Our Perfect Insanity

ChApTeR TwEnTy FiVe

“Death is the tyrant of the imagination.”
~Barry Cornwall

I stirred, opening my eyes and looking up at the ceiling. I was in pain, the area where Ariel had stabbed me seared in agony.

“Sylvia...?” I mumbled, blinking as I looked around, in search of the young girl.

“Right here, Jonathan. Stay still.” Sylvia ordered, and I felt her hands fumbling with the buttons of my shirt, causing me to grab her wrist.

“What’re you doing?” I questioned, peering up at her.

“You’ve lost a lot of blood, Jonathan... I need to help clean the wound and cover it.” She explained, and I hesitated, before letting go of her wrist.

I sighed as Sylvia gently undid the buttons and pulled open my shirt, before I heard her gasp, most likely at the extent of the wound, causing me to open my eyes once more, as they had already fallen closed without my knowledge.

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” I assumed, and Sylvia bit her lip.

“...mhm. Yeah.” She muttered, nodding her head.

“Do... do I even want to see it?” I asked warily, causing her to shake her head quickly, giving me a weak smile.

“Nope. You don’t.” She replied, causing me to frown as I pulled myself into a sitting position, which was highly painful, might I add, before looking own at the wound.

I let out a noise at the sight of it, before closing my eyes, cutting off the view of the disturbing wound, which blood was still pouring from. Opening my eyes, I looked anywhere but the wound as Sylvia cleaned it, and found myself looking around.

“Where... where are we?” I pondered weakly, before wincing as Sylvia pressed the damp cloth against the open wound.

“My house. That my mother left to me in my will.” Sylvia explained, not even looking up at me as she continued to fix me up.

“I see... Sylvia, who’s your father?”

Sylvia paused and looked up at me as I asked this, suddenly curious about how Kathryn, a woman of twenty nine years old, had a daughter that was sixteen.

Kathryn would have had to be... thirteen?!

“I don’t know who he is. I never met him, thank God.” Sylvia muttered, and I frowned down at her, shifting again as Sylvia took to wrapping gauze around my stomach, covering the wound.

“What’re you hiding, Sylvia? Kathryn is... was... twenty nine years old. That would mean she would have had you when she was thirteen. You can’t be adopted, you look too much like her-”

“My mother was raped, Jonathan.” Sylvia cut me off, causing my eyes to widen.

“She... I- I didn’t know...” I admitted, and Sylvia shrugged, giving me a slight smile before looking back to the blood stained guaze.

“Not many people did.” She mused, and I sat there, watching Sylvia, surprised at the information I had discovered.

“...and she kept you?”

Sylvia looked up at he again, for the sole purpose of giving me a look, before she pulled the bandages tight, causing me to wince heavily.

“No, she abandoned me in a dumpster. Yes, Jonathan, she kept me.” Sylvia told me sarcastically, causing me to frown.

“I didn’t mean that, Sylvia... I’m just... surprised. Surprised that a thirteen year old victim of rape would keep a child.” I admitted, and Sylvia sighed before shrugging again.

“She was scared, but, she had her mother to help. Until Grandma died, of course, but, by that time I was ten, so, mom had gotten the basics down.” She told me, using a few metal clips to hook the gauze in place, before sitting back.

“There. You’re done.” Sylvia added, before leaning down and putting away the medical equipment in a small first aid kit.

Closing it and standing up, Sylvia took to walking into the bathroom to put it away, without another word to me.

Frowning, I ran a hand through my hair before struggling to sit up straight, my fingers fumbling to do up my blood stained short, before looking around the room curiously.

Everything about this room, this house, makes me think of Kathryn.

I figured Sylvia was upset with me, most likely because I was prying into business that wasn’t mine to pry in to, so, I decided to look around. Pushing myself to my feet, I took to walking around the small house.

On the stand that the television was on, there were a few picture frames, that I quickly glanced over. Picking one up, I examined the picture of a young girl who looked exactly like Sylvia, holding a little girl about two years old.

There was no doubt that this was Kathryn and Sylvia.

“You miss her, don’t you?”

I jumped, the picture frame slipping from my fingers, only to be caught quickly by the figure that the voice belonged to.

Sylvia gave me a look as I sighed, nodding my head.

“Yes, of course I miss her. I wish I could have saved her, I really do.” I agreed, and Sylvia nodded, looking down at the picture frame now in her hands.

“I miss her too... I miss everyone... I’ve lost everyone, Jonathan... everyone.” She breathed, shaking her head. I sighed sadly and wrapped my arms around her, hugging her close to me while she started to cry.

“Its alright, Sylvia... it’ll be alright. We’ll find a way to stop, Ariel, I promise you that.” I assured her, gently stroking her silky black hair.

“Oh, will you now?”

My head snapped up and Sylvia whirled around, both our eyes locking on the form of the pale psychopath standing near the window.

She turned her multicolored eyes on us, before flashing a sinister smile.

“What do you want, Ariel?” I questioned calmly, proud that my voice didn’t waver in the slightest as Ariel gave me a sad look.

“Well, first, I wanted to apologize, darling...”

“Don’t you dare call me darling, like you actually care about me. If you cared, if you actually loved me, you wouldn’t be trying to harm the people that I care about!” I cut her off, causing her to narrow her eyes.

“Of course I care, Jonathan... it’s because I care that I’m doing what I’m doing, you just don’t understand.” She replied calmly.

Is she out of her mind? Oh, wait, of course she is!

“You’re insane, Ariel.” I snapped, and a soft, sweet smile crossed her face, making her seem almost innocent for a moment, if not for the malicious glint in her eyes.

“You’re just noticing this?” Ariel inquired.

“Oh, no... we noticed this a long time ago, you psycho bitch!” Sylvia snapped from my side, and Ariel turned to glare at her.

“No one asked you...” Ariel sneered, and Sylvia placed her hands on her hips.

“No one needs to ask me, I do as I please.”

Ariel’s lips curled back over her sharpened teeth, as her eyes flashed and narrowed at the teenager, causing me to pull the young girl closer to me, protectively.

“Watch what you say, child, or you might just end up dead, just like you little mommy...”

Sylvia’s eyes flashed, and she let something fall from her sleeve, a knife, which caused my eyes to widen as she lunged at Ariel, who shrieked and sent Sylvia flying away from her, as she doubled over, holding a hand to her stomach.

I rushed over to Sylvia, pulling her to her feet, before looking at the knife, which was covered in an unnaturally dark blood, that seemed to sizzle slightly, like acid.

Looking over at Ariel, I saw the same dark crimson was pouring from a wound in her stomach, staining her white silk dress, as she looked up at us, her eyes darkened to the point where they were both almost black.

“You little bitch!” Ariel screeched, forcing herself to straighten up, holding a hand to the place where the knife broke her skin.

“Don’t act like you didn’t deserve it!” Sylvia shrieked in reply.

Ariel was still for a minute, her eyes slowly brightening back to their normal color as she breathed deeply, before a calm look settled over her face, and she smiled.

“That was a very, very big mistake...”

Sylvia said nothing, and Ariel gave her a look of pure hatred, though I could see an idea forming in her mind, before she disappeared seemingly into thin air.

“I hate her... I hate her so much, Jonathan...” Sylvia choked, tears falling down her cheeks, which I gently brushed away.

“I know. I know you hate her, so do I, Sylvia... we’ll have to do something...” I mused, and Sylvia nodded her head.

“I could’ve told you that much... what can we do, though?”

I frowned, running a hand through my hair one more.

“We’ll have to find a way to kill her... to end it.”