Dead in the Water

“You didn’t kill her. It wasn’t your fault.” Amanda said standing up.

“Wait, I’m confused.” Joe said. “If you say Elissa didn’t kill her, then why is Elissa saying she did?” He asked.

“Let me tell you what I was told by Micah.” Amanda started.

“Please don’t make me relive it. I have nightmares almost every night from it.” I said.

“Then you tell them about what happened.” Amanda pressed.

“I can’t.” I replied.

“Micah and his friends along with Elissa went out slaying one night. Anna was Micah’s sister. She was dating one of his friends. She had found out about Micah one night and confronted him on what he was. He tried to keep her safe and away from any danger but she refused saying that she could not just let innocent people get hurt when she could help prevent it. Therefore, Micah ended up letting her patrol with them keeping a close eye on her.

Anna had paired up with Elissa that night when the group went out and separated on a few streets to cover more ground. Everything was fine until Ian appeared out of nowhere grabbing Anna. Micah had sensed something was wrong and had darted off to find Elissa and Anna.” Amanda said.

“Stop. I cannot hear this. I don’t want to hear this.” I said covering my ears and closing my eyes.

“You have to. It is for your own good.” Amanda said.

“So what happened next?” Pete asked.

“When Micah showed up it was too late. Anna was on the ground dead. Ian had killed her.” Amanda finished.

“It was my fault. He didn’t see it that way.” I said.

“Elissa, how did Ian kill her?” Pete said looking at me and grabbing my hands. “You know I can get the truth from you.” He said calm.

“Anna wanted to come with me on patrol. She said we needed to talk about things.” I said sighing and giving in.

“She knew that Micah liked me. I liked him too. She had told me that she had never seen her brother light up so much whenever I was in the same room as him. We were talking about him and were not paying attention. Ian came out of nowhere and I froze. He started to go after Anna who took off running. When I saw him chase after her, I followed. I caught up to him and knocked him to the ground.

I tried to stake him but failed. He was stronger than I was at the time. He managed to knock me off him and then he climbed on top of me and tried to stake me. Anna came from behind him and staked him but missed his heart. He turned around and grabbed her as he hopped off me.

I got up and kicked him back down. I turned my back for one second to tell Anna to run and when I turned back around, Ian was gone. I knew that he was faster than I was and headed after Anna. I heard Anna scream and when I had finally caught up to Ian; he had her in his arms. If I threw my stake, it would have hit Anna and not Ian because he was using her as a shield. I could see and hear Anna begging for her life, which is exactly what Ian wanted me to hear. He did it to me.

The only logical thing I could do was to throw it in his leg and make him fall. I thought he would have to let go of her but he did not. As he started to fall he tore into her neck and killed her. I ran as fast as I could to them. I knocked Ian off Anna but it was too late. She was gone. Ian was gone. The next thing I remember was seeing Micah and hearing him yell out Anna’s name repeatedly as he saw her lifeless body. I could see with the look in his eyes the pain as he held her, and I knew I could not fix this. Ian took his sister from him because of me.” I said with tears in my eyes.

“Hey, it’s ok.” Pete said pulling me close to him as I grabbed him and started to sob.

“I failed. I could not save her. I couldn’t kill Ian.” I said.

“Elissa listen to me, this was not your fault.” Pete said.

“Pete is right. I am sorry for the way I yelled. I just wish you didn’t run from your problems and told me about them.” Amanda said hugging me.

“I left Micah because I felt I was a constant reminder of what he lost.” I said.

“Micah loved you. He never blamed you, Elissa. It was not as if you planned for Ian to show up. I just couldn’t make Micah see me.” Amanda said with Erelin giving her a caution type of a look.

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” She said hiding something. Then I saw it, there were two bite marks on her neck.

“Amanda…” I started to say before Pete cut in.

“Elissa, we better get home. I can drive you.” Pete said.

“You guys have a nice place.” Joe said as he shook Erelin’s hand. “Maybe tomorrow you can meet the rest of our gang.” He added.

“Yeah, that would be nice.” Pete said not sure, if he should hug Amanda or not. He did not noticing her neck. Her hair was covering it now. I mean the bite was barely noticeable but I did pick it up. We were definitely going to have a talk about this later.

“You guys are welcome here anytime.” She said watching Joe and Pete walk out the door.

“Erelin take care of my sis.” I said hugging her.

“I will.” She replied.

“Elissa, about what happened…” Amanda said.

“It’s ok. I still have issues with what happened but me reliving it by telling my side, I feel a little better about it. It was not my fault. I did try it just was not good enough.” I said hugging her.

“We are sisters.” Amanda said.

“We are bound to fight and make up.” I said laughing. “Oh, and by the way, we need to have a little chat later.” I said pointing to her neck.

“Goodnight Elissa.” She said hurrying me out the door.