Didi #2
Cindy shrugs, a smirk playing on her lips. “You and Talia aren’t the only ones who know how things work around here. Shadowface is just as much ours as he is yours. And now, we hold all the power.”
I remember Father Malcolm’s words: “The devil found me a long time ago, little girl.” This entire town is insidious and has been for longer than anyone could ever imagine. Cindy’s been indoctrinated for who knows how long.
My heart freezes when I realize I’m surrounded. Someone grabs me from behind and covers my mouth before I can scream. I don’t bother fighting as Cindy walks up to me, and the one holding me rips off my wig and shoves me to the ground.
I land on the twigs with a hard thud, my white hair falling into my face. One of them grabs my arms and pulls me up, covering my mouth. A couple of them gasp, and I glance around desperately seeking my family who promised they would protect me.
“Oh, sweet Jesus. It is her…” one of the other girls whispers. “Cindy was right all along.”
Six of them in total, all wearing masks.
Cindy steps in front. “You killed my father, didn’t you?” she accuses, her voice breaking.
I say nothing.
“Admit it…” she shrieks.
I smile at her, no point in pretending I didn’t. “Yes, I killed him, while he was trying to fuck me…and I enjoyed doing it.”
She walks up and peers down at me, staring right into my eyes. “Don’t lie,” she spits. “My father would never touch you. We need to kill her now,” she says to the group. “She’s going to destroy all of us—that’s what the book says. He saw you coming, you little freak. He warned us.”
Whoever is holding my throat tightens their hold, and I desperately suck in a breath.
Cindy merely laughs and finally takes off her mask. “You’re so stupid. You all walked right into our trap. We are all going to make our sacrifices tonight, and everyone will think you did it. You all deserve to die for what you did to this town. You need to burn.”
I wiggle in the arms of whoever is holding me, trying to reach my knife still safely tucked into my clothes. “You’re deranged,” I say, trying to distract her.
She barks out a laugh. “That’s rich coming from you. It was so easy… Talia was so obsessed with that book that she lost sight of herself. It wasn’t hard for Stephen to convince her.”
My eyes shoot upward. “Convince her of what?”
She laughs…so evil, so depraved. How does everyone not see it?
“Talia craves power, and Stephen has power. It’s why she threw herself at my father to begin with.
She ruined my mother’s life. She never was the same after that.
Talia made a deal with Stephen; she’s not helping you—none of them are. Remy will always follow his sister.”
The weight of betrayal crushes down on me, but I refuse to believe it. Talia has always been unpredictable, but I refuse to believe Tommy and Remy would abandon me. Not after everything we’ve been through.
“You’re forgetting one important thing,” I tell her.
“And what is that?” Cindy asks.
My hand slides inside my shirt, and I grab my knife. “You can’t kill someone who is technically already dead.”
I pull the knife out and jab it into the knee of whoever is holding me. He drops me, and I take that one split second to pull the knife out and slice his throat with zero hesitation.
I might be small, but they underestimate my brutality. I lunge at Cindy, ignoring Tina, who is curled up, crying on the ground. She hits me with such intensity that my head snaps and someone else grabs me, throwing me to the ground.
I lurch up on all fours like a cat.
She laughs, almost psychotically. “You should have left town when you had a chance, freak.” She hovers over me and squats down. “Because now I’m going to burn you for what you did to my father.”
I stare her dead kissin the eye, and I can see the evil in her eyes.
She grabs my shirt, flashing a light right in my eyes, blocking any hope I have of escaping.
“She’s blind,” she announces to everyone. “If she does that again, shine the light in her eyes.” She pauses and hums as if she has a wicked idea. “Or better yet”—she waves her hand at whoever it was that threw me down—“hold her down.”
Whoever it is, hesitates.
“Do it!” she screams. “She killed my father. She’s evil, and she needs to be stopped before she kills all of us.”
I don’t fight as Cindy grabs the torch and steps over me. She tilts her head and grabs my face. As she brings the fire to my eye, my hand desperately reaches for the knife I dropped. The knife they foolishly left on the ground within my reach.
I glance up just as another masked figure comes into my periphery. The figure grabs Cindy and pulls her off me, throwing her to the ground. I grasp my eye, knowing I’ll likely never see out of it again.
To my surprise, the masked figure takes my knife, raises their hand and stabs Cindy in her eye, and in an instant, life distinguishes out of it and blood spews everywhere.
Whoever is holding me cries out and drops me.
Talia rises, cleans off the knife and hands it back to me, smiles at me through her mask before darting out of my view.
And hellfire consumes my soul.