I Want My Soul Back (GxG)

33. This is going to hurt

Loki and I run through the wet, dark forest, looking for my family. The people who attacked the village are still hunting us.

We stumble through branches and bushes until I see the front of a tiny house.

"Freya!" I see Einar run towards me, but I stop in my trace in a panic of a loud shout. I turn around in a rush seeing Loki falling to her knees. My feet move towards her, but a man with a bow is rushing to fire it.

I reach for my sword, but stop as the man got hit with an arrow. Loki struggles to get back on her feet.

"Loki, what is wrong?" I ask, falling onto my knees, but I realize what it is as she falls forward in my arms.

"Help!" I shout, trying to pull her after me.

"What's wrong?" Einar asks, coming in next to me.

"She has an arrow in her back." I cry, feeling the fright in my bones. I am too scared to look at her wound. Too afraid to see how bad it is.

"I got her." Einar brings Loki into his arms, and we run towards the house. Ivar stands in the middle of the door but moves away as Einar and I rush inside. He puts her onto an old couch on her belly.

"What happened?" All of my step-siblings asks in worry, but I am too shaken up to answer. Loki is lying there growling while clenching her hands into fists. I tried not to look, but the arrow is stuck in her right shoulder, and it looks deep.

"I need alcohol and bandages." I hear my mother say as she walks towards Loki, examining the damage. Her children run around searching their backpacks for items.

"Ivar and Froya, guard the house," Einar tells his kids; Froya rushes out the door, following her command. At the same time, Ivar shuffles with a frown.

"Einar, can you please take the children to the other room?" Erika asks her husband, and he doesn't hesitate, even taking Atla with him.

"Can someone please get this thing out of me?" Loki groans in pain, and I step over to her, bending down next to her.

"Hi." I smile gently, and she turns to look at me, trying with all her might to keep her eyes open now.

"Hi, beautiful." I smile through my tears.

"My mother is going to help you," I tell her, and a small laugh escapes her mouth.

"And here I thought she wished me dead." She says, and I chuckle at her words.

"Be careful with what you say," Erika warns Loki as she comes closer. She brings out a knife, but I stop her hand in mid-air.

"I am just going to cut up her shirt to look at the wound." She tells me, and I let go of her hand to let her continue. I watch my mother cut up the back of Loki's dark blue shirt. The arrow is stuck deep into her skin. I close my eyes and turn around.

"This is going to hurt," Erika says, giving a warning to Loki.

"Well, what is new." Loki sighs and then groans in agony as my mother poured alcohol onto her back.

"I think you should leave." My mother looks at me with concern.

"I will be fine," I tell her, but she shakes her head.

"This is probably going to be more painful for you than her, so leave." She tells me and points out the door.

"Besides, I think Ivar and Froya might need help." My mother informs me, but I still refuse.

"She is right." I look at Loki, confused that she agrees with her.

"Go." She forces me, her voice firm but still shaken. I stare at both of them before I shake my head and grab my sword in frustration. In a fury, I kick the door open, making Froya and Ivar jump in their places, almost hitting me with their swords.

"Ivar, you need to keep Freya there with you, don't let her in!" My mother shouts from the inside, and I frown in annoyance.

"Why are you not allowed in?" Froya questions, but then Loki's screaming interrupts her, and I rush for the door, but Ivar stands in my way.

"I can't let you." He tells me, crossing his arms as the big guy he is. I close my eyes and breathe in deeply, then turn around seeing Froya, who seems worried.

"She is going to be okay." She smiles gently to me as she put her hand on my shoulder, but she looks as pale as the moon. I nod, thinking about how many times I have to listen to her cry in pain. There comes a time where you feel like the whole world is against you.

"She is very strong." Froya smiles.

"Yes, she is, which is very annoying sometimes." I sigh.

"Did you guys search the area?" I ask.

"Yeah, it's quiet, and we couldn't find anything. I hide the bodies as well as I could, so they couldn't trace us." Ivar says. It's very dark out there in the forest now, and rain won't stop pouring down.

I don't understand why Atla is so essential to those people. She is just a baby. Is it necessary to kill everything and everyone to get her?