“So this is the finish line” Dara says, her crystal smile peaking from her lips. Jurdan stares at her, then me, then Kier. He pulls up his guns in the same instant we all do. We create a circle of aimed arms. “Wow guys” Kieran comments “we really are tough people” “Not you” says Dara and shots him a deadly stare, even if she is aiming at me and Jurdan. “Oh well, look at them” another voice comes out of the stones of the cave, steps hearable now, echoing. Gavriel, the one we dropped in the sea, is walking towards us with a smile. “What do you think you are doing?” i ask, he smiles at me. “Oh, Liliana, what a good day it is now that I can see you again” he comments and I want to shoot at him but I can’t leave my aim at Jurdan, he would shot me as soon as I shot Gavriel. “Too bad you all don’t trust each other” he says “someone could have killed me by now but...” he sighs shaking his head. He is beautiful even now, dripping salt water and being a dick. He knows I think about him this way at it is mortifying. I hate him even more. “Why are you here?” “What do you think? To take the prize” he says “you all are so concentrated doing this none of you will follow me am I wrong?” No one answers and he enters the next room of the cave. The one room. We all look at each other and then drop our guns and run after him. What we find are men. So many. All with guns pointed at us. I look at Gavriel who winks at me. Then they shot. I fall on my knees after a bullet slices across my shoulder, then another hits my thigh. I’m on my back, breathing for dear life when Gavriel orders to stop shooting. I look around. All my companions are dead. They have glassy empty eyes and blood is all over. Some might just be mine. But I am not dying. He shot me only in non deadly places. My arm, my shoulder, a thigh. Im down, but my pain i so real I can’t be going away. Gavriel walks towards me “now, now” he says caressing my hair. I would shove him off, but my left hand has to hold my right arm. “Go away from me” I choke out. He smiles “should this sound like a thank you?” “No, for fucks sake” I say “why did you do this just kill me!” He laughs “oh no. I need you” “What for?” “I will have many ships now” he says “I need a second, a person that owes their life to me. And Oh, look who does” he says “you” I hate him so much my skin is burning. But he is right.

“You’d like to know, right?” I say. My hands are shaking so I press them hard on the steel table. “Give me what’s mine,now” The hoodie boy is silent after that, then he slowly takes off his hood. I might just fall on the ground. If someone told me I was about to face this I would tell them I’d freak out, cry, pass out. But I don’t. I suck in a breath and stare at him motionlessly. “What are you doing” I say. It’s not even a question. Is it even my voice? My brother looks at me without shame, but something is wrong with his stare. Nostalgia? Regret? “I’m doing what nobody in the family had the guts to do” he says, without venom in his voice. “Ariana I wouldn’t have asked you so much if it wasn’t necessary” “You were necessary” I say, and I thank myself for not making my voice break. My eyes are wet, I feel them, but I won’t cry. “You were necessary when dad died. You were necessary when everything collapsed. We could have started a new life but you had to play with them, like father did. And you know what? You’ll end your life the same way” He winches, as if I picked a small spine out of his skin instead of showering him with my rage. “They were gonna be part of our life anyway Ariana. Better for them being half alleys than full-on enemies don’t you think?” “They are always enemies, Jer. They took father. Now they took you. Who’s next? I did all this to get you back and now YOU were the one who contacted me” I chuckle, a chuckle that sounds very similar to a choke or a cry. “Take this Jer. Take it. I don’t care. Don’t you ever contact me again. I don’t want to have anything to do with those bastards” I say. I leave the dirty bag on the table and make it out of the container, hearing him call after me just one time. Then I take off running. Fuck the car, it could be a trap. So I run. I run from the harbor to the city, from the city to the suburbs. It’s ten kilometers. I am crying, my throat is burning, and Im filled with rage, regret, adrenaline and pain. So much pain I almost feel it physically. It’s as if I was having a heart attack but I keep on running. When I make it to my home steps, I collapse on them. My legs won’t work for two days after this effort. I crawl up on the steps and I try to calm down. That’s all I can do. I hear the door open, I feel warm hands, caring hands, trying to make me stand enough to be brought inside. I finally do, my legs burning as my face. As my insides. “Oh, Ari” the smooth voice of my cousin says “come inside”

Whatever had caused The change in your set And then caused the rise Of unexpected regret Gulp down the bitter and sour of that Create! expose! Dress in a red dress And dance with it on On the beat of your breath! When changes come trough All in a dash It’s a motive life gives you To begin afresh