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“It’s over.”
“What’s over? What are you talking about?” Her eyes were slowly widening as she woke further, and when she let her gaze trail over my body, my clothes damp and remnants of blood splatters still visible, she gasped. “Oh, Emrick.” I could barely stand the combination of sympathy and terror in her voice. It wasn’t necessary. “What did you do?”
Impulsive Emrick, rebellious Emrick.She was already assuming the worst.
No point in lying about it, I came here to tell her.
“I killed them,” I said.
“Are you out of yourmind?”
“Alison—”
She cut me off, the anger in her voice crushing the plead in mine. I needed her to understand. “Why would you do that?” she cried.
“I did it for Emily and everyone like her. I did it for you, for everyone, so you’re safe now.”
“Emrick, you have no idea the powers you’re dealing with. You’ve only made it worse.”
“Youhave no idea the powers I’m capable of dealing with,” I muttered.
Anger was bubbling beneath my skin, working its way up through the pit of my stomach. I didn’t understand why she was acting like this. I had done the right thing—they were bad men who did bad things. Why was everyone so sure these men deserved to live?
“Alison…” I tried to reason with her again, the weight of everything was crushing my shoulders. There was no doubt in me I had done the right thing, but I thought Alison, of all people, would understand and would be on my side. I had done what she couldn’t, but what I knew she wished she could. I had avenged her sister, taken the men who had taken her life. “They took her from me.”
“They took her fromall of us,Emrick. This was never just about you.”
“They didn’t deserve to live.”
“You can’t just go taking these things into your own hands!” she cried. When she threw her hands up in frustration, her robe opened slightly, revealing her nudity beneath. I was too angry to even be distracted by it.
“I thought you would understand.”
Alison shook her head, curls falling from the messy knot on top of her head to cover her face as she clutched her robe closed again. “I can’t condone this. Why did you come here to tell me?”
“You have no idea what it cost me to do this. I did the right thing.”
“I’m sorry, Emrick, I don’t think you did.”
“Are you going to turn me in?”
She hesitated. “No.”
I believed her.
We stared at each other for a moment, Alison drawing her robe around her further when the chill from the breeze passed over the porch.
“They didn’t deserve to live,” I repeated. “They took Emily away from us. It wasn’t her time.”
Alison shook her head sadly, her hand poised on the door. “Goodbye, Emrick.”
The door closed with a gentle click, and I stared at the stained-glass panels. Even after a minute, I didn’t hear any retreating footsteps. Alison was waiting just behind the door, perhaps wanting to make sure I left.
So, I was the bad guy? So, I did the wrong thing by taking an eye for an eye?
I was darkness, anger, and violence.
If that’s all I was to everyone, then that’s all I would be.
