Somewhere in the Trees

twelve

Declan looks at Dorothea, who sits in the chair, the weak smile remaining on her face despite the glistening tears in her eyes. His breath hitches as he averts his gaze to Abe and the knife.

From the way he's looking between Abe and the knife, I have a burning feeling in my gut that he's planning to use the knife on him instead. If he does, he'll be killed in the most brutal way by Abe's followers, I know he would. I know that he is smart enough to know that as well, I can see it in the way his shoulders drop. I silently beg that he just kills the woman and gets this over with, though I know that somebody like Declan would never recover from doing that to someone.

"Please, don't," Declan begs, his voice a desperate exhale. "I'll be cooperative. Please."

Abe doesn't even look at him, he just continues holding the knife out.

"Please!" he cries out loudly, stressed. The strain in his voice makes my heart drop down to my stomach.

Abe then looks at Declan, remaining silent for a beat. Then, he says, "You're wasting precious time. You're at four minutes now, better make your choice."

Declan glances at the knife again. His lips part as he looks, panic-stricken, towards us, desperate for assistance we're too helpless to provide. Then, he looks over at Abe again, and then around at the men standing with their guns drawn.

The entire crowd is stunned silent, watching in anticipation, as if they're watching some sort of play unfolding in front of them and not the torture of two people.

I hear heavy and quick breaths beside me. I look over at Kiran, who has his hands threaded through his hair. He's looking down at the floor, unable to bring himself to watch his best friend either kill someone or be thrown into a massive fire. "Please, please," Kiran whispers frantically to himself.

"Three minutes," Abe says, his voice booming throughout the quiet night.

Tears fall from Declan's eyes, they slide down his inflamed cheeks. Slowly, he kneels down next to Dorothea and looks up at her. She turns her head to meet his gaze, her lips quivering as her smile fades slightly.

He grabs onto her hand and mumbles something inaudible to her. She nods.

"It's okay," she says to him, her voice unsteady. "You are such a young man, you have so much life left to live."

My heart dips. I'm having a difficult time understanding that this is really happening. I feel like I'm inside of a terribly disturbing movie that I would never finish watching.

He walks back over to Abe, and right as he takes the knife from him, Abe smiles proudly and says, "Two minutes."

The fire spits and crackles from behind them, bright orange flames dance into the cool air.

I look over past Zoe towards Kiran again. His head hangs down, his eyes closed tightly. Alice is silently rubbing his back as she also stares down at the floor, unable to look. She's whispering to him, comforting him, while I can barely even move a muscle or form a coherent thought.

To my surprise, Declan holds the knife and walks over to Dorothea. His eyes are bright red, his demeanor is defeated. His skin is clammy with sweat, glistening in the light of the fire.

He walks behind her and whispers something in her ear. That terrified smile remains on her face, and every time she blinks, several tears are released from her eyes.

His hand is visibly shaking as he moves her hair away from her neck. Then, he puts the trembling blade up against her jugular. He stares down at the sharp weapon. He takes a few deep breaths and adjusts the position of the blade to push up farther against her throat.