Ander - Part 1: Subchapter 30
30
The pain that exploded inside Ander's right arm made the holes in his left feel like mere mosquito bites. He watched in horror as Banno tore into his muscle, shaking his head back and forth like a starving animal, red slobber flying from his mouth and landing in the water swirling around his chest. Kiana was screaming, her voice fading in and out as unconsciousness threatened to steal over him.
"I'm trying to help you, Banno!" Ander shouted, but his words had no effect. He simply kept wrenching at his arm, as if trying to rip it out of its socket. "Don't do this!"
That's when Ander caught a glimpse of his brother's eyes, a glimpse unlike any he has seen before. Banno's eyes have always been dark and cold, but they were always aware, always calculating, always intelligent.
But these were not the eyes of his brother.
These were the eyes of an animal. It was like he wasn't even seeing Banno before him, but some creature masquerading as him, some monster from the darkest pits of hell that knew nothing but slaughter.
"Banno? Where are you? Where have you gone!?" Ander thought there could be no worse horror than this, seeing his brother succumb to this animalistic aspect of his being.
He was wrong.
Banno planted his foot against the bank and started to pull, using all of his weight to drag Ander across the ground.
The realization struck him like a hammer to the heart: his brother meant to kill them both!
Ander tried to dig into the earth with his free hand, but there wasn't anything to hold onto! Just clumps of mud and leaves! He could feel his body start to leave the safety of the bank and pass over empty air, first his neck, then his shoulders, his chest. Soon, his weight would shift too far and he would just tumble headfirst into the river to drown alongside this thing that used to be Banno, this thing that used to be his brother.
This thing with its demented eyes...
"No!" Kiana suddenly threw herself down and wrapped her arms around Ander's waist, adding her weight to his.
"What are you doing, Kiana!?" Her reckless move managed to slow them down, but that was all. "He'll kill us both!"
"I won't let you go!" she said, burying her face against his fur.
As they were both being dragged towards certain doom, Ander realized that something strange was happening. He could feel every grain of sand scrape against his belly, could feel every drop of water striking him from the clouds above and from the river below. He could hear the thunder in the sky and the roar of the river with a clarity he has never known before. It was like time itself was slowing down, just for him. And he knew why.
He had a decision to make, a decision he would have to live with for the rest of his life, no matter how long or short it might prove to be.
The three of them were caught in a grand set of Scales; dangerously unbalanced.
On one end: Kiana. On the other: his brother. Ander caught in-between.
There were only two ways for the Scales to balance: either all three of them would die, or only one. Two lives spared, or none. The choice was his and his alone to make. Ander knew what he had to do, what he must do, but he didn't know if he could. He had spent his whole life listening to what his heart told him was right, but if he did that now, if he did what his heart was telling him to do, then that would surely mean killing a part of himself, forever. Could he do that? Could he murder his own heart?
Kiana's lips brushed against Ander's ribs as she repeated the same words over and over, "I won't let you go... I won't let you go..." and suddenly...
He knew.
Ander reached over his shoulder, certain that he wouldn't find what he was looking for. Surely they were all lost during the struggle, or swept away when he fell into the river, or...
His fingers closed over the shaft of an arrow, the only one still left inside his quiver. He pulled it out and flipped it around, the tip shining in the darkness like death itself.
Banno was still biting into Ander's arm, pulling with all his might, his eyes crazed, oblivious of what was about to happen.
"I'm sorry Banno," Ander said, raising the arrow high above his head. "I'm so, so sorry..."
This has been the 30th subchapter in my serial novel, "Ander". If you enjoyed it, please help keep my face un-mauled by irritable ostriches by dropping me a donation. Thank you! ^_^
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