call but says I shouldn't leave the room because she'll be back. I got curious, I was just looking for something to take away my thoughts. I was just trying to find her drug stash-

-when I find it, an abundance of letters addressed to some man all about me. About my appearance, my black outs, my strengths and weaknesses. She really was plotting against me"

Sephy moved her head slightly to look at the road below her which was whizzing with cars. If she jumped, she'd definitely die.

"I must've blacked out then because the next time I woke up I was being congratulated by Master Lin. Not only had I killed Em but also the man the letters were addressed to. I must've been out HOURS maybe days I'm still not sure-

-here's the thing though-

-before every time I had a black out I'd have little flashes of memories, like a few pictures would dance through my head of my family and life before everything happened-

-but after Em everything changed-

-every time id murder someone I'd be unconscious and through my black out I'd flashback to the day I killed my family. I'd relive it.-

-The more people I killed the clearer the flashback got and the more I started to understand"

Sephy turned to look at Petra the pain in her eyes was visible.

"Persephone come down" she whispered reaching out her hand "please"

"Don't you get it?" Sephy asked "I'm at a school where they're training me to kill. I can't leave because the authorities have put Master Lin in charge of my whole life because of what I did to Em a fellow student-

-my best fucking friend-

-and every time I kill, I watch as I slaughter my baby siblings and my mother over and over aND OVER AGAIN" Sephy's voice had raised to a shout.

The school bells rung signalling the end of classes but it wasn't going to stop anything for Sephy. This needed to happen.

"I can't get away from it. I'll never get away from it. It'd be best if it all just ended. Blame Chico on me, save the group"

Her foot raised from the comfort of the ledge over to where there was nothing but a plummet down to the heaving traffic.

Petra had started to sob, begging for the girl to put her foot back on the ledge and come back down to her.

It was that loud that Billy, Marcus and Willie on their slow walk up to the graveyard, started to sprint.

Marcus ran to the ledge reaching out to try and grab her but it was no use, she pushed his arm away and attempted to shuffle till her remaining foot only hung on by its heel.

Willie tried to grab her too but his fear of heights prevented him from stepping any further.

Sephy was ready to drop until a tight grip occurred around her waist, she turned her head slightly to see that Marcus had joined her on the ledge. Her back flushed against his chest.

"You jump and I go with you"

She shook her head staring at the drop,

"I need this"

Marcus scoffed and tightened his arms around her torso, feeling as the wind ruffled his tousled hair.

"But I need YOU"