until the very end

part 30

It had taken us fifteen minutes to walk from the willow to the camp, but with my tensed up pace, it took me less than ten minutes.

When I reached the willow, I looked around fervently. My breath hitched in my throat when I spotted them.
Aria, her back turned against a tree, looking more terrified than I had ever seen the girl. She was staring up at a tall guy with messy brown hair, who was yelling at her and threateningly raising a piece of wood. Despite the difference in height, they had similar facial features.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t come after you after what you’ve done to me?” The guy smirked psychotically. As I creeped closer, I saw the burning hate in his eyes. He was shaking over his whole body, like an animal that couldn’t wait to attack. “After you played all those nasty games with me? Made me think I was crazy?!” He spat on her face. She shuddered, backing away even further. I felt the rage burn inside of me.

“Ben.. p-please…” Aria’s eyes filled with tears. I slowly crawled forwards through the bush. Ben had his back turned towards me now, but I needed to make sure Aria wouldn’t see me either – her reaction would definitely give away the surprise effect.
“As if I could forget you’re the crazy one.” The guy started to laugh maniacally. “You’re the freak with no friends, scared of everything. You think people stay away from you because they’re afraid of you, with your freaky power? Wrong. They stay away because they’re laughing at you behind your back.”
I clicked the gun off safety. I aimed. My hand was shaking. I tried to take a deep breath to get my racing heart under control, but the anger and panic were clouding my ability to think straight. Apart from this bush, there was no other place for me to hide. I had practised my aim, but it was nowhere near perfect. How on earth was I going to shoot Ben without hitting Aria?
“Ben, please.” Aria was crying now, tears streaming down her face. “Why are you doing this? Why couldn’t you just leave me alone?”
“Why I’m doing this?!” Ben stopped laughing. His shoulders tensed up in anger. “Because you don’t deserve to be alive. My parents always loved me, until you showed up, and spent your whole life conspiring against me… All I ever did was trying to make them see your true face.”
Aria shook her head fervently. “That’s not true, Ben. You’re crazy. You always have been, but your time in that mental hospital, it’s made things even worse…”
Suddenly, Ben punched her square in the face, with such a strength that she was blown back against the tree. Aria shrieked out in pain as blood started to drip down her forehead.
I didn’t think. Red spots clouded my vision and rage took over as I jumped on his back from behind, sinking my knife deep into his shoulder.
Ben roared out in pain. He tried to shake me off, but I dug my nails deeper into his skin. I twisted the knife in the wound in his shoulder and then yanked it out. Blood started to erupt from the wound like a volcanic explosion.

“Gwen! Watch out!” Aria yelled out, covering her mouth in shock.
I felt the wooden stick hitting my shoulder before I saw it coming, slamming me to the ground and causing me to role over a couple times. I clenched my teeth in an effort to hide the sharp pain arising at my side, the pain of a bruised rib.
Ben was wobbling on his legs, forcing out a series of cursewords as he vainly tried to stop the blood streaming out of his shoulder.
“Don’t hurt Gwen, you son of a bitch!” Aria yelled out. She stormed towards him, turned herself into a skeleton and started repeatedly hitting him in the head and the chest with the bones. She then stuck a boney finger into the knife wound in his shoulder, chugging at the meat. Ben fell to his knees, crying out in pain, aimlessly swinging the wooden stick around.
“Aria, back away!” I yelled, raising my gun. I wasn’t sure what would happen if I were to accidentally shoot a hole through my best friend’s skull.
At that moment, the wooden stick hit the skeleton’s head, the skull blowing meters away, until it hit a tree and motionlessly laid down behind it. Immediately, the bones stopped attacking, falling motionlessly down to the floor.