Blood Bond

I looked around knowing that my dead cousin wasn’t as dead as I had thought he was. I knew he’d come after me since no one could help me. I heard a rustle in some bushes and started to panic before I felt a hand grab my ankle and I let out a scream. Someone yelled "Shut up," but I didn’t listen. That person must have given up because he released me. I let out a sigh of relief. I—as much as I resented it—had to go help my brother and even Daryl, so I started running the direction they did. I felt the ground slip away from my feet and the next thing I knew I was on the ground, wincing and enduring the pain. I tried to move my foot, but found that a hand restrained it. I shrieked and tried to get away. He seemed to tighten his grip. I saw the dagger that had been thrown the first time I ran. I gripped it tightly in my hand and muttered under my breath—the reason I did not know—an apology as I kicked him away and he tumbled across the ground.

"What is your problem? Stop it!" he called and I drew back tears at the familiarity of his voice and appearance. There was a strange sense of longing in his voice. As he got up my sense of sadness changed into fear.

"Stay back! You’re not my cousin anymore!" I could see the hurt in his eyes.

"I was…always like this. Both of us. I didn’t die I just left. I knew what you’d think and I couldn’t bear the thought. Jeremiah didn’t want to be left alone and have to make lies, so he came with me." I gasped and gripped the knife tighter. He backed off, gave a challenging smile, and stepped forward again. I didn’t know how I could trust him, but I did before and he’d been that way forever, so I could either trust him now or have never trusted him at all. He had also always stuck up for me when Kyle hadn’t.

My answer was obvious, but my body didn’t cooperate well enough. I felt my arm get stained with blood as the knife slit into his arm. I heard him yelp and back away a few steps. I looked up and saw that Justin was cradling his wounded arm. I averted my gaze because I felt so damn guilty. He trusted me, but I didn’t trust him. Or myself for that matter! I was sure that he was about to decapitate me and keep my head for a trophy or something like in the horror movies, but he is sure full of surprises.

…Are you blind? Yes.

He got up to his feet and wasn’t cradling his arm anymore. All that left trace of a cut was a ridiculously small scar. By now I realized that I had fallen to my knees out of desperation. He came over and looked down at me with his gloating smile. At first I was surprised, but that changed into an uncomfortable smile. I felt a knife fly through my hair and I swung around. It was Daryl.

Surely he didn’t mean to hit me, right? Where were Kyle and Jeremiah? He stepped forward and I saw that there was blood leaking from under his hand that was grasping his shoulder. I couldn’t think of any words, so I stood up. I walked over to Justin and just stood there.

"Move," Daryl demanded, but I shook my head. It isn’t a good idea to refuse to do something to someone who has a knife, especially Daryl, but I couldn’t let him slaughter Justin. Well, he sure got mad. Justin seemed to be stuck in place. I tried to pull him with me, but he pushed me away. I looked at him confused, but he kept a stern face yet smiled.

I felt my lip start to tremble and I watched as Daryl stepped closer.

"Are you still hitting on my cousin, you bastard?"

"You know it. I like to think that we’ve gotten…closer since you left. And who are you to be calling me names?" Daryl yelled.

"What do you mean, closer? Other than the fact that you raped her and got her pregnant?" Justin narrowed his eyebrows as I felt panicked. I knew what he was going to say.

"I didn’t rape her!" He calmed himself a bit. "Besides, you obviously don’t know. Did she not tell you? Well, let’s see... She came up to me and ‘tripped’, falling into my arms saying, ‘Sorry. I must have finally fallen for you,’ rather bashfully. There also was the matter of a school play and our stage kiss that turned out to be a whole make out session. Oh, and I’ll be sure to tell you when our baby is born…" I listened in horror as he changed the words around to make it seem more intimate, not to mention how he wouldn’t drop the kid thing. Justin listened in disbelief. He turned to me.

"He’s lying, right? There’s no way he’s telling the truth! Tell me you don’t…" He was practically yelling in the beginning and ended with his voice like a whisper.

"It’s true…mostly. I’m sorry! I-I just…I—" I couldn’t think of a way to put it.

"It’s my fault, isn’t it? I left and you couldn’t stick up for yourself. That fucking brother of yours probably didn’t help either. He made you—"

"No! She wanted it that way! You just kept trying to convince her that she didn’t want to know what we would be like together! You didn’t want there to be an us and when you left she realized this! She wanted to be with me!" Daryl blurted out.

"No… No you didn’t. You didn’t, right?" He looked at me sorrowfully. What could I do? I didn’t know if I liked him or not. I couldn’t tell him I liked Daryl: It’d break his already fragile heart. But if I said I didn’t, Daryl would make me do something I didn’t want Justin to see me do and make it seem as though I wanted to. He hated Daryl. Daryl was obsessed with me. I didn’t know what I thought of him.

It was a fluke. He kissed me. But I didn’t keep trying to get away. I kissed back...