Chapter 45
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
EMMA
I t was all going so fucking wrong.
Alex’s gun had been knocked out of his hand, and now Arran had the upper hand. His gun was pointed right at Alex as they stared each other down. I felt sick.
I was still forcing my legs to move, bending my knees, trying anything I could to loosen the tape around my ankles. My wrists were cut and bleeding from pulling and yanking on the cable tie. But nothing was working. Hope was fading pretty fucking fast.
“Sit,” Arran barked, and Alex ignored him. But Arran stepped closer to him, pressing his gun against Alex’s forehead as he repeated more forcefully, “Sit.”
Reluctantly, Alex got on his knees, then down on the floor to sit.
Arran took a step back and picked up a fallen branch. “Now I have your attention, I can explain my concept.”
He started to kick away the leaves and twigs, then drew a circle in the soil with the stick he was holding.
“This performance is called Yin and Yang,” he announced proudly. He drew a curved line to dissect the circle he’d drawn, turning it into the symbol for Yin and Yang. “Because that’s what we are,” he glanced at Alex, and when he got no response, he shrugged and carried on. “Two interconnecting forces that balance each other out. One can’t work without the other. We’re a self-perpetuating cycle.” He started to draw the smaller circle inside each section of Yin and Yang on the forest floor, completing the design. “When one is stronger, the other is always there, the silent support in the background, and vice versa. Like night and day, dark and light, moon and sun, Alex and Arran. You can’t have one without the other.”
“And?” Alex sneered, quickly glancing over at me, then back at his brother. “What the fuck does any of that mean?”
“It means when you were born, so was I. And if you die, I die.”
“A murder, suicide,” Alex said with scorn. “I’d have expected better from you.”
I knew he was goading him to try and buy us time. But our time was running out, and Alex didn’t have a weapon.
“And you will get better from me,” Arran replied proudly, pointing the stick at the Yin and Yang image. “We were created as Yin and Yang. We lived in our mother’s womb that way, the perfect puzzle pieces fitted together. And now, we’re going to leave the world in the exact same way, only she has no control this time. She isn’t here. She can’t pull us apart. No one can.”
Alex’s eyes narrowed in disgust at his brother. “You’re a fucking mad man.”
Arran sighed loudly and dramatically.
“I’m tired, Alex. Life’s boring. Everything’s boring. Even the kills you forbid, the ones I kept hidden from you, they don’t give me the same thrill anymore. So, it’s time for us to move on, step into the next realm and see what that holds for us.”
“Can you fucking hear yourself?” Alex sneered with repulsion.
“Oh, I hear myself loud and clear,” Arran replied, still pointing the gun at Alex, as he said, “We’ll lie together on the floor right here, in the foetal position, knees up, my head to your feet and vice versa. Just like we were in the womb. Just like Yin and Yang. I know you won’t have the balls to pull the trigger, so, I’ll shoot you in the head first, then lay with you and shoot myself. When they find us, it’ll be tragically beautiful. And tomorrow, my friends on the dark web will flood every website they can with the images of what we did. Our final performance. It’ll be legendary.”
“It’ll be nothing because it’s not gonna happen,” Alex spat, then added, “Have you prepared a monologue for this fucked-up shit? You do love the sound of your own voice.”
“It will happen, and this time, there are no words needed,” Arran replied. “I’ll let the images speak for themselves.”
He turned to face me. “Maybe she can finally put her words to good use and use them to tell our story. To tell everyone about the tragedy of our ending. Hey...” He shrugged. “She might even get the promotion she wanted. The news networks will be clamouring over themselves to get her story.” Another nonchalant shrug. “It’ll be a win-win. For everyone.”
“Except, I’m not going to play,” Alex snarled. “I’d rather die fighting than let you use me as a pawn in your fucked-up games.”
And he lunged forward, grabbing Arran’s legs and pulling him to the ground.
Everything happened so fast, it all became a blur as they grappled on the ground, fighting, punching, rolling around.
Angry snarls and shouts echoed around the forest. The sound of punches and grunts peppered the air.
My eyes bugged as I watched, willing Alex to fight, to win.
And then...
BANG.
The gun went off, and the fighting stopped.
They froze, both of them lying slumped on the ground in the middle of the clearing. Huddled together on the forest floor. Neither one of them moved as blood began to soak the leaves and twigs where they lay.
And I tried to scream.
I howled behind the tape covering my mouth, tears blurring everything as my struggle turned to despair. Sirens blared in my brain, echoing in my ears, as all I felt was total and utter anguish. The excruciating agony in my heart, radiated through my whole body, overriding any of the pains I’d felt before in my wrists and ankles.
The gun had gone off.
Nobody was moving.
They were both dead.