Lips Red As Blood

39 |

When Cora's eyes open, Yuna is anxiously twirling a blood-stained knife. Confusion smacks Cora in the face, as strings of words come to mind: not dead. Not tortured. Not tied up or in the hands of psycho demons or close to death. 

"What—" Cora croaks out before she clears her throat. Her voice is too hoarse and harsh, like she'd been screaming for too long. "What happened?" 

Yuna looks down. 

"I thought we would get killed!" stammers Cora as she stumbles unsteadily on her feet. The whole world spins and she closes her eyes. "How did we get out alive?" 

The petite girl bites on her lower lip, eyes glittering with... 

Is she crying? Cora thinks in alarm. 

Then she looks around, realizing what's missing. "Where's Asher?" The question comes out in a scared whisper. "Yuna, where is he?" 

Cora's frantic gaze wanders around, trying to find the devil, trying to find that messy brown hair, trying to find his green eyes, trying to find the infuriating smirk she got used to. 

Yuna is full-on crying now, tears rushing down her face. A sob escapes her before she stutters out something, words blurry. "They didn't hit me with the poisonous darts, but they got you two," she sobs, smearing tears away. "You guys were unconscious and I didn't know what to do and I"—Yuna flinches at the memory. "—I did my best to help you two, but..." 

"But what?" Cora presses anxiously, though her stomach twists. 

"I fought them." Yuna takes a deep breath. "We weren't going to survive without violence." 

Cora is trembling now, fear curdling through her. "Where. Is. Asher." 

Tears drip down to the floor. "He died," she whispers, and that's when Cora's arms drop downwards. 

No. 

Her movements feel sluggish, as the whole world spins. "What? How?" Cora says, and then her voice rises, almost to a shriek. "How is this possible?" 

Yuna covers her face. 

"I killed him," Yuna says, blubbering. "I didn't mean to but he was getting in the way and I had to intervene otherwise we would all be dead, so my knife just slipped and I killed him. I'm a murderer now. I have blood on my hands." 

Cora's hands are trembling, though she manages to pat the girl on the back as comfortingly as possible. Everything feels like it's seen through glass, broken glass shards making her vision dizzy. 

"So he's dead?" Cora mumbles, stumbling back. Bile rises to her throat. "So Asher died?" 

Just then, there's the sound of a toilet flushing, as a boy enters the room. "Everyone okay?" Asher asks, before awkwardly coughing. "Why is everyone crying?" 

Cora's hand drops and before she realizes what she's doing, her feet move. Launching herself towards a very confused Asher, she hugs him tight. Warmth cocoons her, as Asher awkwardly pats her back. "What did I miss?" he says, and Cora starts crying for real. 

"I thought you were dead," Cora says, words muffled as she presses her face onto Asher's outfit. "You idiot. I hate you." 

"Yet you're crying after thinking I was dead," Asher says, but he brings her closer. "Do you care about me that much?" 

Cora pushes him away with a fierce glare. "Of course. We've been through so much together, and you're asking that? Of course I care about you." 

Asher's expression falters. Then he smirks, patting Cora's head like how a person would pet a dog. Butterflies explode through Cora's stomach as her heart flips.