Sins On The Skin

XXVIII.

One step forward.

Two steps back.

A back hitting the wall as a body hits the floor.

A bloody hand touching a bloody cheek and instead of wiping it clean, staining it even further.

Will it ever wash off?

Perhaps not.

Silas ran his bloody hand through his hair and kept on watching the scene silently, fading into the background while barely maintaing the ability to breathe. "I suppose you won't be thanking me."

Chest heaving and fingers shaking, Guinevere twisted her body, spitting the blood that had gathered in her mouth and tore the knife away from Seth's flesh, cringing when another groan of pain met her ears. Once the knife was in her hand, she thrust it carelessly towards Silas.

"Thank you? Thank you?" Her eyebrows kissed her hairline, as the raspy words fell from her bloody lips and her voice grew progressively louder.

"Yes," he agreed. "Thank me."

"For what, exactly, should I be thanking you?" She grimaced and turned her face away. She could still taste the copper in her mouth, on her tongue, gums and teeth.

It made her sick.

His dark eyebrows kissed, bewildered. "I put an end to this insanity, that should be reason enough."

"Put an end to this insanity? You caused it."

Silas shrugged, wide shoulders lifting and falling methodically, the movement going undetected in the dark. "I don't blame you for believing that. Hell, you're probably right but I spent many years regretting what we did to you, what I did to you. It was very difficult for me to carry on, there are no words good enough to describe how difficult it was."

"Oh, poor you." Blood from the knife fell on her borrowed sweater, staining it even further. "Did you ever stop and wonder how difficult it was for me?" Gwen attempted to sit up but the shadows circling her like vultures pushed her back on the mattress.

"Yes, of course I did." Silas bit his nails, a habit he'd developed as a child and obviously hadn't outgrown. Was he doing it on purpose, to remind her of the boy she once knew? That remained to be seen.

Not that it mattered.

No matter what he did, the truth wouldn't change. That boy was gone and in his place stood a strange man, a man driven by his delusions and lies. "At first I wanted to hurt you, the same way you hurt me when you left me for him but then I. . . I suppose I changed my mind."

"Oh? And with what actions did you support this decision, Si?"

"I played along." Silas kept on biting his nails, the sound driving Gwen mad. "I became his friend. I did everything he asked of me and acted as if I hated you, as if I wanted you to suffer by his side. But it was all an act, I never stopped loving you, you have to know that."

"Oh?" She cocked her head to the side, getting almost immediately attacked by a force pounding on her skull. "And just how much was your love worth in total? I don't believe he left you to fend for yourself after the money he'd given originally you ran dry. Seth is a lot of things but he's not cheap, especially not when it concerns his friends."

"It hardly matters now." He gulped and focused his gaze on the double glass balcony doors. "What does matter, however, is that what I did, I did for you. It was all for you. Because only I ever saw what you hid."

"No." She denied, shocked by the fact that there were no more tears in her eyes. "No you didn't. I had never been pure, not in the way you meant it, but that was alright. I know that now. My professor taught me that, not you. You made me feel like I was sick. For so many years people have tried to twist and turn me into whatever it is they've wanted me to become but I always made excuses for you because you were the only true friend I've ever had--Sophie could never compete with you. You were all I had and you were a lie."