Essence yawned. The sky outside was the color of a ripe apricot. This morning she was ridiculously happy. She and Jasper had decided to start dating again.
Essence quickly dressed, and made her way through the cold air to the Juvle's cabin. Inside, both brother and sister were still asleep, so Essence creeped over to Jasper's bed. Grasping the blanket that covered him, she yanked it off. He jumped, the freezing morning air hitting him, and sat bolt upright.
"Essence!"
He grabbed at her, and she shrieked with laughter, skipping out of his reach. Sapphire woke too.
"Hi Sapphire. How are you feeling today?" Essence sat on the end of her bed.
"Get off, get off. I'm fine. Today, IT will die."
So before breakfast, three figures made their way down a dirt mound, the sun shining brightly. The expanse of brown water stretched, seemingly innocently, from bank to bank. They stopped at the edge of the water and stood for a moment. No-one spoke, they just stood. They were really going to do it.
"Can we pour it from the catwalk?" Sapphire spoke quietly into the silence.
"Sure, sure," Jasper put his hand on her shoulder and led her to the catwalk.
Essence followed behind, understanding how Sapphire felt, or at least thinking she could. But she wasn't going to let them pour it, it had nearly killed Jasper.
The three figures walked slowly and nervously across the metal platform. The stopped at the end and bunched up, looking down at the water.
"I want to do it," Essense spoke up, glancing at Sapphire before fixing her gaze on Jasper.
"No! It killed Theo! You're not killing it!"
"The poison was my idea!"
"Uh, it was my idea really. And I'm the one with no leg,"
Sapphire turned to face Jasper, "I found a company that can make you a wakeboard suitable for your leg. Stop being so dramatic,"
"I. Lost. My. Leg."
"I. Lost. My. Boyfriend. Only friend."
"I have the poison," Essence butted in.
Jasper smiled and looked at Sapphire. "Remember what mum would do when we fought over something,"
"Cut it in half." She smiled back. "Remember the shirt?"
"Ok but how do we cut the poison in half?" Essence pointed out, stifling a laugh.
"We all pour it," Jasper looked at her like it was the most obvious thing, which it was. They all wanted to avenge It.
So they all huddled around the end of the catwalk and placed there hands around the bottle. Holding it over the edge they counted to three.
"One... Two.. Three,"
And they poured it into the lake where It was.
The stream of liquid quickly disappeared in the murky brown of the dam water.
Essence looked at the two others.
"Well. Now what?"
The twins both rolled their eyes. Essence, feeling hurt, raced along the catwalk to the shore. There was nothing to see. The wood chips floated on the surface, undisturbed. They waited, two huddled high on the catwalk, one by the water. They stood for a moment in numbed silence.
"I don't think anything's going to happen!" Sapphire called, making Essence jump.
"No!" She called back and sighed heavily. "I suppose we'll never kill it,"
Sapphire and Jasper walked along the catwalk and stood behind her, Jasper placing a reassuring hand on her back.
"All we can do is wait, and there's no point doing it here," He lead away with Sapphire walking slowly behind.
YOU ARE READING
IT
General FictionA body of brown water. So still. So peaceful. So seemingly innocent. And yet so deadly. Sapphire clenched her hands into fists until her nails bit into her skin. Revenge would be sweet, but how to get it was the question...
