Her

 

She opened her eyes to the soft rustle in the crunchy grass that surrounded her. There was a thin layer of mist coating each blade of grass as she got up from her sleeping position. She looked around to find a cat purring as it rubbed its head against her foot. But she couldn’t feel its touch on her foot, and when she looked down in her sitting position to see why, she saw her leg, bloodied at the thigh, where a deep gash lay, painting her body and clothes a sickly crimson hue. A sigh escaped her lips, her eyes rolling as realization hit her like a truck. “My leg is numb,” she scoffed under her breath, “how useless.” 

Then, suddenly, a surge of pain shot through her body as her eyes rolled back. She almost fell again, but caught herself on her scraped elbows as the pain subsided. It was as if she woke up all over again. But this time, it wasn’t her who woke up, it was you. You were in control of your own body again. You looked around to see a cat, at your feet, eyeing you warily. Your eyes travelled to the dead body of your friend, lying lifeless on the grass a few feet away from you. Gasping, you tried to get up to hold him, only to realize that your leg was injured. When you looked at the bloody mess at your thigh, you took in a quick breath and let out a startled whimper. 

“How did this happen?” you cried out. Shaking your thoughts about your leg away, you moved on to sliding your butt across the wet grass to reach your dead friend’s side. “Who did this to you?” you whispered to him, looking at his torso, where an open wound could be seen. Looking back to where you used to sit, you saw a dagger, with a bloodied blade. Your eyes widened as a small thought popped into your head. 

“I couldn’t have done this, could I?” you wondered out loud, looking at your hands, which were also covered in red blood. Your eyes searched the dirty warehouse in which you found yourself, trying to see if anyone else was around, someone, anyone, who could have murdered your dearest friend. It soon dawned on you that you were the only one around. You began to sob, trying to remember why you would harm your best friend, your pillar of support, but no matter how hard you tried, you could only find a blank space in your memory of any time close to now. 

As tears fell down your cheeks, another jolt of pain struck through you, and your eyes rolled back again. You fell to the floor, and she opened your eyes. You were no longer in control of your body, she was. She felt her cheeks wet with tears and she hastily wiped them away. She looked at your best friend’s body, and snarled. 

“You,” she pointed accusingly at him, “you tried to turn me in to those rich tyrants, and she was dumb enough to trust you. But she won’t be trusting you or anyone anymore. Because she isn’t coming back. I’m going to leave this wretched place once and for all, and no one will be able to stop me. Not her, not you.” She then reached for the bottom of his shirt, ripping a large piece off to cover up her wound and apply enough pressure for it to stop bleeding. Tying the cloth in a knot one last time, she winced as she stood up. She let out a groan when her leg almost shook in pain, but she knew she couldn’t stop now. Reaching over, she grabbed the man's revolver, and reunited with her dagger.  She was determined to never let you gain control and she was quite sure that you wouldn’t be able to. You had lost and she had won in the mind games and this was her reward. Without looking back, she limped out of the warehouse, straight into the woods that stood behind the building, as the sunset slowly painted the sky a bright orange backdrop.

~Anagha Nagaraja - 10 'C'