Vladimir’s Marked Luna Novel – “She’s not breathing please!” I yelled, as if they didn’t already know. I looked down at her pale bloodied face and her head that had caved in. “Mum, please stay with me!” My voice was no longer my own. Ragged, hoarse with horror. My clothes were still wet with blood… her blood. The metallic stench tangling with the antiseptic burn of the hospital.
The stretcher wheeled down the white, sterile hallway like a bloodied coffin on wheels. I pushed along with the paramedics, my heart thudding like a war drum in my chest. “Please–please, keep your eyes open,” My lips trembled as I touched her face. “I am begging you,” I cried, tears flowing down my bloodied, swollen face. But I could not register the pain. We reached the urgent care, the door flying open.
They ripped her out of my hands, I caught sight of her crushed leg and I could hear the horrible screeching of the wheels of the car as it tried and failed to come to a stop, but it was too late. I grabbed chunks of my hair, screaming where I sat in the hallway. I had just stood there, too stunned to move out of its path, too stupid to run, too filled with pain to save my own worthless life.
But my mum… I squeezed my eyes shut, and I could still feel her hand on my back as she pushed me. It all happened in a flash, too fast for me to comprehend. The sickening thud of the impact, crunch of breaking bones. My sobs came in waves as grief and guilt gripped me hard enough for my spine to crack. It was choking, violent, and body-wracking. I wrapped my arms around myself, having to physically hold myself together.
The whole world spun along while mine had fractured. I was now left in the rubble. It should have been me… Especially after what I found this night right after I blew out the candles on my eighteenth birthday cake. The first cake they ever gave me. I should have known… There was a catch… It came with a price. It was the truth about why they all seemed to despise my existence.
The reason I was the stain that refused to fade no matter how much they wanted me to. A shadow beside their golden children. The one they looked upon like filth. I understood now and the… truth was more monstrous than anything I could have conjured up in my mind. Searing pain exploded on my cheek, my head snapping so far to the side that I could have sworn I heard something crack.
The overpowering scent of perfume welcomed me to the reality that I had anticipated. “You won!” Aunt Agnes screeched as her face came into focus despite the tears that blurred my vision. Her face distorted with loathing so visceral I could smell it tangle with her overpowering perfume. “You finally achieved your evil mission, you fucking parasite! You took her from us!” I looked up at her, eyes flared wide in a glare that pierced my soul. “You failed the first time, but you had to try again.
I was right about you from the beginning. You are a curse, the bane of this family, a fucking disease.” My eyes were too swollen, tongue too heavy to argue as she rained the insults like she always did when she got the chance, but this time with more venom. My family had filled the hallway. Some crying, others pale from worry, some pacing—but all having the same expression as they looked at me.