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Raven is unconscious and half-dressed on the bed. That’s the last thing I see before the red mist comes down and tunnel vision sets in. I zone in on the asshole on the other side of the room, spinning his knife like he hasn’t a care in the world. Everything in my awareness hones in on that silver glinting blade, his smug face.
I charge.
When I collide with the bastard, the momentum of my movement slams us both into the wall behind him. The element of surprise has somehow caught him unaware and made it easy for me to disarm him in one simple move. I toss the knife under the bed; I won’t be needing it. Unlike Ace, I fight with the weapons nature gave me.
The first blow to his face ruptures his nose and sends blood spraying everywhere. My second punch fractures his eye socket. And then it’s all a blur as I rain down flurries of deadly punches. The rage is all-encompassing; so much so, that I don’t even notice the moment when he passes out. I don’t stop. I can’t stop. It’s like, now that I’ve unleashed all of my pent-up fury, there’s no off switch.
I pound his face, his stomach...any inch of him I can land a blow to. He’s slipped down the wall to the floor, but one of my hands is fisted in his shirt, holding him up. The other hand moves with a mind of its own but it isn’t enough. I need to hurt him. I need to make him pay.
I swing wildly at the arms that try to capture me from behind, barely registering the frantic shouts of my name.
“Rebel! Reb!”
“Relax! It’s us!”
Like the flick of a switch, the fight leaves me and I sag back onto the floor, resting on my heels. I’m panting hard, my head resting on the edge of the mattress. I’m too scared to look up; I don’t want to see what’s happened to Raven.
Too late...too late...you got here too late…I torture myself.
“Reb! Get it together! We need to check on Raven.” Thorn barks. “Ace, call an ambulance.”
My brothers spring into action while I sit, unmoving, unable to respond. Is this shock? This feels a thousand times worse than searching for Raven’s body in a burning building.
She’s so still.
And just like that, I realise that I’ve moved. I’m now on my knees at the side of the bed, worshipping a deathly pale, lifeless Snow White. I can’t tear my eyes from her face. She looks so pale she could easily pass for her sister. Blue veins across her eyelids catch the light, and it would be beautiful to behold if she wasn’t so...still.
I lumber clumsily to my feet and drink in the rest of her. The white cotton bedsheets are crimson with blood.
“Whose...whose…?” I can’t get the words out so I point.
“It’s hers, Reb. It’s Raven’s blood.”
That can’t be right. Was it there when I came in? I couldn’t save her. How many more times am I going to fail?
“Ambulance coming,” Ace says as he re-enters the room. “Not too late.”
He knocks me out of the way and springs into action, checking her vitals. I just stand there, immobile.
A fucking mountain of fucking useless granite.
Charlotte’s Diary
27/12/20
Spent Christmas with Baxter and it was perfect. It was so good of him to come to us and help make Phoenix’s first one so special. It’s silly, I know, because she won’t remember it. But I will, and I’ll never forget the kindness and generosity that Bax showed us both. He’s spending the day with me today, taking me out, as we have to drop Phoenix off with Cordelia for a few hours so that they can have their own Christmas together.
She had tried to push for me to take her on Christmas Day, but thankfully Bax negotiated for me, because I would have just told her to go to hell.
Anyway, I better go and get ready!
