unhinged ↠ 𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞

thirty seven

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His lips, which I never felt again

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Kitioma Hadlee

              "I'll do it," I finally say, eyeing Ellie and Jac's crumpled bodies.

They will never move again. Jac will never yearn for food, her smile as powerful as her words, Ellie will never crack another joke, her fiery red hair flashing with her eyes.

Am I betraying them by doing this, or am I living for them?

Tom smiles a sickly sweet smile, and Maya, Stephan, and Marlene appear at his sides. Marlene avoids my eyes, or rather, everyone's eyes, staring at the ground. Maya looks haughty, whereas Stephan avoids my eyes as well. Tom holds out his hand, as if to shake it.

"Wait," I pause. "How about we duel for it?"

His hand freezes, and he cocks a smile. "Going bolder, are we?"

I take his hand. It is warm, his fingers entwining with my own. It feels familiar, like a coat wrapping over me to cover me as the cold air bites my skin. But then he pulls back, as do I, and the cold air surrounds me once again. "Deal, then."

Tom raises his eyebrow. "Now, I presume?"

I curtsy, mocking him. "Of course, my darling."

"Anything you wish, princess," He mocks back, and someone stumbles out of the shadows, Stephan quickly grabbing her arms to restrain her. "Ah, Izzy, I see you came."

I turn towards the girl I once loathed. She looks horrible, bags under her eyes, bruises wrapped her body like a new skin. Her hair is ragged, torn, fried.

"What did you do to her?" My words are not angry or filled with sympathy, but rather confused. I know she is not a good person, so she does not deserve my sympathy, but she looks like how I feel at the moment.

"No mind what I did to her. She's going to die, anyways," He says calmly, his jaw clenching as if he remembers something sour.

What did she do that made him so angry?

I glance back at Ellie and Jac's crumpled bodies, and my own jaw clenches in anger. I turn back towards him, fire in my eyes, then spit a curse. Maya dives out of the way, as does Stephan, bringing Izzy, who cries out in pain, but Tom merely blocks the curse with one hand.

"Starting so soon?" He says, then shoots a curse my way. I block it, rolling out of the way.

"Of course," I reply, standing up slowly, tying my hair back in a quick, poofy ponytail. "Wouldn't want to delay, would we now?"

"You know, I may have liked you better when you were sobbing over your parent's dead bodies," Tom grins, shooting another curse. I barely block it in time.

He's hit a nerve, and he knows it.

"Or maybe when you were crying in my bedroom."

I roll out of the way once again, my spells being deflected.

"Or maybe, when you were so helpless under Kane's abuse."

I swallow, hard. He knows how to make me disoriented, he knows which places to hit so I'll snap.

Then I realize. He wants me to snap. He wants me to show my power. It's his form of manipulation, and so far, it's working.

So how can I hit him back? What will make him snap?