The Starling Vigilante [Watty's 2015 Award Winner]

Chapter 75

'Good evening, Aria,' Merlyn smirked as I reluctantly approached Merlyn in the abandoned warehouse I had been dropped off at.

Weaponless and an emotional wreck, I felt exposed as I drew closer to Merlyn. Rose was there beside him, free, but for some reason standing still and unafraid.

'For goodness sake, Rose, run!' I said quietly so she could just hear as I passed her.

She just kept her stance and looked straight through me.

'She can't hear you,' Merlyn told me. 'I've given her a poison from the island of Corto Maltese that makes her obey my commands. She won't talk to you, or realise who you really are whilst she performs the things I want her to do. She won't even remember what she does when under the influence of the drug.'

'What are you going to make her do?' I asked impatiently but fearfully.

'I think, Aria, you should have paid more attention to your mother and father,' he said, signalling someone from outside the warehouse.

Three masked men dragged my parents into the warehouse, them both pleading for their life. It was all my fault. I tried to live just three days with them, to become a family again, but all I did was make it so much worse.

And then I dreaded what was going to happen next.

Merlyn passed Rose a gun similar to mine, it fitting into her hand perfectly. She waited for her orders, her mind blank. There was no resistance; no retaliation. Just silence.

'Aria!' My mother called out to me at once, her face lined with utter dread.

My father just froze, as if he couldn't move a muscle, his fear overriding his brain.

'What are you going to do to them?' I shouted again at Merlyn. 'Tell me!'

'Let's see if you can save them now, Aria!' Merlyn snarled. 'Let's see if you can actually fight. All those years of retaliating, of fighting, and now it all comes down to this. You fight, or they die.'

The men further dragged my parents towards us, directly in front of Rose. She couldn't possibly kill them, could she? Somewhere inside her, she must have recognised them. But she didn't, not one bit. She just coldly stared into their eyes as if they were nothing.

'Rose!' My mother pleaded quietly. 'Put the gun down, sweetheart.'

'Shut her up,' Merlyn ordered his men, one of them tying a cloth round my mother's mouth as she tried to kick out and escape.

'If you kill them, you won't have my help in Starling,' I contested, walking slightly closer to Merlyn.

'I knew you wouldn't want to join me ever since you came back here,' Merlyn told me. 'You're too stubborn. Too stuck in the past.'

'True,' I commented. 'But then, why try to kill everyone I know here?'

'To make you regret your decision,' Merlyn stated. 'To make your life hell.'

'Thanks,' I remarked sarcastically.

'And now, we fight,' Merlyn said, dropping his weapons.

At once, I ran at him, my rage so built up I literally wanted to kill him. Throwing a punch, I missed, in turn dodging his first hit. I kept trying to strike, but he was too good, his many years of experience giving him the advantage. Taking a blow to the side, I fell on one knee, at once using my other leg to jump back up. Taking more and more hits, I found that my year on the island had physically toughened me up, even though the side effects of the fake Mirakuru had completely disappeared.

'You're tougher than you look,' Merlyn shook his head in disbelief.

'I just learnt how to survive,' I retaliated, sending a kick to Merlyn's side as he spoke.

And then Merlyn punched me in the nose, making it bleed at once. In consequence of this, my vision started to become blurrier, my eyes reacting badly to the punch.

Kneeling on the ground, I could just make out Merlyn walking towards my family, about to order my sister to do the inevitable. I was not going to let Merlyn do this. My parents would die, and Rose would never know the horrible truth, or would eventually find out what she did. I couldn't let it happen.

With as much strength as I could muster, I found my feet and gathered myself up from the floor, trying to focus my vision as I came closer and closer to Rose. She had the gun pointed at my father's head, my mother covered in tears as she watched her daughter get ready to pull the trigger.

Shoving Rose to the side, I kicked Merlyn to the ground and grasped the gun to stop my father from being murdered by his own daughter. I turned to my parents to check that they hadn't been shot, neither being wounded. Before I could think, I shot the three men holding my parents hostage, each shot clean and successful.

As my mother ripped the cloth from her mouth, I could see she as still crying, still distraught. I didn't understand why she was looking down at my chest. Feeling something cold on my skin, I looked down at where my mother was looking. My shirt was slightly stained, and as I touched the stain, a little blood appeared on my hands.

That was why no one was hurt; I was the one who had taken the bullet, just above my stomach. And now my mother was screaming as I fell to the cold, hard ground.

I had saved my family. I had saved my parents. Saved my sister. But I had also saved myself. I didn't need to feel the worry of their safety, or the regret of not going back to Tommy. I didn't need to remember my responsibility of Harper's or Ethan's deaths, or the pain of losing Oliver and Sara. I didn't need to follow Merlyn's orders, or try to relive the life I could have lived.

And then my body gave up to the darkness.